Unfinished Beauty: Love Types “A” and “a”

Message by Dan
Davis

February 28, 2010

Guide by: Marc
McGowan

Connect

Matt 4:17 "Change your life. God's kingdom is
here."

1)    The message asserts that Jesus’ overall
theme in his teaching is “Change your life, Gods kingdom is here” What kind of
change has there been in your life because of the kingdom of God?

2)    Do you believe that all of the quotes from
Jesus in the bible are his actual words? Do you think it is essential that
these quotes be accurate or would a paraphrase be ‘good enough’?

3)    Would you agree or disagree with the
following statement: “Jehovah (God) 
is a God by the people, of the people and for the people?”

Discuss

Luke 13:18 Then Jesus asked, "What is the
kingdom of God like? What shall I
compare it to?

Matt. 13:31- He told them another parable: "The
kingdom of heaven is like a mustard
seed,

Matt 20:1- “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in
the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard.”

1)    Dan suggested that there was a difference
between making a decision to follow Jesus and being a disciple or student of
Jesus. How do you see this being true in our life and the lives of others?

2)    “To love your neighbor as yourself.” What
has this meant to you historically? How has your understanding of this changed
(if at all) in light of the message that this is the greatest commandment and
that the entire world is your neighbor?

3)    We are the image of God in the world. Is
this a good enough physical representation of an unseen God for us or does it
make it harder for us to see God through a humanity of broken people?

Challenge

The great
commandment written clearly is saying: Loving God is like Loving People.

James
2:8
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor
as yourself," you are doing right.

Gal
5:14  The entire law is summed up in a single
command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 

1)    If loving God is loving people how can you
love someone in your group tonight?

2)    What is it about your life that makes you
doubt God? Can you do something together as a group to strengthen you faith in
a present, real, available God?

Below is a link to the “what is Love” video by Haddaway if
you want to add a multimedia experience to you discussion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsCXZczTQXo 

3)    Dan suggested that some of us would defend
the idea that someone can love God but not people. What change needs to be made
in our lives to protect us from falling into this way of thinking or to help us
move away from it and into a move loving and compassionate faith?

James 3:9-12 [TNIV] With the tongue we praise our Lord and
Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's
likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and
sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the
same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a
grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

1John 4:20-21 [MSG] If anyone boasts, "I love God,"
and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a
liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't
see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving
people. You've got to love both.

Other scriptures from the message:

Mark 12:28-34 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening
to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all
the commandments, which is the most important?”

Jesus replied, “The most important
commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only
Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul,
all your mind, and all your strength.’ [Deut
6:4-5] The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor
as yourself.’ [Lev 19:18] No other
commandment is greater than these.”

The teacher of religious law
replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is
only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my
heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as
myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and
sacrifices required in the law.”

Realizing how much the man
understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And
after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Romans
13:8-10 Let
no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for
whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The
commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not
murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not covet,"
and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command:
"Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does
no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Mt 6:14-15 “If you forgive those who sin against
you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive
others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Matthew 25:31-46 Sheep & Goats- hungry, thirsty, stranger, needing clothes, sick,
prison- whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did
for me.

Exodus 32:2-6 Golden Calf- idolatry, or wrong attempt
at making the invisible visible

Genesis 1:27 So God created humanity in his own image,
in the image of God he created them. Male and female he created them.