Sermon Tone Analysis

SECTION 1: Text & Students’ Charge

TEXT

SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE SO MANY PLANS FOR YOUR LIFE!

How do you know which plan is the best one to follow?

I guess it depends on where you are heading.

Some people just want you to make a lot of money.

I’ve heard some children say, “I want to be famous!”

They don’t even care what they’re famous for, just as long as they can be a star.

Some people want you to have the highest and best education possible…so you can have lots of money…so you can buy lots of things…and do lots of stuff.

Your teachers want you to do GREAT THINGS!

Your parents wants you to do GREAT THINGS!

Your Church wants you to do GREAT THINGS!

Trust me, you will make a difference.

You will impact someone’s life.

You will go on to things you can’t even imagine now…Our prayer is that those things: the difference you make, the impact you have, the things you accomplish - will be borne out of your love for Jesus Christ as you LIVE FOR HIM!

You see the Bible calls each of us, from the Old Testament to the words of Jesus, himself, to do the GREATEST thing with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength - TO LOVE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

I believe you can.

I believe you can know Jesus.

I believe you can love Jesus.

I believe you can follow Jesus as Lord.

I believe you can help lead your friends and family to know and love Jesus.

This morning, before we spend some time in the Scripture in a full sermon, we wanted to take a few moments to pray for you!

Some of you are already back in school.

Many of you start back tomorrow.

The LORD knows exactly where and how you participate in school.

For some of you, it’s a school building…for others it’s at home.

The LORD knows exactly who you will be around every day, every week, once in awhile or on occasion...

INVITE ALL CHILDREN TO THE FRONT...

INVITE ELDERS / DEACONS IN BEHIND THEM TO STAND...

CHURCH, WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY FROM GOD’S WORD TO TEACH, PROTECT, AND PROVIDE FOR THESE BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN AS WE SHEPHERD THEIR HEARTS TOWARD JESUS.

They need more than SAFETY.

They need more than KNOWLEDGE.

They need more than NICE THINGS AND PEOPLE.

They need to love the Lord Jesus Christ with all their hearts, with all their souls, with all their minds, and with all their strength.

So they can love others as themselves.

PRAYER

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SERMON

Do you measure GREATNESS like God measures GREATNESS?

How do you measure greatness?

We live in a society that celebrates accomplishments and celebrity far more than Christ-likedness.

But, the exhortations of what we commonly refer to as the Great Commandment are iterated all throughout the whole of the Bible.

From the very first text that we read, we can see there are some great things that are important to God.

God is not after just our hearts, he wants it all.

Notice the call to listen!

CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE?

Our GOD IS GREATER, STRONGER, HIGHER

He alone is the true and living God.

There is only one God.

Song:

You are God alone from before time began

You were on your throne You are God alone

Right now in the good times and bad

You are on your throne, You are God alone

This is our God and King.

He stands alone…there is none like Him

This is the Creator.

The High Judge.

Ruling Sustainer.

Holy Father, Holy Son, and Holy Spirit.

Before the beginning, He was the I am.

From Genesis to Revelation, He is the I am.

And when time has surrendered and the earth as we know it is no more - He will be the I am.

This is the GOD issuing the command…it is not a request, not a suggestion, not a good idea or thought, not an upgrade to your already awesome life, not the key to a better life, he says all the way back through His servant Moses and when the Word was robed in flesh through the Lord Jesus Christ...

HEY! LISTEN UP!

FIRST, LOVE the LORD wholeheartedly.

We switch gears back to Matthew now (by the way, this account also appears in Mark 12 and Luke 10).

Jesus was responding to some Pharisees, these were men who were not only great in their own eyes…but society saw them as great, accomplished men, too.

He had already tripped up the other religious rulers of the day who were dividing people’s affections from loving God wholeheartedly.

This lawyer pops up (don’t think of a civil or criminal litigator, based on a system outside the Bible - think of an expert on the law).

RABBI, WHICH ONE IS “THE GREAT” or THE GREATEST / BIGGEST?

(Some are light, some are heavy.)

Although this sounds like a great question…it’s actually a bit of a reductionist perspective.

Hear it this way, “What’s the main one?”

If I have to pick one…which is the one I better obey.

You know what I hear?

WHAT’S THE LEAST I CAN DO?

Parents, you know this.

“Pick up that piece of paper on the floor, please.”

And they ignore the pencil shavings and piece or popcorn right beside it.

Teachers, you know: 250 words, please.

Student turns in 251 word essay.

“No less than...” = what you’ll get.

We live in a society today that wants to get CHRISTIANITY down to the least amount of irreducible activities…we may not say it this way, but our behavior betrays us...”WHAT’S THE ABSOLUTE BARE MINIMUM I NEED TO DO TO BE CONSIDERED A MEMBER OF THIS CHURCH?” or worse still, “WHAT’S THE 1 THING I NEED TO DO GO TO HEAVEN, BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO GO TO HELL?”

Here’s the thing...

LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, MIND, SOUL, AND STRENGTH (Mark & Luke add strength)

The Shema or “shmah” covers

Heart / Mind

Soul / Identity

Might / Strength

It’s an ALL-IN KIND OF DEAL!

And it is the prerequisite to loving people the way they should be loved!

SO, this lawyer walks up to Jesus…it’s not the beginning of a bad joke…asks what the greatest commandment is and Jesus gives him 2 that are HUGE…but He gives them in the perfect order:

1. LOVE GOD WHOLEHEARTEDLY.

2. LOVE OTHERS SELFLESSLY.

We are often tempted to skip over the first one…to do the bare minimum - the least that we can do to check the box “HEAVEN BOUND” so we can make sure that we take care of ourselves and others.

THERE are some credible and good causes and campaigns and endeavors that we can give ourselves to and engage in, but if we BYPASS THE FIRST COMMANDMENT to get there…it’s all humanitarian noise from the Bible’s perspective.

HEY! YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE…

The God is this Bible is the only true and living God

He has commanded us to love Him with all our hearts, soul and strength way.

It is impossible for us to LOVE others rightly without LOVING Him first