Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Over a nine season career, Clinton Portis became the second leading rusher in the history of the Washington Redskins.

When he was only twenty-two, he signed what was the largest contract ever given at the time in NFL history to a running back, and he made more than $43 million dollars in his NFL career.

He was a frequent flyer on MTV Cribs where he would show off his numerous, opulent homes, and in his homes you would find the garages always filled dozens of the most extravagant cars that you could imagine.

And, what was even more apparent, was that everybody loved Clinton.

You’d see him there, and he’d always have a girlfriend or two or three.

He’d have his buddies, and his houses would be full.

I’ve read accounts where he could rent out entire restaurants or vacation villas, and huge groups of people would travel with him.

But, then something happened.

The well ran dry.

After being taken to the cleaner by a group of unethical financial advisers and due to his own opulence and gambling addiction, in 2015, Portis had to file for bankruptcy, and the party ended.

And, guess what happened.

His girlfriends went away.

And, his friends went home.

And, the party ended.

You see, here’s what was revealed about all of them: They didn’t love Clinton Portis.

They loved what Clinton Portis could do for them.

Their love was self-centered, perverse, and counterfeit.

And, this morning, I wonder if that’s how many of us love God.

We love forgiveness.

We love heaven.

We love grace.

We love mercy.

We love streets of gold.

We love what God can potentially do for us.

But, we don’t actually love God.

I must confess to you this morning that I am preaching this sermon from a particular place of conviction as the Lord has revealed to me so many areas of hypocrisy and sin in my life this week, and I pray that you will encounter God with me in this text this morning.

Let’s turn together.

God’s Word

Read

The Test

“one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him” The leaders of Israel are continuing their smear campaign against Jesus.

They want to turn the crowd against Jesus.

Last week, we saw the Sadducees fail, and so, this week, we see the Pharisees jumping back into the game.

And so, Matthew makes it clear what their heart is.

They want to ‘test’ him.

They want to give him a public ‘test’ so that He will fail that ‘test’ publicly.

Now, when we think of the word ‘test’, we may not think of it in a positive way, but we don’t necessarily think of it in a negative way.

But, that’s exactly how Matthew intends it.

In fact, this is the exact same word that Matthew uses in chapter 4 to speak of Satan when in the wilderness he ‘tests’ Jesus.

So, this is a Satanic test by the Pharisees.

“Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Now, the man that asks this particular question is not just a Pharisee.

He is an expert Pharisee.

He is an expert in the Law.

These were Law-loving folks, and even among them, he is called a lawyer.

And so, he asks Jesus: “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

That is, according to the Law, what is our very greatest duty before God?

Now, the Pharisees had carefully studied God’s law, and they had added up that there were 613 laws combined, and it was a common discussion among them as to which laws were weightier and which laws were lighter.

Jesus even discusses this a couple of times over the course of the gospels.

And, it’s likely that this was a common question that was often debated and hardly answered, of all the laws, which was the weightiest.

There’s probably at least two reasons as to why the lawyer asks Jesus this question, and I think the second reason is the most primary.

First of all, it’s because there would have been a lot of opinions on this subject, and they want to divide popular opinion on Jesus.

Jesus is still very popular with the crowd, and they’re trying to turn people against him.

So, if they can force him to choose a side, then they can force him to begin opposing large groups of people who very staunchly believe that their position is rooted in God’s Law.

Secondly, and I believe chiefly, the accusation against Jesus was always that He was abolishing the Law of Moses and undoing God’s law.

The constant accusation against him was that He didn’t care about the Sabbath or this or that; so much so that in , He even addresses it directly.

So, in asking this question, they’re hoping to show that Jesus is going to show that He doesn’t give the Law much weight at all.

That He’s going to find some way that dismisses the law or undermines the Law and they will be able to show that Jesus is in fact trying to abolish the Law and is a false teacher.

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Jesus Passes the Test

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” With directness and without deliberation, Jesus answers.

And, even that simple reality teaches us something.

You know, I often hear it said that all sin is the same in God’s eyes.

But, by Jesus’ simple willingness to provide answer to this question we see that this simply isn’t true.

Sure, all sin is the same in that a single wrong motive is deserving of hell, but what we see here is that there are varying degrees of commands which implies varying degrees of sins.

In other places, it is the clear teaching of Scripture that there are varying degrees of reward and varying degrees of punishment.

And, I tell you that this morning because there’s a greater weightiness to what we’re talking about today than anything else that we talk about, and I tell you that with authority of Jesus Christ.

Based upon his response, this is your greatest responsibility before God, and this will either be your greatest source of judgement or your greatest source of reward.

So, this is something you’ve probably heard a hundred times, but brothers and sisters, you probably need to hear it anew!//

“your God” And so, Jesus said something that sounds strange to us but ordinary to them.

He quoted to them the most familiar passage in all of Israel to them, the Shema.

It’s , and it’s derivative of the very first commandment from the ten commandments.

And so, Jesus tells them: “The greatest commandment is the first commandment.

It’s the one you quote twice a day, every day.

It’s one your children know by heart.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

Now, I told you that was normal for them.

They were used to hearing that type of language.

But, not us.

It sounds strange to us to hear someone say that we’re commanded to love, doesn’t it?

Our definition of love is too abstract for that, isn’t it?

How can someone command me to love them?

I have to fall in love and then stay in love and then they have to stay worthy of love.

But, loving God is given as the greatest command and not loving God, especially when you’ve been offered God’s love and exposed to God’s love, is viewed throughout the Bible as the sins warranting the severest judgment.

So, how can love be commanded?

I want you to see the word ‘your’ here.

It’s a subtle word, but man it’s a big one.

Do you know what that word meant to Israel?

Everything! Do you know what that word should mean to you? Everything!

God isn’t distant!

God had obligated himself to Israel and had been kind to Israel.

God had made his glory evident among Israel and his power clear through Israel.

God wasn’t some distant, higher power!

He was their God.

He was good and gracious and kind and benevolent and merciful.

Do you see this? God is matchless in wonder, matchless in beauty, matchless in splendor, matchless in glory, matchless in kindness, and He has offered himself to YOU to be YOUR God.

He is the only source of true good that you will ever know, and the only right, logical, and rational response is to pledge your total allegiance to him!

So, this command is gracious and good and reasonable and glorious and loving!

And, to break it is to reject him as ‘your’ God.

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The Forgiveness Gospel Verses the Kingdom Gospel