The Greatest Commandment?
[ Pegology ]
Matthew 22:34-40
[[[Turn in your bible to Exodus 20. In the pew bible it is on page 66. ]]]
A group of Pharisees came to Jesus one day and asked, "Which is the greatest commandment?"
You and I would think that was a fair question.
And of course, because we are Christians living in a Christian
nation raised by Christian parents in a Christian church ... we
know the answer.
Any Jew knew the answer. It was a verse they had committed to
memory since a toddler ... Deut.6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
The problem the Jews had was how they saw the commandments of God… as separate, independent, stand-alone laws
Today I want to make a point for you and I will do it with a powerful object lesson
Here I have two windows… one with individual, separate panes of glass… the other with one large pane
The Jews saw the law like this window (multi-pane)… and believed they could break one law without affecting the others… like this (((break a lower pane)))
When I broke this pane did it hurt this one?
NO
If that were true… then all we would need to do, in order for the window to be perfect, is fix the one pane
The window is nearly perfect except for one small hole
The Jews saw themselves this way…
nearly perfect except one (or 2) small broken pane
And of course, the law they were guilty of breaking was one of the least important, thus they were more perfect and righteous than someone who would break one of these ((point to higher panes))
We are guilty of the same self righteousness
As I said, that question would not seem strange to us… greatest commandment
But to Jesus it made as much sense as walking up to a mother with
twin boys and asking, "Which one do you love the most?"
That is because Jesus saw the commandments like this window
((hand the single pane window to assistant))
The Law of God is ONE
He is ONE God--- He has ONE WILL—and ONE law
But the Jews… and YOU and ME… make these superfluous divisions of the law, we divide it up into different laws, as we see fit… and of course the ones we break are the least important
((put strips of tape on the window to divide it))
But what happens if I break one of these “panes”?
((start to break one of the lower ones… but stop))
Let’s make it a really small and less grievous sin
((use tape to make it smaller))
And what if I break that command?
((break the window in that small area))
Now when I broke the window in that small pane, did it hurt the glass in this pane ((point to pane next to the break))
YES
Pull of the tape and say “THE WHOLE WINDOW IS BROKEN”
(((Send assistant to get heart prop)))
The Pharisees wanted Jesus to say that the laws they kept and would never break were the most important so they could feel justified.
Jesus knew that and would not be fooled or tricked into feeding their self delusions.
Jesus also knew they had another problem with keeping the law and he taught them a truth that I will illustrate with another powerful object lesson
(Use model of heart))) This heart represents your heart/life ... your relationship to God.
(Show the commandments))) These are the commandments of God ... things he wants you to incorporate into your heart.
The reason they wanted to know that some laws were more important and some less egregious was because they COULD NOT KEEP THE LAW
They tried but they failed
(((try to put commands on the heart and let them fall off)))
They wanted to not have any other Gods
Not tell lies
Not covet
Ant they genuinely tried BUT COULDN’T
So they honestly wanted to know which ones were most important so they could be sure not to break that one.
You have heard that they asked what was the most important commandment and Jesus actually gave them two
1. Love God
2. Love Others
NOT TRUE!!!
Jesus did not give them one or two of the commandments
Which one of the commandments is “Love your neighbor as
yourself”?
For Jesus it was IMPOSSIBLE to rank order the commandments
THEY WERE ONE!!
TO BREAK ONE BROKE THE WHOLE!!
Jesus told them, you don’t need a rank order of the commandments… you need help to KEEP the commandments… then you will not have to worry about which one is most important or most offensive to God… you can keep them all
LET ME ILLUSTRATE
God says we are ... not to take His name in vain.
We try to be obedient ... put that in our life.
But it won't stick. It keeps on falling off ... we keep on breaking
the command.
So instead of giving them a hierarchy of the commandments, He gave them something much more important… help to keep the commandments.
Have you ever read The Message? It is a modem paraphrase of the scriptures in contemporary language by Eugene Peterson.
Sometimes he has a way of saying things that really hits the nail
right squarely on the head.
I believe that is true in this verse, 22:40. "These two commands are
pegs; everything in God's law and prophets hangs on them."
What do we need to make it stick on the heart? A PEG!!!
We need something in our heart that will make the commands stick, that will allow us to keep them.
If we had the peg... then the commands to have no other Gods and make no idols not take his name in vain and keep the Sabbath will stick.
But what is the peg that will allow us to keep the commands that relate to God?
God gives us the peg in Deuteronomy 6:5 LOVE GOD!!!
The love of God is the peg that we need in our heart that will allow us to keep the commandments.
(((Put up commandments 1-4)))
But what about the rest of the commandments ... if we just love God… enough… will we naturally keep those commandments too?
NO!!!
Many will say if we have this peg ... love of God ... we will keep all the commandments.
I wish that were true, but it AIN’T
There are people who love God… sincerely and passionately… and do not have love for their brother
It should not be that way…. It is twisted…. Jesus asked “How can you say you love God, whom you have not seen, if you don’t love your brother, whom you have seen?”
He did not mean it was impossible… He was saying “That is wack!”
But it can be done.
Perhaps you remember your world history enough to remember a little thing that happened in Europe in the middle ages… THE INQUISITION
Out of “love for God” and the desire to be pure… millions of innocent were MURDERED.
They loved God… but not man
And maybe from your American history you can recall a little incident called “The Salem Witch Trials” when hundreds of innocent people were murdered for being witches?
Or maybe you remember another group of zealots who claimed to be Christians and claimed to be doing God’s word when they MURDERED
And more recently, what about “Christians” who, because they love God and want to make America “pure” bomb abortion clinics and kill the innocent with the guilty?
Or what about those who , claiming to love God, attack and sometimes kill gays.
It is possible to have a passionate, even if twisted, love for God, and have no love for people.
So Jesus said… if you want to keep all of the law… you need TWO PEGS
1. Love for God
2. Love for others
Some hang on the Love of God peg
and others hang on the Love of Others peg.
In fact, the pegs are so important ... that if you just have the pegs you can forget the laws ... they will be fulfilled.
In other words... if you love God you will automatically do the things that relate to loving him.
And if you love people, you will automatically relate rightly to them.
LOVE IS THE PEG!!!!!
********So ... now you can see why it is so important to God that you have love for God and love for others.
Let me ask you a question…
Are you having trouble keeping one of God’s commandments?
Now let me tell you why…. The problem is the peg
Your peg is insufficient
You need more love
