We are journeying through God’s word exploring ideas for what God’s vision is for His Church. Last week we saw the Church is blessed by God with the answer to the question, who do you say Jesus is. We, that is, the Church have come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord, the Messiah, the Son of the living God, as Peter answers in our Scripture story from last week. To be the Church God envisions, we are to take our answers to that question and be a blessing to others that they might also come to know Jesus as Messiah, Son of the Living God, Savior, Lord, Teacher, Comforter, Friend…and other responses we have for who Jesus is to us. It is upon the rock of this foundation—who Jesus is—that Christ will build His Church. And so the Church thanks God for this blessing and seeks to share it with others.

Today we find God’s vision for His Church in the words from Scripture known as the Great Commandment, Matthew 22:34-40. (Read)

You probably would not be surprised to learn that on several occasions this week the thought occurred, or actual discussion took place about using the Beatles’ song, "All You Need is Love," in worship today. Given our theme for today and my love for the Beatles’ music, that would be expected. There was even some whimsical musing about changing the words to more appropriately fit the setting. However, it went no further than that…for which you may be glad!

Actually, I attended a worship service once—it was a Presbyterian church in the city of a conference I was attending—that did use a Beatles song in worship. I arrived early, as I like to do, in order to walk around and scope things out a bit, see what I might learn. So, I arrived at worship a bit early. Their worship was in a "worship center," a large, open room with individual padded chairs. Looking around, I noted the area for their praise band, and for their choir. Browsing through their bulletin and announcements my eyes skimmed over and paid little attention to the title "Come Together" for their opening song, an "introit," or musical call to worship. Pretty soon more people began arriving and settling into their seats for worship, then some activity on the chancel, or stage, as the band and other leaders for worship began arriving. Then, the band began playing the opening song: Shoo, do, do, do, do, do…Shoo, do, do, do, do, do. It was immediately recognizable as the Beatles song, Come Together! And they did change the words—which is a good thing because the words to Come Together are pretty strange—"Here come old flattop, he come groovin’ up slowly, he got joo-joo eyeball, he one holy roller," and so on. "He one holy roller" being the closest thing to a church connection in the song. But, they changed the words. And the point was "come together" in worship over Christ, the one we worship. The problem was I couldn’t turn off in my head the Beatles version of that song with which I was more familiar. So…the discussion about using "All You Need is Love" went no further than whimsical.

But, let me begin by putting the theme for today in a more modern vernacular. God’s "default" is love. You won’t find that description in the Bible, at least not stated in that way. Biblical times didn’t have much concern for computer preset options! In fact, not so long ago, prior to the development of personal computers, one would not have heard God described that way. Before computers, "default" primarily meant the failure to do something—the failure to make a payment (defaulting on a loan), or the failure to compete in a sporting event (Roger Federer defaulted his tennis match because of injury). Today, however, the first definition listed is this: "default (noun), preset option, an option that will automatically be selected by a computer if the user does not choose one." It is a computer’s base setting. And so we might say in the vernacular of today’s computer world, God’s default setting is love. There is much we could say about God. God is compassionate. God is merciful. God is our refuge. And so on. But basic to the nature of God is this, God is love. It is love that fuels God’s compassion, God’s mercy, and all the rest. God’s default setting is love.

Therefore, the Church’s default setting should also be love. If we claim to be servants of God, if we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, the foundation behind all we do and say should be love. There are many layers to what makes up the Church, to what the Church looks like. But foundational to them all is love. Jesus affirms this when he responds that the greatest commandment is really two commandments whose common denominator is love. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind…and love your neighbor as yourself." Do that and you will have lived well. Do that and we will have been the Church God envisioned. One might say that the meaning and purpose for our lives is to love God and others. There are many layers that get added on to that, many layers that make up what that love looks like. But foundational to our lives is love, to love God and our neighbor as ourself. To be the Church that God envisions, our default setting must be love.

To begin with, Jesus tells us, our love is to be directed toward God. It is not a half-hearted love. It is a love that pours out of our entire being—heart, soul and mind. That is the importance of worship. Worship is our expression of love to God, our worship on Sunday morning in this sanctuary and the worship we offer throughout the week. When worshiping on Sunday mornings, bring all of your heart, your soul and your mind as you express your love to God for that is the greatest commandment.

The second, as Jesus tells us, is very much like it—love your neighbor as yourself. The Church, as God envisions it, will be known for its love. It makes sense. The God we profess to follow is the epitome of love. He is moved to act on behalf of His people because of His great love. His love is unconditional. If that is the God we serve, then we should be like that. Our love should be like that.

One could summarize the Bible with this theme of love. The Bible speaks over and over again of God’s love for us. God acts out of love. Even a book like Lamentations which draws its name from the writer’s lament as he contemplates the destruction of Jerusalem will note, "Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed." The most familiar verse in the Bible, John 3:16, begins with the words "for God so loved the world." Love is the theme of the Bible: God’s love for us and our response of love for God and for others. This is the reason for Jesus’ response to the question of what is the greatest commandment. "All the Law and the Prophets," in other words the Bible of Jesus’ time, "all the Law and the Prophets hang on those these two commandments."

And the New Testament adds to the theme. The apostle Paul points out the supreme importance of love in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13, the famous "love chapter." "Love is patient, love is kind." The sum of that chapter would be something like this: you can have all the greatest gifts possible for ministry—prophecy, persuasive speaking, philanthropy—but do not have love, then you have nothing. Nada! Love must be the foundation for all we do or say as believers. Thus, the greatest commandment, the sum of the Bible, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself."

Yet there is in hearing those words a gnawing sense of failure, isn’t there. Who can honestly say they love like that—loving God with all our heart, soul and strength, loving neighbors as ourselves? We don’t quite measure up to that level of love, do we? But we must try. Growing in our faith means much more than growing in our knowledge of the Bible. Foundational to growing in our faith means growing in our love…for God and for our neighbor.

Let me tell you how important this command to love is—aside from the obvious fact that Jesus cites it as the great commandment! I have grown weary, and deeply saddened, by the frequent responses I’ve heard recently from people who are distant from Christ and His Church that cite the primary reason for their distance being the failure of the Church to love. Oh, they don’t tell it in those exact terms—"the Church didn’t love me." But that is in essence what they’re saying. They speak of how they were treated—sometimes browbeaten for their failure to have the right kind of faith—or they speak of what they’ve observed in very unloving actions from those who proclaim to follow Jesus Christ, and it has driven them away from the Church and away from Christ. And we simply have to do better. Pray to God regularly that He would fill you with the kind of love He commands for His Church. Look for the examples of love in the passages of Scripture you’re reading, then reflect upon them and how they apply to your life. Soak in the love that God has for you so that it pours out of you in your interactions with others. Ask God to give you eyes to see like He sees so that your view of others, your attitude toward others is prompted, first of all, by Godlike love for them. That doesn’t mean you lower your standards and accept and condone any kind of behavior. Sometimes it is tough love, or we must speak the truth in love, but for God’s sake it must be evident that love is at the core of anything we do or say. It is time we stopped driving people away from Christ and His Church because of our lack of love and, instead, attract them to Christ and His Church because of our love. More powerful than any other words, more powerful than any other deeds are words and actions that sincerely express our love for God and for others.

Let me close with a word of caution. These two commands—love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself—are not one and the same. In other words, we don’t fulfill the command to love others by loving God—the error of the conservative wing of the Church—and we don’t fulfill the command to love God by loving our neighbor as ourselves—the error of the liberal wing of the Church. We are called to do both, love God and love our neighbor. They are similar commands—Jesus says the one is "like" the other—closely linked, intricately linked, but also two separate commands. Love God and love your neighbor.

That is God’s vision for His Church, that it would be first and foremost a place of love. Yes, He desires His Church be a place of inspiring worship, enlightening teaching, bonding community and helpful acts of service. But absent of love those things mean nothing. So the Church’s default position must be one of love—loving God with all our heart, soul and mind; and loving our neighbor as ourself.

Let’s take a moment for reflection, and at the very least I would hope you would use that time to reflect upon God’s love for you, thank Him for it, and ask Him to fill you with that kind of love for the sake of His Kingdom and for His Church.