LOVE GOD; LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

There are two commandments here, which is made clearer in the Gospels according to St. Matthew and St. Mark. The first one is written in Deuteronomy 6:5, and to it Jesus linked the second, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, which is found in Leviticus 19:18.

As you know, we are frequently asked to pray for persecuted Christians, especially in China. A few days ago, I received an email from David Kilgour, MP for Edmonton. David forwarded to me a report of an interview with Chinese Christians. I want to read you the first few paragraphs. They gave me a very different perspective on the great commandments and I hope they do for you as well.

The interview was wrapping up when a reporter with the International Mission Board asked a prominent leader in the rapidly expanding Chinese house church movement how American Christians could pray for house churches in China. “Stop praying for persecution in China to end,” he responded, “for it is through persecution that the church has grown.”

“What astounding faith!” I thought when I heard the story. However, my admiration of his faith was quickly tempered by what he said next.

“We, in fact, are praying that the American church might taste the same persecution,” he said, “so revival would come to the American church like we have seen in China.”

The author of the article was deeply touched by this, and later in the article the following quotation appears:

Unless Christians leading the church in America change, and unless the church begins living out the magnetic attractive force Jesus had on the world, the Christian church in America will be completely marginalized within decades.

I believe that was written by one John Burke, some 25 years ago. We all know how close to reality his prophetic words have come, certainly in this country. Why? The short answer to that question is that too many Christians have stopped loving God as they are commanded by Jesus Christ to do.

Suffering, pain, the Cross.

That is where loving God as Jesus commands leads us.

That is where living our lives to the glory of God takes us.

If we are not prepared to go there, we do not love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength.

We will not be on fire for Jesus Christ.

And the Cross is reduced in our lives to a mere shape.

Two pieces of wood nailed together, bereft of Redemption’s glory.

But if we are prepared to go there, with God’s help, we will come to glorify God and to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength. And we will become a blessing to our neighbour, loving him as we are commanded by Jesus Christ to do. We may even show a little of Jesus to our neighbour and, with God’s help, lead him into the body of Christ.

Then we will see our Church grow here as it is under persecution in China.

Peter Jardine+

Trinity XIII, 2005