What We Believe

One day 2000 years ago, Jesus was asked the question, ”What’s the most important commandment?” In other words, what is the nonnegotiable of following you? What should we be taking seriously? Jesus’ response?

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’“ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Matthew 22:37-39

Love God. Love your neighbor. That’s it? His point was this: How well we love our neighbors is an expression of how well we love our creator. We can’t love God and not love our neighbor. As a church, we can’t focus on the first half and miss the second. They go together.

I think all of us agree that loving our neighbors, or at least tolerating them, is important. Most of us would agree that our neighbor isn’t just the person who lives close to us. With the invention of the internet and airplanes, the definition has broadened to mankind. At the same time, this is really hard, isn’t it? If we are honest, the most important commandment is the most ignored commandment. More times than not, the church focuses on the Great Commission and ignores the Greatest Commandment. While the great commission is vital, it is impossible to do without the greatest commandment. If we don’t love our neighbors, we can’t baptize them.

This is why as a church, we have to put the Great Commandment first. We want to do our best to follow it. It doesn’t just matter to God, it matters to our city.

That is why we are serious about being Good Neighbors. It provides a framework for how we follow Jesus and why our church exists. It’s how we live out the Great Commission.

Pastor Jared Herd