Vision pt5

When we come right down to it, there is a very simple way to distill all 4 of our cornerstones into a simple phrase. I would love for each of us to memorize the four statements that go along with each word, but I know for some of us that is more daunting than we would like. So, I simply hope you can commit the following 5 words to memory.

Love Jesus and People Passionately.

This is the key. If we can learn, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to do these two things, we will do everything else that we are saying we want to do.

Jesus was so serious about this idea, that when He was quizzed about the greatest commandment in the Law, He gave a very similar answer.

Let’s look at that situation. Turn with me to Matthew 22:34-40.

So let’s set this up in context. The Pharisees and the Sadducees are political and religious rivals. They are separated by their differing beliefs in the miraculous and they are always seeking to get the upper hand with one another.

In previous verses, the Sadducees had come with a riddle of sorts about the resurrection. They wanted to trap Jesus with His own words. And they failed.

So the Pharisees sense an advantage. Here is there opportunity to not only take down Jesus, but to show up their political rivals as well, and to once and for all demonstrate who has the superior theology and knowledge.

So they send in the lawyer.

The Gospel according to Matthew 1. Attempts to Trap Jesus, 22:15–46

The restless attempts to trick Jesus into an answer that would discredit him either with the authorities or with the general public continued. His opponents never learned that they were on a futile quest

This isn’t a lawyer like we would think about today. He is an expert in the religious laws, and his question is a legal question. He is asking Jesus to rank the laws. This is a serious issue. First, the laws are not ranked- so He is being asked to do something not in line with scripture and second, no matter which way He goes, someone will be unhappy. Here is a chance to create division and discord and to undermine Jesus’ ministry.

The Gospel according to Matthew 1. Attempts to Trap Jesus, 22:15–46

That opened up the way for speculation as to which of all the 613 commandments that the rabbis found in the law was to be regarded as the greatest of them all. This is another question that must have looked to the questioner as though it should give matter for argument and controversy no matter what answer Jesus gave. There is no objective yardstick for measuring one commandment against another, so that whatever commandment Jesus selected for the first place would certainly have been placed lower by others. The lawyer was initiating a discussion that might lead anywhere and that in his view would certainly provide a strong possibility of damaging Jesus’ reputation.

But Jesus will not bite.

He falls back on the Shema. In Deuteronomy 6:4-5, the Israelites are called to hear and to acknowledge God and to love Him with everything they have. And Jesus says, this is the first and greatest commandment.

What does it mean to love Jesus with passion? Simple. It means we love Him with everything we have. We hold nothing back.

Matthew 1. True Discipleship versus Harsher Condemnation for the Jewish Leaders (19:1–22:46)

wholehearted devotion to God with every aspect of one’s being, from whatever angle one chooses to consider it—emotionally, volitionally, or cognitively. This kind of “love” for God will then result in obedience to all he has commanded

So when we love Jesus like this, what do we do? That’s the question isn’t it. It is all very theoretical until we place some actions to go with it.

We listen to Him- Luke 11:28

We obey Him.- John 15:10

We trust Him.- John 14:1

We follow Him.- Matthew 16:24-25

I know that sounds overly simplistic, but think about how you respond to things that you love- even remotely. They gain a hold on you. You will do things for your kids you won’t do for other people’s kids (diaper duty lol) You will do things for your spouse you won’t do for other people. You love your sports team, your job, your car, etc. For things we love, we will make sacrifices. We will take the L for them.

How much more should we love Jesus? Look what He did to show us how much He loved us?

(Gospel presentation here)

But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He says, you asked for one, well here is a bonus.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

The Gospel according to Matthew 1. Attempts to Trap Jesus, 22:15–46

Wholehearted love for God means coming in some measure to see other people as God sees them, and all people as the objects of God’s love. Therefore anyone who truly loves God with all his being must and will love others

That’s from Leviticus 19:18.

When we love God, then as a result we love others. And we love them in a unique way- we love them in the same way we love ourselves- unselfishly, forgivingly, gracefully…the list goes on.

What does it look like to love others?

We see them as created in the image of God- ALL of them

We offer them grace- even when they don’t deserve it

We seek to live at peace- even when others seek war

We share with them truth, in love- “let your speech be seasoned with salt”- Colossians 4:6

Ultimately, we seek their good, even when they seek our ill

Why?

Because this is how Jesus loved us.

And why does Jesus tell us to love God and people? Look at verse 40

“on this hang all the law and the prophets”- when we love Jesus with everything we have and love people in the same way Jesus loved people- we are not sinning- we are keeping up with God’s expectations of holiness

The Gospel according to Matthew 1. Attempts to Trap Jesus, 22:15–46

In short, when anyone loves in the way Jesus says, there is no need for a host of hair-splitting definitions of when an obligation has been discharged and when it has not. As I have written elsewhere, “Jesus swept aside all such pettifogging nonsense with his revolutionary insistence on the centrality of love and for good measure he added that the teaching of the prophets is included in this command. At one stroke he did away with any understanding of the service of God that sees it as concerned with the acquiring of merit or with an emphasis on liturgical concerns. What matters can be summed up in one word: love

So this morning, examine your heart.

Matthew 1. True Discipleship versus Harsher Condemnation for the Jewish Leaders (19:1–22:46)

The relationship of all the Old Testament to the double love commandment shows that there is a hierarchy of law that above all requires one’s heart attitude to be correct. If this is absent, obedience to commandments degenerates into mere legalism

The real trouble for many of us will come with the “what abouts.” And here is the truth, there is always an excuse not to love someone. But God chose to love us, despite all our what abouts.

Where do you struggle to love God?

Who are you struggling to love?