Love God, Love Others
Rusty Wirt   -   January 14, 2024

Title: Love God, Love Others

Main Verse: Gen 1:26-27

 

Our best expression of Loving God, is by loving His Church and loving other people toward the church.

 

Key Thought: 

God commands us to love others. But this command (as all of God’s commands) has an undergirding principle underneath it. We love people because people have an inherent value already ascribed to them by God the moment they are born.

 

Metaethic- how do we know what is right and what is wrong?

Metaethics is a branch of analytic philosophy that explores the status, foundations, and scope of moral values, properties, and words. It answers this question: why are some things right and other things wrong?

 

Consider the Following:

If you remove God from the equation, you undermine the metaethic that provides the basics of value for individual humans. For if there is no God, then the following things can be said about humans:

  1. Humans are only bodies, without the sense of self, mind, or soul.
  2. Humans have no free will.
  3. Humans have only prescribed value, not inherent value.

If you find these ideas very unsatisfying (or perhaps terrifying), then you should consider the Biblical understanding of human value and dignity.

 

Supporting Points: Gen 1:26-27, 3

 

  1. We are created by God in His Image
  2. We are called by God to rule (1:26, 28)
    1. Have dominion.
    2. Rule
  3. We are damaged by breaking God’s rules (Gen 3:1-24)
    1. We receive God’s rules (vs. 1-2)
    2. We are given a lie about God’s rules (4-6)
      1. Something can seem good, pleasing and acceptable but still be in disobedience to God’s expectations.
      2. Each temptation we receive is only partly true.
    3. We are healed by God’s decisive action (vs. 15, 21)

 

Conclusion:

Romans 5:12-17

 

 

Application:

At our Church, we believe that

  • Every human being bears God’s image
  • Every human being bears sin’s stain
  • Every human being can be healed
  • Thus every human being deserves our love.

 

TALK IT OUT:

  1. Pastor Rusty reminds that the command to love others has a foundational principle under it, that we are to love others because every person has inherent worth given to them by God. Everyone wants others to recognize they have worth. How can you show others they have value?
  1. Genesis 1:26 makes the point that we are created by God in His image. How should realizing everyone is created in God’s image change our attitude toward others?
  1. Genesis 3:1-24 reveals the details of humanity’s fall. Though we know God’s rules, each of us has a tendency to break those rules. Pastor Rusty points out that our temptations are always based on partial truths. Think back to some of the temptations you have given into in the past. What lies did you believe that got you into trouble? How can understanding past temptations prepare you for future testing?
  1. Take a moment and thank God for Jesus’ sacrifice which makes forgiveness possible for us.