A Study of the commands from our Lord, Jesus the Christ.

Week 2, December 7th

I struggled on what to write about for this week. Multiple thoughts were competing for my attention. I went back to the title for this series: "and teaching them to obey". Open the link to the Blue Letter Bible's interlinear display of Matthew 28:20 in a separate browser window. This way you can switch back and forth easily between the word of GOD and this page.

This series is about getting you involved into understanding what Jesus our LORD was saying. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate teacher, I am a guide. I point you to the word of GOD. I am like a tour guide. This week's stop is "the Other Love Commands from Jesus".

Just like a tour guide, I will be pointing out what I have observed about obeying the commands of my LORD, Jesus. I am "teaching" or better "instructing" the "tour group". This "tour" is for people who believe that Jesus is "the Son of the Living GOD". To people who have accepted GOD's gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8).

Ok. That is the "tour group", the "Who". The "What" I am trying to teach/instruct is how does a disciple of Jesus "obey" the LORD's commands. What does that look like? When does a member of the "tour group" know that the command has been obeyed?

My answer: Follow with me as we "tour" the Word of GOD and explore the "HOW" of obeying the commands of Jesus. Be prepared to question me, as the tour continues along this exploration of the Word. Remember, this is an interactive tour. With the power of internet, you can pause the tour. You can linger on a verse. You can ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, to teach you, and then return.

Welcome to this week's stop: The Other Love Commands from Jesus.

Here are the other "Love" Commands from Jesus:

"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," Matthew 5:44 (NIV)

"But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you," Luke 6:27 (NIV)

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." John 13:34 (NIV)

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." John 15:12 (NIV)

As we begin our tour, I will point out that the first two verses, from Matthew and Luke, are really the same. Jesus gave his disciples, that would be you and me, a two part command. The first command is to love your enemies. The second part of the command in Matthew tells us we are to pray for those who persecute us. In Luke, the second part says to "do good". The Greek word used for "do good" in the Luke passage carries the meaning of treating those who hate or detest us with honor.

The last two commands both from the gospel of John carry the same meaning: Love one another as Jesus loves you.

All four verses have the command to love ("agapaō" in Greek). Two of the verses tell us to love our enemies ("echthros" in Greek). The other two tell us to love one another ("allēlōn" in Greek).

Who are our enemies? Simply put, the enemy is anyone that is opposed to GOD. Being opposed to GOD has many forms and ranges from disbelief (an atheist) to belief in a GOD that is different from the GOD described in the Bible.

When the LORD says one another, Jesus means to love other believers. In the Gospel of JOHN, Jesus is talking directly to his disciples at the Last Supper. When you accepted the LORD as your savior, you became a disciple. When you became a disciple, you became part of "one another"

As your tour guide, I feel it my duty to point out that every human (a.k.a. everyone) on this planet is either an enemy of GOD (non believer) or "one another" (believer). That tells me WHO I should love: everyone.

What I really want the Holy Spirit to tell me is: how I am to love everyone? What does that look like? How do I know that I have loved someone?

Your encounter with everyone will be different. Look at Jesus' life. Study how Jesus related to both types of people. Remember in the wilderness when Satan, an enemy of our LORD, tried to tempt Jesus? (see Matthew Chapter 4:1-11 (NIV). Jesus calmly answered each of the taunts from Satan with the word of GOD. Jesus met Satan's temptations with the truth. Jesus "loved" Satan by telling the truth.

Jesus' actions were a bit different when he met the people buying and selling in the temple (see Matthew Chapter 21:12-13 (NLT).) These individuals were turning a house of prayer into den of thieves. Jesus "loved" them by being zealous for His Father's house.

Contrast these two encounters with Jesus' dealings with believers. Jesus would heal them both physically and spiritually. (see Luke 18:35-43 (NLT).)

There is more that I would like to write but the tour is going to take a break till next week. See you then.

Return to: "and teaching them to obey"