God's Requirements for His Children

God’s Requirements of His Children

6/2/2022

By: Samuel Sorenson

Introduction

Thank you so much for inviting me to preach to you today, one of the key things I have learned at Seminary is that “There is not a greater thing to do than Preaching!! It is handling the Word of God, that is the greatest thing that we can hitch our wagon to. You can never know what God will do with a sermon we have preached.” With that being said, I am feeling the pressure to be accurate and serious with the Text that the Lord has given me to preach to you today. Pray.

Getting Attention

The word expectations has been thrown out there a lot and has a negative connotation to it. When I have asked people who are managers what comes to mind when you hear the word expectations? Many times I hear this answer, “You can’t expect too much from people because you are setting them up for failure and yourself up for disappointment.” Another thing I have heard when I have asked people who have had a difficult time in romantic relationships what their experiences have been, is that expectations lead to frustrations.

Well let me ask you this today, has there been a time in your life when your expectations have far exceeded what you thought you were going to get? Pause… for many of us maybe one or two times in our lifetime.

“Does our heavenly Father have expectations of His children? Does He not go through extraordinary lengths to make sure we understand just how important His expectations of us are? The answer is Yes, He does go to extreme measures to tell us who and what we are to Him. To those who are lost He proclaims who and what they may become if they believe on His Son and on His word, as well as the consequences of living in sin apart from a relationship with Him.”

Here is the difference with God, He gives commandments which is different than expectations. I want you to ponder that thought and we will revisit the difference between expectations and commandments later on in the sermon.

When it comes to expectations, I want to take some time to talk about understanding the value of something. I am going to give you an illustration of my love for horses. It’s interesting how the Lord has recently brought to mind some of the things that were once of great value being sold or given away. I remember when my mother inherited her stepmothers ranch after her dad had passed away. My grand dad was a horse breeder and cowboy. He had some amazing horses and I being only 13 did not understand the value of some of the horses he had. I remember he had one filly, a bay tobiano, that we named Quincy. She was very physical, beautiful, and had a huge heart.

I was learning how to train horses at that time, and she was far more advanced than I was. I was afraid of her because of how physical and intelligent she was. She bucked me off pretty hard one time and even though I was scared I got back on. Unexpectedly she never bucked again after that.

I remember when I would give her a command she would immediately respond. I would ask her to back up and she would run backwards with the lightest touch. I was so addicted to how responsive she was, most of the other horses did not have a mind like her. I will state this that how a person falls in love has to do with how responsive someone is. In this scenario it was how responsive my favorite horse was.

We bred her to a nice black and white stallion named Far Ute Freckles. She had a beautiful black and white stud colt that we traded to my aunt. I remember seeing this stud as a two-year-old and thinking that is a really nice horse!!! Later we sold Quincy and I have been looking for a horse as special as her ever since. I have spent a small fortune breeding a half-sister to her, and I have not found one as special as her yet.

This mare far exceeded my expectations, and I will never forget the memories she placed on my heart. Hopefully the Lord will send me another one as special as her. If not, I am positive God has better things in heaven.

You see this goes even deeper in our relationships with people. When you find those special people who steal your heart. They may only be in your life for a season. How does this happen? What is it about these special people that steals our heart? Is it the way they speak to us, is it the way they respond to us? The sad thing is many times we do not know how special a person is until after they leave our lives. Trying to find another person like that can be extremely hard to find.

It is easy to get frustrated when people do not meet our expectations, when we had such high hopes for that relationship or that horse, that job, and then things do not go the way we expected, and it is easy to lose heart.

However, if you have Jesus who created that person, who sent that person into your life than you can seek His wisdom when that next special person or opportunity comes across your path?

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I believe the Lord brings about things in our life at certain times when we least expect it to illustrate to us just how precious life is, and that we are to cherish those special moments, and then when those moments pass, we can look back on them with fondness and great joy, not with regret and sorrow.

A person can be here today and gone tomorrow. One of the best things I have learned in Seminary is that many of us do not understand just how precious the people are that God brings across our path. So, today I want to challenge you to value the people that God brings into your life, and who knows, they just might exceed your expectations.

The Text

If you have your bibles with you, I invite you to turn to the book of Matthew 22: 34-40.

34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Purpose Statement: My purpose in speaking to you today is for you to see the value God has put on your life, the value of having Him as your Lord and Savior, and to understand the value of others.

Plural Noun Proposition:

Today I want you to see two requirements that God has for His children.

I. The requirement to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all of your mind?

a. What does it mean to love God with all your heart? (37a)

b. What does it mean to love God with all your soul? (37b)

c. What does it mean to love God with all your mind? (37c)

II. The requirement to love others as yourself? (38)

a. What does it mean to love our neighbor?

b. What are ways we love ourselves?

c. How does that look?

Orientation

To give context to what is happening at this time, Jesus had just ridden into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and was given a warm welcome by the Jews. He asserts His authority as Messiah in chapter 21:1-11. Jesus rebukes the Jewish leaders for their hypocrisy in chapter 23:1-12.

The Pharisees are terrified that they will lose control of the people because the people are responding favorably to Jesus. Jesus is also calling out their hypocrisy, and He is using strong language to describe how disappointed He is in their conduct. In chapter 23:27-28 He describes them this way, they are like whitewashed tombs appearing beautiful on the outside but on the inside, they are full of dead man’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

If you are a prideful person that would be a difficult thing to hear.

The Pharisees were trying everything they could to catch Him in His speech to somehow discredit Him. They were afraid that if they lost the control of the people then the Romans would take away their position and they would lose their authority. Therefore, they are doing everything they can think of to discredit Jesus and so they do not lose what they have. If you look up at verse 15, “Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.”

They questioned Him about whether they should pay taxes to Ceasar in verses 16-17. Jesus gives them an answer that silences them.

Then he squashes the argument brought up against Him by the Sadducees about whether there would be marriage in the resurrection in verses 23-32. Ironically the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection.

And now, we are at the apex of the chapter where a lawyer is testing Him about the greatest commandment in all of scripture. Pause

Of course, Jesus being aware of their thoughts gives answers that perplexes them. He gives answers that are more than what they expect. It scares them when they realize their lack of wisdom once they hear Jesus’s response.

Let’s transition to Jesus’s response. Look again with me at the text verse 37-39, Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Look with me at Christ’s first requirement.

I. The requirement to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all of your mind?

So, let me ask you Christian what does it mean to love the Lord your God with all of your heart? The word love in the Greek is agapeo which translates to a deep love or intimacy towards someone.

In speaking about the heart, what is meant by this is the life blood or motive behind why a person does what they do. If a person loves someone, they will display a great affection towards them, they will say kind things about them, and show the greatest care towards them.

All of us desire to be loved like that and God commands us to love Him like that first. He enables us to this, because as stated in 1 John 4:19 He first loved us.

The term commandment means to direct authoritatively. The word require is a synonym for commandment.

The word requirement relates to the word commandment. According to Webster the term require means: to claim or ask for by right or authority. The word require is found in the Bible 29 times.

One of the most powerful verses that uses the word require is found in Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

That sounds similar to the great commandment.

When an employer, a spouse, or a parent, states these are my expectations? What comes to mind? Is it these are your requirements? Is it this is what you anticipate will happen? Webster defines expect as- to consider probable or certain. There is a difference between the word’s commandment and expectation. However, there is not much difference between the word’s requirement and commandment. Many would argue that they mean requirements when they state expectations, however many times that is not clearly stated and so when one hears the word expectations, they do not take it as seriously as the word requirement.

However, God takes His word very seriously and this is why He uses such strong language to describe His commandments. This is why His word is authoritative, this is why the Pharisees hated Jesus because He spoke as one having authority Matt 7:29. One who would bring about the New Covenant and make void the law.

In researching this passage one commentator states, This is the first of the controversy stories in which Jesus gives a straight answer to the question, one with which many in his audience would have agreed, and does not rebuke his interrogators either implicitly or explicitly. He quotes Deut 6:5, This kind of “love” for God will then result in obedience to all he has commanded (cf. Deut 6:1–3, 6–9).

Going beyond the original question, Jesus adds a second commandment that is also foundational—Lev 19:18. “The second is like it” probably means that this commandment is of equal importance. Jewish interpreters had long recognized the preeminent value of each of these laws; Jesus apparently was the first to fuse the two and to exalt them above the whole law. Divine love issues in interpersonal love. “As yourself” is not a call to self-love but does presuppose it. These two commandments are the greatest because all others flow from them; indeed the whole Old Testament “hangs” on them.

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. Love does make specific moral demands, including certain absolutes. What is more, the proper motivation for correct interpersonal relationships always remains a profound sense of gratitude for what God has done for us in Christ. Jesus’ twofold answer should warn Christians against emphasizing either piety for God or social concern at the expense of the other.[1]

A. What does it mean to love the Lord with all your soul?

In studying this passage, I found it interesting that heart and soul are synonymous with each other, but both are listed in this passage?

The soul refers to the emotions or the part of us that is subconscious, the part that is immortal. The soul never sleeps, even though the body may be asleep, our soul is in constant activity. This is why we can wake up from a nap and have a brilliant idea come to us, or be extremely productive after trying to figure something out and the answer miraculously come to us after a good nights sleep.

An interesting illustration of how our soul responds to stimuli is when we hear a beautiful song, or a sermon that speaks to our soul. Or the way a person speaks to us. One fond memory I can think of is when I was speaking to my sister, and she was asking me if she had told me about something? After she asked that question my nephew who knows how to get what he wants from his mom said in the background in the sweetest tone, “Tell me what Momma.” I’m not sure how she took that, but my soul was touched with how sweet his tone was with her.

God wants us to speak with that kind of love towards one another.

B. How do we love the Lord with all of your mind?

We love God with our mind by studying His Word, by facing Him in the morning even when reading His word can convict us and challenge us, sometimes in ways that we do not want to be challenged.

However, when we saturate our minds with His word, we are filling our minds with pure thoughts, lovely thoughts, and thoughts that will protect us from the wiles of Satan. We are also preparing ourselves for the many battles and challenges that will come our way throughout the day.

The Lord honors us spending time with Him and reading His Word. It nourishes our soul and many times we are able to speak into another person’s life and share the gospel with them. That is the greatest thing we can do in life is share the good news of Jesus Christ with a lost person.

Now let’s look at the second Requirement

II. The requirement to love others as yourself? (38)

Illustration

In praying and studying this passage I was thinking of how God values us. His view of relationships. His view on benefits of relationships. One of the best biblical illustrations that demonstrates the heart of God is found in Luke 15: 11-32 the story of the Prodigal son. The younger son wanted his inheritance before the rightful time. He viewed his father as a means to get what he wanted. Without much debate his father gave him his inheritance and the prodigal son left his father’s house and wasted his possessions on prodigal living. When hard times came upon the son, he realized that he did not deserve to be called his father’s son and would instead ask to be a hired hand in his father’s house.

He felt he did not deserve His father’s love after he treated him the way he had.

But how did the father respond? Scripture states, Luke 15:20-22, Emphasis added20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’22 “But the father said to his servants, [a]‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.”

Did the father hold a grudge? Was he going to disown his son? No, the father was overjoyed to have his son back. This is what it looks like to have the heart of the father. He cares about the lost. He sees them where they are and seeks them out when they are at their worst.

The parable of the prodigal son displays how the father loves His children. Jesus gives the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. Here again we hear a different account on the two greatest commandments. This time by Luke.

Jesus is tested by an expert of the law about who is his neighbor, and Jesus states that those who we would expect to be the most helpful, a priest and Levite, never gave this man who had been beaten very badly by robbers, a second look.

No, instead it was a Samaritan who stopped and helped him, and went out of his way to make sure he was cared for, the Samaritans were despised by the Jews, but Jesus portrays someone who is despised as the person who goes out of his way to provide for someone in desperate need, and is that not what Jesus has done for you and me?

Conclusion

So, what does this mean for you and me? What do we do with these two requirements that the Lord gives us?

Well let me share with you a brief history of how the Lord has used this passage in my life.

I can vividly remember when I was first being discipled by my good brother Tei, I was 26 years old and he was in his late 50s, I asked him why is this commandment the greatest and why is it so hard to follow? He stated because these commandments take an entire lifetime to understand. It’s one of those commandments that has to be practiced, it’s not something we master, it has to be walked out daily with God.

What I have come to realize is that the more I get to know God the more I understand myself and others. I am learning more and more everyday how important it is to spend time with Him, not only so that I can minister to others, but that I can be ministered to.

Some of the things you will learn when you spend time with God are how much He values you, how much He loves you. And the more you ask the Lord to teach you how to love others the more He will show you what others mean to Him. You will begin to see the world through His eyes.

When I was young in my faith, I remember seeing a Pastor show a genuine interest in me and in others that he was around. I thought to myself why don’t I have a genuine interest in others? What was the purpose of other people? Are they for our pleasure? To make us look good? No, they are image bearers if they are in Christ, and we are to love them with a love that is how Christ has loved us. Of course, I had to ask God to give me that genuine interest in others, and to my surprise He has done that.

In doing that I have found that people exceed my expectations. Praise God for that blessing. We cannot love others in an authentic manner without loving God first.

Today, I want you to understand that when we can learn to see the value that God puts on us than we can begin to see the value in others. We can minister to them more easily, we can carry one another’s burdens more easily, and love others the way God loves them.

My challenge to you today Christian is to look for the value in those who are challenging to love. Those in-laws that do not care for you, those coworkers who are trying to undermine you, those bosses who make your life a living hell, those who are lost and without Jesus will spend an eternity apart from God, and we have the good news to share with them. Let us share Jesus with a warmth and enthusiasm that displays the love of Jesus.

Takeaway

I want you to apply this one last concept to your life. When you enter into a relationship with God you are entering into an eternal relationship. God is not interested in the short-term results He is interested in the long-term results of having a lasting relationship with us. We should view our relationships with others with the long-term results in mind. When those people who are challenging to be around, they may have said something that deeply hurt us, they may have rejected us, there may have had a harsh tone in the way they said something. The world will tell us to write them off, but Jesus tells us to pray for them. Focus on the long-term results and pray for them when they hurt you. Do not write them off and ghost them that is not how we are to cultivate relationships. If we want to be right with God, we need to be right with others. The two greatest commandments are connected.

Gospel Presentation

Today, if the Holy Spirit has spoken to you through this message and you do not know Jesus, let me introduce you to Him, He is the second person of the Holy Trinity. Being the Son. He is God. He has the ability to give eternal life to those who repent and believe in Him.

He was born of a virgin birth. The only one who has been born of a virgin in all of history. He is also the only person to resurrect Himself from the dead.

He chose to step down from heaven and take on flesh. That is like a human becoming an ant. He did this because He loved us enough to live the perfect life, choose to take our place on the cross and die for us. Jesus is the only way to God. John 14:6 states, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus being without sin, and being God is the perfect lamb of God to be offered for our sin.

Jesus was the propitiation, meaning He took Gods wrath that should have been ours so that we could be reconciled to the Father.

His blood was shed for our sins. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. He died a criminal’s death; the most brutal execution being known to man.

Three days later, like He told His disciples, He was resurrected from the dead.

The Bible is very clear in John 3:16, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” God loves you enough to give His only begotten Son for you.

So today if you do not know if you have a relationship with Jesus, I ask will you repent of your sin and put your trust in Jesus. God bless all of you. Thank you so much for having me today.

Pray if prompted.

[1]Blomberg, C. (1992). Matthew (Vol. 22, pp. 335–336). Broadman & Holman Publishers.