When It Comes to God's Law, Everything Hangs on Love
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.''
*Christians: God wants to grow His love in us like a giant beam to hold up all the rest of His Laws. Matthew Henry said, "Take away love and all the law falls to the ground and comes to nothing." All of God's other laws hang on His two great laws of love. But what does this mean for us today? (3)
1. FIRST IT MEANS WE MUST HAVE GODLY LOVE FOR OUR MASTER.
*In vs. 37-38 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment."
*William Barclay explained that the verse Jesus quoted in vs. 37 was part of the 'Shema', which is the basic and essential creed of Judaism. It is the sentence that still opens every Jewish worship service, and it was the first text which every Jewish child committed to memory." It's from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 where God's Word says, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, is one LORD! And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might." (4)
*God's most important law for us is to love Him. The Lord wants us to know that love is not just a feeling, or a choice. Love is a commandment from the most high God. And loving God is a most worthy commandment, because God is most worthy of our love.
*That’s why it is supremely appropriate for God to command our highest love. Of all the people we should love, we should love God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit most of all. And the Lord raises the bar to the highest level when it comes to loving Him: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind."
*John Phillips gave a most challenging description of this kind of love for the Lord. Phillips wrote that "God must be put on the throne of our lives so supremely that every emotion is a God-centered emotion, every thought is a God-centered thought, every decision is a God-centered decision, and every deed is a God-centered deed. Our whole being then is to be centered on God, who is to be loved and served with all of the strength that we possess." In short, we are supposed to love the Lord our God with every part of our life. Nothing should be off-limits to the Lord. (5)
*Dr. Bob Moorehead told about a man who was totally committed like that. He was a young Christian from Zimbabwe, who was murdered for his faith in Jesus Christ. This was the written testimony he carried to his death:
-"I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. I'm a disciple of His. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed. My present makes sense, my future secure. I'm finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, worldly talking, cheap giving and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I don't have to be first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on his presence, walk in patience, am uplifted by prayer, and I labor with power." (6)
*Church: We don't even know that young Christian's name. But he is a hero in heaven! He is a hero, because he was passionately committed to love the Lord with all his heart, soul and mind. May God help us to love Him just like that!
2. EVERYTHING HANGS ON GOD'S GREAT LAWS OF LOVE, SO WE MUST HAVE GODLY LOVE FOR OUR MASTER. AND WE MUST HAVE GODLY LOVE FOR OTHER PEOPLE.
*As Jesus said in vs. 39, the second commandment is like the first: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Here Jesus quoted Leviticus 19:18, a much more obscure verse of Scripture. Paul Baker explained that "'Love your neighbor,' was tucked in between dozens of other rules. It comes right before 'Don’t mate different kinds of animals,' and 'Don’t wear cloth woven from two kinds of materials.'"
*So, this was a commandment that could very easily "slip through the cracks." "But Jesus gave 'Love your neighbor' almost as much importance as the greatest commandment of all. . . You see, love is the greatest thing we can do: Love God, and love other people." (7)
*Again in vs. 39 Jesus said, "The second commandment is like the first: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" Here again, the Lord raised the bar as high as possible. I'm supposed to love my neighbor as much as I love myself. And that's a problem, because the truth is that Christians can be just as selfish as anybody else. And sometimes we are.
*Jesus said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But sometimes I have trouble loving even the people who love me the most. If you grew up with brothers and sisters, did you ever hear your parents say, "Why can't you just get along?" My brother and I used to hear that a lot!
*And listen to these letters some other children wrote to their pastor: "Dear Pastor, I know God loves everybody, but He has never met my little brother."
*"Dear Pastor, I would like to go to heaven someday, because I know my big sister won't be there."
*Sometimes we can be like that when we forget to love one another. But Jesus says, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
*Adults have problems too. I like the story about a church where the preacher was finishing a sermon series on marriage. At the end of the service, he gave out small wooden crosses to each of the married couples. Then the pastor said, "Put this cross in the room where you fight the most. You will see it and be reminded of God's commands, so you won't argue as much."
*One woman came up to him after church and said, "You'd better give me five!" (8)
*It's not always easy to love other people. But Jesus says: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Of course, then the question comes up: "But who is my neighbor?" Jesus had already answered that question a few months earlier when another lawyer had tried to test Him. Then, trying to justify himself by drawing the circle as small as possible, the other lawyer asked Jesus: "Who is my neighbor?"
*Oh, how Jesus shocked that crowd when He told them the story of the Good Samaritan. In Luke 10:30-37:
30. 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 on him,
34. and 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, 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.''
*What does it mean to love my neighbor as myself? It means to love all people the way Jesus loves all people. Jesus wants us to see people with the same kind of love we find in His eyes. And it is amazing how much this Good Samaritan was like the Lord. The Good Samaritan had compassion on the wounded man. He went to him and took care of his wounds by pouring in oil and wine. Of course, wine is a Biblical symbol of the blood of Jesus Christ, who heals our spiritual wounds. And oil is a symbol for the Holy Spirit who gives us the new spiritual birth of eternal life.
*The Good Samaritan also put the wounded man on his donkey. This reminds us that when we are too weak to go on, Jesus will carry us! Then, the Good Samaritan took the man to a safe place where he could stay. And Jesus is going to take us to a place like that.
*When he had to go away for a while, the Good Samaritan provided for all of that man's needs. And Jesus has done this too. Finally, the Good Samaritan was coming back again. In all of these ways, the Good Samaritan was like our Lord.
*And the lesson for us today is this: When it comes to loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, we are supposed to love them the same way that Jesus loves us, with kind, compassionate, sacrificial love. In fact, God commands us to do it. Jesus said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
3. AND EVERYTHING HANGS ON GOD'S GREAT LAWS OF LOVE, SO WE MUST HAVE GODLY LOVE FOR OTHER PEOPLE. AND WE MUST RECEIVE GOD'S LOVE FOR OURSELVES.
*Again in vs. 37-39, Jesus said, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
*And how important is this love? In vs. 40, "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Everything God ever told us to do or not to do flows out of these two commandments. But how well have we kept the love commandments?
*We may think, "I do love God with all my heart." But really? -- Have we done it 24/7 for even the last week? What about the last decade? And what about our whole life? If we think we are following these two commandments completely, then we need to take another long look at our lives.
*And if all of the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments, then I will surely hang, without God's merciful love for me. This truth reveals our crucial need for God's grace. One of the most important purposes for Old Testament law was to teach us how much we need God's mercy and grace.
*There is no way that we can ever earn eternal life by keeping the law, because all of us have sinned and fall far short of the glory of God. What we all deserve is a place in hell, because the wages of sin is death. So eternal life can never be earned. It must be received as a love gift from God.
*Eternal life must be received by receiving the love God gave us when He sent His Son to hang and die on the cross for our sins. I say this because the original word for "hang" in today's Scripture is only used 7 times in the New Testament, and 4 of those times take us back to the cross of Jesus Christ.
*For example, in Galatians 3:11-13 Paul wrote:
11. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "The just shall live by faith.''
12. Yet the law is not of faith, but "The man who does them shall live by them.''
13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who HANGS on a tree''),
*Jesus Christ took all of our eternal punishment when He died on the cross for us. He took our place. Well known 20th century pastor Harry Ironside explained it through a story he heard a preacher tell when Harry was about 7 or 8 years old. This story had such an impact on Harry's life that he never forgot it.
*It was about some pioneers who were making their way across the prairie to reach a faraway place opened up for homesteading. They traveled in covered wagons drawn by oxen, and progress was necessarily slow.
*One day they were horrified to see a long line of smoke in the west, stretching for miles across the prairie. Soon it was evident that the grass was burning fiercely, and the raging fire was rapidly approaching them. They had crossed a river the day before, but it would be impossible to get back before the flames caught up to them. Then one of the men realized the only way they could be saved. He gave the command to set fire to the grass behind them. And when a large space was burned out, the whole company moved back on it.
*As the flames roared on toward them from the west, a little girl cried out in terror. "Are you sure we will not all be burned up?" she asked. The leader replied, "My child, the flames cannot reach us here. For we are standing where the fire has already been!" (9)
CONCLUSION:
*That's a great picture of the believer, who is safe in Christ! The Lord Jesus took all of our eternal punishment when He died on the cross for us. That's how much He loves us. Jesus Christ took our place of suffering, and He will be our place of salvation. But we must go to Him. We must trust in Him. We must receive the love God pours out on us through the cross of Jesus Christ. We must receive God's love by receiving the Risen Christ as our Lord and Savior.
*Then we must grow our love for God by getting to know Him better. 1 John 4:19 tells Christians that "We love Him because He first loved us," so the best thing to do is focus on the Lord's kind, merciful, dependable love for you, and you will naturally find yourself loving Him more.
*Call on the Lord to save you today. Then keep seeking to love the Lord our God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Keep seeking to love your neighbor as yourself. And know that God will surely help us, because Romans 5:5 tells Christians that "the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Let's ask for His help right now, as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) Sources:
-BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES - NEW TESTAMENT by William Barclay - Revised Edition - Copyright 1975 - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA - "A King's Welcome" - John 12:12-19
-https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/william-barclay/a-kings-welcome-john-1212-19-7786
-https://biosidmartin.com/how-many-people-were-in-jerusalem-for-passover-when-jesus-was-crucified/
(2) Sources:
-WORD PICTURES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT by Archibald Thomas (A. T.) Robertson - Published in 1930-1933 - Matthew 12:14; Mark 3:6
-Got Questions: Who were the Herodians? - https://www.gotquestions.org/Herodians.html
-Got Questions: Who are the various Herods mentioned in the Bible? - https://www.gotquestions.org/Herods.html
-Got Questions: What was Herod's temple? - https://www.gotquestions.org/Herod-third-temple.html
-GotQuestions.com - "Who were the Scribes?" - https://www.gotquestions.org/scribes-Jesus.html
-https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesus/Scribes-and-Pharisees
(3) Original source unknown
(4) BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES - NEW TESTAMENT by William Barclay - Revised Edition - Copyright 1975 - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA - "Duty to God and Duty to Man" - Matthew 22:34-40 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/william-barclay/duty-to-god-and-duty-to-man-matthew-2234-40
(5) Adapted from EXPLORING THE GOSPEL OF MARK by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "What the Scripture Said" - Mark 12:28-31 - Downloaded to "Bible Study 6" from Olive Tree Bible Software, Inc.
(6) Written by Dr. Bob Moorehead, excerpt from his book, "Words Aptly Spoken." According to Dr. Moorehead's son, a man in Africa who was murdered for his faith had a copy of this prayer on him when he was martyred.
(7) Adapted from: https://www.crowrivermedia.com/hutchinsonleader/news/lifestyle/sermonette-love-is-the-greatest-thing-we-can-do/article_719ec7ed-5235-5058-b769-d281a1fb34fa.html
(8) SermonCentral sermon "God's Love Story" by Dana Chau - 1 John 3:11-23
(9) Henry Allan H. A. "Harry" Ironside, Illustrations of Bible Truth, Moody Press, 1945, pp. 34-35 - Source: Sermonillustrations.com - Topic: Judgment