Wednesday, February 5, Childcare at Leawood, West, Overland Park will not be open during morning due to local public school systems announcing late arrival schedules. All church buildings will operate on regular schedule. However, at Leawood, West and Overland Park, programs requiring childcare will not be held prior to noon Wednesday.
On Sunday, February 9, we’re moving our regular 5 pm worship service to 4 pm so everyone can get home in time to watch the Chiefs play in the Super Bowl.
8 Don’t be in debt to anyone, except for the obligation to love each other. Whoever loves another person has fulfilled the Law. 9 The commandments, Don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t desire what others have [Exodus 20:13-15, 17; Deuteronomy 5:17-19, 21] and any other commandments, are all summed up in one word: You must love your neighbor as yourself [Leviticus 19:18]. 10 Love doesn’t do anything wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is what fulfills the Law.
Paul sent this letter to Roman house churches (there were no big Christian cathedrals in his time). Some house churches were mainly Jewish, others mostly Gentile. Their standards of “righteousness” varied (cf. Romans 14:1-15:13). It was easy for them to criticize each other. Paul said the purpose of God’s law or rules is to help us love. Love, he said, isn’t just one command among many, but the essence of all God’s instructions. “Love is not a ‘soft’ option, but the hardest thing of all.” *
Lord Jesus, “love is what fulfills the Law” sometimes feels too easy to me. Until, that is, I try to do it—then I realize how high and hard a standard that is. Teach me how to love the way that you love. Amen.
Darren Lippe serves as a Couples Small Group co-leader & Men's Group Leader, while volunteering in a variety of other capacities at Resurrection. He and his wife, Doris, first met in a Resurrection Single Adult Sunday School class in 1997 and were married in what is now the Student Center. They are empty nesters with 2 college-aged sons, Matthew and Jacob.
Today’s passage offers us a daunting challenge. We aren’t just supposed to tolerate & endure the time spent interacting with “John Q. Public,” but we’re supposed to actually love them. Seriously? Did Paul ever meet the public? I liked it when a young lady asked a preacher, “Do we need Jesus to go to heaven?” He jokingly replied, “Honey, you need Jesus just to go to Wal-Mart.”
Well, if we are supposed to actually demonstrate Christian love to everyone we meet, what might that look like? Back in 2011, our Small Group participated in the trendy “Love Dare” challenge. This was a 40-day challenge for couples to understand & practice unconditional love. Each day had a devotion & a “to do” activity. For example, one day we were to ask our spouse what might be 3 things that we do that he/she thought were irritating. I recall telling my wife, Doris, that if she needed more time to try to come up with 3 annoying traits of mine, we could talk about it later that week. She quickly interjected, “Do you want it alphabetical or chronological? I can sort my spreadsheet either way.” (The list itself wasn’t so bad; it was the 4 tabs on the spreadsheet that was a tad disconcerting.)
Since we have 12 days until Election Day, let’s consider one “love challenge” for each of the 12 days:
Now if you’ll excuse me, the spreadsheet says I’m not very spontaneous, so I need to go make reservations for our “spur-of-the-moment” date night tonight.
* N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Romans Part 2. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, p. 89.