Above All: God Alone

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him: “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

The Shema

This Statement is known as the Shema

It gets the name from the first word here “shema” which means listen.

There is a lot in this word.

Hebrew is, in some ways, a simple language.

There aren’t a whole lot of words in it.

That also means that there are nuances and implied meanings within words.

“Hear and Obey”

There really isn’t another word for obey

THe implication is that if you hear, you will obey

We obey because of who He is!

God Alone

If God is not the only one we worship, then he won’t be worshipped at all.

Israel understood from the earliest times that the nation’s worship was to be restricted to Yahweh alone.

The Shema was spoken daily as a reminder of Israel’s heart’s sole attraction.

There are only four words here in the Hebrew:

Yahweh, our God, Yahweh, One.

Possible translations are

‘Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one,’ ‘

Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one.’ ‘

Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone.’

Whatever translation is chosen the essential meaning is clear.

Yahweh was to be the sole object of Israel’s worship, allegiance and affection.

The word ‘one’ or ‘alone’ implies monotheism, even if it does not state it with all the subtleties of theological formulation.

Even if some in Israel acknowledged the existence of other gods, the affirmation that Yahweh alone was Sovereign and the sole object of Israel’s obedience sounded the death-knell to all views lesser than monotheism”

The call for Israel to hear is significant: to both speak and listen to the words spoken.

Not only was Yahweh one, but Israel must be one as well.

“To all intents and purposes he is the only God, since his power extends to all nations (32:8–9). Israel must worship him alone. Secondly, Israel itself is a unity. In Hebrew the words you and your in this passage (as often in Deuteronomy) are the words used when speaking to a single individual (the old ‘thou’ and ‘thy’ forms in English). The people’s oneness includes both those who then stood before Moses and all the generations to come. This means that they must worship and obey as one, and allow no major divisions among them. … It is also the reason why they must educate each new generation in the truth about God and themselves (7)” (Gordon McConville, “Deuteronomy,” in The New Bible Commentary [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994], 207, Logos)

Jesus application

What is going on in the story of Jesus and the Pharisees?

Jesus has silenced the Sadducees

Sadducees don’t believe in the resurrection of the body, Pharisees do

In verses 23-33 Jesus has been tested by the Sadducees, asking who someone is going to be married to a woman who had been married to 7 brothers.

They are trying to trap Jesus and also prove that there is no resurrection of the dead

Jesus answers the question (there is no marriage in the resurrection) but also slaps back on the fact that there is a bodily resurrection

So the Pharisees, who do believe in resurrection, now want to trap Jesus.

So they get a tricksy lawyer to ask the question

613 commands in the law of Moses.

Pharisees very, very concerned about making sure that all 613 were followed.

How in the world is he going to be able to pick just one?

Yet Jesus wastes no time in picking out the command that is top.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind. “

All of the law can be summed up in this.

At there core the Ten Commandments are really a command to Love God.

Story of Mr. Thursby and Mormans

God wants relationship with you.

He wants you to love Him to passionately and righteously pursue His glory.

What does it look like? to put God above all?

All of your Heart Soul and Mind

your entire being.

Remember: “present your body as a living sacrifice”

Why the second part?

Not a question answered

Because it is impossible to love God fully without also loving our neighbor.

Application

Everyone needs a reminder that God alone must be worshipped.

Many temptations exist in the world that will attempt to steal our love for him.

As we move through the days of our lives, the reminder that Yahweh alone is worthy of praise will call us back time and again to trust his provision and presence for all things.

Brown says, “The Lord is one. He is the only God they can love; there are no others. In times of drought or famine the Israelites may be tempted to turn to Canaan’s fertility gods (6:14) but the Lord here reminds them of his uniqueness; there are no rivals. To love other gods is to pursue nothing. They do not exist. He is the one and only Lord” (Raymond Brown, The Message of Deuteronomy: Not by Bread Alone, The Bible Speaks Today [England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1993], Deuteronomy 6:4–5, Logos).

People fail to see that our worship can be careless and without honor—even if we appear to be engaged.

John Piper says two factors cause careless worship: failure to feel the greatness of God’s sovereign love and his majestic fatherhood.

He says of this carelessness: “It makes a person bored with God and excited about the world. If you don't see the greatness of God, then all the things that money can buy become very exciting. If you can't see the sun, you will be impressed with a street light. If you've never felt thunder and lightning, you'll be impressed with fire works. And if you turn your back on the greatness and majesty of God, you’ll fall in love with a world of shadows and short-lived pleasures”

We must begin by accepting that God alone deserves to be honored in our lives as God.

Like Israel, followers of Christ must see Jesus alone as the way, truth, and life (John 14:7).

We must direct our lives to be rooted in Jesus as the eternal and only Lord.

Application Point

If we are to live our lives as God intends, then we must begin by living under God’s authority through honoring his unique status.

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