Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

Look for Love

Bryan Schneider · March 19, 2022

Matthew 22:34-40

sharonrpc.org/sermons/look-for-love

Summary

Jesus summarizes the whole law and prophets through wholehearted love for God and love for neighbor as oneself.
Because the congregation is preparing to elect an elder, the sermon begins discernment with love rather than reducing qualifications to a detached checklist.
Love for God includes sound doctrinal content, submission of mind to Scripture, prayerful dependence, delight in God's Word, humility, and perseverance through suffering.
No candidate will love perfectly as Jesus does, but the church should seek a man whose life is being shaped into a recognizable Christlike pattern.
Love for neighbor appears in gentleness, sacrificial generosity, care for vulnerable and afflicted people, truthful correction, rejoicing, and shared grief.
Quiet, unadvertised service may provide stronger evidence of love than public visibility or self-promotion.
The congregation should beware candidates governed by love of money, power, influence, popularity, or praise rather than love of Christ and his people.
Jesus remains the perfect Shepherd; human elders must be evaluated charitably but seriously as imperfect men called to direct the flock toward him.

Why does Jesus say all the law and prophets depend on love for God and neighbor?
Why should love govern the way a congregation interprets the formal qualifications for an elder?
How do sound doctrine and living devotion belong together in genuine love for God?
What evidence shows that a man depends on God through prayer rather than merely knowing religious information?
How can Scripture stored in a person's heart equip him to nourish and guide others?
What quiet patterns of generosity, gentleness, grief, rejoicing, and correction reveal love for neighbor?
How do love of money, power, popularity, and praise corrupt spiritual leadership?
How can a congregation avoid both demanding perfection and excusing serious deficiencies in a candidate's love?

Greatest commandment: The command to love the one true God with the whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Love of neighbor: Seeking another person's real good with the same seriousness and care given to oneself.
Vital religion: Living communion with God expressed through faith, prayer, delight, repentance, endurance, and obedience rather than doctrine alone.
Orthodoxy: Faithful belief and teaching that submits to the truth God has revealed in Scripture.
Ruling elder: A church officer called to govern and shepherd alongside teaching elders through a distinct function of the same eldership.
Sacrificial care: Giving time, resources, presence, comfort, and truthful help for another person's good without seeking recognition.
Idolatrous love: A ruling attachment to money, influence, praise, or another created good that displaces devotion to God and neighbor.
Christlike pattern: An imperfect but credible life increasingly shaped by Jesus' wholehearted love and service.