Understanding Christianity ~ Part 1

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A scribe asked Jesus, “Which is the most important commandment of all?”  

Jesus, as a teacher of the law, was asked for a summary statement of the Judaic faith. Experts are asked to summarize their field of study in brief statements. Businesses refine their purpose with a simple motto of their vision statement. And individuals, like you and me, often consider their future in terms of basic achievable goals.

When the scribe asked Jesus about the most important Law, he was asking for a summary, a motto, and actionable goals — all in one.

What did Jesus say?. . . 

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31, ESV).

By giving a summary of the Judaic faith, by inference, since Jesus came to fulfill the Law, His teaching in Mark 12:29-31 summarizes Christianity as well. So, it’s important to understand exactly what Jesus said.

Okay, what did Jesus say?

He said that the Law and Christianity can be summed up in one word — Love (a simple motto) that is achieved by loving God, loving others, and loving self. A simple statement that brings all this together would be. . . 

Christianity is integrity relationships between us and God, us and us, and us and others! Or to simplify, let’s just say, “Christianity is Integrity Relationships!”

Integrity relationships sum up Christianity, with love as our motto, and actionable in how it affects all our relationships.

Jesus came to enable satisfying relationships with God, others, and self. Let’s be honest we will only be as happy as our relationships. We can become President of the United States, have the wealth of Bill Gates, the investment savvy of Warren Buffet, the intelligence of C.S. Lewis, and the writing wit of the OG, but not be happy if everyone hates us.

As a pastor for 49 years, listening to thousands of individuals discuss their problems, I can testify that every one of those problems had to do with their relationship with God, their relationship with others, or their relationship with themselves.

C.S. Lewis writes. . . 

You can get the idea plain if you think of us as a fleet of ships sailing in formation. The voyage will be a success only, in the first place, if the ships do not collide and get in one another’s way; and, secondly, if each ship is seaworthy and has her engines in good order. As a matter of fact, you cannot have either of these two things without the other. If the ships keep on having collisions, they will not remain seaworthy very long.  On the other hand, if their steering gears are out of order they will not be able to avoid collisions … We have not asked where the fleet is trying to get to … And however well the fleet sailed, its voyage would be a failure if it were meant to reach New York and actually arrived in Calcutta.

Let’s understand that Christianity is integrity relationships between God, us, and others!

An OG (Old Guy) note: This is the start of a new series about “Understanding Christianity.” 

There will be parts 2, 3, 4, and 5, probably ad infinitum over the next several years!