THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT - Love Your Neighbour // One Church Podcast, 8th December 2025

We are one church. We love God, love people, love

His mission, and love His church.

Welcome to the One Church Podcast.

We've been looking as a church over the last four weeks over

the greatest commandment. Jesus was asked a question of

all the commandments, which is the most important?

What a question, the most important one, answered Jesus.

This is not a debate, it's a statement of absolute fact.

Is this here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is 1 Love the

Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Wow. And we've been looking at that

over these last four weeks. And our prayer is that we would

be a church that loves the Lord with our God, with all our

heart, the in innermost being of who we are, with all our soul,

the deepest part of us, with all our mind, with our thinking and

our sharing, and with our strength.

The very who we are almost needs unpacking even more.

And the passage then goes on to say this, because Jesus didn't

leave it there. He said this, the second

commandment is this love your neighbour as yourself.

There is no greater than these, and in the last week of our

series I want to explore the theme of how we can be Jesus in

the places where he has called us to live.

Your ministry is as important as any ministry that happens in

this house from those of us that get the privilege to lead

different ministries and to to speak where you are planted in

the hospital, in the school, in the supermarket, in the home, on

the street, where you are is as important as anybody else's call

in the whole earth to call to be Jesus in that place.

He says love your neighbour as yourself.

But before I go to loving your neighbour, I just was so stirred

about the phrase loving yourself to love yourself.

I'm not talking about pride and ego, self focus.

These aren't Jesus I'm talking about.

We want to love our neighbour, so we firstly have to love

ourselves. People can spend their whole

lives dissatisfied with who they are.

If you talk to AGP and they're able to in any way unpack to you

of some of the challenges they faced in the surgery, many, many

times they will talk about the sadness of people's lives,

wanting to find something different to where they are.

We can spend our whole lives trying to change our looks.

A friend of mine, when he became a Christian, realised as a young

man the one or two face changes. He'd already had operations to

change his looks. We're not going to solve him,

we're not going to mend him. You can want to spend your whole

life looking at how you look, the life that you have, perhaps

the home that you live in, the career that you have, the salary

you get, the pictures of, the achievements on your wall.

And there's nothing wrong with reaching your potential.

But to love our neighbour means we have to love ourselves and to

love ourselves means we are content with the person God has

made us to be. How do you love yourself?

Well, I think firstly you realise who you are.

We live in a world that wants to tell you everything that you are

not, wants to crush you, wants to push you down, wants you make

you feel inadequate. But the Father's heart is so

different. This is why when he appeared to

Jesus here in Matthew 3 at his baptism, he wanted to define who

he was. And he does the same with you.

He says this is my son, He's not started his ministry yet.

I love him and I am pleased with him.

Do you know that's how he speaks about you?

You're created to know Him as a Jesus follower.

You are a son or a daughter of the King of Kings.

The Father you've always been looking for is here in this room

to embrace you as you sit in your seat.

You are deeply loved. This is my son, whom I love.

You are deeply loved. Not if you or not because of

your effort or not when you you are loved.

You were conceived. He loved you in that moment.

He has no accidents. You are deeply loved.

He's passionate about you and you are accepted, not rejected.

He's pleased with you. Perhaps you had parents.

You always felt they were not quite pleased with you enough.

The Father's pleased with you, cheering you on.

To love yourself, you have to realise who you are, but you

also have to look after yourself.

I love this, Paul says. Do you not know that your body

is a temple of the Holy Spirit? God who made everything when you

became a Jesus follower, came to live in you.

It's amazing you received him from God.

You're not your own. You were bought at a price.

Therefore honour God with your body, love what he's made.

Look in the mirror when you get home today, look in the mirror

at who you are and bless yourself no more.

I hate this about myself. Never say it again.

Look at you and go look at my amazing teeth.

I'm grateful that many of them are filled.

Look at my chin, this is. Look at my hair, my body, my

size, my height, my weight, my education, who I am.

Love the person that he has made.

Stop trying to change things that won't sort you.

Love yourself and then treat this temple with care.

Keep it clean, if for no one else, for others, keep it clean.

I think deodorant is a gift that God has given to us.

It's not to be shunned, it's to be embraced.

I know some of us like the natural and that's good, but

there are ways to keep healthy, to look after the temple, to be

careful what you do with it, what you place in it, how you

treat it. I love the people in the room

here who talk to me about healthy living, who help me be

more healthy. To love yourself, look after

yourself. You're Worth It was a a man came

in to Open Hands this week who, through a new programme that

we're running in the city, he's been given a place to live and

we in Open Hands have been able to furnish the whole of his flat

with everything that he needed now.

He was loved before, but now he feels real value.

I love that. If you're going to love

yourself, not only do you need to realise who you are and look

after yourself, but you need to deal with the rubbish this week.

There's going to be a lot of rubbish produced by the balls

here and then next week, Christmas, we're going to have

to come up with a plan on what we're going to do with all the

rubbish that comes this week. We'll come up with a plan,

there's going to be a lot of it, but we need to deal with the

rubbish in our own lives too. Many of us as Jesus followers

are carrying around many black plastic bags of rubbish.

It's for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Stand firm then, and do not let yourself be burdened by a yoke

of slavery. Every one of us has carries

regrets. Things we'd have done

differently, moments that we would change.

We're all a work in progress being made more and more like

him in his image. You know, think this.

If you if you think you're good now, imagine what you're going

to be like when you meet him and you're with him for eternity

dynamic. How can we be free now?

How can we be free from the things that hold us back, The

insecurities, the rejections, the pain that we experienced as

children, those moments that were unacceptable, that happened

to us? How do we get free from them?

So we love ourselves, so we can love our neighbour.

We bring them to the cross, we get them to the cross.

We bring our baggage to the cross.

There's nothing you can't bring. He knows it already.

He is not surprised when you confess your sins.

Oh, I didn't realise that. I'm not sure if that can pass

the test. He knows it already.

Bring it to the cross. Habits that you've had, that

you've practise, carried from before you became a Christian.

And there's shame this morning and there's things.

If you knew what I was like, you would not say he's pleased with

me. I understand.

There's nothing you carry that you can't be free from nothing.

It's a lie from the enemy that you can't be free of that.

There are people in this room who had habits that they were

ashamed of, that they no longer have because of the grace and

kindness of God. But they had their part to do as

well. Because as well as coming to the

cross, you've got to be willing to change and exert effort and

maybe start fasting and doing all that you can with your

energy, the works, his energy working in you.

And then perhaps get some help from a leader for many of us.

Get some counselling, some support, some prayer, someone

who stands with us and invites Almighty God with you to come

and help you set you free. And then do your part and expect

God's part. Honestly.

Love yourself. Go home today, look in the

mirror and thank God for you, the size you are, the person you

are. Thank God for you, love

yourself, I love your neighbour. You've answered correctly.

Jesus said do this and you will live.

But he wanted to justify himself so he asked Jesus, who is my

neighbour? And in reply Jesus said a man

was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by

robbers. They stripped him of his

clothes, beat him, went away, left him half dead.

A priest happened to be going down the same road and when he

saw the man he passed by on the other side.

So to a Levite when he came to the place and saw him pass by on

the other side. But a Samaritan, as he

travelled, came where the man was, and when he saw him he took

pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his

wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and then he put the man on his

own donkey, brought him to an inn, took care of him.

The next day he took out to Denari and gave him to them, to

the innkeeper. Look after him, he said.

When I return I'll reimburse you for any extra expense you may

have. Which of these three do you

think was a neighbour? To the man who fell into the

hand of robbers, the expert in the law said the one who had

mercy on him, Jesus said go and do likewise.

I think Jesus made it clear, crystal clear, that it's just

not possible to be his follower and not be engaged in the rescue

mission of lost people on the planet, which is why we need to

love our neighbour. And this parable illustrates it

so powerfully. A Jewish man has fallen into the

hands of robbers and along the way from from Jerusalem to

Jericho, they've stripped him, they've beat him, they've fled,

they've left him on the edge of death.

And the priest saw and passed by.

He was the first to encounter him on the road.

And we can be judge mental of the priest, but I, I feel a

little bit sympathetic because the Jericho Rd was a dangerous

place. It was literally called the Pass

of blood because of all the places that robbers could hide.

And the one rule on the Jericho Rd was this you don't stop,

don't stop. Second, if the priest was

returning from Jerusalem, he just spent seven days going

through his purification rights, which were required for him to

outwork the practises of him as a priest.

He knew that if you touched a dead man, you had to go back to

the temple and do another seven days.

So in other words, for him to stop and help this man ran the

risk not only of being attacked, but also of another 7 to 8 day

journey. Perhaps he'd got a Pilates

class, or he knew that his wife had got a meal prepared.

I've just passed by on the other side.

I've got a bit of compassion for him.

The Levite saw him pass by. Now the road was probably very

straight. There's a chance that you could

see 3 or 4 miles ahead. And just maybe the Levite could

see that the priest had already gone past.

So he thought, I'll do the same. Because people do follow

leaders, which is why as leaders there is such a high call to be

like Jesus. Which is why for us as leaders,

when we fail, it has to be spoken about in a public

context, which is why there is a call on us to live holy lives.

The Samaritan, those saw and stopped, he didn't pass by on

the other side. He became a companion of this

man. He had compassion on him.

The Samaritans were the ethnic and religious enemies of the

Jews. They were the half Jew, half

gentile offspring that came about when the Assyrians who

conquered the northern part of Israel forced the Jews there to

enter marry with them. Samaria was between the northern

and southern parts of Israel. But the Jews hated the

Samaritans so much that if they were travelling from the north

to the South of Israel, they would walk around Samaria, which

was another two days journey, just to avoid contact with a

Samaritan. Just touching a Samaritan, they

believed, made you dirty. It's why when you read Jesus not

only touching the leper but also at the well with the Samaritan

woman, it blows people's minds. They couldn't believe it.

I love that Jesus breaks down every wall in you, me in our

world. Shockingly, this Samaritan when

he saw the bleeding Jewish man, he stops and has compassion.

He what he loved his neighbour and allow me to be very simple.

What does it mean? Well, firstly, involved in

seeing. When he saw him, he saw and he

couldn't walk away when he saw him, when he saw him.

I walked into our cafe the other day and I saw a man same age as

me, whose son had got into difficulty and spent some time

in prison. And he had two young girls and

he took them into his and his wife's family as a, as a more

senior couple and loved them. And I looked across and he was

sat there with these two beautiful nearly teenage girls

and I saw something of what it means to love your neighbour.

It was incredibly holy, powerful, because when you take

a life that God gave his life for, that is as precious as

anything. When you show compassion and

love that person. It involves seeing He saw he

couldn't walk away. It involved caring.

He took pity on him. He was moved by the person and

the situation. He couldn't help it.

It involved doing. He went to him.

He bandaged his wounds, poured on the oil and the wine.

The wine acted as an antiseptic to cleanse the infection.

The oil relieved the pain, protected the wound.

It involved doing pouring on oil and wine.

It involved time, just casually. The Bible says the next day he

he'd been there, a day he loved by giving time.

And it involved cost. He took out two dinari, A

labour's full day's wage money. Other costs were involved.

If it's any more, I'll let you have it.

He loved his neighbour. So why is not loving our

neighbour the same today? I think it is.

Loving our neighbour today firstly involves seeing when he

saw him, He lost people of the Father's highest priority when

we see them as he sees them. Because I think in the vision of

God that occasionally I managed to get myself in that place, but

I'd like to live there. The focus of what's most

important to Him is not always the focus of what's so important

to me. Because people are always his

highest priority. He sees them.

God can see everyone who's sad, everyone who's broken, everyone

who's suicidal. He sees everyone who's

desperate, who longs for something that they haven't

managed to see in their lives. He feels it.

He sees it. I want to pray.

Open my eyes, Lord, to see the things that are important to

you, what's important to you, the person on their own, the

person in need, the person who needs help, the person who we

stop and listen to for a moment. It involves seeing, which means

we need to be ready. We need to be asking for

opportunities, which means we need to be listening, open,

praying, waiting. It's what it means to see.

Yesterday I got home, went through my message because I was

excited because Susan was coming back after a pastor meeting and

I was going to have a BLT sandwich and a doughnut.

I was so excited about the doughnut.

It was on the table waiting for me, beckoning me, so excited.

So I was preparing the message in anticipation of speaking, but

probably mostly for the sandwich and the doughnut.

And she came up to me and she said, I've just seen a man on

the street, you need to go and invite him to Christmas.

Now I have to tell you, in that moment I was not fully dressed.

I was also focused on my message.

Why would I want to spend time talking to a neighbour when I'm

preparing a message about loving my neighbour?

Do you not understand, Susan? And I said, now I'm going to

feel guilty if I preach and I don't run after this man.

So I put this coat on and ran down the road to see this man

who'd got this enormous dog with him because I met him a few

months ago on the golf course near our house.

And and I went to talk to him and we chatted, just retired and

all this lot and I'm out. I'd only run up the road and I

was out of breath thinking I need to get even fitter.

But I love myself as I am. And I invited him to come next

week. May come, may come.

It involves seeing. Secondly, involves caring.

He took pity on him. Pity.

How do we care? Well, we love ourselves.

Get rid of your rubbish. Because if you don't, every time

you talk to somebody, you talk about how it was hard for you

and how you were rejected and how it was difficult.

And let me tell you about what? And you live there for the rest

of your life. Get to the cross, cry your

tears, get free. And all of a sudden when you're

there, you talk about this person and their needs and how

they are. And it's so much better.

You get your rubbish dealt with. You get your relationship with

God tender. I spoke to a man recently.

I saw him come in and I just thought this man's struggling.

And I thought I'll ask him. And he came and I said, how are

you? And he said I'm all right.

I said no, talk to me. And of course it's the same

every time. It's the same every time I'm

struggling. Why?

Well, I've stopped praying. I don't really get to my Bible.

I'm not communicating well with the person I'm with.

Giving's really difficult. My life feels disorganised.

And it's you want to be caring, but to say, can I just give you

a really start reading the Bible again, start praying again, Put

every Tuesday night between 8:00 and 8:30 a communication time

together. Get your giving sorted, get a

diary out and plan ahead. Hey, it doesn't sound very

spiritual, but honestly it's caring.

Just got to say it in the right way, not exasperated.

It involves caring, a heart response and compassion, A

kindness, a love that springs up.

Sometimes when the compassion of Jesus comes upon you, it can

overwhelm you. You you suddenly realise that

you deeply care about the situation.

Susan was praying with somebody this week and she just began to

weep uncontrollably because she felt a little bit of his

compassion for this person she was praying with.

And it's a beautiful thing, you, you can get a miracle in that

moment. We need to love the people and

have a heart for those around us.

I've got my work to do of you. My heart isn't always there.

I don't like inconvenience. Perhaps you really, really don't

like inconvenience. I don't want to complain.

As a first response, ask yourself, do I complain?

Is that, is that how I complain? It was late, it was cold.

It was it was rather than it was lovely.

And I'm grateful. And what a privilege.

Don't be a complainer. Be a celebrator.

Thank you so much. It involves caring.

Thirdly, it involves loving your neighbour doing he went to him

doing, which means this be a good boss.

If you have employees, be a great boss.

So that if we get all your employees here they all go.

He she great boss. Be a great employee.

So if we get your manager and your boss, here they go.

Great employee. Let your work ethic be strong.

Stop leaving dead on time. Stop miserable.

That's it. I'm gone.

No, do an extra few minutes. Why?

Because it's love. It's loving your neighbour.

Be a good neighbour. Be a good son.

Be a good daughter, a brother, a sister, a friend.

Be positive before we gossip. Stop being a gossip if you are.

Be friendly. It involves doing.

Be practically. Stop, pray, help with the

gardening of your little neighbour.

Bake a cake if you can, bake if you can't.

It might not be seen as a blessing.

Buy a cake, buy a cake. If you can't bake, be there.

Never give up. It involves time.

The next day, the next day. How are we connecting with our

neighbours, with our work colleagues, with those we see on

the bus? There's somebody you've seen

often in a shop. Ask and pause.

Build a bridge, help with a task.

Stop. My neighbour's mother died the

other day. She was in her 90s.

Susan had already done her part. I went round.

I sat next to her on the sofa. I said tell me all about your

mum. It's not hard to do, I don't

always get it right. She talked about her mum and her

childhood and her sisters, some of the challenges, some of the

joys and what the funeral could look like.

It involves time, love, your neighbour and it involves cost.

He took out two Daenerys a day's wages cost.

Practise your story so that you can Share your story in 30

seconds. Tell your story of what God's

been doing in you, the bits that you've been easy, the bits that

have been hard. Talk about what God is helping

you with in your life, what he's done.

I was with a man this week and he, he was doing lots of

practical jobs for me because I can, I can give it a go, but I'm

not your main man. If you want practical help of

that involve craftsmanship, I can.

I can do tasks and he was doing all these things.

I was driving him round and and he got to the 16th task he was

doing for me. He says, David, I'm going to

need to sit down for a minute because we've been going so

quick. And they said to Susan, where

does he get his energy? And she said, you know where he

gets it from? He gets it from Jesus.

I love it. That man sent me a text on

Monday saying me and my partner 6:00 PM next week.

That's good for us. I'm believing he's going to sit

with me, going to get get saved. It involves cost.

Buy your neighbours a gift this Christmas, especially if they're

noisy. Bless them.

If the fencing breaks down and it's their cost, make a little

contribution. It can open up the gift, The

proverb writer says, makes way for the giver.

A gift makes way for the giver. Never be mean with neighbours.

Don't. In our first house, the next

door neighbours, Tom and Sheila, he used to fry bacon at 3:00 in

the morning. Honestly, he was, He was a

unique character and they did not get on, but their grandson

had his bike nicked and Susan felt the Lord speak to her.

She said let's buy him a bike. So we bought a bike for our

neighbour and it changed our relationship, changed our

relationship bridges. It meant more to them that we'd

done that. All of these are part of loving

our neighbour. It costs.

Do you need to see, do you need to care?

Do you need to do? Do you need to give time?

Do you need to invest in a cost? Do you need to do something?

This is the greatest commandment.

Love your neighbour as you love yourself, loving God all your

heart, soul, mind and strength and loving yourself so that you

can love your neighbour. This is a gospel.

This is so powerful. Love him, love yourself, love

your neighbour. See them, care for them, serve

them, give time to them. Invest in them.

Right now, pause and think about your neighbours.

Go on. The person who works on the desk

near you, The teacher who always in the school classroom takes

their tea bag out and leaves it on the the surface for you to

put away. Think about them.

Pray for them now. Pray for a brother or a sister,

a friend, someone you know. The Lord's just spoken to you

about a name. Right now you've got a face,

it's come to you. Love your neighbour, Love your

neighbour. Send them a text.

Tell them there's hope. Somebody you fell out with.

Write to them. As much as it depends on you,

the Bible says leave at peace with everyone back.

That's hard. Sometimes it's hard, but you can

do everything you can. Bless somebody that hates you

this year. Pray for your neighbours.

Pray for your neighbours. Pray for your neighbours.

Go and speak their names out right now.

Go and speak the names of neighbours, whatever it is,

people that you love. What about a husband that's not

yet a Christian, Nora, a son or a daughter away from him?

Go and speak their names out. Your physical neighbours, The

person in the flat underneath you that you sometimes say

crying at night. Pray for them, pray for them.

Love your neighbour, Love your neighbour.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine

upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards

you and give you peace.