1248. How Can I Love My Neighbor Through Social Media, Pt. 2

Welcome to The Daily Platform, our program features sermons from chapel services at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Every day students are blessed by the preaching and teaching of the Bible from the University Chapel platform today work, including a short series on how Christians should use technology and entertainment Dr. Mark Ward, Junior of faith life technology, the makers of Lagos Bible software will be preaching part two of the series, please do turn to Matthew 22 again. Matthew 22. The key passage in the New Testament really in the entire Bible in which we are told these central commands of the Christian life. Matthew 22 verse 34 and because there's an apocryphal in this painting 1611 I'm having trouble finding it there.

It is okay in this passage Jesus is approached. Of course by the Pharisees and gives them an answer to their question that we must understand organelle read these commands and I was good right to the passage again. Although you know it when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence they were gathered together than one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying master which is the great commandment in the law. Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all my heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is where we have focused is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, and the paragraph here ends with Jesus saying on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets now guest speakers aren't supposed to do this, but I've already done several things. Guest speakers are supposed to do.

I see a problem with the decor in this building that needs to be addressed on exit back. Dominic kills six birds with three stones. I'm gonna sum up several books that I wrote for BJ. You I'm in a fix this problem in the FMA to core and on to introduce my Chapel sermon three stones will fly six birds will gently fall to their deaths and I'm sure will go to bird heaven. Don't worry about criticizing whoever made that graphic does let me be clear here.

There are definitely times when the arrow needs to point down when your reason guided by the Bible needs to overrule your feelings but you might have encountered one of the books I've written for BJ. You press such as biblical worldview creation, fall, redemption, and in these books.

I tried to show from Scripture. Why that arrow cannot only point in one direction. Biblically speaking, you cannot always trust your reason to tell your heart what is true. Your reason is falling, like the rest of you as Dr. Pettit said recently in a message that I just listen to the mind has been completely enslaved to sin.

So illustration I've used when Abby Johnson, have you heard of her. She was a Planned Parenthood clinic director when she was called back to assist with an abortion.

She never liked defending and promoting this practice and suddenly as she saw the baby on the ultrasound monitor.

She was overcome with emotion. What was happening her heart. Her feelings were telling her, a truth that her mind had concocted expert rationalizations to justify but she had justified sin. The Bible does not. Finally, separate head and heart. Anyway, it speaks of you as a unified whole. God does not command your reason or command your emotions.

He commands you look at it in verse 37 thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind, and yes heart, soul and mind have their different nuances, but the point that Jesus is making is not for you to carefully parse out all those, but to say the totality of you needs to be devoted to pointed to God and something that every image bearer knows called love. If we are refreshing this year getting back to biblical basics, finding our brass tacks and arranging them all neatly inside our row of ducks, then we need to let the Bible die, our thinking and our loving and are thinking about our loving and are thinking about our thinking and our loving for thinking all of it is working to love our neighbors as ourselves on social media which is my topic for these two days and Chapel Morgan have to reckon with the role that our loves playing in our reason and before I get to three more ways to love your neighbor as yourself. I need to talk about love. One of the charitable writers and thinkers that I have followed for years, Alan Jacobs, who wrote a book called how to think a book I highly recommend, and I asked the campus store to get some copies of it.

If you like what you're hearing and Chapel.

These two days you want more help. Jacobs is been a huge help to me as a teacher and as a model. One thing he said in his book is that it's a pervasive misconception that in order to think. Well, one must be strictly rational.

That being rational requires the suppression of all feelings know it is the opposite.

If you don't love your neighbor as yourself with all the feelings that entails. You won't be able to reason correctly with him or her. Your reason will be twisted in the service of love for yourself or for your tribe, which is kind of the same thing. You will only really and truly speak truth to your neighbor in its full orb sense if you love your neighbor. I don't know that it's possible to speak truth without love.

The Bible says speaking truth in love. They go together. I find that neighbors know if you love them or not they sniff it out pretty quick and just as a reminder. Look at verse 39 the second greatest commandment in all the Bible, thou shalt love thy neighbor as yourself as thyself. Now I got to tackle a bad idea about this passage before we can understand and apply it well. I assume that you've heard that it hath been said by them of old time that the Greek word agape agape love Christian love is a rational volitional choice to do what is best for someone else, regardless of how you feel and agape is indeed the Greek root bits used here in Matthew 22 this is a college audience.

All get a little academic with you, and I assume that many of you have heard that agape love is independent of feeling.

I'm just curious how many of you would say I've heard that before. Quite a number. Not everybody it's a very common idea out there.

Scholars say a preacher say it. Christian Internet memes say it. I've even heard a secular Jewish psychologist but I say unto you, that the love Christ commands for God is one that necessarily includes your emotions, heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbor like you love yourself that you includes emotion. You just can't tell me that you love yourself with the cold, dispassionate, rational, non-feeling the Bible's does not teach that your head ought to rule over your heart that your reason ought to dominate your feelings. The Bible just doesn't split the human person into interior warring factions like that. The Bible address is not your reason not your emotions but you taken as a whole. You love your God with your whole heart. You love your neighbor as you love yourself is been one more nerdy exegetical second on agape love before I get into some more application of the love commands to social media.

My brothers and sisters in Christ. To insist that love is merely a choice they're getting after something true and here's what it is you need to uphold your commitments even when you don't feel like it, you do need to obey God outwardly, even when your heart is not in pray, read your Bible go to church stay married to your spouse. That's the truth that a lot of this talk about agape love is getting after but I had you cannot reduce dogs love commands to outward obedience of this part of obedience is to feel godly feelings. God knows when people honor with him with their lips, but their hearts are far from him.

When they say the creed and learn their memory verses for Bible doctrines but there loves are not oriented toward God. Why this note is to let me tell you men and if you want to get super nerdy as some of you gifted Greek students should do pull out Logos Bible software and look at all the ways the verb form of agape gets used in the New Testament. Make a list. It's used for righteous laws, but also for wicked ones like the Pharisees who have agape love for the best seat in the synagogues or people who have agape love for darkness rather than light, so the best translation of that root word agape or the verb form is just love just like the English word love. Agape is flexible, it doesn't name a special kind of love. Every time it appears in the one or more about this. Go read my dissertation. The library, here's the upshot of a long discussion love is what drives all you do.

The question is not whether you love everybody loves. The question is not how you love honey you know what that means. The question is what is the object of your love and the amount. Where's your love directed Jesus said direct the greatest amount of love to God and second is your neighbor and how how much I love my neighbor as much as you love yourself. If you do this on social media.

You will be salt and light will be distinctive. That's what salt is and you'll be sharing truth. That's what liked us yesterday.

I gave three ways you can love your neighbor through social media use the hermeneutic of love, mind your own affairs, pick the best representative of the other side in any given debate. Those are just three of countless valid applications of this text in Matthew is look at that final verse, verse 40 the last of the paragraph Jesus said on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

So in a very real way, literally everything the Bible says is an application of these commands. Paul said in Romans 13 love fulfills the law. If you really love people.

You will end up doing what the law commands so these love commands have an incredibly wide range of application.

The whole Bible hangs from them and I want to give it today three more ways that you can love your neighbor through the God-given tool. Social media number one work in love to hone your persuasion skills you guys know the class English 102 right. I'm curious if you have taken that class or you are taking it raise your neighbor's left-hand just kidding I know you've taken it when I was in grad school. I had multiple friends who taught the poor hapless freshman in English 102.

Some of these poor freshmen were totally hapless. Not a single hapless scene among any of these were students and one of their teachers told me with deep feeling but maybe Dr. St. John of the venerable Lake Dr. Horton had said about it she said releasing such good material in some of the students hapless ones who just don't see how valuable this stuff is and I remember being young and feeling like I was that student. I'm honest with you, feeling like people in here getting more than I'm getting out of it because I'm not mature enough.

I wasn't getting all my teachers were trying to give me my English teacher friend told me I'm learning more than my students are. If you struggle with English 102 if you wonder in WHY do I have to learn all this stuff you need to find the Christian love that should be motivating you to learn all this stuff those logical fallacies that you I assume still have to memorize they are absolute goal for loving your neighbor on social media. You need to stress that the skill of organizing your thoughts into a coherent whole of the proper use of sources of keeping commas as far away from those places where they're not supposed to be as possible. Those are all tools for love, for taking dominion over the part of the world that God is allotted to your care. So working love to hone your persuasion skills.

When you use glittering generalities, ad hominem argumentation and insufficient sampling to the still teach that and it was 102 it in check. I should look at me blankly while he taught when I was in school, you learn something similar. I'm sure when you use those things your opponents. An argument won't always know exactly what you're doing, but they will smell a rat, and they will steal your hatred for them. I am perfectly serious they will know somehow that you are cheating and usually in this fallen world, they will lash back. This may be the only time in your life in which you will have a competent person, keenly telling telling you how exactly are your thinking has gone wrong. That's what an English teacher is and this is the best way to improve your skills. Take it from someone who's an editor has had the privilege of writing. With the help of editors for many years. All my adult life I hate not having an editor precisely because I love my neighbor as myself. I work to discover and use arguments and appeals that they will be conscious bound to see as fair, even if because their hearts put in the wrong direction. They ultimately go into per direction. I'm to give a touchy illustration again because I just don't see the point of Christian love. If it doesn't get me through the disputes and questions I have. Why have a Bible that doesn't help me with the covert crisis. I'm still gonna try. However, not to take sides or unnecessarily alienate someone so we'll talk about a logical fallacy.

Insufficient sampling think about vaccines. A lot of serious people you can't deny this. I don't think believe that vaccines are life-and-death matters one way or the other. It seems to me no matter what side you're on.

It's a very, very important question to know how many vaccinated people are dying of covert or are hospitalized, what percentage of people hospitalize with COBIT are vaccinated versus unvaccinated. If it's 50-50 as my barber said to me last week. That's a powerful argument against vaccines right but and I'm not taking sides here not telling you what I've done as evidence. My barber cited some nurses whose hair she cut now is not valid will, yes, as far as it goes.

They have valid experience that they can report to her, but this is the logical fallacy of insufficient sampling.

If you stop there and if you use that kind of argumentation with people you actually are, to some degree failing to fully love them, especially if you been given the opportunity to know about that logical fallacy, so this barber is become a friend of mine and I encouraged her gently without taking sides. I said, you should probably take a bigger sample didn't use those words but I said you want to check with more people probably ought to check some studies that really is the only way to know careful thinking about statistics will help you way proper loves Christians love life for Bible reasons and we love liberty for Bible reasons. When those two valid biblical loves our intention. We need the persuasive tools of logic that we learn here in class in school to help us know which one should weigh the most in this circumstance.

Let love drive you to make the clearest, fastest, most persuasive arguments for truth that by God's power. You possibly can. Point number two seek restoration. Jesus's goal is the restoration of the cosmos to its and created intent.

He will rule the Bible says, until all enemies are put under his feet, and then he will deliver the kingdom of God, who will be all in all. That's the whole point of history. Now that will be a time when nothing will be allowed to rebel. I don't have Christ power.

I can't make that happen.

But I do want to participate with Christ and not work. I have his same goal, I want my sending neighbors whether there Christians are not to be restored to the full image of God as I want for myself so Galatians 6 says that if someone is in the King James overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness spirit. I've been promoting in these two days is neighbor love means and wrapping up my neighbors good in mind, letting my love extended to him or her, then what is the good that I seek for those with whom I disagree on social media is restoration to the good repentance from whatever sin is making them wrong. If indeed it is sin and not just human finiteness which I also try to consider. I wanted to give only positive illustrations of these truths, but I have to give a negative one here. It's a story actually I am a proud alumni of Bob Jones University and before all you judge mental English majors.

Roll your eyes and say it's not alumni alumnus. I know that I am an editor I am the writer of the word nerd calling for Bible study magazine. I am the most prolific redheaded mythical studies writer in Mount Vernon, Washington. I'll have you know I know alumni is plural, but I don't just have one degree from Bob Jones. I have three. I am alumni anyways. On one of my three graduation day's I was celebrating with my family taking pictures in my cap and gown my kind and godly brother-in-law was holding my little niece and he suddenly looked off into the distance. My eyes naturally followed. And there I saw some protesters off campus with a very large sign that was critical of the University. I just graduated from.

If you go to BJ you align your notice, you can run into some people who share this critical perspective. Now I will once again be vague not tackling the actual issues.

I'm not sure I know them all to be honest, but I will say I actually tried listening to these critics who were behind this protest. I did treat them as sincere, as long as I could which is good be my next point. And I came to feel that they scored a few genuine points against me and the institution.

I love. I think they revealed some errors in my thinking BJ you newsflash has always been full of fallen and finite people. It was BJ who taught me that in the Bible. More importantly, tells me so.

Surely that is good reason for constructive suggestions to be appreciated here, even if they come in a protest sign one of my proudest days as a Beta you graduate, was when we apologized for a past public sin.

I thought that was excellent, but the more I tried to listen to these particular protesters the more I saw them do underhanded things online and treat people I love, with open malice and mockery. The more something became apparent I ultimately came to realize I couldn't listen to them because I couldn't trust him and I couldn't trust them because they did not love me or Bob Jones. I looked but I just never saw any evidence that they'd be glad if we repented of any sins that they were saying we were committing. They didn't seem to have any plan or any thought for what a restored or redeemed institution would look like they were like Jonah sitting up on Paris Mountain waiting for God to rain down fire and brimstone on this place.

There are some institutions that are so wicked I just want than completely destroyed the American abortion industry prostitution. Neo-Nazi is him but you're learning about a biblical worldview here of biblical creation fall redemption worldview never sees anything or anyone except for Satan is finally unredeemable that would be to limit the power of Christ's blood or the reach of his great scepter that the father is handed and read Psalm two and Psalm 110 and if you and I are capable of being redeemed, so are they my negative illustration boils down to. Don't be Jonah hold on to hope for the restoration of sending people that you disagree with prescriptions 13 the love chapter says that love believe that all things and hope with all things, always trusts, in hopes it in Doris all things to it hangs on even when people don't give it much reason to hope. If you have to criticize other Christians are Christians.

Institutions in public and the Bible says you do the elders who sin our smoke supposed to be reviewed for all, so that others may fear, but that is your calling in a given case.

Love should maintain hope inside you that they can be restored like you have been what do you have that you didn't receive my brothers and sisters and finally 1/3 way to love your neighbor through social media regarding your opponents as sincere as long as you charitably can come and get on to get personal. Here I believe I am called by God that is mean every thing that I do is right, but I believe I am called by God to try to rescue brothers were overtaken in a doctrinal fault. One commonly called KJV only as an and those of you who came to my lectures you heard my heart behind this. I hope graciousness. To be clear as I was yesterday. I am not opposed to the King James version.

I absolutely love it. I'm absolutely chock full of King James versus in my mind and I am preaching from the biggest King James ever to appear in chapel.

I'm confident but the Bible does not teach that we should have and use and trust only one Bible translation and BJ use never held that position. BJ you taught me something many years ago to get benefit out of many good English Bible translations and I've been enjoying the riches of those for 20 years.

I want to see the church using and not rejecting our embarrassment of riches in English Bibles and I'm working toward that end, and I have a YouTube channel that spends a lot of time on this. Try to be gracious and try to be loving and try to practice all the things that I'm saying that you should do but that doesn't mean I get a lot of interactions from King James only brothers online, especially in the comments on the YouTube videos now. I love these brothers even and especially when we disagree, and I hold out hope for the restoration yet.

I simply cannot tell you how many King James only Christians hear what I have to say about the difficult and archaic words of the Elizabethan English of the King James. I'm just trying to teach what these words meant back then and they respond with a one-word argument, liar. That's what they say to me somehow they read one hunt headline from one video of mine. They watched 1.8 minutes of my YouTube content explaining archaic word and they want their already certain that not only am I telling an untruth that I know I'm telling an untruth.

That's what a liar is someone who says what they know to be false now.

Love believes the best and that's not what they're doing to me in that case. But for me on my channel. Everybody gets at least one chance and usually a lot more than that, I will try to respond with patients as long as I can. There is a passage in Scripture that I follow the servant of the Lord must not strive. By the way, is another false print of King James doesn't mean the Civil War to keep trying real hard and you shouldn't be quarrelsome, but he should be gentle and to all men asked to teach which is 1611 meant able to teach, not inclined patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.

If God peradventure that is perhaps will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. I pray and work to live by these words.

The Bible does not permit me to give tart answers. Elijah did it on Mount caramel Jesus sent me the ring excoriating words of the Pharisees in Matthew 23 Paul with the Judaizers afflicting the Galatians would emasculate themselves. I tend to think of these responses were targeted at people who have lots of opportunities to know better, and that is not most of my audience in this debate, but I will never ever call someone a liar unless I have positive evidence that they know that what they're saying is untrue, and are singing anyway and how many times that happened in my entire life 0.0 times loving my neighbor as myself means believing in there. Sincerely, as long as I charitably can can end with a real quick positive illustration I ran into in an online forum.

A very intelligent defender of the King James version exclusive use of the King James. He was very intelligent, but it also became quickly apparent that he was what sociologists study the Internet called jerk.

All I'm saying in video after video is that there are some archaic words in the King James are hard to understand but he just he called my work trash and he called me an actual snake.

Jesus said Your Pearls before Swine, and How One of the Swine Aren't Supposed to Turn Again and Run Me so I Didn't Lash Back out. I Just Decided to Avoid Interaction with but over the Course of Many Months. His Comments Kept Popping up on My YouTube Channel. He Was Weirdly Fascinated with My Work and He Started Getting Some Grudging Hints about Some Value in It and Then One Day Something inside Him Clicked in Place Somewhere in His Comments Just Change on a Dime. Suddenly, We Still Disagree He Was Courteous and Suddenly He Wanted to Talk with Me. I Put Them off for Little While but I Couldn't Forever and Finally Talked and I Said What Happened and He Said I Apologize for All the Things Negative That I Said about You.

I Will Use to Regard You As Insincere, but I Came to Realize That You Nice Note Though I Still Think You're Wrong. You Are Sincere in What You're Saying or Trying to People Trying to Help People Understand the Bible, Whereas before, When He Didn't Love Me Enough to Regard Me As Sincere. He Couldn't Understand What I Was Saying, but When He by the Spirit of God That Was within Him Love His Neighbor As Himself. Suddenly, His Heart Speaking up to His Head, Made It Possible for Him to Understand My Brothers and Sisters. My Young Brothers and Sisters. My Faculty and Staff Brothers and Sisters. By This Shall All Men on Social Media Know That Ye Are Jesus Disciples, If You Have One.

If You Have Love One to Another. Love Your Neighbor As Yourself. Thank You Mark so Much for That Engaging Challenge Was Pray Lord, Thank You for Your Grace and Mercy. Thank You for the Challenge That We Have Received in a Very Special Way to Love Our Neighbor. In Jesus Name, Amen. You've Been Listening to a Message Preached by Dr. Mark Moore, Junior, Who Works for Faith Life Makers of Lagos Bible Software. Join Us Again Next Time. As We Hear More Messages on The Daily Platform