You First. I am Second.

Our world needs a re-defining of the word love. We use the word love in so many different ways that it has lost a lot of its definition. We say we love God, we love candy, we love sports, we love… and the list goes on and on. Now, obviously all of these statements don’t carry the same weight. So how do we know which level of love is being used when we hear something along the lines of, “For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son.” With it being the valentine’s season, we need a re-defining of the word love.

I can think of no better illustration from my own life than my mother’s love for me as a little boy. I was eight years old and it was mother’s day. Our family had just finished rebuilding from the 1996 flood and my parents decided to throw a mother’s day celebration to honor the mothers in our family while simultaneously celebrating the completion of our remodel. With all of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins coming we had around fifty people packing into our house. It didn’t take long for all of us kids to find our way to the new sidewalk that circled all the way around the house. Out came the bikes and a challenge was issued. First person to ten laps would be the winner and have bragging rights over everyone. My older cousin was a motocross kid, so to beat him would have been awesome. That became my goal. 

We reached the seventh lap and I was in second place behind the one person I wanted most to beat. I couldn’t manage to edge around him. Every time I tried to pass, I found myself blocked. There was one corner on the river side of the house that was quite a bit wider than the rest of the track. I went for the outside and hit it hard. For a split second it looked like my trick had worked. I was moving around him when the bike went out from under me. As soon as the bike hit the ground it stopped but I did not. I went flying over the handlebars head first into a boulder the size of a beach ball. What was a friendly race became deathly serious. I was unconscious and covered in blood. My mom, in her finest mothers day clothes, came sprinting over. Without a thought of herself, I was scooped up and rushed into the house. Ice packs came out and an endless pile of washrags were used. It turned out to not be so serious; just a cut on the side of my head and a concussion. But, my mom chose to spend the rest of the party taking care of me. She chose to get me cleaned up before her. She chose me first in our relationship. That is the kind of love that I want to focus on. The kind of love that says you first, I am second. 

This was the type of love that was set up in the Garden of Eden so many years ago. Adam and Eve’s responsibilities were to rule over the earth and subdue it. Then in the cool of the evening, along would come God and they would spend time enjoying the fresh creation. God saw everything and it was good. Of course, we know that it didn’t stay this way forever. The fruit was eaten and sin, rebellion, and brokenness entered into the game. It wasn’t long until mankind no longer knew how to relate to God. The solution came in the form of commandments and rules. The intent of these rules was that we would once again learn how to live the way we were created. However, it is totally possible to follow all the rules on paper yet neglect the intent, which is what we see happen over and over throughout Israel’s history. God’s master plan was fulfilled in Jesus.

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Jesus didn’t come to take the law away but to be the fulfillment of the law. One of the reasons for Jesus voyage on earth was to show us what the law intended to do; to show us how to have a relationship with God.

The Pharisees were all about the rules. It was their way of life. So, one day they decided to ask Jesus what the most important rule was.

Matthew 22:36-40 ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

We tend to make the Bible really complicated. However, when we put it as simply as we can, the most important thing in the whole book in Jesus’ opinion is to love the Lord your God. If we get nothing else from the written word of God, we should get this.

Jesus goes on to say that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. In our culture, I think it makes more sense to say, “Love the people that we encounter in our daily lives as ourselves.” Why would Jesus include this as the second most important thing in all of God’s instructions? I believe it is because our relationship with God is personal; it cannot be seen. But, when we love the people that we encounter on a daily basis this is a visible expression of our love for God. As we find out who God is and continue to grow into who He has created us to be we can’t help but to spread this love to the people around us. It is a visible expression of who He is in us.

I also want to look at verse 40.

 ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Every instruction that God has ever given His people hangs on these two commandments. Without love for God and love for neighbor the rest of what God has to say cannot stand. Without love it falls apart.

To wrap this up I think it is appropriate to look at the Apostle Paul’s definition of the type of love that we are talking about.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. 

This type of love says I am not the most person in the relationship. This is type of love that Jesus shows us.

1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Jesus chose you over his own life. He chooses you first in his relationship with you. The creator of the universe chooses to love us unconditionally.

Hebrews 13:5 “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.

This is the type of love that we long for in our lives. As we allow God’s love to affect us from the inside out, we can’t help but to love the people around us in the way that God loves us.