Well, good morning everyone. If you have your Bibles, join me in Matthew chapter 22 as we continue on in our series on love. Now, as you're turning there, I want to tell you I have four kids. They are wonderful blessings, wonderful joys in our life. And I too was once a kid.
My some people say I still act like one. That's probably more true than I care to admit. But when I was a kid and and if you have kids, you know that kids are very good at scheming, right? And what I mean by that is things like this. Hey mom, can we go get ice cream? I don't think we should.
So what do kids do? Oh, mom said it verily. We will not go get ice cream. No. Oh, what do they do? Hm. Hey, Dad. Can we go get ice cream? Sure. Right. Kids, that is a very dishonorable way to live your life. And if you're like my kids, they figure that out pretty quick. So, what do they do? Hm. A, which kid or which parent is more likely to say yes?
And B, my kids are just like, "Dad, and B, which kid is he more likely to say yes to?" So what do they do? They scheme. They say, "Okay, we're going to send you to go ask dad to see if we can go get some ice cream." Right? What do kids naturally do? They gather together. They scheme. They want to try to get what they want. Right? I was a kid. I did it.
If you were a kid, you did it. If you are a kid, you're currently doing it. This is this is the pattern. And this is actually what we see in the context of Matthew chapter 22. You've got the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes. And what they're doing is they are conspiring together. They're seemingly working together to try to get Jesus trapped. They're working together to pin Jesus into a corner so that he will entrap himself into something and pit himself against the father.
Essentially, that's what they're trying to do. Our text is Matthew 22, picking it up in verse 34. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? 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?
This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandment depend all the law and the prophets. That's our text. That's what we're going to dive into and try to unpack to the best of our abilities. But it's important for us to understand a little bit more of the con what what led the Pharisees to ask this particular question. So what we'll have to do is going back to chapter 21.
This is the triumphal entry. Jesus has entered into Jerusalem for the final time. He's in his last week of his life and he comes in and he's one of the first things he does is he flips over the tables and he's cleansing the temple. You've turned my house, he says, to into a den of thieves. It should be a house of prayer. He's really challenging and pushing against the operation of the temple. And then he curses a fig tree.
And then he starts and he shares this parable of the two sons. This is important. It's important because then he goes on to talk about the parable of the tenants and then he talks about paying taxes to Caesar. He's on this kind of a I don't want to use the word attacking but he's confronting that's a better word. He's confronting the Pharisees with the reality that the kingdom of heaven is not just for the Jews.
It's also for the Gentiles and the sinners. In fact, it says that explicitly in verse in chapter 21:31. Here's in the parable of the two sons. He says, "Which of the two did the will of his father?" And they said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you." That is quite a statement, especially if you're a Pharisee.
Jesus has just said, "Wait, tax collectors and prostitutes get into the kingdom of heaven before me." Jesus is confronting the Pharisees in their beliefs and in their system, essentially saying that not only is the gospel for you, it's for the Gentiles and the sinners as well. Frustrated with this. No doubt boiling over they come and look at chapter 22:1 15.
This is where that scheming comes in. He says, "Then the Pharisees went and plotted what? How to entangle him in his words." So now there's there's a plan in place. We've got to entangle Jesus. We want to we want to trap him. We want to we're scheming against him to kind of put him into a corner. And so they ask him, "Well, should we pay tax to Caesar or the temple? What should we do?" That's where Jesus takes out the gold coin and says, "Whose inscription is on this gold coin?"
Well, render to Caesar what is Caesars's and to God what is God's. Now, verse 22 of chapter 22, when they heard it, they marveled and they left him and went away. They're like, "We we can't how are we going to navigate this?" So what happens? The Sadducees step in. Okay. Verse 23, the sad that same day Sadducees came to him who say that there is no resurrection and they asked him a question.
So the Sadducees who once again as the text has said don't believe in the resurrection come to him and they say, "Okay, let me paint you a picture." Right? There's a woman and she's married and he dies and then so she marries the brother and he dies and on and on and on and then they ask who if the resurrection is true who is she married to? Jesus says in verse 32, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not God of the dead but of the living. And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
Once again, he's now silenced the Pharisees. He silenced the Sadducees and people are astonished and they're starting to the crowds that are hearing these are starting to be like there's there's something different here. So verse 34, this brings us to to our text here. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they once again gathered together and one of them a lawyer or if you are if you have the LSB that's translated a scholar in the law or scholar of the law.
In other words, he's not a like a a civil lawyer dealing with things. He is a a brilliant mind within the law of God. That's like you've got the Pharisees and with them within the Pharisees and the and the and the leadership, you've got these men who were brilliant when it came to understanding the law of God. And so what do they do? They send him. Now notice verse 35. This question that he's about to pose to Christ is not genuine.
This is this is not a genuine question. He's not actually sitting there thinking, "Okay, I got an actual question, so I might as well ask Jesus because he's God." He's not thinking that way. How do we know that? It says they sent one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to what? Test him. Once again, let's see if we can't entangle, see if we can't entrap him in his own words. And so, here's the grand question. Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?
That's the question. See, the Pharisees held that there was approximately 613 various laws within the Old Testament, right? So, we obviously when we think of law, we think of the Ten Commandments, and that's definitely part of it, and we're going to get to that in a moment. But there was 613 laws and some they they had them in various different categories. And so they put the the the Pharisees would put these in this category and some in this category and the Sadducees would put some in this category and this category and nobody could come to a consensus of which law belongs in which category because there was so many small minutia to some of these laws.
So what the the Pharisees are thinking is, man, if we can get him if we can get him to pick one law, he's pinning that law against all the other laws of God, thus going against the Lord. Going against God. That's kind of that's the meaning behind if we can get him to pick one of these 613, we've got him. Well, let me tell you, it does not go well for the Pharisees.
And it's amazing. As we look into how Jesus answers this question, there's no doubt that this is the last question that they actually ask him. Go to chapter 22:46. After Jesus poses a question to them. Sorry, I saw people look and be like, "Did I put something wrong up there?" No, everything is spelled right. Oh, we should clean the air filter. All right, sorry. Back to what's really important.
Notice verse 46 of chapter 22. And no, so Jesus poses a question to them. And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. This is the last recorded question that the Pharisees have. What's the greatest commandment in the law? So Jesus says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."
This is Jesus's answer. And why this answer is actually a striking answer is because this is exactly what they should have known. They should have known this. How do we know that? Well, Deuteronomy chapter 11 that Chris read for us. Go back there with me. We're going to be in Deuteronomy 11 and Deuteronomy 6. So, if you're kind of flipping back, that's where we're going to be here for just a moment. Deuteronomy 11:3. He says, "And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." This is the command.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. And then it goes on from there. Flip back in your p in your Bible back to Deuteronomy chapter 6, picking it up in verse one. And I want to read verses 1-9. This is if you're if you understand a little bit of the Old Testament law, this is the known as the shama. And why this is an an incredible way why Jesus answers this question is because every faithful Jew recited this exact thing minimum twice a day.
They had this bound, especially the chief priests had this bound in like a little box on their foreheads. They had it in their homes. They every Jewish home knew this off by heart. Th this that would be like asking your children, "What is mom's name? What is your dad's name?" They'd be like, "Bryce, Karen." They know that. Why? Because it's every day in their homes. This This is that here's what it says now.
This is the commandment. Notice the language. This is the commandment, not a commandment, not a suggestion. This is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me, that is Moses, to teach you, the nation of Israel, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.
Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey. In other words, what he's saying is, follow this command and things will go well. Essentially, what that's the command. If you follow this command, things will go well for you. Here's the command here. O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
This is the command. It's not subtly hidden in the pages of scripture. No, the Lord says, "This is it. Do this and things will go well." He could have chosen any of those 613 commands or whatever the nation of Israel thought. This is the command. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Now, we could spend our time looking at what is the heart, what is the soul, what is the mind, and and that's a good practice.
But my argument and I just want to lay before you. My argument is Jesus is not asking us to to to delineate between all three of these things. My argument is Jesus is saying this. What's the number one command? Love the Lord your God with every fiber of your being. That's the command. With every thought that you have, with every action you take, with every desire in your heart should be flowing out of a love of God.
That's that's the point that Jesus is making. With every molecule fiber of your being, do you love the Lord? That's the question that's being posed. Psalm 63, the psalmist here, I want you to hear his heart in times of distress and in times of hardship. Listen to what the psalmist says in Psalm 63. A psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah, not on the top of you know, his ivory tower living his best life.
He's in the wilderness of Judah. Things are not going great. Here's what he says. Oh God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and your glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life. My lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live. In your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food. My mouth will praise you with joyful lips when I remember you upon my bed and meditate on you in the watches of the night. For you have been my help. And in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. For my soul clings to you. Your right hand upholds me.
You can hear in the psalmist his absolute love of the Lord. He listen to how many times he says, "My soul thirsts for you. My soul longs for you. My soul clings to you." That is a psalmist who absolutely loves the Lord with every fiber of his being. Is that true of me? Is that true of you? Could you sit here and could I sit and say, "Man, I love the Lord with every fiber of my being."
I think that should be both an encouragement and a solid conviction to our own hearts. I think if we're intellectually honest, we say, "No, I I genuinely love the Lord, but I don't know if I could honestly say I love the Lord with every fiber of my being." I often get distracted or or or drawn away from those things. If when things are good and when when when it's a struggle, I I I think sometimes if we're honest, we're drawn away from that. Even Exodus Chapter 20.
If you look at the first four commands, the first four commands in the ten commandments are all about loving the Lord. Verse three of Exodus 20, you shall have no other gods before me. In other words, Christ and God need to be preeminent in our heart and the on the on the throne of our lives. Verse four, you shall not make yourself a carved image. Verse seven, you shall not make take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Verse eight, you shall remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
All walking in obedience to the first four commands are all about loving God with every fiber of your being. My wife will attest that there was a time in our lives when we were dating and engaged. That there was something that I loved more than the Lord that consistently took the throne of my heart.
And it's gonna you're you're likely gonna laugh when I'm about to admit what it was, but it was the Toronto Blue Jays. I know you I think back now I'm like, but my mood would change depending on how the Blue Jays were doing. Not just in the standings, but game by game. That's a problem. I could not in those times say I love the Lord with every fiber of my being. Why?
Because my emotional state was dependent on a team and if they could hit a ball with a stick. Some of you are huge football fans. Are your is your attitude changed? Your emotions changed because a 24 year old can't catch a chunk of leather. We chuckle because I think sometimes it makes us a little uncomfortable. The things that draw us away from the love of the Lord and towards things of the world. Can we say that we love the Lord with every fiber of our being?
Our thoughts, our actions, the things, the desires that drive us. What's the first thing you do in the morning? Scroll or look at your word? Does Twitter, Tik Tok, whatever, Instagram get more of your attention first thing in the morning than the reading of God's word and prayer? What do you love more?
And remember, when I wrote that, that's right, it's right there in my notes. That was a shot to my heart. What's the first thing you do when when finances are tight? What's the first thing to go? I want to keep going out and to restaurants so I'm going to give less to the Lord so I can keep doing these things that I love to do. What do you love more? When the darkness hits, the bottom falls out, the clouds come, depression is setting in, where's the first thing you run?
Are you on your knees in tears pleading for the Lord? Pleading to the Lord to to to shape your heart and your mind towards him or are you running elsewhere? These are just gauges, just indicators to see what do you love the most. I think like like it's healthy to have gauges, right, in our lives. I've had some van trouble in the last little while.
Why do I know that I have van trouble? Because my gauges are telling me, "Hey, something's wrong." Right? The temperature in your van, it's too hot. Something's going wrong. We need these gauges in our lives. So, I'm like, "Oh, there's a problem. I need to address it. I need to fix it. I need more of the Lord. I need more time in his word. I need more time on my knees in prayer. I need more time with God's people to strengthen me to know what it means and to push me to love the Lord with every fiber of my being. And to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind needs to be preeminent in our lives.
And that is going to drive us to the second command that Christ gives. So back in our text, they come to him. What is the greatest commandment? You pick one. Jesus says, "The greatest commandment is the thing that you have memorized, that you have on your hearts, that you have between your eyes, that you have on your doorpost. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and your mind." And then he goes, "And the second is like it." I love that Jesus draws us from one to the other.
And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. See, you can't genuinely love your neighbor if you don't love the Lord first. The first commandment is first for a reason. When we understand what it means to love the Lord, that's going to naturally flow into what it means to love our neighbor.
Matthew 7:12, what does it look like to love your neighbor? Matthew 7:12 sums it up. Says this, so whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. This is the world. Knows this command. That is the golden rule. Treat others as you want to be treated. Sum sums up what does it mean to love your neighbor. For he says this is the law and the prophets.
There you go. You want to know every command, everything in the Old Testament is pointing you to those two things. Love the Lord and love your neighbor. It's not rocket science. And yet, how hard is this to actually live out day after day after day? Jesus even says in his Matthew 22, on these two commandments, he says in verse 40, depend all the law and the prophets. That word depend is fascinating.
It's indicating being able to hang a heavy weight on something. In other words, the entire law, the entire prophets hang, put all their weight are upheld by these two things. Love God, love your neighbor. Notice if you go back to Exodus 20, the second six commands. Verse 12, honor your father and mother. That's love your neighbor.
Verse 13, you shall not murder. I'm going to just play this. Put this before you. You want to love your neighbor, don't kill him. Not science. Not rocket science. But Jesus, what does he do? Jesus in Matthew takes that to if you hate your brother, you've murdered him in your heart. Now it's I don't have to physically murder him, but I hate him. Now that's a little different. You shall not murder.
Verse 14, do not commit adultery. Verse 15, thou shalt not steal. Verse 16, shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Verse 17, you shall not covet your neighbor's things. First four, love the Lord. Second six, love your neighbor. All the prophets, all the law hang on these two truths. This is what Jesus is getting at here. What does it look like to love your neighbor?
Leviticus chapter 19. I was having a conversation with somebody today about walking through Leviticus. And it can be a slog. It can be difficult, but yet there's so much beautiful truth obviously in this book when we begin to understand it. Take a look at Leviticus 19 picking it up in verse 17. You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people. But you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Why? I am the Lord. That's why. Because God is God. He is the Lord. Thus you shall love your neighbor. Paul Paul even picks up on this in Romans chapter 13. Go over there. Turn there with me. Picking it up in verse 8 of Romans 13.
Owe no one anything except to love each other. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and any other command are summed up in this word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Lord, how do I fulfill the law?
Love your neighbor. How do I love your neighbor? Well, you got to love the Lord with every fiber of your being first. That's going to flow into how do I love my neighbor? We've looked at loving the brothers. We've looked at loving your enemies. Now, we're looking at loving your neighbor. And I love this. Go with me to Luke chapter 10 because then the question becomes well who pray tell is my neighbor?
Now if that question rings a bell it's because you've probably read this next text. Look at Luke chapter 10 picking it up in verse 25. And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test. Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" And he answered, "Well, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."
And he said to him, "You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live." That'd be one thing. But look at verse 29. But he desiring to justify himself said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" In other words, what is this lawyer doing? Seeking to justify himself. In other words, he's saying, "Okay, surely there's people that I should love and there's people that I don't have to love."
He's likely thinking, "Well, I surely I'll love my brother. I'll love my neighbor. I'll love I'll love my my the people from my country, my nation, my the nation of Israel. I'll love these people. But surely I don't got to love that guy." Essentially the question, what does Jesus do? He goes on in the broader and later now to go on and lay out the parable of the good Samaritan. Right? We all we know this. There's the Samaritan and there's a guy and he, you know, gets beat up and then his enemy comes to him.
Everybody passes by. Don't want to help that guy. Don't want to help that guy. Don't want to help that guy. Now, a Samaritan shows up. Samaritan shows up and he says, "Well, that guy's hurt. That guy needs help. I'm going to help him." And notice if you actually read the text, he he like goes over the top, goes beyond what is expected to make sure that this guy is safe, that he's well taken care of. This was his enemy. So Jesus answers the question, who is my neighbor?
Jesus answers the question, your neighbor is everyone. Everyone. Even your worst enemy is your neighbor. Why? Because the good Samaritan secondarily is about being nice to people. But the primary thrust of the parable of the good Samaritan is ultimately God and his treatment of you and me, his enemies. Because to be good to your neighbor is not predicated on who your neighbor is.
You loving your neighbor is predicated on how did God treat you in your sinful state. The gospel of Jesus Christ is what informs us how do I love my neighbor because it actually has very little to do with who your neighbor is and everything to do with who God is. We were wretched in our sin. The Bible says we were enemies of him.
We hated him. We wanted nothing to do with him. And we were joyfully living our lives down the pathway to hell and to condemnation, spitting at God as we went. And God in his grace and in his mercy and his infinite love said, "You're not going to hell anymore. I'm going to take you and I'm going to adopt you into my family.
And I can do that because I'm going to send my son to die on a cross to bear my wrath so that you can go free. My enemy, the one who hates me. That's how I'm going to treat you. So now when we come here and we understand the fullness of the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ, why wouldn't we want to love the Lord with every fiber of our being? He saved us from hell.
Our thoughts should be directed to the Lord. Our desires should be directed to the Lord. Our actions need to be directed to the Lord. Every fiber of our being, not just a small part here or a small part here. Everything in us needs to be done out of a love for the God who saved us. And that means treating our enemies, treating our neighbors the way that God treated us. Love, mercy, and grace.
This is the call of God on our lives. Is this what your love looks like? This is mine. I think all of us can take stock and be like, "Oo, there's some things I got to work through." And here's the joy, my friends. We're going to struggle, but our God is merciful. Our God is gracious.
So that when we fail, when we make mistakes, that we come to the Lord and we say, "Lord, I have failed again. Would you forgive me? Would you strengthen me to to not go down that path again that I would only pursue you out of a love for you?" And our God in his great redeeming love says, "Come with me. We're good. This is the beauty of the gospel. It's 2023. Grand View, I want to make this right.
Grand View women's softball team. They were down 4 to one. This was in a champion. It wasn't the championship game. This was, I believe, to go to the championship game. They're losing four to one when their catcher, Caitlyn Moses, steps up to the plate. That's a great name, by the way. Base is loaded. What does Caitlyn do? Destroys a baseball. Grand slam. They're up 5-4. She's running around the bases.
Her ankle pops. She's between first and second. She is the game-winning run. According to the rules, your teammates are not allowed to help you run the bases. So, what does Caitlyn start to do? She starts dragging herself because she can't put any weight on it. Dragging and trying to get herself to second base. Leah Gonzalez and Chapel Cunningham from the Southeastern University, their opponent, walk over to Caitlyn, pick her up on her shoulders, and they walk her second base, she puts her foot on second.
They walk her to third base, puts her foot on third, walk her home, puts her puts her home her foot at home. There was no rule saying the opponent can't help you round the bases. So, they rounded the bases. That Southeastern team lost that game to go to the championship game because their girls had an act of love for their neighbor. Carried her around the bases and I think actually Grand View women went on to win the championship. What does it look like?
Do you love your neighbor the way that God loves you? Do you love the Lord with every fiber of your being? Friends, we are all every single one of us in this room need to grow in that reality. No question. But my prayer and my heart is for Gateway Bible Church that we would be a people who are continually growing in our love for the Lord and our love for our neighbor. That we would be known as a people who love the Lord your God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.
And that we love our neighbor as oursel. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do come before you. We we ask that you would forgive us for when we struggle and we fail and we're we're drawn away. But Lord, would you strengthen us each in this room and encourage us and convict us to love you with every fiber of our being?
And Lord, that when we come across our neighbor, wherever that would be, whomever that is, Lord, that we would love them with the same love in which we have received by you and your kind and your gracious hand. Would our love for you dictate every single thing that we do? In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Transcribed automatically from YouTube captions, so names and words may be misheard.
