Matthew 22:34-40-“But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Introduction: Illustration: In April of 1998 in our nation’s capital Military Police Maj. Odie Butler said he was northbound on I-395 about 10 minutes before 6 a.m. when he came upon an accident near Alexandria. Amid the debris of a single-truck accident, a person was on the highway, having been thrown from the vehicle. Butler said he did not take time to think. He stopped his car and got out to help the victim. "At first, I couldn’t tell if [the victim] was male or female, there was so much blood...[then] I saw she had on female tennis shoes. At the same time, traffic was rolling through," Butler said. Not having a cell phone, Butler said he was hoping someone would call 911. There was not much else he could do for the victim. "She was on her back with her left leg tucked under and her right leg near the guardrail," Butler said. "She was spitting up blood and I knew she needed medical assistance. There was nothing I could do except stand there. She had a big laceration on her right hand, her whole face was covered in blood, and she was having trouble breathing. Meanwhile motorists were passing by the accident “trying to weave through the debris and get on out of there," Butler said. Some made angry gestures. Butler said one driver told him to "get the ‘stuff’ off the side of the road." "Some folks don’t want to get involved ... [or] they’re in a hurry..," Butler said. After about five minutes, Butler said, another motorist, an Air Force civilian employee, Larry Meade, stopped and used his cell phone to call for assistance. About 10 minutes later, the woman was flown by helicopter to a Washington-area hospital. Meade said that he was prepared for the carnage associated with the crash, but the anger of the other motorists shocked him. Meade said, "People put appointments and memos above someone’s life." According to Butler, what he did on the interstate was "the Christian thing to do."
Notice in those verses the question that Jesus was asked. "Which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus gave the same answer as the he gave the lawyer in our text. Love God. Love your neighbor. He then states that all the law hangs on these two commandments. He makes love for God and our neighbor the foundation of moral responsibility. These elements are increasingly rare in our society. We tend to live with the attitude, "What’s yours is mine, if I can take it from you." Our society increasingly acts as if men owe nothing to their neighbors. We think only of our own lives, ignoring the needs of others.
Illustration-A few years ago, a man and a friend of his, were in Las Vegas. The friend followed a 7 year old into a bathroom and began physically assaulting her. The other man came upon the scene, made a half-hearted attempt to intervene, and then left the girl to her fate. Not only did he fail to stop the assault, he also chose not to report it. On their way home that night, the friend who was the assaulter told Cash he had raped and killed the little girl. Still, the man kept quiet. The police finally caught up with the assaulter and he pleaded guilty to all charges. The man who failed to report the crime was off the hook. Nevada had no law requiring people to report a crime. In an interview with the LA Times, the man who failed to report the crime defended his non-involvement. Without a trace of remorse, he said, ""I’m not going to get upset over someone else’s life . . . I just worry about myself first. I do not think of it. I am not going to lose sleep over someone else’s problems. I didn’t know her.”
As Christians in today’s Post-Modern world, it is far too easy to be bogged down in the trials and temptations of modern culture. To us, "Loving God and Loving Each Other" is often just another slot on our weekly agenda. For many, the relationship with God has become a relationship of convenience. Through Christ, we can all have an intimate, personal, and deeply rewarding relationship with our Creator. The right relationship with God is far more rewarding than anything this world has to offer.
As with any relationship, when we become complacent and develop unhealthy patterns, our relationship with God will suffer. True love is not just a feeling. It is a commitment. As humans, our feelings are constantly in flux, changing with the wind. As Christians, our commitments should remain strong, regardless of how we feel from day to day. It is time we evaluate our lives. I want us to consider what it means to love God and love our neighbor because all moral responsibility hinges on these two affections. These are priorities we must never neglect.
I. Priority # 1: Loving God is seen primarily in our attitudes.
Matthew 22:36-38-“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment.
A. God is not just someone we worship and serve.
1. He is someone we know.
2. We have a relationship with Him.
3. He has shared his life with us.
4. We love Him as we love any other person.
B. Love Him Passionately – "with all of your heart."
1. The heart speaks of emotion.
2. There are times when you laugh with God.
3. There are times when you weep before Him and you know He understands your sorrow.
4. There are times when you shout and rejoice with Him.
5. We need to be careful that our relationship to God does not become routine, "old hat."
6. Do we have a passion for God?
7. "All the heart" speaks of exclusiveness.
8. I have affections that belong exclusively to my wife.
9. I will share them with no other person.
10. Loving God with all my heart means that my first spiritual loyalty is to Him.
11. Have we lost our first love?
12. Illustration: the Church at Ephesus in the New Testament was a busy thriving evangelistic church but they lost their first love.
Revelation 2:2-4-“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”
13. Loving Him with all, the heart means I let nothing get in the way of loving Him.
C. Love Him Personally – "with all of your soul."
1. The Soul speaks of identity.
2. The soul is what gives us our personality.
3. Our temperament, our likes and dislikes, our fears and anxieties are expressions of the soul.
4. The soul speaks of intimacy.
5. We communicate on different levels.
6. I do not bear as much of my soul (personality) with a stranger as I do a friend.
7. God wants us to love Him with all of our soul – on the deepest level of intimacy, holding nothing back.
8. Soul love is a severe love—all my power, will and affections; Strong love—all that is w/in us; Sincere love—not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth.
D. Love Him Expressively – "with all of your strength."
1. Love has to find a way to demonstrate itself.
2. It makes you want to do something.
3. The greatest example of this is God’s own love.
4. John 3:16
5. I know God loves me because of Calvary.
6. There, God made the supreme sacrifice of love – His very life.
7. Jesus loved us to death – to the death of the cross.
8. That is what Calvary is all about.
9. It shows us how far God in love was willing to go to save a sinner.
E. Love Him Intelligently – "with your entire mind."
1. This statement helps us avoid extremes.
2. It keeps us balanced.
3. You will never find truth in emotionalism, but truth is emotional.
4. Emotions must be balanced with truth.
5. Emotionalism occurs when experience takes priority over the Word of God.
6. Feelings and faith must be governed by the facts of God’s Word.
7. Devotion must be guided by Scripture.
8. Loving God with all your heart does not mean that you neglect your family.
9. It does not mean you are to be disrespectful to authority.
10. Jesus is reminding us that we are to love God the same way He loves us.
11. We must not respond to God’s whole-hearted love in a half-hearted manner.
12. We are to love Him with ALL the heart, ALL the soul, ALL the strength, and the entire mind.
F. Now this love is two-fold; vertical and horizontal; God-ward and man-ward.
1. Jesus is telling us that until you love God, as you should, you will never love your neighbor as you could.
2. Loving God is not just something that we say with our lips.
3. However, it is something that we demonstrate with what we do with our time and with our lives.
II. Priority #2: Loving Others-this is seen primarily in our actions.
Matthew 22:39-40-“And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
A. The Principle.
B. If I were to ask you how you are to love your neighbor, probably all of us could give the right answer: you are to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
1. Great, but what does it mean?
2. Let us keep it simple.
3. Loving your neighbor means that you do for him whatever you would do for yourself.
4. When you have a need, you attempt to meet it.
5. When you have a hurt, you attempt to heal it.
6. When you have a responsibility, you attempt to fulfill it.
7. We do not have to be taught how to love ourselves.
8. It comes naturally.
9. We are experts at it.
10. The trick is to keep self-love from becoming selfishness.
11. We need to be constantly reminded that as we love ourselves, so we are to love others.
C. The story of the Good Samaritan
1. This is one of the most familiar stories in the Bible.
Luke 10:30-37 –“ Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed,[c] he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” 37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
2. It does not need a lot of explanation.
3. I just want to briefly point out three things that it teaches us about loving your neighbor as you love yourself.
4. Your neighbor is anyone you can find to help.
5. The parable begins with just a certain man.
6. Many things we consider important are not mentioned.
7. We are not given his name or his standing in society.
8. As far as we know, he could have been a thief who fell victim to other thieves!
9. The only thing we know about him is that the hand life dealt him at that moment left him alone and in need.
10. Let me ask a couple of questions.
11. Do you find yourself judging the worth of a man before you decide whether you are going to help him?
12. Do you only feel comfortable helping those who are just like you?
13. Do you let the color of their skin, the length of their hair or the style of their clothing determine to whom you will love as you love yourself?
14. Loving your neighbor involves the affections.
15. The priest looked on the victim with a total lack of contempt.
16. He had no time to get involved.
17. The Levite looked upon him with curiosity.
18. The Samaritan looked upon him with compassion.
19. The difference in the three men is that one had his feelings touched, and he responded to those feelings.
20. Nevertheless, what if people take advantage of our kindness?
21. What if they do not appreciate what we do?
22. It does not matter.
23. Let us read the story again.
24. Luke 10:30-37 –“ Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed,[c] he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” 37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
25. There is no mention of the victim’s response to the kindness of the Samaritan.
26. Why?
27. Because loving your neighbor is not contingent on his sense of appreciation.
28. We are to have Nike love – "Just do it."
“They that love God live their daily lives to show their true love for God; in truth and in spirit!”
? Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” - Amy Carmichael
“Compassion can’t be measured in dollars and cents. It does come with a price tag, but that price tag isn’t the amount of money spent. The price tag is love.”—J. C. Watts Jr.
29. Loving your neighbor requires action.
30. It is not enough to be concerned.
31. It is not enough to feel compassion.
32. You have to get involved.
33. You have to get a little blood on your suit coat and dirt on your kneecaps.
34. You have to invest some of your time and give of your treasures.
35. You have to do whatever it takes to take care of your neighbor … just as you do whatever it takes to take care of yourself.
36. Loving God- really loving Him, means living out His commands no matter what the cost: When it costs us something; when it is inconvenient, even when it goes against our own interests.
III. Conclusion:
A. Illustration: - There was a young pastor in his first church that was struggling and having a hard time, discouraged with attendance and growth.
1. One Saturday this young pastor was in a restaurant preparing to eat breakfast with a season and experienced pastor.
2. The young pastor with tears in his eyes looked at the elder minister and said, "I just can’t seem to get folks in the church committed to anything."
3. The elder minister told the young pastor that he needed to get them involved not just committed.
4. The young pastor not understanding, asked what the difference was between being committed and involved?
5. About that time the server brought their breakfast to the table, there it was 2 big platters of, hash browns, ham, and eggs.
6. The elder minister looked at the young pastor and asked him what he saw; the young pastor named everything that was on the platters, then the elder minister said, "Do you see those eggs? Where did they come from?"
7. The young pastor answered "From a chicken!"
8. Then he asked the young pastor "Where did the ham come from?" He answered from a hog.
9. The elder said," You see son, THE CHICKEN WAS COMMITTED, BUT THE HOG WAS INVOLVED."
ARE WE COMMITTED TO LOVING GOD AND LOVING PEOPLE? These are the two greatest commandments for Christians to follow.
