Why is it that we remember the “thou shalt nots” of the 10 Commandments in the Old Testament better than the four “thou shalts” of Jesus in the New Testament?

The commands "Love the Lord your God with all your heart", "Love your neighbour as yourself", "Love one another", "Love your enemies"... the over-arching command is to love.

The Command imagines what kind of people we would be if we took Jesus’ commands seriously.

In His life and ministry, Jesus modelled what love looks like and that is where Bruce Manners picks up. Rich with stories that show the commands in practice and questions to challenge your thinking, this book is a call to learn to love like Jesus. After all, that’s what He told us to do.

Adventists have a vital interest in the Ten Commandments, particularly, the Sabbath command. However, we should also recognise the four commands Jesus gives in the gospels: To love God; our neighbour; our fellow disciples; and our enemies. We’re commanded to love. Like Jesus.

Love was the winning force that brought people to Jesus in the pre-Christian world and it can do the same in our post-Christian Western world. That’s our challenge. And it’s something every Adventist can do. No training is needed, just a heart for people and for God.

We’re commanded to love. The Command is about what that can look like.

This book is written in an accessible style with a personal story beginning almost every chapter.
Chapters end with a case study story illustrating the main emphasis of the chapter.
Each chapter also features seven questions for group discussion.

Contents

People-centred God

It’s much bigger than being right

1 GOD IS . . .

Unconditional love—really?
What about the “Old Testament God”?
The compassionate God

2 JESUS AND THE WHOEVERS

It’s unbelievable
Jesus’ birth
In the temple
Fully human, fully God
Ministry
The 12 disciples
The women
The sinners

3 GRACE? IT REALLY IS AMAZING

Let’s talk about grace
Two heretical extremes
Discovering grace—it’s personal
Grace in the temple
Responding to grace

4 THE LOVE-SHIFT CHALLENGE

A year of living biblically—really?
Jesus’ four love commands
The love shift
Biblical love types in percentages

5 COMPASSIONATE CHRIST—COMPASSIONATE CHRIST-IANS

A compassionate Christ
Jesus and women
Jesus and the untouchables
Jesus and His enemies
Jesus, Peter and Judas
Jesus and those who didn’t count

6 A “LOVE REFORMATION”

“i” before “u”?
It’s about us
Paul’s message to a difficult church
The need for a “love reformation”
What’s the temperature in your church?

7 ADVENTISTS AND THE LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY

Some realities
Learning experiences
Storying the pain
Is there a Jesus example?
But don’t we have some kind of policy about this?
Time for compassion
Being Jesus

8 THE DISCIPLE JESUS LOVED

What kind of love?
Would the apostle John make a good Seventh-day Adventist?
The disciple Jesus loved
Did we need another gospel?
John and Mary
John’s letter calls for love
1. Jesus is our example
2. God loved us first
3. Love for fellow Christians

9 BEING THE MESSAGE

Things have changed
People with a message
Contagious Christianity
21st-century Christian challenge

10 ENEMY LOVE

The impossible sermon?
First-century hearers
Twenty-first-century Christians
Martin Luther King Jr’s response
Love on Hacksaw Ridge

11 FORGIVEN FORGIVERS

God forgives
Jesus forgives
Jesus was serious about our forgiving
Finding freedom in forgiveness
Forgiveness and what we don’t like to talk about
Working through abuse
Forgiveness brings hope

12 WHILE WE WAIT

Lesson from Martin Luther
Finding love in the doctrines
While we wait
The parable of the three servants
The final judgment
Milk, meat and prophecy
God’s command

13 CHRISTIANS MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Christianity making a difference
Christians who made a difference
Adventist churches making a difference
Blythe Central Seventh-day Adventist Church
Adventists making a difference
The impact of the command

Author

Bruce Manners

Bruce Manners is a retired pastor and former Record and Signs of the Times magazine editor and continues to write regularly for church publications.

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Our Call to Faithful Creativity

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Learning to Love Like Jesus

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