The Greatest commandments
Matthew 22:34-22:37
Introduction-
Turn to Matthew 22:34-37
Matthew 22 is the discussing of the two greatest Commandments that Jesus spoke to His believers.
Before He does that, He has a conversation with the Sadducees. The Sadducees believed that there was no resurrection, so they came to Jesus with a hypothetical question. Moses taught that if a man died without having children that his brother must marry the widow to keep the family blood line going. Seven brothers, one married and died, this same thing happened to the second, third, and all the way to the seventh. Then the women died.
The question they were tricking Jesus with was, at the resurrection, whose wife would this women belong to? She had been married to seven different men.
Matthew 22:29-
“You are in error because you don’t know the scriptures, nor the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage, they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead- have you not heard what God has said to you. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
There will be a resurrection, contrary to what the Sadducces believed, and at that resurrection, believers will be united with Christ. I believe that we will know each other, but united with Christ first, not each other. The dead are those that are without Jesus as Lord. They will be dead in their sins and face the judgment of God instead of the mercy of God.
Text- Matthew 22:34-37
First the Sadducces about the resurrection
Now, the Pharisees want to challenge Jesus- an expert of the law trying to corner Jesus with His own words.
2 greatest Commandments
(1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul.
(2) Love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus says everything hinges off these two commandments.
The two things that most people have the most trouble with, loving God the way we should and loving others because most are selfish and only live for themselves.
In the Old Testament, there are many passages that tell us to love God and to love others.
The genius is that Jesus put these two together.
I do not believe that many will be argued into the kingdom of God, but I do believe many will be there by showing the love of God.
Commands - love God, love neighbor and love yourself.
It is the vertical for the relationship with God and horizontal that stretches to others around us and us taking care of ourselves.
Let’s start with loving God
I. Loving God
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
That is very fiber of your being- heart, soul, and mind.
We want to give Jesus our souls, but our heart and our mind is where it gets tough.
We know that Jesus wants to have an active relationship with us.
James 4:10-
“Come near to God and He will come near to you.”
Jesus made the first move toward us by His death, resurrection on the cross. He
actively is wanting and desiring and providing a way for us to have that relationship and tells us to draw near to Him, and he is ready and willing to respond.
What does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind?
It means that we have to give Him our all!
Not only your soul, but your heart and your everyday life belong to Jesus.
People look at church as a place that keeps a bunch of rules and a place that says if you love Jesus we will take things away from you.
Church is a place to worship God!
A place that you unite with other believers and tell Jesus what He means to you.
Our focus is on God!- not rules. We obey God out of obedience not out of fear or legalism.
Legalism focuses on the rules. Relationship with God focuses on the character of God and our desires to be more Christ-like.
We love God’s Word because it is His word.
We obey God because we have a desire to praise Him.
We draw near to God every chance we get because it is at His presence that our lives are changed. The more we respond to Him, the more He will respond.
One of the struggles in Church is trying to get many types of people in an attitude of worship. Some are uncomfortable doing that. It’s biblical, but tough for some. My point is that if we are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, it is not limited to giving him our soul, it is every aspect of your life.
I don’t care if you raise your hands.
I don’t care if you say amen.
I don’t care if you bow your head.
I don’t care if you come to the altar. THESE ARE ALL GOOD AND APPROPIATE THINGS TO DO.
If you love God with all your heart, you will express it in some way that is greater than you love someone else or something else.
Football fans, race fans, let’s hear a cheer for Jesus once in a while.
Jesus ought to be getting more of our time than other things …if we love Him with all our heart.
Illustration-
A lady met a little girl coming out of church on Sunday and asked what were you doing in there? Praying, she responded. Thinking that the little girl had a problem of some sort, she asked, what were you praying about? Nothing, I was just loving Jesus.
We need to spend time loving Jesus.
Our love for God is an upward love that must take priority over every thing else.
God deserves all of our life. Not part time Christians only when everything is going well.
God love is demonstrated- not only voiced. We have to live it, not just say it.
God loves us more that we can imagine. It goes from the cross to the grave and Bad times and good times.
You want to do a life check, if you love someone or something more than the Lord, He does not have all of you, but if you do love Him most, others will benefit from it also.
II. Loving others
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Did you know that if you don’t love God correctly, your pattern for love will be messed up until you get it right.
God is first- love Him.
You understand that God loves you, and you are able to return that love to others.
If you don’t understand God’s love- your proper love for yourself, how can you love others when you don’t love yourself.
Many years ago I did a sermon called “who is your neighbor” taken from Luke 10:29
Who’s your neighbor?
The person next door?
The people across the street?
1 mile, 10 miles, overseas?
Truth is a neighbor is anyone that you come into contact with and have dialog. Those God has put before you at sometime in your life.
Truth is, you can’t love them correctly if the love of God is not in you.
What impact can you make?
If you are so busy that you have no time for anyone else, what impact can you make and what benefit will the kingdom of God experience?
I know some will not like what I am going to say, but it is the truth. If every penny you get is used for yourself, where is the kingdom building? If it is only used for your family, where is the outreach? If your time is all yours, what investment in time are you making for the kingdom?
If God doesn’t get back anything that He gives you, how in the world can He bless you for faithfulness?
John 13:34-35
“ A new covenant I give you; love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
III. loving yourself
The last thing, this morning, Jesus tells us to love God with all our heart, soul and mind.
He tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves, which would mean to be good to those we come into contact with.
Some people have a hard time loving themselves! They can help others but cannot feel like God cares what is happening to them.
God loves you deeply and He wants you to love yourself, not in s creepy way but take care of yourself and know who you are in Christ.
You are a child of God and God died for you also, not just those around you.
Close this morning simply by asking you to take a look at your life, does it reflect that God is number one in your life? Does the love that God gives you given back to those that God puts in you path? Do you love yourself as much as God loves you because if you cannot love yourself, you cannot experience the joy that comes in knowing who you are in Christ.
Amen.
