Last month I wrote about the attacks on Christianity we constantly witness. Along with those who choose to misrepresent the Gospel of Christ. Some of these attacks and false witnesses are ones we’ve created and brought upon ourselves. As believers, we have some work to accomplish in our hearts and with our words. It begins with understanding God’s two greatest commandments, which we learned intertwine to function beautifully as one.
I think John Newton summarized the two greatest commandments well when he said, “Christ has taken our nature into heaven to represent us; and has left us on earth, with his nature, to represent Him.” Christ’s two greatest commandments explain how we represent him to our neighbors.
Out of the hearts of those who loved God and put love into action came the key to evangelism.
But who is our neighbor? Has the definition of neighbor changed since the days of the early believers? Plus, what role does the Holy Spirit play in evangelism?
Who is My Neighbor?
Often in the early church, physical needs existed for survival, such as food, clothing, and shelter. Fast-forward to present-day America, and our “neighbor” looks pretty well-fed, dressed, and housed. Unless we leave our communities, most of us won’t find the same physical needs addressed in the New Testament. That doesn’t mean we abandon our neighborhoods, but we explore other ways to serve them with the love of Christ. Or create social opportunities to develop relationally with our neighbors.
The early church was a message-led church, not an organization. The message of the gospel spread to others by how each person lived, worked, and served one another. A daily lifestyle of people who lived in close proximity to each other.
The Bible lists over two thousand verses on poverty. We pass over them as if they did not exist. Yet through the Holy Spirit’s guidance, those who wrote the Bible stressed the needs of the poor. The needs of the poor are even greater today. “Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27).
Because we read so much about Paul, the disciples, and a few key others regarding their part in the gospel’s spread, we can overlook the many who were coming to Christ and making their own contributions. We live in a different world now, at least in America. Though the gospel message still travels the same way, from person to person.
Loving your neighbor requires connection; the more personal, the better.
In Luke 10:25-37, we have another account of the two greatest commandments. Jesus loved to tell stories when answering others, not only to illustrate a point but to cause us to think! In this story of the Good Samaritan, he wants the expert in religious law to recognize that everyone is our neighbor. We are not limited by distance, race, or economic standing. Our neighbor is simply someone in need!
God extends his compassion to those who lack hope and asks us to count them as neighbors.
The church is also our neighbor. Though most of us don’t attend a church within five minutes of our home. Reggie McNeal relates in his book, Missional Renaissance, that we make church our destination versus a place of connection. “The destination is life. Abundant life is lived out with loved ones, friends, and acquaintances in the marketplace, in the home, in the neighborhood, in the world.”
How involved in relational living with church members are we? That should be the easiest environment in which to find connections. If we’re failing within the church to build community, we’re likely failing even more outside the church. Becoming relational inside the body of Christ and without is paramount to the continuance of the gospel.
Christ’s two greatest commandments become the foundation for all our relationships.
We can go back to the Old Testament before Jesus spoke out loud the first great commandment; God had already declared it. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7). These verses are all about the time, means, and priority of relationships. They communicate to us the very best of life as God intended for us in this world. Primary is that God earnestly desires to dwell deeply within our lives, so his truths pass on from generation to generation.
How did we make such a muck of things from where the early church began? When the gospel spread like wildfire. I’ll offer just one response to that complex question. In short, we set aside the two greatest commandments. In its place, we moved away from the world into private, self-centered, religiously separate, exclusive lives, and sub-cultures. John 17:13-19 explains that we are not of the world, but Christ has sanctified us, given us his truth, and placed us in it.
We’ve become too good at separating our church-centered communities from modern society.
We can’t afford to wait or expect people to show their faces in our churches. The same Holy Spirit living in you on Sunday morning lives in you throughout the week. He is powerful, ready, and eager to show himself through you to those you encounter.
The Holy Spirit
Christianity is nothing outside of the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer!
Those who struggle with “loving God and loving their neighbor” will always find the reason connected to the Holy Spirit. We live and breathe our faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.
When we love one another, we perfect God’s love in us. The Holy Spirit is evidence of God living in us and us in God. (1 John 4:11-13).
When God stresses the importance of loving with all our heart, soul, and mind, nothing separates us from experiencing him. Romans 5:5 states, “And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” We are not just acquainted with God’s love; it saturates us through the Holy Spirit. Paul expressed it in a different way, but with the same intent when he said, “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain” (Philippians 1:21). He was expressing this all-encompassing life in Christ in the present and in the future.
We know the Holy Spirit is not stingy! He is more than willing to give generously to those who ask for the power and filling of the Holy Spirit to proclaim God’s Word. (Acts 4:31). Remember, it is the Holy Spirit who goes before us, testifying on our behalf. (1 John 5:6)
Christ’s two greatest commandments always require the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I’ve learned a lot from this two-part study on the two greatest commandments. I leave you with several questions to ponder.
What if we just—stopped—from whatever we normally do throughout the week and discovered people to talk to, give to, and love? That’s what Jesus did; he stopped for others.
What if loving God and loving others became not only the core of our existence, but the channel by which others can know him too?
What if Christ’s two greatest commandments, through the power of the Holy Spirit, became our greatest testimony to the world?