Text: And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live” (Luke 10:28).
Who was Jesus talking to when He gave the response, “You have answered rightly…?” He was talking to a lawyer who was testing Jesus. The lawyer asked Jesus, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25)
Jesus knew the lawyer was an educated man and he already knew the answer to the question he was asking. Jesus also knew He was being tested; so He turned the question back to the lawyer who responded with the words, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind…” (Luke 10:27).
These words are found in the Old Testament in the Book of Deuteronomy. The lawyer knew the Scripture, yet he asked the question. These words, “you shall love the LORD your God,” spoken by the lawyer were words of love for the Lord. This type of love must be the kind that every man, woman, boy and girl should possesses.
This is how each of us should love our God. Every chamber in our heart should be filled with the love of God and with love for God. Our soul, our innermost being, should show a love that leaves us in a state of peace.
Every ounce of strength we have should be used to show God how much we love Him. Our mind should always be filled with love for the God who created us and died for us that we might have our sins forgiven so we can spend eternity with Him in His kingdom.
In our Scripture reading, Jesus was talking to the Pharisees. He had already put the Sadducees in their place. The Sadducees stuck tightly to the written law and did not accept the traditional thoughts and ideas the Pharisees believed in. Furthermore, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the body. They did not believe in the angels and the spirits.
The Sadducees and the Pharisees were out to make Jesus look bad. They did not believe what He was teaching. They were trying to get the people geared to their way of thinking. Satan was working hard in the heart and mind of these Sadducees and Pharisees.
People were doing things contrary to the Word of God. The temple was being used like a store or place of business. “Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves” (Matthew 21:12).
There was so much commercial activity going on the temple that people coming to worship could not get in. These people were not only being crowded out of the temple, but the sacrificial animals being sold were being sold at inflated prices.
The moneychangers cheated the people, who traveled long distances to worship, because they did not understand the money exchange. The people who came to worship were terribly upset at what was going on in the temple. Jesus was so angry that He went into the temple with the idea of cleaning it out and bringing it back to a place of worship instead of a den for robbers and thieves.
“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’” (Matthew 22:34-36).
When the Pharisees asked this question, do you think they were interested in hearing Jesus express the truth? I do not believe so. The Pharisees already knew the question asked by the Sadducees and they knew how Jesus answered that question. So what was their purpose in asking this question? They were out to trick Jesus.
The Pharisees were educated people. If they had just listened and taken to heart what Jesus told them, their education could have been immensely expanded.
You and I have the same problem as the Pharisees in that we ask Almighty God questions, but we do not listen as He speaks to us. Satan was doing his best to defeat Jesus through the minds of the Pharisees at that time and he is doing the same thing to us today.
Satan works through each one of us trying to convince us that Jesus is not who He says He is. When we listen to Satan and do things contrary to God’s Word, we are testing Jesus just as did the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
The first and greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all our heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (v. 37). This Scripture places a great emphasis on love. Why is love so important? Love is important because God is love.
What is love? Have you ever asked yourself that question? If we look up the word “love” in the dictionary, we find that “love is an intense affection for another person based on family or personal ties.” God’s love for man was so strong, so intense, and so much desired that He gave all He had. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
If it was not for God’s love for us, we would be lost. We would have no future. Hope would be nonexistent. Our thinking would be worldly. We would not know about traveling the straight and narrow road of life because we would have no guidance. Everything God does for us, He does out of love.
Do we deserve His love? No! Does God disown us when we commit sinful acts? No! Does God not love us because we do not love Him? No! How big is God’s love?
Story: “God’s Great Love”
One time a father wanted to teach his son the lesson of God’s great goodness. He took him to the top of a high hill and pointed northward over Scotland, southward over England, eastward over the ocean, westward over hill and valley, and then sweeping his arm around the whole circling horizon, he said, “Johnny, my boy, God’s love is as big as all that.” “Why, father,” the boy replied with sparkling eyes, “then we must be right in the middle of it.”
------------------------Earnest Worker
God created us out of love. He gave us the opportunity to choose instead of manipulating us like puppets. He gives us direction and guidance through His Word. He wants the best for us. His best gift to us was when He gave His Son for our salvation.
If God loves us this much, how much should we love Him? He tell us how much to love him when Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). This is a command directly from God. It is the greatest commandment. Our number one priority is to love God.
We love God because He is our God. If He is our God, then we are His children. If He is our God, we need to be obedient to Him. We should be dependent upon him for all our needs, because everything we have and need comes from Him.
He loves us so much that He wants us to spend eternity with Him. What does He provide for us out of love? He provides us with peace, joy, happiness, understanding, patience and security. God’s love for us makes a difference in our life.
Story: “Love Made the Difference”
Someone has illustrated love as the fulfilling of the law in this way: A woman was married to a man whom she did not love. He made her get up every morning at five o’clock, cook his breakfast, and serve it at six o’clock sharp. He made her wait on him, and was exacting in his demands on her time.
Her life was made miserable trying to satisfy the requests of her husband. Finally he died. This time she married a man whom she really loved. One day while clearing out some old papers, she came across the strict set of rules her former husband had written out for her to obey.
Carefully she read them over, “Get up at five. Serve breakfast at six sharp.” On and on she read. Then she stopped and thought, and realized that she was fulfilling every single one of his demands, but she had not realized it because this time she was doing it for love’s sake. Therefore, it is not difficult to serve the Lord Jesus when we really love Him.
--------------Sunday School Superintendent
Jesus went on to say although the first commandment is to love God the second one is love all His children. Jesus said, “This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22: 38, 39).
Does that sound rather strange “to love yourself?” How many of you love yourself? This does not mean that you are puffing yourself up. It does not mean you should have an inflated ego. It does not mean that all your words are about yourself. It does not indicate a corrupt self-love.
Our love for ourselves should be very natural. Since we are an instrument of God, we are to treat our bodies with great respect. Our mind should be to concentrate on the goodness of our Creator. Our soul should be prepared to spend eternity in the Kingdom of God.
We can love ourselves only if we love God. If we love God and we love ourselves, then we can love our neighbor. If we love God, love ourselves, and love our neighbor, we have kept the greatest commandment spoken of by Jesus.
The entire Law is fulfilled when we keep the greatest commandment. Paul wrote these words to the Romans: Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, they are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)
As a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, as a believer, it is our responsibility to show forth love. There is no way we can be true to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit if the love of God does not shine from us outward to others.
There is no way our life can be all that God wants it to be if there is no love. The lack of love is what gets people into trouble. The lack of love is why people take the broad road of life instead of the straight and narrow. The lack of love leads people into a life of sin and sorrow. The lack of love is exactly what gives Satan a chance to get a foothold in one’s life.
Conclusion:
What is the greatest commandment?
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).
What is the greatest second commandment?
“Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).
Why are these two commandments the greatest?
Because “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:40).
I want to close with this little story entitles “He Still Loves Us”.
There is a strange power in the consciousness of being loved…It is said that one of the most distinguished political leaders of the times of the American Revolution was once a hopeless drunkard. He had been engaged to a beautiful girl, but his dissipation had compelled her to break the engagement and sever herself from his influence, which was dragging her down.
She had not ceased to love him, or to pray for him. One day she was passing along a suburban road. She saw him lying intoxicated by the sidewalk, his face exposed to the broiling, blistering sun, and swollen with drink and exposure.
Her tender heart was moved, and, as she passed by, she took her handkerchief and gently spread it over his stupid, sleeping face. An hour or two later he awoke and saw the handkerchief and her name upon the corner of it.
He sprang to his feet, and a glad thrill of hope and courage came to his heart. “She loves me still,” he said, “all is not yet lost. For her sake I will redeem my life.” And he did…Oh, how much more power there is in the love of Christ to save lost men from despair, if they can only believe that He loves them!
----------------A. B. Simpson, in the Alliance Weekly
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).
Amen.
