The Greatest Commandment

Introduction

Good evening everyone, today is May 4th. Which means I have to make this statement for my kids. May the 4th be with you. Yes that is a star wars joke, and if you didd’t get it I apologize. I seek your forgiveness.

Now that that is over if you have your bibles I invite you to turn with me to Mt 22:34-40. The passage will be up on the screen but I will encourage you all, like I encourage my students to follow along in your own copy of the Word. Would you stand, as we read the Word of God.

Matthew 22:34–40 CSB

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.”

Now I could preach on these verses for hours and hours. There is an abundance of sermons that could come out of this passage. But for our purposes this evening we are going to be focusing on the first commandment and what it means to Love God.

Context

Now here we see in verse 34 the pharisees. Pharisees, are a Jewish sect that affirmed the teachings of the first five books of the bible along with the teachings of the prophets. But these guys are very legalistic in their understanding of the scriptures and they are in constant pursuit of outwitting Jesus or attempting to test him.

To their credit these guys are incredibly knowledgable about scripture. By the age of twelve they would have memorized the Torah or the first five books of the bible. Now I’m a numbers guy, so to put this into context. They would have memorized 187 chapters or 5852 verses of scripture by the age of twelve. In the context of the New Testament that is memorizing the equivalent of Matthew to halfway through the book of Hebrews. So when scripture states that the man questioning Jesus is an expert of the Law, that is the level of expertise we are dealing with.

v 34 -35 “Which is the Greatest?”

There is probably a reason why the Pharisees are asking him this question. When we read the phrases “they had come together” in 34 and “test him” in 35 we can see that they are deliberately plotting against Jesus. They are seeking to have him give an answer that may suggest that He believes some of the commandments of the Law but not all of Law in its totality. For Pharisees, they were so legalistic by nature that they would never suggest or discuss that one of the 613 commandments was not as important as others. So if Jesus was not careful with his response, they would have attempted to arrest him on criminal charges for blasphemy against the Law.

V 37 The Shema

Jesus’ response to the the pharisees is pure brilliance. Now he gives them two of the commandments but tonight we are only focusing on the first.

Jesus is citing Duetoronomy to the Pharisees. Now in the Jewish religion at this time, the people knew this passage very well. It was used in the daily practice of the “Shema” which translates from Hebrew to English as “Listen”. The Jewish people would pray this prayer twice a day using the passage DT 6:4 -5

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 CSB

“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

Jesus uses a passage of scripture that is used in the daily lives of the Jewish people. So through his reference to the Shema, he knew that the Pharisees could not disagree with him. Then in verse 38 Jesus re-emphasizes its importance when he states this is the “greatest, and most important command”.

What is love?

For us as believer’s it is easy for us to read this passage and believe we have a full comprehensive understanding of this command. For some of us we have heard it a thousand times.

And its simple right? I mean Jesus is clear here. Give us a summary, show me the cliff notes version of the entire Old Testament. What do I really need to know? Jesus speaks plainly, its this simple. Love God, with everything that you are.

But what does it mean to love God? Before we can answer that question we have to understand what love is.

C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite authors wrote a book called The Four Loves; In which he explains the four diferent Greek words for love. eros, a kind of romantic love where the lovers are hungry for each other, and philos, friendship love where two people are linked arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder, with a common vision and a common goal and a delight and a partnership pulling together toward the goal, and storge, affection that one might have for an old sweater or slippers, an old dog that you just can’t let go of, and agape, divine love characterized by sacrifice in the pursuit of another person’s good.

Now for our sake, it is easier to define love into two different types.. This is the idea of a complacent love and a benevolent love.

complacent love (How we love)

Oxford English Dictionary (vol. 3), where the primary meaning given is “the fact or state of being pleased with a thing or person; tranquil pleasure or satisfaction in something or some one.”

Now this is fairly simply. Complacency would be, “I love pizza.” In other words, “I find myself pleased by the qualities I find in pizza — namely, its taste.” That would be love of complacency. Or you might love a place or a country or lots of things. You could say you love them because they are lovely. They are pleasing to you.

Benevolent love (How God loves us)

On the flip side in contrast to the idea of a complacent love we have the love of benevolence.. This love is not based on the loveliness of the object of the love, but rather your good will — benevolence — your good will toward the person or the thing that you are loving. Your aim in that kind of love is to do good, to bring about something beautiful, not respond to beauty.

And this is the type of love that is at the Heart of God’s love for us.

We can see this in

Romans 5:6–8 CSB

For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God’s benovolent love is shown to us in this way: The most beautiful love in the world is this divine love that pays the highest price, the life of the Son of God, for completely undeserving enemies, to give us the longest and greatest happiness in his presence. And he loves doing it. God wants to bring about something beautiful, and that is his creation being fully satisfied in him, in which he is MOST glorified in and through our lives.

The ultimate aim of God’s benevolence toward us is to give us complacency in himself. So, a benevolent love ultimately serves in us a complacent love in God.

“We love, because he first loved us”

So what does it mean to love God?

It is to find complacency in him. It means to be FULLY satisfied, and delighted in Him. It is an all consuming love, that affects our hearts and our actions every day of our lives. So the ultimate goal of all things is to be people who treasure him and enjoy him above everything else — in that sense the greatest commandment is to love God.

God’s benevolence towards us through the sacrifice of his son, is to bring us to the point of ultimate joy in him. The result of loving God is the satisfaction of our souls and the unspeakable joy within our hearts. To know our creator, and to love him is our greatest purpose.

The Takeaway

The takeaway tonight is this, are you living a God-centered life finding full satisfaction and joy out of his love for you? or are you in a place right now that is self - centered? Seeking to find your own fulfillment and joy? Scripture tells us that by nature we are children of wrath, seeking our own sinful desires over God’s desires for us. But let us be reminded of the Love of God and the goodness within that. That he sent perfection in the form of His son to bring us satisfaction, peace and joy. Given our own pursuits from our sinful nature we are always left, frustrated and wanting more. It is only through loving God, finding full satisfaction in Him, that we experience the ultimate joy and our God is glorified.