SERIES:
BEING A GREAT PERSON FOR A GREAT GOD
Mark 12:31; Selected Scriptures
By
D.Z. Cofield, Th.M, D.Min.
May 29, 2022
Scripture
1 John 4:11-21 (ESV) – Beloved, if God so loved us, we also
ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we
love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in
us. 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us,
because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and
testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the
world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God
abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and
to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and.
whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17
By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have
confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also
are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love
casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever
fears has not been perfected in love.
How To Give God’s LOVE To OTHERS, Pt. 1
1. You need to realize The LORD COMMANDS you to
LOVE your NEIGHBOR.
Mark 12:28-31 (ESV) – And one of the scribes came up and heard
them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered
them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important
of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel:
The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other
commandment greater than these.”
Love –
2. You need to understand WHO your NEIGHBOR is to
understand who you are to LOVE.
Mark 12:31 (ESV) – The second is this: ‘You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater
than these.”
Neighbor –
How To Give God’s LOVE To OTHERS, Pt. 2
1. You need to understand what it means to love
YOURSELF so you can properly LOVE your neighbor. Mark
12:31 (NKJV) – And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater
than these.”
A. You need to understand loving yourself is an
ASSUMPTION and the STANDARD for loving others.
Mark 12:31 (ESV) – The second is this: ‘You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater
than these.”
B. You must understand the difference between
“loving YOURSELF” and being a “LOVER of SELF.”
2 Timothy 3:1-5 (ESV) – But understand this, that in the last days
there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self,
lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their
parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous,
without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous,
reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers
of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its
power. Avoid such people.
Lovers of self –
Loving someone as yourself –
Philippians 2:3-4 (NLT) – Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress
others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4
Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in
others, too.
Acts 20:35 (ESV) – In all things I have shown you that by working
hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words
of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give
than to receive.’
James 2:14-16 (ESV) – What good is it, my brothers, if someone
says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save
him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily
food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed
and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body,
what good is that?
James 4:17 (NRSV) – Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to
do and fails to do it, commits sin.
1 John 3:17-18 (NRSV) – How does God’s love abide in anyone
who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need
and yet refuses help? 18 Little children, let us love, not in word or
speech, but in truth and action.
Questions to Consider
1. Who in history would be the most difficult person for you to
love? Why?
2. What is the name of your neighbor?
3. Are you comfortable in loving your neighbor? Why or why
not?
4. Why is it so important to God for Christians to love all
people?
5. Is it difficult or easy to show the grace and mercy of God to
those you don’t like? Explain.
6. Do you think it’s easier to love people or do religious
practices and works? Explain.
7. How much less or more would be invested in buildings and
facilities if people who needed our compassion were our
ministerial priority?
8. What about the Parable of The Good Samaritan challenges
you the most?
9. What can you do to make sure you love yourself in a
healthy way and are not a lover of self?
10. What are some specific ways you can show love today to
someone you like? Someone you dislike?
Bonus
Identify 3 things you can do this week to begin reaching out and
getting to know one of your neighbors.