The Greatest Commandments

Matthew 22:34-40

Hopewell Baptist Church

May 29, 2022

Opening Illustration

Transition

Big Idea

Matthew 22:34–40 (ESV)

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

This is the Word of the Lord our God. Let’s pray.

The Greatest Commandments

I. You shall love the Lord your God… - Matthew 22:37-38 (note: Commandments 1-4)

a. You shall the Lord your God…

Agape love. Indicative. You’re doing this.

1. A godly love

2. We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

3. Our love for God can have no conditions. None. Zero.

a. Conditions put on our love for God is a form of idolatry.

i. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. – Emotion

1. The heart is the “Seat” of one’s emotions. So, with all your emotions, you are to love God.

ii. You shall love the Lord your God… with all your soul. – Being

1. The soul is defined as, “the immaterial part of a person which is the actual cause of an individual life; the site of all the psychological faculties.”

iii. You shall love the Lord your God… with all your mind. – Reason

1. The mind is “that which is responsible for one’s thoughts and feelings, especially the seat of the faculty of reason.”

v. This entire short passage is a reflection on, an exposition of, one of the most well-known passages from the Old Testament – The Shema – Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

1. Knowing the Bible

2. Understanding the Bible

3. Scripture Memorization

4. All the above are parts of the First and Greatest Commandment.

5. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is the blueprint of Matthew 22:37-40

vi. If any of these is lacking… (Loving God with your emotion, being, and reason)…

1. Then you are in sin.

2. You need to seek the face of God, repent and ask for His help.

b. Why love God as such? Why love Him with an unconditional, agape love?

1. Because of Exodus 20:2, the prologue to the Ten Commandments!

i. He is our Lord - “I am the Lord”

1. Yahweh. He is The God, the creator, sustainer God of Israel. The one and only!

ii. He Is a Personal God – “I am the Lord your God”

1. Here, He is Elohim, the object of Israel’s affections, of Israel’s worship

a. And now, the object of our worship, of the worship of the church!

iii. He is our Savior – I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

1. God, Yahweh, the Lord, literally saved Israel, His chosen people, from physical, geopolitical slavery! But we, by the same God through the atoning work of Christ which all of the OT pointed towards, have been saved from the slavery to SIN, from an eternal separation from the Goodness and Grace of God.

c. So, we love the Lord our Savior God…

i. With all our emotions

ii. With all our being

iii. With all our reasoning

II. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself – Matthew 22:39 – Commandments 5-10

a. In the same way we are to love God, we are to love all our neighbors (“is like it”).

i. The love we are to have for our neighbors is the same agape love that we are to have for God. Without condition.

ii. Who is our neighbor?

1. Luke 10:25-37 “Who is my neighbor?”

2. All mankind is our neighbor

iii. Our closest neighbors are our family, our loved ones, as we see God talking about in Deuteronomy 6:6-7

1. While the illustration of a child is used, it’s any family members, really.

2. We see how we love our closest neighbors – our family – by knowing and understanding and applying the Gospel, the Word of God to our lives.

iv. What do we do to love our neighbors?

1. We teach them, our neighbors, our children, our spiritual children, to put their hopes in God and nothing else

a. Psalm 78:1-8 – that they may arise and hope in the Lord.

2. We are to tell people The Truth that is found in the Word of God. Of Jesus.

III. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. – Matthew 22:40

a. These two commandments, to love God and love your neighbors, are truly an exposition of The Ten Commandments.

i. Commandments 1-4 are vertical, about man’s relationship to God

ii. Commandments 5-10 are horizontal, about man’s relationship with each other.

b. When you read the Old Testament, read it in light of the Ten Commandments, read it in light of Jesus’ summary of them in Matthew 22:37-40. You’ll begin to make the connections of the various laws and reasoning behind why certain things could not be done, and how all of those things, and more, connect back to The Ten Commandments!

IV. How Do You Love God? –

a. Deuteronomy 6:4-9

i. By Knowing God – v.4-6

1. And understanding Him through His Word.

ii. By submitting to God in thought and action – v.8

iii. By discipling others – v.7, 9

b. Do you want to know God? Do you want to hear from God?

i. Then READ YOUR BIBLES!

ii. Do so with purpose, with gusto, expecting to learn more about God and Who He is.

V. How Do You Love Your Neighbors?

a. By *acting* on your love for God

i. Making, Marking, and Maturing Disciples (The Great Commissions)

ii. Praying for them –

1. Ask them for specifics on what to pray for/how to pray for them

a. Keep their confidence

b. If you want to share it with a Bible study, etc., ask before you share it.

iii. Telling your neighbors about Jesus

1. If you really love your neighbors, you’ll tell them about Jesus!

iv. By Discipling them

1. Make sure they are actually learning about Jesus, who he was, etc.

The Greatest Commandments

VI. Response

a. Belief

i. Repent

ii. Believe

b. Obedience

i. Baptism

ii. Membership

c. Surrender

i. Vocation

ii. Volunteer