Love: a distinctive feature of the heirs of the Kingdom of God
Matthew 22: 36-40
“Which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. “
John 13: 34, 35
“A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. “
John 15:12, 17
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
This is my command: Love each other”
The Gospel has a tremendous power to transform our lives into His own image.
This is our status in Jesus Christ! We are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.(Gal 4:6)
Because you are his sons and daughters for God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” (Gal 4:6)
So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. (Gal 4:7) In other words you are a Kingdom citizen in the Kingdom of God.
By believing in Jesus Christ we are privileged to become a child of God and to become an heir of the Kingdom of God. Therefore we should live an appropriate life as we are inherited of the Kingdom of God.
As an heir of God and the citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are supposed to bear the fruit of the Spirit in a totally different culture which is the culture of the Kingdom of God.
That's why Paul urged us to bear the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:23 as heirs who have received the Kingdom of Heaven. As we are walking with the Lord, we should bear the fruits of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
As we live as an heir of God's Kingdom, these inner fruits of the Spirit will bear fruit in our lives. When we truly understand who we are in Christ Jesus, then we will be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. And we will be living as a Kingdom Focused Leaders in a different culture, which is the Jesus Culture.
In the past we were sinners, but we were transformed from our sinful natures into a new creature by the resurrecting power of the Holy Spirit. We became a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
Then what is a distinctive feature of a Kingdom citizen? We are to live by the principles of the Kingdom of God which are described in Matthew 5 to 7 that is the Sermon on the Mount.
In Romans 12:6 Paul tells us that the fruit of love will be shown in the lives of born again Christians as this; they hate evil by adhering to goodness and they devote themselves to their fellows in their brotherly and sacrificial Love. By doing so, they bear the fruit of Love.
The very distinctive character we can see among the heirs of The Kingdom of Heaven is Love. With this love they are willing to sacrifice for their brothers and sisters with humble and gentle attitudes. They are willing to go the extra mile if someone asks them to go another mile and give away even their last penny if there is anyone who is suffering in poverty and starvation. They never skip over, pass by, overlook or neglect them. They are willing to participate in their suffering by stretching out their arms of love and compassion. This is exactly what Born again Christians show through their sacrificial love like Jesus and his disciples did.
We ought to bear the fruit of love as the heirs of the Kingdom of God.
Let us remember as we close our sermon. We are the heirs who have received the unshakable Kingdom of Heaven. This means that we are to live according to the Will of God. The Will of God is this. We are to love one another as God loves us. We've got to be aware of our status in this realm. We are the children of God, so that we should live as the princes and princesses of the King by bearing the fruit of Love.
So let us live according to His Calling of Love as His Sons and Daughters who have inherited the Kingdom of God. I pray that all of you will bear much fruit in Love and walk with the Lord by living under God’s sovereign guidance as His child.
