Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain;
for the LORD our God is holy! Verse 9
Matthew 22:34-40 The Greatest Commandment
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind...You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Verses 37-39
This is probably my favorite passage in all of Matthew. My entire philosophy of worship and the priorities of the church is derived from the answer Jesus gave this lawyer. If the church has the order right, it will be focusing on its relationship with God first, then doing the people-to-people stuff. Many churches try to make evangelism the most important thing they do. This gets the order wrong, and though they may wind up with a lot of members, they will be primarily spiritually shallow. First we love God, then we love others.
Jesus also did something else with this answer. He showed that, although he came to fulfil the law, he did not eliminate it altogether. He also reveals that love is primarily an action, not a feeling. And we cannot define love in a way that ignores God's law. "Any act the Bible forbids is not love." Paul says, in Romans 13:10, "Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
Acts 7:51-8:1
I'm not going to keep quoting the entire scripture reference here. That was kind of a trial thing. Too much typing.
This passage is the account of the stoning of Stephen after he pretty much blasted the Jewish authorities. The final straw was when he claimed to see Jesus standing at the right hand of God. The angry mob drug him out of town and stoned him to death. Saul, who would later become the most influential of God's apostles, stood and watched, approving.
I've read and heard other stories throughout my life of people like Stephen, who died because of their testimony for Christ. He called Jesus "Master" as he died. His actions proved that this was true.
These stories cause several reactions in me. One is that they make want to live a more consistent life for Christ, to the point that, if called for, I would die for him. Another is that they make me ashamed of my current testimony for Christ. Have I been a faithful enough servant that I would even be noticed if serving Christ became an offense punishable by death? I hope so.
Grace and peace, friends.