Matthew 22:34-40

So Matthew 22, it's conflict isn't it? A conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day.

! We're not sure in verse 33 whether it's the same day as the previous section or whether it happened in one or two days.

But it's pretty soon after. The Pharisees, those religious leaders, they come to Jesus with questions and their questions are designed to trap him.

And that's the aim in these questions. And they want to find a charge against him, to arrest him and have him crucified.

And so within this week of Passover, eventually we're going to see that they managed to do it.

But in this section, Matthew 22, we've seen three areas where they've come and they've tried to set their traps.

They've come with their questions. Sometimes they've come or they've sent their Sadducees to come or they've sent their disciples to come.

But the three questions, the first was political. I do remember it. It concerned, do we pay our taxes for Caesar or not?

The second question was theological to do with God. What about the resurrection, Jesus, that you've been speaking about?

What about people getting married in the resurrection? Isn't that a silly idea?

And the third question is a biblical question. And it deals with the whole question of the law.

The law of God. Do you remember the Pharisees? They were experts.

They were students of God's law.

And the man that they now called upon to be the questioner of Jesus was undoubtedly a skilled Old Testament lawyer.

He was a lawyer.

He was somebody who knew the law of God thoroughly.

He was a man of some intellectual substance.

And the question that he asked Jesus at this point was not really one of those great intellectual questions.

It was an old chestnut.

And for the question he asked Jesus was one that was trundled out again and again in the Sunday schools of the day, the rabbinic schools.

They looked upon the laws of God as being able to be differentiated.

They can be.

The law of God, some laws are weighty.

Others of them are lighter.

And so in chapter 23 and verses 23, he says to the Pharisees,

You have neglected some weightier matters of the law.

I think it's quite important to see that there are certain laws of God which are more weighty than others.

That's how they thought.

Some of the laws weighed more heavily.

Some of them were lighter.

Some of them were more important.

Some of them were less important.

And so they come to Jesus and they say to Jesus,

What is the most important?

And they hoped, of course, that he would give an unorthodox answer.

And that they would be able to trap him.

They'd be able to take him to the Sanhedrin.

And they would say to him,

Here is somebody who's teaching heresy.

He's not orthodox.

Now they were in the midst of this.

When Jesus replied without hesitation.

And his reply is one that no one could take exception to it.

In fact, Mark tells us in his account,

He responded and said,

Master, you have answered well.

Bravo.

Good answer.

He congratulates Jesus.

And the answer is in verses 37 to 40.

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 great and first commandment.

And the second is like it.

You shall love your neighbour as yourself.

And on these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.

Now the words come from what is undoubtedly

one of the most familiar parts of the Old Testament to Jews.

Deuteronomy 6,

when they got up in the morning,

they would have talked about it.

They were among the most copied words

in the whole of the Old Testament.

They were among the most frequently spoken words.

Because every single Jew

had to repeat these words twice every day.

Not only so,

but they would write them on tiny little pieces of paper.

Tiny little post-it notes.

They would put them into a little container.

And they would bind the container

around their left wrist.

And then they would get another little container.

And they would have written it down.

And they would put the piece of paper

in that little container.

And then they would bind the container

to their foreheads.

They were called phylacteries.

And you remember Jesus mocked them about this.

He said you go around with these large phylacteries,

large containers over your head,

or your arm,

and yet you ignore the very words.

I've never spoken in them.

I've written on this little post-it note,

this little parchment,

were these words of great significance.

The Shema.

Hear, O Israel,

the Lord your God is one God.

And you shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart,

and with all your soul,

and with all your mind.

And you shall love your neighbour as yourself.

And so Jesus is setting out these words

as the answer to the question.

What is the greatest commandment?

And then he says these words.

These words which have prior claim

on every man and woman and boy and girl.

Love the Lord your God.

It's the first and the greatest commandment.

So clearly this morning,

if these are,

the great summary,

if this is,

the great and most important words

that God speaks for his people,

we've got to ask,

what does it mean?

And I want to say,

you mustn't imagine

that you will jump immediately

to the right meaning.

When God speaks about loving him,

don't think that you jump

to the right conclusion.

Because as we think about

how the word love is used,

it is used, isn't it,

in the most extraordinarily wide way

in our time.

So we say to somebody

about a TV programme,

I love it.

We see that somebody

after church has got new shoes.

And we say to them,

I love your shoes.

You go to someone's house

for dinner

and they're having

roast beef

and you say,

I love roast beef.

We use the word

in the most extraordinary way,

don't we?

And so the word love

can be on the lips

of somebody

who is about to commit

grave sin

in the eyes of God.

And they will say,

I love you.

And yet what they're about

to do is sinful.

And when they say,

I love you,

what they mean is,

I love me

and I want you.

And it's possible

to distort the language

that God gives you

in a frightening way.

And love in our culture

is used, isn't it,

for the most sublime

and the most beautiful

of things

in our society,

but also some of the

most appalling things.

And some of the most

degrading things.

And some of the most

damaging things

and hurtful things.

And so five things

I want us to see

about this important passage.

I want you to know,

first of all,

that it's a commanded love.

Isn't that interesting?

A commanded love.

Did you notice that?

Jesus says,

love the Lord your God

with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your mind.

This is the first

and greatest commandment.

So it's a commanded love.

It's in the imperative.

Jesus is urging

a duty upon you.

And of course,

our reaction to that is,

is this, isn't it?

How on earth

can you command

anybody to love?

How can you command

someone to either

love God

or our neighbour?

And the reason that we think

it's really odd,

isn't it,

is quite simply

because we

immediately

associate the idea

of love

with a romantic feeling

or an emotional experience.

Some people occasionally

come to see me

when their marriage

is in difficulty

and they will say,

I just don't feel

like I love her anymore.

What's our answer to that?

Our answer to that

is what is that

going to do with it?

Because love is not

an emotional experience

or a romantic feeling.

What does the Bible

teach us about love?

The Bible teaches

the biblical emphasis

on love

is not the way we feel

but on the way

that we live.

On how we relate

to God

and to other people

and who is first

in our lives

and how we treat people

in the light of that.

It's rather a way

of living

and it's a question

of whom you are

living for.

Who is indisputably

first in your life?

And when the Bible says

you shall love the Lord

your God

with all your heart

and all your mind

and all your soul

it is really simply saying

God must be first.

He must be first

in your life

and in all your actions

and in all your thinking

and in all your motivation

and in all your planning

everything.

God first.

That is what love

for the Lord your God

really means.

With all your heart

and soul and mind.

And when the Bible

speaks of loving God

that is why

it can be commanded.

I cannot be commanded

to have

a certain emotional

feeling for you.

Can I?

Although I will have it

undoubtedly

but I can't be commanded

to produce it.

But what I can be commanded

to do

is I can be commanded

to put you

before me.

To think about you

before I think about myself.

To live for you

before I live for me.

I can be commanded

therefore

to be

what Paul calls

in 2 Timothy

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3

a lover of God

rather than

a lover of self.

And it's this duty

that Jesus is quoting from

in the Old Testament Scripture.

You shall love

the Lord your God

with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your mind.

So it's a commanded love.

This is the first

and the greatest commandment.

Now notice in the second place

it's a committed love.

It's a committed love.

Loving the Lord your God

the whole of the Bible

is set within the context

of something like

a marriage proposal

from God.

That God makes

to men and women

and boys and girls.

What God does

according to the Bible

is He comes to you

and He says to you

this morning

I want you to be mine.

I want to be your God.

And I want you

to be my people.

And this is the God

of covenant love.

He comes to us

and He makes

His proposal to us

and what He wants

to say to us

is

He wants to say to us

I want to commit

myself absolutely

for eternity

to you.

For richer,

for poorer,

poorer

in sickness

and in health.

and I want you

to commit yourself

for eternity

to me.

It's the love

of commitment.

That's Christianity.

It's the thing

on which marriage

relationships

are modelled on.

And that is why

Paul is able to say

it's the

love your wives

husbands

as Christ

loved the church.

So how did Christ

love His church?

Think about that.

did He feel

emotional

about the church?

I'm sure He did.

But what's the

primary evidence

of Jesus

loving the church?

The primary evidence

of Jesus loving

the church

is that He

denied Himself

and He

offered Himself

up on the cross

to purchase

a people for God.

He loved the church.

What does it mean

by that?

That He had warm

feelings towards

the church?

Well,

yes.

But that's a small

part of it,

isn't it?

He loved the church

by sacrificing

Himself for them.

It's a love

of commitment.

And there never

has been a commitment

like the commitment

that Jesus showed

when He loved the church.

There is,

isn't there,

in our culture,

a love that stops

short of commitment.

And so commitment

is not very popular.

Lots of people

want to step back

from commitment.

I want a relationship

but no commitment.

A lot of people

are saying that then.

They're saying,

aren't they,

that I want the benefits

of a relationship

without commitment.

The commitment

is a price

too high to pay.

I'm not ready

for commitment.

Some people say,

isn't it,

sometimes I'm

in a relationship

but I don't want

anything serious.

I just want us

to be good friends.

Have you heard that?

Maybe you've experienced

that.

There are people

in churches this morning

and they come to

Jesus Christ like that.

It's just possible

that that's you

this morning.

And you've been

living like that

for many,

many years.

And what you're saying

to the Lord Jesus

is,

well listen,

I'm happy to come

to church

but I don't want

anything serious.

I just want us

to be good friends.

Jesus says to you

this morning,

look away

to the cross

and you see

how I gave myself

for sinners.

And you will see

that I just don't

want to be your

good friend,

I want to be

your saviour.

I want to be

the Lord and

master of your life.

I want to be

everything to you.

All that I have

am I give to you.

All that I have

I share with you.

This love

is a commanded love

but it's a committed

love.

And God is wanting

you to say to him

this morning,

you are my everything.

You rule in every

part of my life.

It's a commanded love,

it's a committed love.

Notice in verse 37

it's a comprehensive

love.

It's a comprehensive

love.

And so what could

Jesus have said?

He could have said

couldn't he,

when he comes to

the Old Testament,

he could have said

love the Lord your God.

And he didn't just

say that.

Nor does he say

love the Lord your God

with all your heart.

He could have said that.

We say that,

don't you?

I love you with all

my heart.

What the Bible says

and what Jesus quotes

and singles out

as the most important

commandment is

love the Lord your God

with all your heart

and with all your strength

and with all your minds.

Just notice how the

phrase, the whole phrase

is repeated each time.

Nothing could be more

comprehensive.

So one of the

illustrations that I

think we can use is

that of an insurance

policy if you've

insured a car.

And there's loads of

different insurance

policies out there.

But in my mind,

my simple mind,

there seems to me

there are two options

for insurance.

There's one which is

third party fire and

theft, isn't there?

And that is limited.

You know that if an

accident happens,

well, you're not

insured because all

you're insured are for

is third party fire and

theft.

It's limited.

But the other form of

insurance is what?

It is fully

comprehensive,

isn't it?

And the fully

comprehensive covers

everything, or at least

it should.

That's the difference,

isn't it?

One is limited.

One covers everything.

At this level, what

Jesus is speaking is

fully comprehensive.

He's saying there is

absolutely no area of

your life that may be

excluded from it.

And so your personal

and private life,

your thought world,

your actions,

your motives,

your internet browsing,

your relationships,

your business,

your professional life,

those things that are

said in secret,

those things that are

said in public,

your sex life,

every area of your

life.

You will love the Lord

your God with all your

heart and with all your

soul and with all your

mind.

mind.

And again, Bible words

have final meaning.

So we think, how does

the Bible use these

words?

What is the heart?

In the Bible, it is

not primarily the seat

of emotions.

We say, you've broken

my heart.

What is that?

It's kind of feelings of

kind of broken emotions.

It's much more than

that in the Bible.

So we use the phrase,

get into the heart of

the matter.

I think that's helpful.

It's this core of

everything.

It's the core of

someone's life and

being and personality.

It refers to the will

and to the motivation.

So we do use it in this

way.

We say his heart is not

in it.

And so they're not

wholehearted.

It's the core.

It's the citadel of

someone's being.

It includes their will.

Soul.

It's probably nearest in

the Bible's terms to the

emotions we feel.

It's concerned with those

areas with how we

perceive things and how

we understand things with

feelings.

So do you remember how

Jesus used the word?

He says in the garden of

Gethsemane, he says my

soul is deeply troubled

to the point of death.

And it's in that sense

that this word is used.

The mind is used to

convey intellectual life

and the strength of

conviction which put

thoughts into action.

And so when you say,

I've made up my mind,

that's what I'm going to

do, that's biblical.

It's thoughts into action.

So do you see what Jesus

is saying?

There is no area of life

that is untouched by this

love.

It covers everything.

This love is not only a

commanded love, a committed

love, a comprehensive love,

but there's two other

things that we need to

note about it.

They've both got C's in

them but they're not as

good.

Alright, so the first is

this, this love has a

criteria.

And the second is if

any question, the question

doesn't begin with C.

But it sounds the same.

What's the criteria of this

love, fourthly?

There's a criteria of this

love which can tell you

whether your love for God

is genuine or not.

How do you know this

love for God which you

have sung about this

morning and which you

have professed, how can

you tell that it's real?

The criteria is in verse

39.

It's the second commandment

that goes along with it.

It is to love your

neighbour as yourself.

In other words, Jesus is

saying there is a sign and

there is a proof of whether

you really love God.

And it's this, will you

love your neighbour as

yourself?

Let me clarify this for

you.

There's one commandment

there, not two.

Jesus does not say the

second commandment is love

your neighbour and the

third commandment is love

yourself.

It's a comparison, that's

what Jesus is doing.

It's obvious.

And he's saying we all

know what it is like to

love ourselves.

No one needs to teach

us what self-love looks

like.

No one needs to teach

you, whether you're

willing to admit it or

not, what self-interest

is like.

Where you put yourself

first in your sense of

priorities.

That is something that is

ours by reason of our

fallen nature.

But Jesus says the

difference between

biblical love and that

kind of love is that I

replace myself with my

neighbour.

And that I love my

neighbour rather than

loving myself.

Jesus is saying you need

to look at the basic

tendency of your own

heart to love yourself

and to serve yourself

and live under your

self-interest and your

self-absorption.

And you want to take

that tendency and you

want to fit it in to

the whole realm of your

attitude to your

neighbour.

The thing I will do for

my neighbour, the way

that I will react to

him, the place that I

will put him or her in

is the place that I

used to keep for

myself.

And so if you think

that your tendency is

not to put yourself

first, let me tell

you, you've not even

begun to understand

yourself.

You've not even begun

to understand yourself.

The Bible is not

telling you, don't

misunderstand this, the

Bible is not telling

you to despise

yourself.

What it's speaking

about is the place

that we give to

ourselves.

And that, says

Jesus, has to be

changed around.

And as we love

ourselves, so we

will love our

neighbour.

And that would be

the criteria of our

loving God.

Let me read you

these words from 1

1 John 4:19

John 4 verse 19.

Where it says this,

we love because he

first loved us.

If anyone says I

love God and hates

his brother, he is a

liar.

For he who does not

love his brother whom

he has seen cannot

love God whom he has

not seen.

This commandment we

have from him.

Whoever loves God

must also love his

brother and sister.

It's really, really

simple logic.

You can understand

it.

I've not seen God,

have I?

Neither have you.

But I have seen my

brother.

How can I say I

love God whom I've

not seen, but I

don't love my

brother whom I have

seen?

So can you see it?

It's really simple

isn't it?

How brotherly love

and sisterly love

is the criteria of

love for God.

And so that's the

criteria given to us

by Jesus in the

second commandment.

Love your neighbour

as you love yourself.

And so finally let's

finish with a question.

And the question is

this.

How on earth can I

do it?

How on earth can I

do it?

And how can

anyone do this?

How can I love the

Lord my God with all

my heart, with all my

soul and with all my

strength?

And how can I love my

neighbour as myself?

How can anyone live

like this?

Because it's not

native to me, is it?

Or to you.

It's not natural for me

to love God with every

fibre of my being.

And to put him

unreservedly first in

every area of my life.

Because I want to be

first in my life.

You know that battle

don't you?

I've had this discussion

many times.

You discuss with

somebody the demands

of the Lord Jesus

Christ and what does

it come down to?

For some of you this

morning, what is

stopping you from

committing to the

Lord Jesus Christ?

It's really simple

isn't it?

You want to be in

charge of your own

life.

And that is a

natural response.

And so how can we

love, how can we

live this way?

How can we love

this way?

Well there's two

answers to that

question.

And this Pharisee,

this lawyer who

asked Jesus the

question didn't see

any of them, either

of them.

The first is this,

that the Pharisee

who didn't ask,

even ask, how can

this happen?

He needed to look

at his own soul.

And he needed to

see that his

natural tendency was

to love and serve

and worship and

honour himself

rather than God.

There are a

hundred different

areas, aren't

there, where I

want to exclude

him.

And this

comprehensive love

for God is

something that even

when I try to do

it, I cannot do

it.

But you see,

had he just

listened to

Jesus, this is

precisely why Jesus

was standing in

front of him,

isn't it?

this is why the

Lord Jesus had

come into the

world, in order

to take hard

hearts like that,

hard, cynical,

pharisaical,

religious hearts

and break into

them, and bring

into those hearts

an altogether new

dimension of life

which was recreated

by Jesus Christ.

that would enable

him to live for

God.

Paul caught it

when he said to

the Corinthians,

he died, that is

the Lord Jesus,

for all, that they

who live should no

longer live unto

themselves, but unto

him who died for

them and rose again.

He needed a new

heart.

He needed a new

nature, that man.

And he stares, he

says to Jesus, do

you remember, Mark?

Good answer.

Bravo, Jesus, well

done.

If he had been

nearer, he'd have

patted him on the

back and said,

well spoken.

And it's possible

for you to do that

this morning, it's

possible in 2020 for

you to say to Jesus,

very good, excellent

teacher, we need

more of this kind

of thing.

Well spoken, Lord.

And inwardly say,

I will not be moved.

And the revolution

that Jesus Christ was

waiting to break into

that man's life, as

far as we know, never

happened.

And what he needed to

do, and only God

knows whether he ever

actually did it, was

to go to the cross

and learn something

about that love, which

is prior.

The love of Jesus

Christ for him, the

love of God in giving

and not withholding

his son.

The love that caused

him to come down

into this world, to

take upon him the

immense and

immeasurable burden

of our sin.

And to bear it in

his body by dying

on the tree.

Because the

testimony of the

New Testament and

the testimony of this

church is that we

love him.

We love him.

Are you able to say

that this morning?

We love him.

We love God.

But why do we love

him?

Why do we love God

this morning, those

of us who do?

How did that happen?

How did it come

about?

Well, you know, don't

you, we love him

because he first

loved us.

And it is when you

gaze on the dying

love of God in

Jesus Christ

that that love for

him and for others

is born.

Let's pray.