When Jesus was asked to summarise the entire law, He chose to hang it on two primary commands:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and, you shall love your neighbour as yourself" Matthew 22:34-40
In saying this, Jesus was very much aware that both these commands had God at their centre. We can only truly love others when we love them for Christ's sake (Matthew 25:40). The means by which we glorify God is to love, because He is love (1 John 4:8). To love then is to imitate God, to glorify Him in our lives.
Our actions then must be the outworking of God's love poured out in our lives; our aim to fulfil His purpose for us is to love God and in loving God to love others. These actions fall into three main categories: Worship - our Godward acts, Witness - our world facing acts, and Edification - our actions to one another in the Church.
As we look towards God there are two areas we need to consider. Firstly, we are here specifically to praise God. God has planned that we offer up to Him our thanks and our adoration for who He is, and for what He has done. We must learn to truly delight in God and God alone (Psalm 34:4-8).
And yet this is only a part of what worship should mean to the believer. As the Samaritan woman did, we tend to associate worship with certain places and acts. Jesus' response to the Samaritan applies to us too (John 4:21-24). We are to be worshippers by nature, not by location. In other words, it is not where we are that governs our worshipping, but who we are. But we can't all divorce ourselves from reality and cloister ourselves away as monks or nuns to worship - and God doesn't intend us to.
"I appeal to you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Romans 12:1 RSV
Our entire lives should be lived looking to God, doing all that we do, whether it is through choice or by constraint (such as working for an employer) for God's pleasure and glory. Even a simple cup of water can glorify God in heaven! We must keep our eyes open to how we can present our bodies as a living sacrifice in every situation. This is our spiritual worship!
Someone once said that there are only two things we can do in this world and not in the next: win souls and sin. Only one of these is a legitimate pursuit for the believer! If we are to love God through loving others, then this must be the most vital act of love for those who are without Christ. It is not the only act of love: practical care is needed too. If we are genuinely seeking to please God in our love for others, we will be able to balance present practicalities of life with the ever present reality that "he who does not believe is condemned already" (John 3:18).
If God is glorified in His Church, then it is primarily in His act of salvation that He is glorified. We have the privilege of participating in the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who are lost - the unsearchable riches of Christ (Ephesians 3:9-10)! This is the mystery of the Gospel, which was hidden until Christ, but which has now been revealed in us. Christ's last words to His disciples were to command them, on His authority, to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20)! This is our participation in the mystery of the Gospel!
So, our proclamation of the Gospel and our practise of winning souls for Christ are the major world facing actions that the Church must take.
We not only need to speak out to the world at large, but as believers we must edify one another. The word 'edify' means to build up. As part of the family of God we are to bring one another to spiritual maturity. God's gifts to the Church included leaders for the purpose of
"the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:12-13
The main purpose of believers for believers is to build up to the stature of the fullness of Christ. Christ's command to the disciples in Matthew 28 was to make disciples, not just converts. To make the converts into disciples would involve "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20).
Edification itself may be broken up into three distinct areas: teaching, admonishing and encouragement. This sums up the entire Bible based process of disciple making, which Paul outlines in 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Teaching shows the right path, admonishing rebukes and corrects, instruction in righteousness encourages us on the right path.
We are to be taught the way in which we should go. Note that in biblical terms teaching is moral in nature and not merely information. This is why Jesus commanded the disciples to teach disciples to obey. The first Church was noted for its devotion to the apostles' teaching (Acts 2:42). As God's special people we are to behave in a special way - like Him! For this purpose we need to know what God is like and what He expects of us. We need to pass on God's family values. Paul commanded Timothy that what he had heard from Paul, he was to entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others (2 Timothy 2:2). Biblical teaching is also authoritative - it is not an optional extra (2 Corinthians 13:10, Titus 2:15).
If there is a right way and a wrong way for the child of God to live, then there must be some means of admonishing the wayward. In Matthew's Gospel Jesus outlined principles for dealing with those who had sinned (Matthew 18:15-20). More important even than the steps to be taken over sin is Jesus' promise that when we are doing this we are administering heavenly justice and that He is there with us when we do it! Of course, we must understand the need for love and care; the purpose of admonishing is correction and restoration (Galatians 6:1). Admonishing is vital when done God's way, but can kill a church when done vindictively or to condemn.
We are also to encourage one another. The Hebrews (Hebrews 10:23-25) were told to hold fast to their hope in Christ, and seek opportunities to stir each other up to love and good works. The whole purpose of meeting together is to fire us up and encourage us. Like coals in a fire we grow cold alone, but glow brightly when placed together. Encouragement includes sharing what God has done in our lives to help those who are struggling; it involves admitting when we need help, and being willing to accept help when offered.
