Introduction

Welcome church! Today is a great day as we’re starting up a new 4-week series here called Love God, Love People. And to help set the tone for our series I’ve put together a few of the greatest love quotes the internet has to offer; 'You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.' - Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice 'Love is the whole thing. We are only pieces.' - Rumi 'All you need is love.' - the Beatles 'Love recognizes no barriers.' - Maya Angelou

Interestingly, some of these quotes highlight principles or characteristics of love, specifically God’s love, that we’ll be discussing throughout our series. Thankfully, the Bible is packed full of love, and conveniently for us, God is love. So we have an optimal opportunity here to learn and be encouraged by the very source of love as we learn from the scriptures that He gave to us. It sounds simple right!?! But, we know it can’t be that simple…

As many of us in the room know, love isn’t just a matter of knowing what it is and how to learn it. Love is complicated, messy, confusing, exhilarating, encouraging, and so many other things I could never imagine having to list them all out at once. That’s in part why we’re taking 4 weeks to talk about the greatest commandment Jesus gave us through the scripture, to Love God and Love Others. He says that, 'All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.' So that’s where we’re going to start today too.

Love God and Love Others. He says that, 'All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.'

Main Idea

Some background information for our main text for the day, and essentially for the series, is probably necessary here. So before we tackle the verse, let’s look at the context and some of the surrounding information happening when Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment.

At this point in Jesus’ ministry, he’s got the Jewish religious leaders upset with him. They’re mad about his teaching, about the challenge he poses to their authority, and many other things related to their beliefs, teachings, and control over the Jewish people. So, if they can discredit him, or get him to say something blasphemous or heretical then they can launch a campaign to shut him down and be rid of the problems he’s caused.

In verse 34 we learn that He silenced the Sadducees, one of the religious groups, who had come to challenge him about the resurrection of the dead. Upon hearing this, the Pharisees decide to send in one of their philosophical champions with a question to derail Jesus. This lawyer, an expert in Jewish law, comes to Jesus and asks him, 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' His answer sets the stage not only for our series here today, but for Christians throughout history to better understand the heart of God for His people.

Jesus immediately replies to this expert lawyer with an answer that sends shockwaves through everyone there ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium