The Greatest And Foremost Commandments

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The Greatest And Foremost Commandments Series

Contributed by Warren Lamb on Oct 12, 2008 (message contributor)

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Scripture: Matthew 22:34-40

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Summary: Probably no passage has been preached on more than this one - the summary statement of what it means to be a Christian.

The Greatest and Foremost Commandments

Matthew 22:34-40

The challenge before me today is to open to you a passage of the Bible that contains the words of Jesus that have been more preached about than any others. In my library, I have collections of sermons from many of the great preachers throughout Christian history. And, online, I have access to the sermons of thousands upon thousands more. Rarely will you find a collection of messages that does not contain at least one on this passage.

So, what is a man to do? How can I hope to do more or do better than all those who have already gone this way? Do I borrow from them? Or do I ask God to give me something fresh and new; something that will just rock your socks off and make you amazed at my sermonizing prowess?

Both would be tempting. The first would be simple to do, but not at all honest. The second—well, that would be pretty arrogant, to say the least. No, my approach had to be, “Lord, I need for You to teach me the truth here that You want me to share with our fellowship this week. This is the portion of Your flock that You have given me to feed and to tend. Help me to be faithful with that.”

I begin with this because, while there are truths the depth of which we could spend months plumbing, the main point for us today is to discover what it is God has to say to us right here, right now, in this time and place, that we can take and apply to our lives.

That is the exciting part of seeing the truth of Hebrews 4:12 borne out in our lives. “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

We each come to this gathering today from different backgrounds, different strengths, different challenges, and different needs. We could approach this passage from each one of those outlooks and still miss much of what God would have us hear and understand. I could bring two or three hundred messages on the truths that are here, and still end up not serving you well.

When I read and reread these passages, there seem to me to be four underlying themes. Perhaps presenting those four themes to you today will be enough to bring enough of the truth to light for each of you to then take what you hear and ponder it with God in the days ahead and He will bring the transformation that he intends. That is my hope; that is my prayer.

Let us read through the passage, and then we will see what God would speak to our hearts. Matthew 22:34-40:

“But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And He said to him, “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 foremost commandment. The second is like it, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.’”

The men who have come to Jesus here are the Pharisees. These are the men who have developed a keen understanding of the minutia of all of the Mosaic Law, as well as the attending additional laws and commands that have been added to ensure that the Law of Moses is protected from being broken—the fence around the Law.

As you may recall from when we studied the life of Paul, there were 613 commandments—365 “shall not’s” and 248 “shall’s”. With that many rules and regulations to follow and avoid violating—and there was no little contention among the Pharisees which should be given the most significance—having some simple, core value to focus on would be a grand thing indeed.

Luke’s gospel records that the scribe was the one who answered Jesus, while Matthew’s and Mark’s gospels record it as Jesus answering the scribe. These were on two separate occasions; Luke’s account came much earlier in Jesus’ ministry on earth. From that fact we can see that this was a matter of much importance within the circle o fthose who were the religious leaders of Israel.

The point is—and we can surely see it in our own lives—having a simple and easy to remember summary of what it means to be truly Christian meets a need that we all have. With this passage, we have it; we can breathe a sigh of relief.

The answer given is a very brief but fully comprehensive summary of everything that God has had to say on the matter of what it means and what it looks like to be obedient to His commands. It is a blending together of two Old Testament passages; Deuteronomy 6:5, and Leviticus 19:18.

The intent of the question was to get Jesus to help them decide how to define which of the 613 commandments should have the most weight. Some felt that the Third Commandment was the greatest (not take the name of the Lord in vain), while others were certain that the “fringe” commandments (like about ceremonial washing) were just as important as not murdering.

Jesus went beyond answering their question. He gave them an answer that went beyond one that settles their quibbling among themselves. He struck right to the heart of the Law, the very heart of God.

So, what is the great commandment in the Law? It is a two-sided commandment. It speaks to the two spheres that we live in, the two types of relationships that we have—our relationship to God, and our relationship to others.

That command is to love. Now, we all have our own understanding about love and what we think that means. The word that is used here is the Greek word agapaō, which is the verb form of agapç. We are most familiar with this word from what we know as “The Love Chapter”: 1 Corinthians 13.

Jesus is speaking of bringing God a love that is not fleshly, not worldly, not just a warm affection, but a full and total devotion. The best way that I can summarize what this kind of love this is is this: agapç love desires nothing from but everything for the object of that love.

This is the greatest commandment—to love God with all of our thoughts and feelings, the core of who we are, and with our intellect. The other side of this coin says that we are to have the same devotion to the health, wealth, and well-being of those around us as we do ourselves. Man! What a tall order!

Can this kind of love really be commanded and expected? Can this kind of love really be achieved and given? Let me ask you another question to answer these: does God ever command us to do something that He knows is impossible for us to do that he does not provide us the means to do?

No; He absolutely does not. So, how are we to be able to obey these words? The key is in 1 John 4:19: “We love, because He first loved us.” We understand and accept that, just as we may consider some of the people around us unlovely and unlovable, we keep in the forefront of our minds that, as Paul says in Romans 5:10, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

That also is what causes us to love God in return. We were His enemies; we were helpless; we were without hope; yet, He loved us with that self-sacrificing love that sent Jesus Christ to this earth to be born, to live a sinless life, to be tortured and crucified in our place for the sins we commit, died in our place, and then rose again and ascended to heaven where He waits for the proper moment to return and take us home to Him.

Therein lays the hope of being obedient to this commandment: as long as we live on this earth, we will be seeking to have God change our hearts and behaviors through the power of the indwelling Christ. But, one day, we will be with Him for eternity, and the obedience we have sought will be as natural as breathing.

That is one theme I saw in my study. The second theme I saw was just who this deep love this is for. For God, “WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND;” for our neighbor, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

There is no difference between the love we are to have for God and the love we are to have for our neighbor. Who is our neighbor? Jesus answered this with the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). The simple answer is: anyone and everyone is my neighbor, including those whom I would consider my worst enemies.

Tall order? Sure it is; but, once again, it is the love with which God loved us, His natural enemies because of our willing and purposeful violation of what we knew in our hearts was wrong to do—we have sinned, and God hates sin. Yet, He has loved each and every sinner with a self-sacrificial, undemanding love.

“Wait,” you say—“undemanding? Didn’t you just say that this was God’s command?”

Sure, I did—but it is a command that we are completely at liberty to disobey. You see, what we miss is that God does not need our love—it desires it. And, it is we who are the beneficiaries of our obedience to this command.

So, what does that obedience look like? “With all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…” As I mentioned before, it means to love God with all of our thoughts and feelings, the core of who we are, and with our intellect.

To love Him with all our heart is to fix all of our affections, all of our devotions, firstly and firmly ion Him—we are to want nothing more or greater than we want Him. He is to be the first one we think of in the morning and the last one we are to think of at the end of our day. He is to be the one that our heart warms just at the thought of, just like when we had our first crush as a youngster.

To love Him with all our soul is to make Him and His wishes the focus of our entire lives. We do nothing without considering Him first of all. How would God feel about this? Would He smile, would He be glad, would He feel blessed with me doing this or saying this or going here or be part of this?

To love Him with all our mind is to think diligently about His Word, thorough which we discover His nature and His character. We don’t just take a blind leap of faith, but we read His Word, study its meaning, ponder its implications; we speak of it with other believers; we make the study of His Word the mainstay of our daily life, for it is through His Word and through His Body that we discover who He is. Only as we learn more and more who God really is do we grow in our love and our devotion for Him.

We were created to love and worship God. We do that through all of our faculties and all of our powers—our heart, soul, mind, and strength (as Mark adds). That love and worship transforms us. It molds and shapes our affections, our motivations, our every thought, and it makes us a living, loving example of the very Jesus who loved us beyond all human comprehension.

We are then to take that love and turn it toward our neighbor. When Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you,” he gives us the core value with which to see and respond to those around us.

This love, then, not only brings transformation to our lives, but also to the lives of those that God brings into our sphere of life and influence—even if it is but for a moment (think of the cashier at the store or the person who stands begging on the corner or the mother with out-of-control children who have her so frazzled she doesn’t even know what to do).

This love is supposed to so transform us that it will even penetrate the lives of those who despise us. Their minds may never change about us, but they will be unable to deny in their heart-of-hearts that they have seen real Christian love at least once in their life—and they will perhaps be touched deeply enough that God will be able to get enough of a foothold in their heart to conquer them with His love as well.

The third theme I saw here was that this is a complete love—there is nothing half-hearted or so-so about it. Partial devotion is no devotion at all. Partial devotion actually causes a division of love and loyalty; it makes us “double-minded, unstable in all [our] ways (James 1:8).”

Some people come to God with a “going-through-the-motions” mentality. They are the ones who search out the church that has the amazing worship team, the one that really makes them “feel” close to God with their music. Yet, this same person spends not one minute of their own time worshipping God in the solitude of their home.

Some people will chase after the “best” teachers, the one’s who really open the Scriptures to them and give them real hope for having a happy and blessed life. Yet, they are the ones who will rarely if ever crack the cover of their Bible to discover for themselves what that “living and active” Word would show them about the reality of their heart and their life.

Still others, will go to church, do some activities with the people from the church, even give of their money to the church, but as far as seeking ways to really impact their neighborhood or their workplace or even their family for the Gospel? Nah…they’ve done enough. There are others who are gifted and called to do that—like the pastor, for instance.

The result of this approach to love and devotion for God? There really is no tangible example of care and concern for their neighbor. Oh, it bothers them to see the starving little black children on television in the middle of their favorite show. But, instead of getting on their knees and asking God, “Lord, what would you have me do about this?” They get up and get another glass of water or just flip the channel and see what else may be on.

And what about that mother with the out-of-control children who have her so frazzled she doesn’t even know what to do? Well, she should learn to get a handle on her kids—she should discipline them more so that they know how to behave in public and not to disturb other people by making so much racket. Far be it from them to ask if they can be of any help—maybe run down the one that has just taken off running away from the checkstand while she is trying to deal with the one with the big sneeze all over his face.

This half-hearted (or less) approach to loving God and loving others saddens God deeply. God knows full well that a man or woman whose love and loyalties are so divided is on a path that will destroy their peace, destroy their wholeness, and destroy their ability to give and receive love—it sets them on a course of isolation and loneliness.

How many lonely people do you think there are in this world? Much of that loneliness grows directly out of the selfish, self-serving desire to have their own wants and needs met more and greater than they care for the needs of others.

In God’s economy, He shows us right here how it is that we will have those deep needs met—by being like Jesus Christ and obeying these, the great and foremost commandments—what has been called “the royal law of God (James 2:8),” for those of you who have been here for our study in James.

How can you tell if a person—or you yourself, for that matter—is a person of divided heart and loyalties? Examine the life and the relationships in light of what we are discussing here today. Ask some of these question’s and “you will know them by their fruits”.

Is God served in church but not in life outside of church? Is there a sense about the person that they care deeply for others and respond to opportunities to give sacrificially to others without expecting anything in return? Is there a flavor of tenderness and compassion about them, especially when dealing with irascible and difficult people? Is there evidence of them having “been with Jesus”?

Only a yearning to have God make a change in one’s heart will ever make it possible for that heart to be changed in such a way and to such a degree that this deep love for God and for one’s neighbor becomes the motivating force in one’s life.

The fourth and final theme I saw in my study of this passage was that obedience to these commands is unnatural for the natural man in us and that it is something we are to desire above all else in spite of that fact.

Consider this: if God desires something of us and it is the natural thing for us to do, does He ever need command us to do it? The obvious answer is, “No.” He only needs to command us when it is not natural for us to do or be that thing or that way. So we easily see that this is not at all the norm for our lives. Yet, it is to be so—that is what He commands.

How can we start to bridge that gap and make was in unnatural natural? He gives us a hint in the closing phrase of the “second” commandment; “as yourself.” We begin with asking God to change our heart toward Him and toward the things of God. But, how do we know how to live out that love in our loving of others?

Well, how much and in what ways do we love ourselves? That is the starting point—what do I want for myself and what am I willing to do to have it? Well, I want to be comfortable; I want to be warm (or cool, depending on the season); I want to be safe; I want to be fed; I want to feel secure; I want to be loved and liked and cared for; I want to feel important to someone; I want to be healthy; I want to not be hated or mocked or despised; I want to not be put at risk; I want to not have to fear for my life or my safety; I want to not be in need.

As you can see, the list can go on, but these are pretty much the universal basics of what we want and need for ourselves and that we are willing to devote our time, our energy, and our resources to securing for ourselves.

See where I’m going? It’s a matter of the heart, isn’t it? We make a zillion choices everyday that are zeroed in on securing these things for ourselves—but, do we do the same for those around us, especially those who are not our closest friends and loved ones?

I want to revisit Romans 5 for a moment. Let’s look together at verses 6-10:

“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

We need to look at three words: helpless, sinners, and enemies. We all know what it means to be helpless. I’m sure that each of us can think of a time when we were at our absolute end in a situation with no hope of a solution or a way out and somehow God—and we know it was God, it could not have been anyone else—God caused the situation to change or brought someone into the situation who was able to give us the help we needed and could not be for ourselves.

Jesus Christ is called The Great Shepherd; He calls us His sheep. On one of my shelves in my study is a little book bearing the title, “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23”. The author, Phillip Keller, was a sheep rancher and has many insights to share about sheep. One that he shares is this:

Sheep require more attention than any other livestock. They just can’t take care of themselves. Unless their shepherd makes them move on, sheep will actually ruin a pasture, eating every blade of grass, until finally a fertile pasture is nothing but barren soil. Sheep are near-sighted & very stubborn, but easily frightened. An entire flock can be stampeded by a jack rabbit. They have little means of defense. They’re timid, feeble creatures. Their only recourse is to run if no shepherd is there to protect them. Sheep have no homing instincts. A dog, horse, cat, or a bird can find its way home, but when a sheep gets lost, it’s a goner unless someone rescues it. So the over-riding principle of Psalm 23 is that sheep can’t make it without a shepherd.

I share this here because we need to remember that we all are just like sheep—we need to be cared for and nurtured and protected and provided for. None of us is exempt, and none of us is more important than any other. We are helpless and we need not only a Savior, we also need each other.

The people who are in your life who you may not have much in common with or who you don’t really like for one reason or another or who have hurt you or offended you or brought grief to your life somehow really are no different than you are.

You have been and can be just as much of a scoundrel as they have been and can be. We are all sinners—ever one of us—no exceptions. The things that people have thought, said, and done that have hurt or offended us are the very same things that we do or have done and are just as capable of thinking, saying, and doing.

Is someone your enemy because of any of this? Keep in mind that you have been an enemy of God for the very same reasons. And, it is His standards that have been violated, not ours. For us not to forgive is for us to turn our back on the forgiveness that Christ has bought for us.

Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:14-15: "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

How is this possible when everything in us rebels against this notion? How can we hope to love God fully and completely, without reservation, and then turn around and love other people—especially those who have hurt or offended us—and seek for them all of the love and blessings that we desire and strive for for ourselves?

Only by a complete and total surrender to Jesus Christ and an unashamed acceptance of His merciful forgiveness and gracious blessings. Only by giving up any and all rights that we think we have or must have. Only by considering others more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). And, only by admitting that we are really no better and no different than any one else, deeply and desperately in need of a Savior.

You have probably heard the old saying, “The ground is level at the foot of the Cross.” Let me close with this poem by Naomi Durik, entitled, “At The Foot Of The Cross”: