Be Good for Goodness Sake -By Brother Chuck
If you think being a Christian is all about being good. You're flat out wrong!
By Brother Chuck
Being a Christian is all about loving God and loving your neighbor to heaven! Did you hear what I said? Let me say that again. I want this to sink in just a little bit. Because everything in the whole Bible hinges on this statement. Listen now, "Being a Christian is All About Loving God... and Loving Your Neighbor to Heaven." Jesus said it! I didn't. Read on! When you love your neighbor enough to love him to heaven, you'll soon realize your influence is the reason he became a Christian in the first place. Then you'll realize your influence is also the reason he's on his way to heaven. After that, you'll finally figure out that God is actually using you of all people, to reach the lost and to make heaven a little larger. You'll be humbled by that. And now because you finally figured all that out, you'll want to be good. You'll try hard to be like Jesus. After all, God is using you and the last thing you'll want to do is shipwreck your witness to your neighbor. You'll strive to be holy. (1 Peter 1:16)
One day Jesus was debating with some Sadducees about paying taxes and resurrecting from the dead. The Sadducees were teachers of the law and they didn't believe in a resurrection of the dead. Some Pharisees were also there and they had heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees with his reply.
The Most Important Commandment
"But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?" Jesus replied, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:34-40 NLT)
Being a Christian isn't about being good. You could never be good enough. Being a Christian is about loving God, the most important commandment of them all and loving your neighbor, an equally important commandment. These two commandments summarize all the laws and commands in Scripture. The Old Testament alone contains 613 commandments (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-613-mitzvot-commandments). Do you think you could obey them all? They couldn't in Biblical times. So God narrowed it down to his top ten. Maybe you heard of them, The Ten Commandments? They couldn't obey them either and neither can you. When Jesus was asked by another Pharisee how one could "inherit eternal life," Jesus didn't say keep all 613 commandments found in the Torah. No Jesus said it is by keeping these two commandments (Luke 10:25-37) Love God. Love your neighbor. How important are these two commandments? There's none more important.
"Love your neighbor" Jesus said, spoken by a man whose neighbors mocked him. They picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself. His neighbors put a sack over his head and with their fists they beat him mercilessly. "Love your neighbor," he said. Jesus' neighbors whipped him with a flagrum. This flagrum had several thongs with pieces of metal and bone attached. A flogging like Jesus received literally ripped pieces of skin and flesh from his backside. On more than one occasion they tried to kill Jesus and eventually they succeeded in their murder by nailing him to a cross. Oh it was all perfectly legal. The Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate found no fault in him. But yet he ordered him flogged and he let them crucify him anyway. He was found guilty on false charges. His charges? They only brought three charges against Jesus. One charge they said, "This man loves sinners." That was the first one. The second charge they said, "he healed on the Sabbath day". And the third charge against him, he claimed to be the son of God. "Love your neighbor," Jesus said. Think you could love those kinds of neighbors? Jesus did. And He demands that we too love our neighbors, and live that kind of life just as he himself lived that kind of life. "Pray for those who persecute you." he said, shortly before he pleaded with the Father to forgive his murderers for they know not what they do. "Love your neighbor" he said, and he certainly did.
Love God; love your neighbor. It seems like a simple message. Loving God means keeping his commandments (John 14:15). Loving your neighbor means loving them to heaven. It is a fact that anyone who dies without Jesus in their heart, will die in his sins and he will face eternity in hell. That's just the fact of the matter. It is another fact that we who are Christians have been forgiven. We have eternal life. And it's all because of our neighbors who loved us enough to share the gospel with us. Therefore, don't you think, we owe it to Jesus and to our neighbors to lovingly share with them the good news of Jesus Christ? Tell them the story! It's the greatest story ever told.
"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Romans 10:15 NIV)
Be sure to check out the video below. It's pretty good!
Video Source: The Lumo Project
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