Love God
In Matthew 22:34-40, Jesus boils down over 600 commands to two. The first is to love the Lord your God will all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. He calls this the great and foremost commandment. In other words, this is the main thing God expects from us. It is more primary and important than ‘thou shalt not kill’… We don’t kill people or sell cocaine to elementary school kids, which is good. But if we don’t cultivate deep, comprehensive, and intelligent love for God, we’ve ignored his primary wish.
This new year, I urge you (and myself) to spend time soaking in God’s word and responding in prayer; seeing his glory revealed in Scripture and growing close to him. There is no higher resolution we could make than to cultivate all-consuming love for God.
Love People
The second command is to love your neighbor as yourself.
He says that on these two commandments depend the whole law and prophets. In other words, all the rest of the Bible hangs on these two commands like towels on a hook. Or better yet, like a sail fastens to the mast and boom of a ship. In other words, this life that you’re creating, thread by thread, decision by decision, relationship by relationship, day by day, at work, at home, and at play will crumple as a useless cloth unless it is tied tightly to these two commands. Then it can catch wind and soar.
God and people. These are the only two things that will last and remain important. On the 10th floor of CMC Main yesterday, as a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and sister in Christ died – God and people were the only things that mattered. All the other concerns of the week seemed distant and minor.
You and I are designed for the glory of God and the good of people. Becoming a Christian is a prison break from the self, so we can live up to our design.
Make Disciples
In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus leaves his followers with a commission: Go therefore and make disciples… I believe that if we pour our energy into growing in love for God and people that we will make disciples. As God becomes our greatest adoration and other people become our primary concern, we will long to connect people to God through Jesus.
Disciple making is the best way to love God and people and this is what I long to see happen at Dulins Grove.
House to House Discussion Starters:
(Be sure to read the two passages before you start talking about them.)
1. Go around the group and share your new year’s resolutions.
2. What good things in your life tend to choke the best things (loving God and people)? What about in our church?
3. How can we cultivate deep (heart), comprehensive (soul), and intelligent (mind) love for God (as individuals, families, H2H groups, and a church)?
4. How can we cultivate selfless love for those around us (as individuals, families, H2H groups, and a church)?
5. Do you think it is right to prioritize who we love (i.e. wife before kids before next-door-neighbor), or should we just love indiscriminately?
6. Researcher Ed Stetzer found that many churches die due to lack of deep relationships between members. How would you rate Dulins Grove’s relationships? What can you do to improve on this?
7. What does it mean to make disciples?
8. If this is our top ambition as Christians, how should a church be structured to best pursue it? What should the pastor do? What should the members do?
9. How does all this effect the way we gauge success as a church?
10. How can your group pray for you this week? Pray together.
