The Great Commandment – Sermon 2: Loving God, Part 2
Series: The Great Commandment
Chuck Sligh
July 29, 2018
TEXT: Matthew 22:34-40 – “But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them,…a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
INTRODUCTION
We saw last week that in verses 37-39 Jesus cut through all of the commands of the Old Testament and got right to the heart of the matter of what God wants us to do. When a lawyer asked Him what was the great commandment of all God’s Law, Jesus gave a two-part answer: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all you soul, and with all you mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, ‘You shalt love you neighbor as thyself.’”
Everything else hangs on these two commandments, according to Jesus. You can wrap up everything God wants you to do in one tidy little statement that summarizes this commandment: “To love God and people.” We saw that this is the main duty above all others of all believers. Not only is it the main duty for each of us individually, it’s also what ought to be the main duty of Grace Baptist Church corporately. —“To love God and people.”
To see exactly what Jesus meant by the first part of the commandment, last Sunday we began to dissect Jesus’ commandment.
First we noted the word “You,” making us realize that this command is POINTED.
That is, it’s not a generalized command: the Lord is talking to YOU. You should not say, “So-and-so needs to hear this.” You need to let this commandment penetrate to YOUR OWN soul, to let yourself be CAPTURED by a romance with God!
Next is the word “shall,” which reminds us that Jesus’s words were COMMANDED.
Of course, this is true by definition; it is, after all, the great COMMANDMENT. But my point was that our love for God is not merely an emotion. You cannot command a person to have an emotion. You cannot say, “Be angry right now!” Since Jesus commands us to love God and others, love can’t simply be an emotion. True love is demonstrated by ACTIONS that prove the reality of our love.
Third is the phrase is “the lord Your God,” teaching that the love God commands is exclusive.
You cannot love another god; you must love the true God and Him alone. And you cannot come through the mediator-ship of anyone beside His Son, Jesus.
Now let’s look at the rest of the commandment for the remainder of our study:
IV. Note next the possessive pronoun “your”—“you shalt love the Lord YOUR God…” – THIS REMINDS US THAT OUR LOVE FOR GOD SHOULD BE PERSONAL.
Martin Luther said, “The life of Christianity consists of possessive pronouns.” You see, it’s one thing to say, “Christ is the Savior”; it’s quite another thing to say, “He is MY Savior.” The devil can say the first; only the true Christian can say the second.
Jesus commands you to love God as YOUR God. The word “your” implies a personal relationship, not a faint knowledge of some distant being. God is not an impersonal, far-off God who cannot be known or experienced. He is personal, ever so close—and Jesus is teaching that we should be personally involved with God on a PERSONAL basis.
Let me ask you: Do YOU know God PERSONALLY?
Illus. – Years ago a distinguished actor and an aged minister met at a gathering. The actor was asked to give a recitation, and, at the minister’s request, he repeated the 23rd Psalm, which begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” Such was the beauty of his voice and the charm of his manner that a subdued murmur of praise went around the room.
The actor then invited the old minister to repeat the same psalm. When the minister ended, there were tears in every eye, for he had spoken to their hearts and souls. Afterwards the actor was asked why the minister’s recitation had so much more profoundly affected the audience, and he replied: “You see, I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd.”
Do you know the Shepherd? Jesus commands you to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, but dear friend, how can you love someone you do not know?
If you have never come to know the Shepherd as YOUR Savior, turn from your sin this morning, be saved by His grace, and then LOVE Him and LIVE FOR Him! You will NEVER regret it! In all my years as a Christian, I have never met a believer who looked back at their life lived for God and said, “I wish I had never become a Christian.” But I have met many who lived for sin and self who looked over their life and wished they could live it over again for Jesus. Come to the Shepherd TODAY.
V. Now let’s look at the word “love,” the most important word in the commandment— “you shall LOVE the Lord you God…” – THE WORD JESUS CHOSE TO USE HERE TELLS US THAT THIS LOVE IS TO BE TANGIBLE.
There are four Greek words used in the New Testament for “love.”
One, éros, from which we get the word erotic, means physical love is not found in the New Testament nor the Greek version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint). Storg? means the love within a family while philadelphía means “companionable love”, that is, the love with a friend or close companion (more like our word “like”). The highest love of all is agápe love, which means a selfless, giving, self-sacrificing love.
This last word—agápe—is the word Jesus says we should love God with. Agápe love is a PRACTICAL love that shows itself by tangible acts and expressions.
Illus. – In the Academy Award winning movie, Fiddler on the Roof, there’s a memorable scene when the main character, Tevye, tries to make sense of the uncomfortable modern ideas he is confronted with by his daughters—such as marrying for love and choosing one’s own spouse.
Confused, he asks his wife, Golde, “Do you love me?”
She gives a typical Russian Jewish peasant answer—something like: “What do you mean, ‘Do I love you?’ Ha!” Her marriage, you see, like everyone else’s her age, had been arranged. She had never even considered the thought, “Do I love him?”
Throughout the scene Tevye repeatedly asks the same question and Golde repeatedly counters with such things as, “What does is matter? I clean your clothes, don’t I? I fix your meals, don’t I?”
She keeps giving the same evasive answers until Tevye finally gives up.
But here’s the point of the scene: Though in all their years of marriage Golde had never once told Tevye she loved him, she SHOWED him she did every day through her actions, through tangible acts day in and day out.
And you know what?—God is not impressed by vain words from us. He’s not impressed if we say, “Oh, Lord, I love you so much!”—if they’re not backed up with the DEMONSTRATION of love in our ACTIONS. Real agápe love is PRACTICAL; it shows itself concretely.
If that is so, then how can we tangibly demonstrate our love to God? As I thought about this, I thought of four ways we show love our spouses, and they are—not surprisingly—the same ways we should manifest our love to God.
First, we show love to our spouse by being faithful to her and forsaking all others.
Now, my wife is a real stickler about this one! She expects me to be a one-woman man, and that woman had better be HER—and by the way, I expect the same commitment from her! If I really love her, I’ll never even consider a relationship with another person.
God is no different.
The First Commandment is “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
Two verses later God says, “You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God…” (Exodus 20:5)
But idols of wood and stone aren’t the only false gods we can have in our lives. In fact, ANYTHING that takes away our affection for the Lord is an idol. An idol can be a person, or a hobby, or your job, or a prized possession—someone or something you put before God. If it steals your affections from your Lord, it’s an idol.
How would you feel if you caught your spouse with someone else? Why, you would feel hurt, angry, jealous, wounded, betrayed. The Bible teaches that God also feels this way when we love other people or things or activities or goals more than we love Him. God help us to forsake all others and all things for our beloved Lord!
Second, we show love for our spouse by spending time together.
If you get too involved in work or with your kids or with a hobby and don’t spend time together, your spouse feels neglected, shut out, secondary in importance. But when we take time out of your schedule to spend time with our spouses, we show them that they’re important to us, and this conveys my love to them. Oh, how God desires for us to spend time with Him!
Remember the story of Mary and Martha? Jesus spent the day at Martha’s house and Martha was all in a tizzy over getting everything ready, and as Matthew put it, “she was cumbered [or “burdened”] about with much serving.” But Matthew tells us that her sister, Mary, “…sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.” (Luke 10:39) When Martha complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping, rather than rebuke Mary, Jesus said “…Martha, Martha, you are full of care and troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is necessary: and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42) Mary was showing her love for Jesus by spending time with Him and getting to know Him.
In the hustle and bustle of your busy life, are you like Martha—burdened and anxious and troubled about with much serving, or do you—like wise Mary—take time to be alone with the Lord? We need that time with the Lord in daily Bible reading and reflection on our lives and prayer—even if it’s just a few moments a day. Make it a part of your daily routine to spend quality time with the Lord.
The third way we show love to our spouse is by through honor and praise.
Every day you should praise and honor your spouse.
You should I brag on our spouses because we love them and want them and others to know it.
Illus. – I know some people who, every time I talk to them, they are telling me bad things about their spouse. – That’s a bad practice!
Illus. – When my parents were still living, they once told Susan that they were impressed how Susan and I brag on each other and how loyal we are to one another. I would tell them how great she was and how much I loved her—and she would say the same kinds of things about me. Why?—Because you honor the one you love.
What is the parallel in the Christian life? I think corporate worship in God’s house is one main example. When we COME to the Lord’s house and SING praises to God, we’re confessing our praise and honor to God. When in our PRAYERS we thank God for His works and attributes, we honor the Lord. When we LISTEN CAREFULLY to His Word as it is read and preached to us, and Apply Its Truths to our lives, we honor the Lord. When we TESTIFY publicly of his grace and mercy and goodness in our lives, we honor the Lord.
All of these are acts of worship that are expressions of our love for Him. Let’s show tangible love for God by bragging on Him through praise and worship and singing.
Fourth, we show our spouses we love them by doing things that please them and by avoiding things that displease them.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus twice said, “If you love me, keep my commandments”—once in John 14:15 and again in 15:10.
Have you ever heard someone say, “So-and-so is a gossip, but she loves the Lord,” or “So-and-so is really judgmental, but he really loves the Lord”? Well, that’s just not true! Jesus said that the test of our love for Him is our OBEDIENCE to Him. It PLEASES Him when we obey Him and it GRIEVES Him when we sin by disobeying the Lord.
Now let’s get this down where the rubber meets the road—Are you disobeying God in some area of your life? Is there some area in which you have refused to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? You can sing “Oh How I Love Jesus” all you want, but if you’re disobedient to Christ, your words don’t match your actions.
Illus. – A missionary was trying to win a man in China to the Lord. He used a neighbor of his as an example of a Christian. The Chinese man said, “Then I no want to be Christian.” Startled, the missionary asked “Why?” He said, “My neighbor—his walkie no matchy his talkie.”
Make sure your walk matches your talk! Show God you love Him in the tangible way of obeying and following Him.
VI. Finally, consider with me the last phrase of the Great Commandment—“…with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” – THIS TELLS US THAT OUR LOVE FOR GOD SHOULD BE ALL-ENCOMPASSING.
I was puzzled by an anomaly in the three places four places the Great Commandment is found in the Bible.
1) All of them are based on Deuteronomy 6:5 which says, “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all thy your might [or literally ‘strength’].”
2) But in Matthew 22:37, Matthew records Jesus as saying we should love God with all our “heart, soul and mind,” adding “mind” and leaving out “strength”
3) To confuse matters even more, Mark and Luke record all four words words, heart, soul, mind and strength with mind and strength in a different order.
4) The word mind is not in the source, Deuteronomy 6:5, but is in all three New Testament instances and strength is left out in Matthew’s version of the story.
Since Jesus quotes from this verse in Deuteronomy in Matthew and Mark, and in Luke the lawyer quotes from the verse, let’s examine these words in the Hebrew and also the added word, “mind” in all four the New Testament instances.
First, God commanded us to love Him with all our HEARTS.
In Old Testament Hebrew, the heart was understood to be the hidden core of the physical, mental, and spiritual life of humans. It is the “core of our being.”
This is true in the Greek too, but with more emphasis on the heart being the center of our affections—i.e., the things we love and are passionate about.
Here Jesus wants us to realize that a spiritual relationship with Him begins from WITHIN, and it demands that God be the center of our affections. We must, in other words, love Him above ALL other people or things. He must be FIRST PLACE in our lives.
Next, God commands us to love Him with all our SOULS.
In the Old Testament, the “soul” refers to a person as a whole individual. It means the totality of your life, your various desires, appetites, emotions, and thoughts.
So, we are to love God with our desires, appetites, emotions, and thoughts. In other words, we are to love God, not just in the core of our being, but with our WHOLE being. Our very identity is to be so entangled with God that He is at the CENTER of everything our lives.
Next, God commands us to love God with all our might or all our STRENGTH.
The Hebrew word used here implies the idea of loving God with all our power, or all our strength, or with everything that is at our disposal.
So, follow the progression in these verses: Our love for God should start in our inner being (our heart), and then move to every aspect of our being, and then we are to use everything at our disposal, everything in our power, to love God—including our talents, our abilities, our family, our belongings, our money, our resources, our time—EVERYTHING.
In all three of the New Testament instances, the word MIND is added to the Old Testament Shema in Leviticus 65:5.
Our mind is the seat of our capacity to think, learn things and reason. God wants all of our mental and intellectual capacities to be under His rule.
2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
You love God with all your mind when your thoughts are brought into captivity to obedience to Christ: every LUSTFUL thought, very PROUD thought, every HATEFUL, every Fearful thought, every JEALOUS thought.
When you put all these things together, this means an all-encompassing, comprehensive love of God with every part of our being. Everything we do, everything we say, everything we think—all our activities, words, thoughts are to center around God first and foremost in our lives.
CONCLUSION
So that’s the first part of the Great Commandment—to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.
It’s almost too much isn’t it? You might be saying, “Chuck, there’s no way I can love that way.”
None of us can ever love that way all the time, nor do it to perfection, but that should be your goal as a believer. You should be striving always for that kind of love. You should be constantly realigning your life to love God the way Jesus commands.
What is it you need to do today to begin loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind?
1) First, you should get to KNOW God by being saved if you have not put your faith in Jesus.
2) Believer, is there some sin you should forsake to love God more?
3) Perhaps there is some act of service for Him you should begin doing to exhibit your love for God.
I don’t know what it may be, but I hope you’ll begin loving God with your whole being.
Illus. – Russell Hitt, Editor of Eternity magazine tells about a meal he had with Henrietta Mears, a Christian author who had a tremendous influence on many Christians in the early Twentieth Century in the U.S. He wrote:
I remember one precious experience with Henrietta Mears when we were having a sandwich in a hotel restaurant in St. Louis during a Christian bookseller’s convention.
She began to reminisce about the wonderful things God had done in her life. She talked of the Lord Jesus as simply and genuinely as a new convert possessed by first love.
The tears flowed down her cheeks. It was thrilling to be with a Christian worker who had not become a pro. She really loved Jesus Christ, and she lived to make Him known.
God help you and me to love God with equal passion in our lives.
