The Great Commandment – Sermon 2: Loving God, Part 2 Series

The Great Commandment – Sermon 2: Loving God, Part 2

Series: The Great Commandment

Chuck Sligh

July 29, 2018

TEXT: Matthew 22:34-40 – “But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them,…a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

INTRODUCTION

We saw last week that in verses 37-39 Jesus cut through all of the commands of the Old Testament and got right to the heart of the matter of what God wants us to do. When a lawyer asked Him what was the great commandment of all God’s Law, Jesus gave a two-part answer: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all you soul, and with all you mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, ‘You shalt love you neighbor as thyself.’”

Everything else hangs on these two commandments, according to Jesus. You can wrap up everything God wants you to do in one tidy little statement that summarizes this commandment: “To love God and people.” We saw that this is the main duty above all others of all believers. Not only is it the main duty for each of us individually, it’s also what ought to be the main duty of Grace Baptist Church corporately. —“To love God and people.”

To see exactly what Jesus meant by the first part of the commandment, last Sunday we began to dissect Jesus’ commandment.

First we noted the word “You,” making us realize that this command is POINTED.

That is, it’s not a generalized command: the Lord is talking to YOU. You should not say, “So-and-so needs to hear this.” You need to let this commandment penetrate to YOUR OWN soul, to let yourself be CAPTURED by a romance with God!

Next is the word “shall,” which reminds us that Jesus’s words were COMMANDED.

Of course, this is true by definition; it is, after all, the great COMMANDMENT. But my point was that our love for God is not merely an emotion. You cannot command a person to have an emotion. You cannot say, “Be angry right now!” Since Jesus commands us to love God and others, love can’t simply be an emotion. True love is demonstrated by ACTIONS that prove the reality of our love.

Third is the phrase is “the lord Your God,” teaching that the love God commands is exclusive.

You cannot love another god; you must love the true God and Him alone. And you cannot come through the mediator-ship of anyone beside His Son, Jesus.

Now let’s look at the rest of the commandment for the remainder of our study:

IV. Note next the possessive pronoun “your”—“you shalt love the Lord YOUR God…” – THIS REMINDS US THAT OUR LOVE FOR GOD SHOULD BE PERSONAL.

Martin Luther said, “The life of Christianity consists of possessive pronouns.” You see, it’s one thing to say, “Christ is the Savior”; it’s quite another thing to say, “He is MY Savior.” The devil can say the first; only the true Christian can say the second.

Jesus commands you to love God as YOUR God. The word “your” implies a personal relationship, not a faint knowledge of some distant being. God is not an impersonal, far-off God who cannot be known or experienced. He is personal, ever so close—and Jesus is teaching that we should be personally involved with God on a PERSONAL basis.

Let me ask you: Do YOU know God PERSONALLY?

Illus. – Years ago a distinguished actor and an aged minister met at a gathering. The actor was asked to give a recitation, and, at the minister’s request, he repeated the 23rd Psalm, which begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” Such was the beauty of his voice and the charm of his manner that a subdued murmur of praise went around the room.

The actor then invited the old minister to repeat the same psalm. When the minister ended, there were tears in every eye, for he had spoken to their hearts and souls. Afterwards the actor was asked why the minister’s recitation had so much more profoundly affected the audience, and he replied: “You see, I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd.”

Do you know the Shepherd? Jesus commands you to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, but dear friend, how can you love someone you do not know?