When It Comes To God's Law, Everything Hangs On Love Series

When It Comes to God's Law, Everything Hangs on Love

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-37

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared January 19, 2023)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 22, thinking about the supreme importance God places on love. By this point, Jesus was in Jerusalem to die on the cross for our sins. It was time for the annual Passover Festival, and the city and surrounding villages were crowded with over 2 million Jewish pilgrims. (1)

*God's Word goes into a lot of detail about the evil scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians who had united in their malicious hatred of Jesus Christ. Normally, the scribes and Pharisees were bitter rivals of the Sadducees and Herodians. That's because the Scribes and Pharisees radically enforced their man-made additions to God's Law. Sadducees rejected those laws, and the divide was so bitter that in Acts 23:10, Paul was almost pulled apart during a clash between these two groups. But the Sadducees were far worse in a different way, because they rejected the basic truth of God's Word.

*The scribes and Pharisees were also bitter enemies of the Herodians, because they were supporters of the non-Jewish family appointed by Rome to rule Palestine. But almost all of these men agreed in their venomous rejection of Jesus Christ. They were obsessed with His destruction, and they had been plotting the Lord's death for months. (2)

*During this last week, they began taking turns confronting Jesus, desperately trying to get Him to take a stand against God's Law, or their Roman conquerors. In Matthew 22:23-33, we saw the ungodly Sadducees try to trap Jesus with a cynical question about eternal life and marriage in Heaven. They didn't even believe in eternal life or Heaven. And of course, they miserably failed, because you can't trick God.

*Now starting in Matthew 22:34, one of the Pharisees, a lawyer, tried to test Jesus with another question. It's interesting to know that Mark's Gospel shows this Pharisee in a different light, because he doesn't seem to be as hard-hearted as the other Pharisees there that day.

*So, before we read from Matthew, please listen to this story from Mark 12:28-34:

28. Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?''

29. Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

30. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.

31. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.''

32. So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.

33. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.''

34. So when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God.'' And after that no one dared question Him.

*With this background in mind, let's take a good look at Matthew 22:34-40, thinking about the supreme importance God places on love.

MESSAGE:

*Years ago, Mary and I took a trip to Florida for our wedding anniversary. Just after we left the gate in Orlando to fly home, the pilot turned the plane around. He told us that we had to go back, because one of the fuel pumps wasn't working. That sounded important.

*It turned out that we could still fly after all, because that plane had 6 fuel pumps, and it was safe to fly with 5. But obviously, some things are more important than others. If the arm rest falls off my seat, hey, no big deal. But if the wing falls off, that plane is going down.

*Some things are more important than others. This is also true when it comes to God's Law. And that was the gist of the lawyer's question in vs. 36, "Teacher, which is the great (or most important) commandment in the law?''

*The Lord answered this question in vs. 37-40:

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.''