Keeping Yourself in the Love of God

Background of the Text (Leviticus 19)

The Book of Leviticus is the book of holiness. Its keynote is: “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” (Lev. 19:2). This is not merely religious regulation; it is the blueprint of the identity of God’s people.

Leviticus 19:9-18 teaches us that holiness is not only about the altar, not only about sacrifices, but how you treat your neighbor. Holiness is not only “I did not sin,” but “I walk as the heart of God in a harsh society.”

Notice the structure of verses 9–18: 
– Verses 9–10: work and economy (harvest, land). 
– Verses 11–16: social integrity (honesty, no fraud, no slander). 
– Verses 17–18: a heart ruled by love, not vengeance.

It all culminates in the sentence that Jesus later identifies as the second great commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Lev. 19:18) In Hebrew: וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ (ve'ahavta lere'akha kamokha), meaning: love the other with the same quality of care with which you tend to yourself.

Sermon Introduction

Beloved, we often pray: “Lord, keep me. Lord, protect me. Lord, bless me.” But how rarely we ask: “Lord, have I been keeping my life within Your love?”

Many Christians desire to feel the love of God, but they resist being shaped by the character of that love. They want the blessing, but not the way of it.

A question for all of us: “How do I know that I am truly living in the love of God — not merely knowing the word love, but truly abiding in it?”

Our text shows us that keeping ourselves in the love of God is seen in how we live among others. It is not mystical, not merely an inner warmth. It is practical, social, visible.

There are three marks of the person who keeps himself in the love of God:

1. A heart that learns to give.
2. Lips and hands that move in honesty and justice.
3. Relationships governed by love, not revenge.

Let us enter the first point. The love of God is never stingy.

1. The Love of God Keeps Us Through Intentional Generosity (Leviticus 19:9-10)

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare… you shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner. I am the LORD your God.” (Lev. 19:9-10)

Astonishing. The Lord commands a margin of mercy. Israel was not allowed to harvest everything. They were forbidden to maximize profit down to the last grain. There must always be room for the poor and for the foreigner.

This is not random charity. This is a structure of love in the economy. They were to decide from the start: “This portion is not mine.”

The word “sojourner” is the Hebrew גֵּר (ger): the outsider, the immigrant, the one without land. God’s love rejects selfish nationalism and the mindset of “as long as my household is safe.” The love of God keeps us, by teaching us to keep the vulnerable.

Practical Application:

• Civil servants / public officers: Use your position not only for personal safety, but to uphold policies that protect the small and the voiceless. Your integrity can become “the grain at the edge of the field” for citizens with no access.
• Employees / professionals: Do not pour all your time only into career climbing. Set aside time, attention, skill, to carry the colleague who is weary, confused, or breaking inside. That too is part of your field.
• Business owners / traders: Do not squeeze profit to the final drop if it crushes people. The love of God is not greedy. Sometimes “losing a little” for the sake of fairness can save your soul from becoming devoured by greed.
• Youth: Your allowance, your time, your energy — does it all get spent on yourself? Or have you learned to leave a margin for someone in need?
• Parents: Do not only raise religious children; raise generous children. A child who never learns to share will struggle to understand the love of God, because God’s love always flows outward.

Illustration:

Some people, when the fried snacks are served, reach for the biggest piece. Others quietly choose the smallest one so that others may be satisfied first. Today’s simple but piercing question is: “Which one am I at the table of life?”

After speaking about generosity, the Lord turns to another arena: integrity. Because giving is not enough if the heart is deceitful. Let us move to point two.

Parallel Scriptures

• Deuteronomy 24:19-22 – What is left in the field is to remain for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.
• Proverbs 19:17 – Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will repay him.
• 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 – God loves a cheerful giver, and He is able to make all grace abound to you.

2. The Love of God Guards Us Through Honesty and Justice (Leviticus 19:11-16)

Verses 11-12: “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. You shall not swear by my name falsely…”

Then verse 13: “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.” This is stunning. God cares about daily wages.

Verse 14: “You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind.” In other words: do not exploit another’s weakness for your advantage.

Verses 15-16: “You shall do no injustice in court… You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people.” This reaches from the courtroom to daily conversation.

In short: God binds holiness and social justice into one breath. There is no such thing as a “spiritual person” who is deceitful. No such thing as a “servant of God” who withholds wages. No such thing as a “defender of truth” who relies on slander.

The word “oppress” in verse 13 is from the Hebrew עָשַׁק (‘ashaq), meaning: to press down, to withhold what is owed, to treat a person like an object. The Lord hates this.

Practical Application:

• Public servants: Do not weaponize procedure to make the weak suffer until they “learn their place.” Blocking access is modern oppression.
• Employees / professionals: Do not make false promises merely to protect your team’s image. The name of the Lord is not a stamp for convenient lies.
• Business owners / traders: Pay people on time. Leviticus says the worker’s wages must not be held overnight. Fair pay is not only activism. It is worship.
• Youth: Do not turn someone’s weakness into content, into jokes, into stories and reels. Mocking the weak is not “just for fun.” It is sin.
• Parents: Do not baptize gossip with religious language. “Please pray for her…” — while spreading her shame. Leviticus calls that slander. If we use “prayer” to carry rumor, that is not intercession. That is poison dressed in holiness.

Illustration:

There are people who serve actively at church, stand at the pulpit, speak of holiness, yet in the office they quietly cut the honorarium of their own staff. That is like washing your hands with expensive soap, then plunging them straight back into the gutter. It is not clean. It is not holy.

So, the love of God is not only tender in generosity; it is firm in justice. But the crown of this passage is the heart itself: what do we do with hurt, anger, and revenge? That leads us to the third point.

Parallel Scriptures

• Proverbs 11:1 – A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is His delight.
• Ephesians 4:25 – Put away falsehood; speak truth to one another, for we are members of one body.
• James 5:4 – The wages held back from laborers cry out, and the cries have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

3. The Love of God Forms Relationships Free from Hatred (Leviticus 19:17-18)

Verse 17: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart.” Notice: God does not only forbid physical violence; He speaks to the motive of the heart.

Still in verse 17: “You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, lest you bear sin because of him.” Rebuke is not driven by hatred, but by care. The Hebrew word for “rebuke” here is הוֹכֵחַ (hokhiach), meaning: to confront honestly so that the other person will not continue toward destruction.

Verse 18: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”

Hear that ending: “I am the LORD.” Meaning: the standard of love is not our emotion, but God’s own character. If the Holy God has forgiven us, who are we to withhold forgiveness?

Practical Application:

• Civil servants: Do not take bureaucratic revenge (“Let him taste how difficult the process can be”). That is not holiness. That is ego.
• Employees / professionals: Do not store anger in your heart for years. Speak the truth in love. God does not ask you to smile in public while rotting in bitterness.
• Business owners: A competitor may be a rival, but not an enemy to be destroyed. We may compete honorably, but we may not plot someone’s ruin.
• Youth: A true friend warns you when you are walking toward sin. Silence in the face of a friend’s destruction is not loyalty — it is neglect.
• Parents: Forgive your spouse. Forgive your children. Unresolved bitterness in the home becomes a slow poison that will be handed down to the next generation.

Illustration:

A wounded heart that is never healed is like organic waste left in a corner. First it smells. Then it breeds maggots. Bitterness is not the armor of the soul; it is the rot of the soul.

So, to keep ourselves in the love of God means this: I refuse to let hatred become my identity. My identity is not “the offended one.” My identity is: the one forgiven and loved by God.

Parallel Scriptures

• Matthew 22:37-39 – Jesus names “love your neighbor” as the second great commandment, alongside loving God.
• Romans 12:17-19 – Do not repay evil for evil; vengeance belongs to the Lord.
• Ephesians 4:31-32 – Put away bitterness and forgive one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Conclusion: A Call to Response

Beloved of the Lord, keeping yourself in the love of God is not passive. It is a daily choice.

Let this be our confession before the Lord today: 
“Lord, I desire to live with a generous heart, just hands, and relationships free from bitterness.”

For any among us walking in greed, dishonesty, or resentment: this is a call to repent. Not so that God will start loving us, but so that we may return and dwell in the love that has always pursued us.

For the love of God is not a theory. The love of God is the air our souls were made to breathe.

When harvest comes, leave grain behind, A gift for hearts weighed down with care. Lord, keep my soul in love refined, That I may show Thy mercy fair.

Sermon Flow Summary

1. Point 1 – Sacred Generosity. The love of God teaches us to leave room for the vulnerable (vv. 9-10).
2. Point 2 – Honesty and Justice. The love of God forbids manipulation, oppression, and deceit (vv. 11-16).
3. Point 3 – Relationships Without Revenge. The love of God leads us to forgive, to correct in love, and to bury bitterness (vv. 17-18).

This is how we keep ourselves in the love of God: not only by saying, “Lord, I love You,” but by living in a way that resembles His heart.

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:18)