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00:00 Let's come before God in prayer.
00:14 forch.
00:51 Amen. So this morning the theme is love. They say love makes the world go round. Let
00:57 me begin with a story. This is the brothers karamazov. Anybody
01:03 knows this literature is considered the literature for philosophy. Uh the story
01:09 revolves around two brothers. uh and it's really a question about life. In one of the one of the subset of the
01:16 stories, a woman comes to a monk and says, "Is there God? I want to feel God.
01:23 I can't see God." And a monk tells this woman, "You want to feel God? Learn to
01:28 love others." And she say, "Okay, that's a great idea." Then she thinks for a while, I'm going to help the poor. And
01:36 she says, "I'm going to, you know, go in the soup kitchen and give out soup and give out bread and help the poor. I'm
01:45 going to love them." And then she pauses and she says, "You know what? They probably complain the soup is cold.
01:52 They probably complain the bread is stale." Yeah. Sounds like ABC. Sorry, bad joke to start. But they
01:59 complain complain. And then she says, "You know what? I would feel like they take me for
02:06 granted, so I'm not going to do it. And so the monk pauses and smiles and says
02:11 something really profound. He says, "Love in practice is a harsh and
02:18 dreadful thing compared to the love in dreams."
02:24 We are hardwired to love and to give love. This is love in dreams.
02:34 This is love in reality. And I think what Meg and Gary are
02:41 telling you, the statistics are showing you everybody lump or jump ship. So this
02:47 morning we're really going to look into uh the topic of love. We just saw a
02:53 dance. That's about it. Is all over music. If you look at some of music during my time, this was my favorite
02:59 rock track. I hate myself for loving you. Wow. Can't break free from the
03:05 things that you do. I want to walk but run back to you. A rock anthem for those 80s. Of course, the younger millennials
03:12 will know the one Bana, you know, it's the same thing. Just going to stand and watch me burn. That's all right. I like
03:19 the way it hurts. Just going to stand there. Hear me cry. That's all right. I love the way you lie.
03:28 So love out there is toxic. And today, God gives two commandments
03:34 and everything we do hangs on that. We're just going to really look at what it says this morning and see how he
03:40 speaks into our lives. And whether you're married or you're single or whether you're a parent, whether you're
03:46 going through a bad time, you're feeling lonely, it is really my prayer that these words will speak to you. So let's
03:53 look at the text. Now the text is interesting because Jesus is being set up. Before that the Seduces come and try
03:60 to set him up. So basically the the way the question is being set up by this
04:05 expert of the law. He's not a lawyer. He's actually a theologian is that there over 300 laws in the Old Testament. You
04:13 have 10 commandments. Then you have all the other commandments that are added to it. You know uh you have the ceremony
04:19 law. So 300 plus. So which one is the greatest? It's a question to set it up
04:24 is not with good intentions. But here's the point. Let's start off with the basis of obedience.
04:31 And the basis of obedience in many people is like this. You know, you're
04:37 bad boy. Bad bad boy. You better come to
04:42 church or God's going to punish you. You better do all this Christian stuff
04:48 or you're going to burn in hell, man. That's not coming from love.
04:55 That's coming from fear. And we know perfect love cast out fear.
05:01 Here's the other way of obeying. So there's one which is the obedience that comes out of fear. The other one is the
05:07 obedience which Chinese people understand. I do this, I scratch your back, you scratch my back. So God, I
05:14 come to church. Deal. I come, I give money. Deal. I do this, I do that. Prosper me. Come on, man. Give me I give
05:21 you 10 times. You're supposed to give me back a 100 times full, you know. Wow, that's a good investment, man.
05:27 That's not obedience either. And so Jesus gives you the underpinninging reason why we do everything we do is
05:36 love. And if it's not starting from that, two chapters down the road, he
05:42 calls the Pharisees hypocrites. So let's get that right.
05:48 If I stand here and it isn't coming from these two commandments, I'm a hypocrite.
05:54 You could do anything for the church and be so absorbed in it doesn't come from
06:00 these two commandments, you're a hypocrite. So, I want to just give you two take-home lessons today. And I I
06:08 found this very helpful for my life and I hope it's simply. Now, here's the first one. Unless you love God
06:17 wholeheartedly, you cannot love others healthily.
06:23 Let me repeat that. Unless you love God wholeheartedly,
06:29 you cannot love others healthily. I really apologize for the font. My computer is much different. I think this
06:34 is an older version of PowerPoint. So, I didn't meant for it to come out like that. Yeah.
06:41 Now, here's the second one which is really connected to this. How and who
06:46 you choose to love reveals how much you really love God.
06:53 How and who you choose to love reveals how much you really love God. Two
07:00 lessons here and John picks it up. He says if someone says I love God that's
07:05 the first commandment and hates the the the a Christian brother sisters that's
07:12 the second commandment in the context of this chapter that person is a liar for
07:17 if we don't love people we can see how can we love God whom we cannot see so
07:25 here's to put it in very simple diagrammatic form for all of us you love
07:30 God with your heart and your your mind and with your soul. The the Greek
07:36 rendering of soul means your actions. That that's Romans 10 again. Everything you do. Incidentally, Romans 10 tells
07:43 you to renew your mind. You do it with giving God everything. You go down to Romans 13, he tells you to love your
07:50 neighbor. That's again a connection from these two. So what happens then? He says, you know, I love my neighbor as
07:57 myself. So myself is changed. So I change myself to love my neighbor.
08:03 That's the second commandment. And this drives every action I do. And
08:10 there two of these verses are found in the Old Testament. And
08:16 we're going to take some time to pick them up. The first uh and greatest commandment is found in what is known as
08:22 the Shima. Is found in Deuteronomy 6:5. One chapter before that you have the
08:27 decalogue. what they call the decalogue or the reading of the ten commandments. I am the Lord your God who took you out
08:33 of Egypt. The second one, love your neighbor yourself is found in Levaticus
08:38 and we're going to find take time to pick up these two verses. So let's look at the first one. Love the Lord your God
08:46 with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, everything.
08:52 Everything in the shima is your mind. in a mark rendering he adds your mind and
08:58 your everything is there. is in simple English is every fiber of your being.
09:03 And then he explains how this is being done in verse six. You wake up. Look at
09:09 that. You know uh uh let's look at verse six. Talk about when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you
09:16 lie down, when you get up. Wow. That's everything. That's 24 hours.
09:22 You know when they talk about love, you are the air I breathe. That's what it is. You're my everything.
09:31 I'm not going to sing. I rather you run. But really is this. You're my
09:37 everything. That's what God's supposed to be. He's not a side dish. He's not a
09:45 supplement. He's your everything. So it it it begs
09:51 the obvious question and John said it. I don't see God. I really have difficulty loving the
09:57 person I see. You ask me to love an invisible God. What kind of religion is this?
10:04 So again, le let's let's use some simple common sense. Why do we love some people
10:11 so much? What what what triggers it? Because we remember how they loved us. Correct? So
10:20 you so you think about it. All of us have people in our lives that we love very very deeply. It could be a spouse,
10:27 it could be parents, it could be a kid. And and when you pause and you you think of that person, this thing just wells up
10:34 inside you. What is it? Because you know that person. We call it a relationship.
10:40 And then you think of that person and what that person has done and you then feel very deeply in love. So unless you
10:48 feel how wide God's love is, how deep, how long, how high
10:56 that surpasses knowledge and takes you to the fullness of God,
11:03 you're not going to be able to love God because he's invisible. This is something the Holy Spirit helps
11:10 us to do. And how do we plug God out? And you know it's not just wow I got
11:16 filled up with the music this morning. I put out my hands and I say everything become shadows in the light of you. I
11:24 worship you. Great song. What when I when you sing a song like that and you
11:29 say you stand in awe of God. You have to focus on something. And in the New
11:35 Testament is the gospel. For God so loved the world, he gave his
11:43 one and only begotten son that whoever believe in him will not perish but have
11:48 everlasting life. So this is not something you and I do naturally. Now why why am I spending so much time on
11:54 this? Because it's telling us it's something that is not just caught is
12:02 something taught. And look at what he said later on. He says, "Tie them as
12:07 symbols on your hands. Bind them on your foreheads." Why? Why go to such an
12:12 extent? Because the Israelites forget
12:18 and we often forget. See the way it goes. They have come out of Egypt. They
12:25 have been safe to obey. Not obey then cross the Red Sea. You have been saved.
12:33 Now obey in response from a thankful heart. If you say God love you so much
12:40 like the song says it comes from what? It comes from a grateful heart. So this
12:46 is something that is not just caught is taught. That's why you read your Bible
12:54 that's why you pray that's why you go to life groups that's why you fellowship.
12:59 And uh I want to just share a little bit few weeks ago I I I talked about rejoicing a lot and and some people said
13:05 hey you know how do I rejoice man I don't feel a rejoicing when my marriage has broken down. Yes and and this
13:12 theologian put it quite rightly it is both a privilege and here's the other word is a duty you know
13:19 so loving God is a duty. Now how do we do that? We're going to break it down.
13:25 I'm going to give you one simple way of how this does. So number one, spend time
13:30 knowing God. Spend time making God your anchor. I'm
13:36 going to give you one way why this is so important in life. And you're not going to wake up tomorrow and say, "Wow, God,
13:43 I love you everything." That's not true. That is just being caught up in the in the in the service. But spend time in
13:49 your word, spend time in prayer, spend time in community, and let the Holy Spirit lift you up. And slowly God
13:56 becomes real. Why is that so? Let me give you the last point and this is my key point. Notice in the shima verse he
14:04 says this, impress them on your children. That's interesting. You know it means number one disciplehip is
14:12 primarily not a work of the church is the work of the family.
14:17 Pause on that. Disciplehip begins at home. Number two, disciplehip
14:23 is intergenerational. You pass it on is mentoring. Wo, that's
14:30 a word we don't use very often. And look at that. Write them on the door frames
14:35 of your houses. So fathers, something we all have absconded. You cannot
14:41 subcontract this to the youth and the Sunday school. So it begins at home. Now I want to
14:49 spend a bit of time on this because this is where it really matters since today we're talking about family life. Yeah.
14:57 You see loving parents, loving children is a contradiction. I'm going to show
15:04 you one picture. Now you pause about this. Now you pause
15:10 and think. She loves the father.
15:17 You put yourself in the shoe. Do you expect her to come out and says,
15:25 "Yeah, my father is the biggest thief in Malaysia." I didn't mention names.
15:34 Maybe he is. You see the conflict of a child.
15:40 Difficult, isn't it? You're torn. You're torn.
15:46 So I give you example. Confucious picked this up a long long time ago, you know,
15:52 and he had five relationships. I got to thank Pastor Ling for bringing me through this. He's an expert in these
15:57 things. And he gave five relationships. I I'll put it down for you in diagram.
16:04 And they're in a hierarchy. The son must obey the father.
16:12 The youngest son must obey the older son. The wife must obey the husband.
16:17 Very strangely a lot of women are not involved in this. He was a bit of a MCP. That's my view. That's why a lot of
16:24 Chinese men are MCPs by the way. That's the truth. But you notice friend and
16:29 friend is two-way. So there's a hierarchy. Overriding all of this, the emperor
16:38 is king. So if the wife tells the husband to do something, oh no, sorry,
16:46 got it wrong. Got my theology wrong here. The husband
16:51 tells the wife to do something, but the king tells the wife to do
16:56 something else, who is she supposed to listen to? The king.
17:02 If the older sons tell the younger son to do something, but the emperor tells the younger son to do something else,
17:08 the younger son obeys the king. Confucious was on to something, you know. I mean, he could be a bit of a
17:14 shininess, but he was on to something. Oh, and you find a lot of this grounded
17:20 in the ten commandments. Now, let me break the commandments a bit to you. The first four all deal with God. That's how
17:27 you love your Lord, your God with all your heart, your all your mind, and all your soul.
17:34 Commandment 5 to 10 all deal with people.
17:39 Commandment 6 to 10 is your neighbor. Commandment five is interesting. Is
17:44 neither your neighbor is neither God. You notice that they call this the bridging commandment. So how does it
17:51 work? Let me tell you the flow and how Confucious was partially right. How do I
17:56 honor my mother and father in commandment five? By not murdering. By not committing adultery? By not
18:03 stealing? By not giving false testimony? By not covering. The Chinese culture understands this. You bring shame to
18:10 your family. Ah, this is how it gets a bit complicated
18:17 in theory. What happens if your father is a thief? I didn't see anybody.
18:24 What happened if he took money and put it into his bank account? You mention anybody's name again.
18:31 So suddenly commandment five puts you in a conflict because your dad's a thief.
18:36 The dad just broke commandment number eight. So commandment five goes back to commandment number one which overrides
18:43 everything else. You shall have no other gods before me. The moment you love your
18:48 dad more, you are making your father your God. You see where we go with this?
18:56 And so what the commandments are telling us is that you love God first.
19:03 Everything else goes before that. And that's why Jesus says when he comes, he will divide families.
19:09 He will divide families. Now why is this important in application?
19:15 And I found this very useful for me and I hope it is for you
19:20 and for many people that have spoken to me over their issues. And I I thank those who have
19:26 who have trusted me to walk with them because there will be days
19:34 where the love of a husband, the love of a wife, the love of parents, the love of
19:40 children will be very cold and it will be very painful.
19:47 And you will wake up and you will feel deeply hurt.
19:54 And what takes you through those storms? It is when God's love so anchors you. It
20:02 gives you clarity to go through. Here's a simple example. You have a big fight
20:09 with your kid and it breaks your heart.
20:15 And what will happen is the whole week your mind will just be enveloped over
20:21 your son or it could be your daughter and you say what did I do wrong am I a
20:27 bad parent there will be this guilt and this fear and this tossing and turning
20:32 and what anchors you through this what gives you clarity to see what's right
20:38 the love of God and what God is telling you push come to show you love me first.
20:45 And if your son or your wife or your husband does something and you you agree to it
20:53 and that breaks the first commandment, you do not love me.
20:58 You do not love me and you are not trusting me. I I spend time counseling people and
21:04 this is not personal to anyone. One of the most troubling things I hear is you you
21:11 counsel a couple and a girl tells you, you know, he's
21:17 fooling around, but I love him so much I let him do it.
21:28 Sorry, say that again. And with tears in her eyes, she would
21:35 tell you how she loved the boyfriend so much
21:41 that she allows him to do these things because she loves him. He want to you
21:50 crazy man. But don't think he's that crazy because the day will come if he has not come
21:57 where some of you will go through this. And so you love your God with every inch
22:03 of your fiber. And that doesn't happen overnight. You fight to do this. It's not caught. It's taught. It's both. And
22:10 when the storm comes, you see clearer. And I'll tell you, you're happier.
22:17 Let me now just go to the next verse. Love your neighbor as yourself.
22:22 And you know, love is strange because women are better at this because
22:29 men men know how to men know how to talk a lot.
22:36 But women, they are very smart. They can size up. Women can smell or they're empathetic.
22:41 You can be charming, but you're not sincere. So, let us break this down a little bit. Now, this what kind
22:47 interesting. We're going to go to Leviticus. Now here again how is anchored you know twice is repeated I am
22:55 the lord that's coming again from what the the the the Hebrews understand this
22:60 is a recalling of the exodus I am the lord your god so this is what is the
23:08 first commandment so here loving your neighbor yourself is tied to that the second thing is we ask
23:15 ourself like we did for the first commandment how do you love god We now ask ourselves how do you love your
23:21 neighbor? He tells you how you love your neighbor. How do you do it? By not perverting justice. By not showing
23:26 partiality, not showing favoritism, judging fine. Don't spread slander. Do I endanger his life? Don't hate his
23:32 brothers. Blah blah blah. You notice why that's interesting? Because if you ask
23:37 us how do you love your neighbor? You I spend so much time with him. You know, I give him so much money. I go and be such
23:44 a good friend to him. I listen to him. I love him so much.
23:50 That's not what Leviticus is telling you. You don't do any of this, you are not
23:56 loving your neighbor. Suddenly, it takes on a whole new dimension. One of the most profound
24:03 books ever written. I I've read a bit of it is this book by a Jewish theologian called Martin Bubber. Quoted by a few
24:09 theologians, a few Christians have picked him up. Car Bath picks him up. And he's has a very simple proposition.
24:16 Everything in life is about relationship. You take away relationship, life has no meaning. I think that's quite biblical. And
24:22 relationships between people, he calls it is between I and thou
24:29 is an interesting proposition. He was a very very good Jewish scholar. So let me just put it to you in a simple
24:36 relationship. I and thou, me and you. Now it's quite interesting
24:45 because he says human beings instead of looking as me and you and you here the
24:52 way Martin Bubble takes it is that you are in the image of God when I see you I
24:60 see you in a relationship in the image of God that's the first commandment
25:05 coming behind me every time I'm talking to you I mean when I'm connecting to you
25:10 but what most of us do is not I and thou, it's I and it.
25:19 Wow, that's a strong word, you know. And he says we look at people
25:26 not as people but as objects. We dehumanize people.
25:33 How do we do that? Because we break the Leviticus commandment. How do we break
25:39 it? This is how we break it. I break it when I use you.
25:46 I break it when I manipulate you. I break it when I'm so dependent on you
25:53 for my life. You are basically my bank. You are
25:59 basically my crutch. I break it when I exploit you. I'm very nice to you, but
26:05 I'm paying you peanuts. I break it when I slander you and when I'm threatened by
26:10 you. Let us pull this off a little bit. You love your neighbor.
26:18 How many of us know the uncle, the Indian uncle at the guard house?
26:28 How many of us know the auntie who is the caretaker for the Chinese
26:34 congregation? How many of us when we go to the office in the morning, go to the secretary,
26:41 take a whole thing to think, dump it there and walk off. That's not loving your neighbor.
26:48 You have just made them invisible. Now flip the other side. I'm an
26:54 architect. Sometimes you go out for and
27:02 hey all BS they are not interested in having dinner they just interested in show me the
27:09 money it's fake is using one another whether it's one
27:14 side so what what Leviticus is telling you is that the world is wired on a
27:21 commodity and commercial transactional relationship
27:26 And why the first commandment says wholeheartedly is because we tend to compartmentalize our life. Here's a very
27:33 simple test. You know, list down
27:39 your friends you hang out with. List down who you are close with. You
27:46 find none of these are in the list because you're using all of them. or if
27:53 they're on a list, they are there because you want something from them. So, Leviticus is trying to tell you this
27:59 is how you love your neighbor. It's beyond is beyond just being kind to people.
28:05 Now, I want to spend time on one particular clause in the Leviticus commandment which we all overlook. It's
28:13 very sensitive point but very important and Matthew picks it up. Let me pick out
28:19 one which really is interesting. You know how you love your neighbor?
28:26 You love your neighbor by rebuking them. Oh, that one dangerous, man. How many of you rebuke somebody lately? Hey, Anna,
28:34 I'm coming over to rebuke you. Hallelujah. You love me. I can't wait
28:39 for you to rebuke me. What time you coming over? Yo, God. God, God doesn't happen.
28:47 What? I know I need to talk to you. say uh
28:53 not freer. Okay. Can can can I make sure Peter's around? You see where we're going for this? So, let's let's spend a bit of
28:59 time on this. Now, I want to give you a bit of again look at the end of the
29:04 Matthew text. He says something interesting. All the law and prophets, the whole Torah hang on these two
29:11 commandments. What we fail to realize is that Matthew picks this up repeatedly.
29:17 He sees it in Matthew 5 again. Do not think I've come to abolish the law prophets, but to fulfill them. Matthew
29:25 7. So in everything, do to others what you have them do to you. That's that's the second commandment of Matthew.
29:31 That's what we read. For this sums up the law and the prophets. So what is he trying to tell you? To love your Lord
29:37 your God with all your heart, your mind, all your soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Basically is the DNA of
29:45 Matthew. Now this is very important. Why? Because when you read a verse like
29:51 Matthew 18, you have to read 15-20
29:58 in the context of loving your neighbor and loving God. And I want to humbly
30:03 propose a lot of us fail to do this. I know very few people who can do this.
30:10 That's just my humble opinion. I'm going to give example of this. Now why again this is reinforced? Because you look at
30:17 Matthew 18 after verse 20, you go to 21:22, Jesus talks about forgiving
30:24 your brother who sins against you. The verse before that, he talks about the lost sheep. So Matthew 18 is couched in
30:32 the language of what? Of loving your neighbor. So let me just tell you the proposition. Number one, we often don't
30:39 know how to give rebuke in love. And number two, we often don't know how to
30:44 receive rebuke in love. Here, here's one example from the heart.
30:51 Somebody come up to me, hey, you know, I heard that uh uh say sorry today just
30:59 you have grace, this fellow really one kind one very
31:04 very whatever whatever. Okay. Okay. So I go together and hey you didn't someone told me you are very like that like that
31:10 like like that. So you didn't reject react he got problem he should talk to me. Matthew 18 why he talk to you?
31:18 Matthew 86 you come and talk to me correct or not now know you you you pause and think about it that whole
31:24 conversation has a few issues you know nothing to do you then but let me just
31:29 example the point is you ask yourself was this whole thing done in loving your neighbor
31:37 so you can get the get the text right but you can be a Pharisee about it no so if someone tells me yeah you got problem
31:44 he should come and talk to me what's his problem he got problem why you going to You can't talk to me like Matthew 18
31:50 says come you talk you who dare to talk to you like that man that's not loving
31:55 your neighbor because it's like huh correct or not that's one number two
32:02 I'm exercising Matthew 18 I come up to you you are such a terrible preacher Anna what you see so is so stumbling I
32:09 tell you oh is that in love that's not in love either so that's why the text is so important
32:16 the context is we don't know how to give it in love. We don't know how to receive
32:22 it in love or Martin Bouber will say you have just re we have just changed from I
32:27 and thou to I and it and he tells us this and Peter Scazaro
32:34 gives a very very good way of breaking this down. He says you got to look at this between us when you come to a
32:42 confrontation remember that space is sacred. Again, Matthew 18 tells you when two and three are gathered, you are in
32:49 your place. Put it in simple English, it calls this a what we call a redemptive
32:57 relationship. So why Matthew 18 very often fails is
33:03 because subconsciously we don't come with grace. We don't come with
33:09 forgiveness. We don't come with reconciliation. We come to huntam one another.
33:16 Correct or not? We don't know how to give it. We don't know how to say it. Let me break this down because Leviticus
33:23 gives you many ways of going around it. Number one, let me read for you for poor trip. He says the truth is we fail to
33:31 confront not because we love others too much. And here's the key. Because we love ourselves too much. We just don't
33:38 realize it. We fear others misunderstanding us or being angry with us. We are afraid of what others will
33:45 think. We don't want to endure the hardship of honesty because we love ourselves more than we love our
33:51 neighbors. And here's here's the thing I want us to pause. You and I are blind to this. You know,
33:58 if I sell you or I do this, we say no. What's the difference between a
34:03 physically blind person and a spiritually blind person? Let me tell you the thing. A spiritually blind person cannot see his blindness.
34:12 We cannot see it. I'm going to give a few areas later what things we cannot see. Yet we know the depth of love in a
34:18 relationship can be judged by the degree of honesty that exists. Biblical rebuke
34:24 is motivated by the second great command. Now let's break down levitators. Number one, how do you
34:32 rebuke your neighbors frankly? Number one, you judge your neighbor fairly. I have this problem because you get
34:38 emotional. So someone tell you something you know wow wow this fellow so you
34:44 really bang you know so you go to the guy you want to hunt down you see but you you we don't ask the right question.
34:52 So what scripture tells you is that maybe go to that person first and before you take a chair and throw at him ask
34:58 him why did you say what you said because there could be a simple space
35:04 you misunderstood me. So sometime when someone comes up to me and tell me you know
35:10 next timeh you don't do that. Wow I feel I want to whack the guy already because
35:15 humanly I say you don't even know what I did. I know what you did. So one and so
35:20 told me this is what you did. Hello brother. Maybe so and so to you.
35:26 He call you correct or not? So so here's the first thing. So so Leviticus tells us the
35:31 first thing is learn to ask correct questions. right questions. Here's the second one. He says, "Do not go about
35:38 spreading slander among your people." This one is our our acronym. What's ABC?
35:43 ABC is first and best at criticizing this church.
35:50 What did they build that thing? So stupid. Never think of safety. Never
35:56 think of that. Yeah, you're right. Email you. I heard ABCD. So stupid. So immoral
36:03 also. at one never think of safety. Oh, another person social media. So stupid,
36:08 so callous, so what? So immoral, so stupid. You know what I mean? We slander
36:14 people. And I'll tell you, we slander without thinking. Because again, let me
36:20 just be a bit depressing before I be encouraging. We are blind to our blindness. And I've seen brothers,
36:26 sisters instinctively just slander. Yeah, this meeting no meaning one. They never follow up. Yeah, why and and Chuch
36:34 Chong going and doing the mission v mission statement. A waste of time, you know, it's very hurtful
36:40 and we don't pause and think before we say now I have that problem because I got motor mouth so I'm guilty. So, so
36:46 let me not come let me come clean on you on that. Here's the third one. This one Paul trip really picks it up. In fact,
36:53 Paul Trip dedicates one whole chapter for this. He says this, "Do not hate a
36:58 fellow Israelite in your what? in your heart
37:04 or bear a grudge against everyone among your people brother honor
37:11 I don't hate you I love you really I love you then the next 3 months I see
37:19 you I turn the other way every time people bring out your name my face turn color
37:27 I I I've struck you off my son's wedding list I struck you off My whatever you
37:32 have become invisible is no longer I and thou is I and it. You see Paul is right
37:39 because Christians tend to be very fake. You know I supposed to love people m so I must hi how are you love you brother.
37:48 So we have a very subtle way of hating people and Paul says you want to show it
37:53 is how he demonstrates it. There were people from Pantai Baptist
37:60 Church which I had a lot of problem loving. I'll tell you the truth.
38:06 Last week I I WhatsApp somebody who I thought heard
38:12 me and I have not contacted him ever since we moved to Sububang.
38:18 And I prayed about it and I WhatsAppapped him and he was very
38:23 gracious. He was sent me back. Now it's a small thingh
38:30 but it shows the heart because until we we clear up all these little subtle sins
38:36 you know we become blind you know and we are not loving our neighbor and come on guys all of us have this all of us have
38:42 it don't hate the guy come on BS your actions don't show it it's a very subtle
38:49 grudge and like Peter Scazaro says it's right from the bottom you just see the surface
38:57 you put on a smile but inside there's a word it's just called resentment
39:03 so we have to owe up to this and so I thought one of the most interesting things uh poor trip advice he said look
39:11 because it's so difficult to do he says make it a lifestyle I say what you want
39:16 what everyday people come and tell me hey I think you what you do is wrong hey he said yes I thought it really radical
39:22 because if it happens so often you're used to it I I thought That's something we should digest.
39:29 Now I want to I want to give you one brother who's really doing it which I really love and this was brother Wong.
39:34 Where's brother Wyong? I'm going to embarrass him. I will tell you among all the people to
39:39 me he best exemplifies this. He called me up uh two weeks ago I want to talk to you. Oh you were scared man. So first
39:47 thing I say I'm not free you know. I'm not free. I'm not free. I had a long week. I don't
39:54 need another guy hunting me. after one week better.
40:01 So we had lunch in simple English he told me I don't like your servants
40:08 correct I don't like your servants but I will tell you
40:14 the way he said it you could not but love
40:22 I'm telling you I don't know how to explain it because
40:28 he sat me down. We had lunch at Chili's. He was so loving. You could see where he
40:33 was going for. Here's the best thing. After he told me everything why he didn't like my service, I said I didn't
40:39 I don't agree with you. Correct. He never agreed. But I left that lunch
40:45 feeling very loved. He
40:51 paid. But here I want to really take us through this. Okay. I I want to I want
40:56 to I want us to digest this and maybe the rest of the sermon I'm going to really just go through it quickly. Let me just tell you
41:04 rebuking is the missing key in our relationship. Oh yo
41:14 yeah but but let me tell you the the the you see we all on a journey to learn the
41:20 more we are able to give this in love and receive it in love we love God more.
41:26 So make this our culture. Make this our culture and loving others is always in
41:33 the context of redemptive relationship. And Paul Trip say this again embedded in a larger story of redemption is a
41:40 principle we must not miss. God uses ordinary people and what he did was very
41:45 ordinary but it was extraordinary to me. And little things like this just move you. Let me just end with this. It's a
41:52 long day. And the Luke text tells us something else. Same verse. Love the
41:57 Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind, your soul. Love your neighbor yourself. The same thing as the
42:03 Matthew text. And again, the Pharisee replies, "Who is your neighbor?" We are not going to go into the parable of the
42:11 good Samaritan. I want to end with this challenge to you. And the challenge is
42:16 this. Who is your neighbor? Who is your neighbor?
42:23 And Francis Chan had a great quote. Christians are like manual. I have a better word for it. I can't use it on
42:29 the pit though. Spread them out and they help everybody grow better. Keep them in
42:36 one big pile. They stink horribly. I thought that's fantastic, man. So guys,
42:42 you got to ask yourself whether you stink or not. You really got to ask yourself that. So why just close with
42:48 this because they all found in Matthew. The great commandment changes me to be able to carry out the
42:57 great commission and that's what sister Roomba is doing.
43:02 So we ask ourel who is your neighbor okay unless you love God wholeheartedly
43:08 you cannot love others properly. I want to worship him to come up. How and who you choose to love reveals
43:16 how much you really love God. Our anchor verse is this for you. I want
43:21 to I hope you live encouraged. God uses ordinary people to do external
43:27 things in the lives of others. And let me close with one man who took that road
43:34 and that road caused him. Loving others is a perilous journey.
43:44 You will get hurt but no price too high
43:51 than the God who died for us. Amen. Let's come before God in prayer as
43:57 we prepare our hearts for to receive.
44:02 Lord, we just want to say as we close, we love you so much.
44:12 And perhaps some of us sit here, we don't feel that love, but we will still declare in rejoicing,
44:19 we love you so much because of what you did on the cross for
44:25 us. And this come from a grateful heart.
44:32 Love your Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your
44:38 soul. That is the first commandment. And the second one is this. Love your
44:46 neighbor as yourself.
44:51 Teach us to just take this home today. And Lord, we are ordinary people,
44:59 but you will use us to do extraordinary things
45:04 in the lives of others if we can just love them
45:10 the way you loved us. And we say this in Jesus' name. Amen. And we
