Keep It Simple
April 5, 2016
John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The Ten Commandments teach two basic principles: Live your life with a reverence for God and respect for other people and their property. Here it is as if Jesus adds an eleventh commandment, and says, “Love people.” He doesn’t offer this as a suggestion or a recommendation. It is a command. He didn’t say, “Please try to love others; I prefer you to love others; it would be nice if you would love one another.” No, He said, “I give you a command, Love one another.” What He is reminding us is that Christianity is all about loving God and loving people. Keep it simple. Don’t clutter Christianity with a bunch of stuff. Love God and love people. Tradition says that when the disciple John became so old and weak that he could no longer work, he would ask to be carried to the front of the church where he would content himself with the preaching of a five word sermon. Little children, love one another. When someone grew weary of hearing the same sermon every week, they asked him why he was hung up on this one thing, and he said, “Because it is the Lord’s command, and if only this is done, it is enough.” And he was right; it is enough. God commands us to love as He loves us, unconditionally, sacrificially, generously, selflessly, truthfully because this kind of love is what changes beasts into beauties, moves the lost to be found, the hopeless to be filled, the dead to come alive, heals broken hearts, breaks down walls of meanness with humility, and mends what is broken. A new commandment I give, Love one another.” Let’s just love people today.
– Tim Thompson, Senior Pastor
The Ten Commandments teach two basic principles: Live your life with a reverence for God and respect for other people and their property. Here it is as if Jesus adds an eleventh commandment, and says, “Love people.” He doesn’t offer this as a suggestion or a recommendation. It is a command. He didn’t say, “Please try to love others; I prefer you to love others; it would be nice if you would love one another.” No, He said, “I give you a command, Love one another.” What He is reminding us is that Christianity is all about loving God and loving people. Keep it simple. Don’t clutter Christianity with a bunch of stuff. Love God and love people. Tradition says that when the disciple John became so old and weak that he could no longer work, he would ask to be carried to the front of the church where he would content himself with the preaching of a five word sermon. Little children, love one another. When someone grew weary of hearing the same sermon every week, they asked him why he was hung up on this one thing, and he said, “Because it is the Lord’s command, and if only this is done, it is enough.” And he was right; it is enough. God commands us to love as He loves us, unconditionally, sacrificially, generously, selflessly, truthfully because this kind of love is what changes beasts into beauties, moves the lost to be found, the hopeless to be filled, the dead to come alive, heals broken hearts, breaks down walls of meanness with humility, and mends what is broken. A new commandment I give, Love one another.” Let’s just love people today.
– Tim Thompson, Senior Pastor