Purpose

LOVE GOD, LOVE PEOPLE

At Austin Ridge, our purpose is to encourage and equip everyone to love God and love people.

In Matthew 22 a religious lawyer asked Jesus what he thought was the most important religious commandment. He was concerned about getting it right and doing it right.  Jesus's answer was a surprise. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39)

Ultimately, Jesus doesn't give us a long list of do's and don'ts or a difficult set of religious duties to perform.  If we love God and people, we will already be doing all that is required.  God simply asks for a whole-hearted, whole-bodied, whole-life relationship. Faith and life with God is that simple.

To Love God is to relate to him as our perfect creator and Father. He made us, cares for us and despite our errors, failings and rebellion makes a way for us to be made new day by day. He forgives us and re-creates us in Christ and through Christ. He loves us perfectly and without end. We love him for that.

Jesus responds to the lawyer's question about the first and greatest command with both the first AND the second because they can't be separated. A whole-hearted love for God necessarily finds its expression in a selfless concern for all other people. If we love God we will love what God loves. God loves all people so we do too.

To love people is to care for people as God has cared for us, serving as we have been served, accepting as we have been accepted and forgiving as we have been forgiven. It is not always easy, but at Austin Ridge we are working to create a community of imperfect people that give to others what they have been given by God.

We love God. We love each other and we love our community. We don't always do it perfectly, but our prayer is that we will love more today than yesterday and more tomorrow than today.