The Greatest Commandment

Intro

What if I told you that love can be wrong?

That may sound strange in a world where “Love is love” has become the cultural anthem. It sounds good, feels right, and gets applause in every arena. But here's the question we don't ask nearly enough: Can love be misdirected? Can it be misplaced or misunderstood?

Absolutely—especially when it's separated from the God who defines it.

As we head into another election season, let’s be honest—it’s getting harder to know what love even looks like. People are talking over each other, unfollowing each other, canceling family, losing friendships... all while claiming they're doing it “in love.” And as followers of Jesus, we’ve got to ask: Is the way I’m loving my neighbor shaped by my love for God? Or am I letting culture—or politics—redefine love for me?

In Matthew 22, Jesus gets asked:

“Teacher, what’s the greatest commandment in the Law?”

He doesn’t hesitate. He says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And then He adds a second: Love your neighbor as yourself. But Jesus is clear—the second can never replace the first.

When love gets out of order, everything else does too.

Let’s look at how Jesus reorders love—and why it changes everything.

The Great Misunderstanding

In Matthew 22:36, the Pharisees ask Jesus a question that sounds sincere, but isn’t:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

###Now, they weren’t asking because they wanted to grow spiritually. This was a setup. The religious leaders had cataloged 613 commandments in the Old Testament—248 “do’s,” 365 “don’ts.” For years, they argued about which laws carried more weight. So this question wasn’t really about love—it was about trying to trap Jesus into saying something controversial.

But instead of taking the bait, Jesus goes straight to the heart of the issue. He doesn’t pick one law. He gives them the law above all laws.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (v.37)

###This isn’t a new idea—it’s from Deuteronomy 6:5. The Shema. Every Jew knew it. Every devout Jew recited it morning and evening. But somehow, in all their law-keeping, they’d lost the why. They knew the commandments, but they forgot the Commander.

And here’s the great misunderstanding—both then and now: We often act like loving others is the ultimate command. We think if we just “love people,” that’s enough. We hold the second commandment up as if it’s the whole commandment.

But Jesus doesn’t say that.

He says loving God comes first. It’s not just a good idea—it’s πρώτη (prōtē) in rank, and μεγάλη (megalē) in weight. The biggest. The highest. The foundation for everything else.

And this hits close to home, doesn’t it?

Today, even inside the Church, we see people skipping over the first commandment. We throw ourselves into service projects, charity work, social justice, or just being “a good person.” We’re loving people... but often doing it without loving God deeply.

And here’s the truth: when we try to love people without loving God, it quickly becomes about us. We want credit. We want to feel better. We want to fix things in our strength. But that’s not love—that’s performance.

💭 Illustration: It’s like hanging a heavy door on just one hinge. It may stay up for a while, but it’s unbalanced. Eventually, it falls.

Jesus says all of life hangs on two commandments—but only when they’re in the right order.

🎯 Takeaway: Before we can love others rightly, we have to love God fully. If we misunderstand that, we miss the whole point.

Love Without God Isn’t Love

Right after Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God, He adds this:

“And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39)

Now listen — this part gets quoted a lot in our world today. You’ll hear it on college campuses, in political debates, in social media arguments: “Just love your neighbor.” “Be kind.” “Treat people well.”

And on the surface, that’s great! Who doesn’t want to live in a world where people are loving? But Jesus doesn’t stop there. And He doesn’t start there either.

He says this is the second commandment — not the first.

In Greek, the word is δευτέρα (deutera) — second in order, second in rank. And when He says “it is like the first,” the word is ὁμοία (homoia) — similar, resembling it in kind, not equal in weight.

###In other words, loving your neighbor flows out of loving God. It’s not disconnected — but it is dependent.

That’s what culture often misses. We try to take the second commandment and make it the whole gospel. We say, “I don’t need religion—I just need to love people.” But when we cut love off from God, we turn it into something it was never meant to be.

📖 1 John 4:8 says,

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

God doesn’t just feel loving. He is love. That means real love is rooted in His nature. You remove Him, and you remove the root.

Think about it:

Love without God turns into tolerance without truth.

It becomes affirmation without accountability.

It’s sentimental, not sacrificial.

It’s conditional—“I’ll love you as long as you agree with me.”

That’s not what Jesus modeled.

💭 Illustration: It’s like trying to water a garden from a hose that isn’t connected to the faucet. It might look right on the outside, but nothing is going to grow.

Jesus isn’t asking us to be nice — He’s calling us to be transformed.

We’re not called to manufacture love. We’re called to receive it first — from the One who loved us when we were unlovable.

🎯 Takeaway: You can’t love people well until you’re rooted in the love of God. Not a vague love. Not a cultural love. A cross-shaped, Jesus-modeled, Spirit-powered kind of love.

Total Devotion Is the First Step

After answering the Pharisees' question about the greatest commandment, Jesus says:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (v.37)

Notice what He doesn’t say. He doesn’t say, “Love God a little more than you love other things.” He doesn’t say, “Put Him at the top of your list.”

He says, “All.” Three times.

With all your heart.

With all your soul.

With all your mind.

In the Greek, that word “all” is ἐν ὅλῃ (en holē) — full, entire, complete. Nothing held back.

And then He gives us three distinct parts of who we are:

καρδίᾳ (kardia) – heart – your will, your intentions.

What do you want most in life? What moves your heart?

ψυχῇ (psyche) – soul – your identity, your life, your essence.

Who do you belong to? What defines you?

διανοίᾳ (dianoia) – mind – your thoughts, reasoning, beliefs.

What shapes your decisions? What directs your worldview?

Jesus is saying:

“I don’t just want a part of you. I want all of you.”

And let’s be honest — this is where a lot of us struggle.

We give God pieces of our life, but not the whole thing. We love Him with our Sunday mornings… but not our Friday nights. We love Him with our prayers… but not our politics. We love Him with our lips… but not our habits.

But God doesn’t do part-time lordship. He doesn’t want our leftovers. He wants full devotion — because that’s what love looks like.

“If your version of Christianity fits into a box in your weekly planner, you’re not following Jesus — you’re managing a hobby.”

Now here’s the grace: Jesus isn’t asking for something He didn’t give first. He loved the Father perfectly — with His whole heart, soul, and mind. He obeyed in the garden, He submitted on the cross, and He rose again in total victory.

So if you feel like you’ve failed at this — you’re not alone. The call isn’t “try harder.” The call is “draw closer.”

🎯 Takeaway: Total devotion isn’t about being perfect. It’s about loving God fully and letting His love reshape every part of your life.

Let Love Lead in a Divided World

Jesus said the second commandment is this:

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” (v.39)

Now let’s be real — in a perfect world, that sounds simple. But in our actual world, that’s complicated. Especially in an election year.

We live in a time where “neighbor” doesn’t just mean the person who lives next door. It means the person who posts the opposite political view. It means the coworker who rants online. It means the extended family member who sends those texts. It even means the person sitting across the aisle at church, who votes differently than you.

And here’s the tension: Culture says if someone disagrees with you, they’re your enemy. But Jesus says if someone is your enemy... you love them (Matthew 5:44). And that love isn’t soft. It’s not compromise. It’s Christlike.

So how do we love our neighbor in a divided, political, anxious world?

First — we start with our identity. 📖 Philippians 3:20 says,

“Our citizenship is in heaven.”

That means before we’re Labour or Liberals, for this or that— we’re citizens of the Kingdom. That doesn't mean we don’t care about the world — it means we care more because we represent Jesus in it.

Second — we let love guide how we engage. Not just who we vote for, but how we vote. Not just what we post, but how we respond. Not just what we say, but why we’re saying it.

Love doesn’t mean silence. It doesn’t mean backing down from truth. But it does mean speaking with humility. It means holding convictions without canceling people. It means listening before labeling.

💭 Real talk: If our politics are louder than our gospel, we’ve gotten the order wrong. If our love is conditional on agreement, we’ve missed the heart of Jesus. If our compassion stops at the ballot box, it’s not cross-shaped love.

Let’s not be the kind of people who win arguments but lose souls. Let’s be known for a love that’s rooted in God and reflected in how we treat everyone—especially those we don’t agree with.

Now do not hear what I’m not saying, we are to winsome in our speech with people. BUT unfortunately there seems to be all too common type of winsome that never seems to win some to Christ.

🎯 Takeaway: Loving your neighbor in a divided world starts with loving God first. Let that love shape how you vote, how you serve, how you speak, and how you live.

It All Points to the Cross

After laying out the first and second greatest commandments, Jesus closes the conversation with this bold statement:

“All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (v.40)

Now that phrase—“hang on”—is no throwaway line. In Greek, it’s the word κρέμαται (krematai) — it means to be suspended, to depend entirely on. It’s a word picture. Like a door that hangs on two strong hinges. If either one breaks—or gets reversed—the whole thing falls apart.

Jesus is saying: Everything in Scripture—every law, every prophecy, every promise—hangs on these two commandments. This is the structure God built for His people. Love Him fully. Love others rightly. That’s what the whole story is about.

But here’s what makes it truly powerful: Jesus didn’t just teach these commandments. He embodied them.

Think about the cross:

The vertical beam represents His love for the Father.

In the garden, He prayed: “Not my will, but Yours be done.”

The horizontal beam represents His love for us.

On the cross, He stretched out His arms for sinners and said, “Father, forgive them.”

### He fulfilled both commandments in the same moment. He loved the Father perfectly—and obeyed unto death. He loved His neighbor completely—and gave His life to save us.

🔥 That’s why the cross isn’t just the climax of the story—it’s the centerpiece. Everything in the Old Testament was pointing to it. Everything in the New Testament flows from it.

At the cross, Jesus didn’t lower the standard. He met it in full.

He didn’t cancel the Law and Prophets.

He completed them in love.

And then He turned around and said, “Follow Me.”

That’s why we can’t preach love without preaching the cross. It’s not about trying harder to obey these commandments. It’s about receiving the love of the One who already did.

✝️ Easter is the proof. He died with perfect love in His heart. He rose so that love could live in ours.

🎯 Takeaway: Everything—our lives, our theology, our relationships, our mission—hangs on love. But not the world’s version. The cross-shaped, Christ-centered kind of love. And it all begins by looking up… and kneeling down. So where does all of this leave us?

We’ve seen that the world’s version of love—no matter how well-meaning—falls apart when it’s disconnected from God. We’ve seen that loving people isn’t the first commandment—it’s the second. And when we get the order wrong, we lose the power behind it.

We’ve also seen that God isn’t after partial devotion. He wants the whole thing: heart, soul, and mind. And that love—real love—doesn’t stay abstract. It shapes how we live. It shapes how we engage in divided times. It shapes how we treat our neighbors—especially the ones we don’t agree with.

But don’t miss this: All of this hangs on the cross. Not on your performance. Not on your ability to love perfectly. On Jesus—who loved the Father completely, and gave His life for you and me.

So today, here’s the invitation:

👉 If you’re a follower of Jesus—what part of your love has grown divided? What area of life have you been trying to love others without first loving God? It’s time to reorder.

👉 And if you’ve never fully received the love of God through Jesus… today’s the day. Not to try harder, but to surrender fully. Because before we ever loved Him—He loved us first.