The Great Commandment
The Great Commandment, Audio Part 2
Last week we looked at how Jesus established the church.
· First with reconciliation – between Himself and Peter
· Then with the directive to feed the lambs, tend the sheep and feed the sheep
· Those who are spiritually mature must continue to be fed
· Those who are in need physically must have their physical needs met prior to being in a position to have their spiritual needs met
This week, we are looking at what Jesus called the Greatest Commandment
· This passage is mentioned in two of the Gospels – Matthew 22:34-40 and Mark 12:28 - 31
· The Great Commandment is also identified by an encounter between Jesus and a lawyer in Luke 10: 25 -27 where the story of the Good Samaritan outlines who our neighbor is
· In Luke, Jesus also connects living life by obeying the Great Commandment with eternal life – loving and accepting Jesus as your Savior implies that you are loving God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength – and that you are actively loving your neighbor as yourself
· All three passages deal with the same concepts, although they differ a little in some ways.
· Overall, however, the intent of all three is the same
· The concept of tying the loving God with all of ourselves to the concept of loving neighbor as self is constant in all three
As we do this, we also need to use as a frame of reference Jesus’ words that this Great Commandment is where the entire Law and the words of the Prophets rest. In other words, everything which tells us what God wants us to “do” in the Old Testament is demonstrated by simply doing what we are told to do here in this passage.
· Understanding the Great Commandment is essential to our understanding of who God wants us to be as a church.
What we are going to look at this morning is seeing what living by embracing the Great Commandment means – to us and to our neighbor
In each of these passages, the word “all” is used. This word in the Greek is holos – and it means all, whole or completely.
To understand concept of completely – we must confess that it is possible to love God with only part. But, that’s not what Jesus is talking about here.
What does it mean to love God completely, with my whole heart?
· Loving God with part of my heart means I am not keeping things from Him.
· He has it all.
· There can’t be a part of my heart where I harbor bitterness.
· There can’t be a hurt which I refuse to allow Him to heal.
· There can’t be a time when I refuse to trust Him.
· I may struggle with these things, but I am seeking to do them
· There is a big difference between refusing access to an area of my heart, and finding the road to that part of my heart has a lot of stumbling blocks
Chris Y’s honesty – I want to keep part of my heart for me.
What does it mean to love God with my whole soul?
· There are never other things which intentionally come before Him
· Nothing else other gives me life and meaning
o If my job defines me, then I am only giving part of my soul to God.
o If I idolize anything, then God does not have all my soul
What does it mean to love God with my whole mind?
Imagine being at an intersection with a Yield sign.
Do you truly yield or do you put pedal to medal and plow ahead?
· I yield my reasonable, rational mind to His
· Does that mean we walk around as automatons?
o No. God expects us to use our minds.
· But our minds must never, ever circumvent faith.
o There are things which cannot be figured out with the rational mind.
· God is not restricted by the limitations of my mind.
o Any God who is would not be worth serving.
· But, if I am not yielding parts of my mind to Him, then He does not have all my mind.
Elections – not going to tell who to vote for.
But, if you aren’t willing to take the matter to God and ask Him to direct your mind, then you haven’t yielded your mind to Him.
What does it mean to love God with my whole strength?
· I yield my strength to Him
· I submit my abilities to Him and do not rely on them
o but rather on His direction of them.
o This is very hard to do
· In fact, not yielding strength – for someone who is strong and gifted – can really hold us back from loving God as we should.
o It can lead us into deception
o are we are doing God favors?
o can destroy us with a prideful attitude
Each of these areas is critical – and we each come to them with different attitudes and struggles. But the answer for all of us is the same – we must love God with all of it.
What is the result – we love our neighbor as ourselves.
And, in this loving, we will win our neighbors.
Matthew 22 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.’[d] 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[e] 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Mark 12:28 – 31 28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving[d] that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 30 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’[e] This is the first commandment.[f] 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[g] There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Luke 10: 25 - 27
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[c]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[d]"
All = whole, completely
Kardia - 1) the heart
a) that organ in the animal body which is the centre of the circulation of the blood, and hence was regarded as the seat of physical life
b) denotes the centre of all physical and spiritual life
1) the vigour and sense of physical life
2) the centre and seat of spiritual life
a) the soul or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavours
b) of the understanding, the faculty and seat of the intelligence
c) of the will and character
d) of the soul so far as it is affected and stirred in a bad way or good, or of the soul as the seat of the sensibilities, affections, emotions, desires, appetites, passions
psuche - Outline of Biblical Usage
1) breath
a) the breath of life
1) the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing
a) of animals
b) of men
b) life
c) that in which there is life
1) a living being, a living soul
2) the soul
a) the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions (our heart, soul etc.)
b) the (human) soul in so far as it is constituted that by the right use of the aids offered it by God it can attain its highest end and secure eternal blessedness, the soul regarded as a moral being designed for everlasting life
c) the soul as an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death (distinguished from other parts of the body)
dianoia - mind
1) the mind as a faculty of understanding, feeling, desiring
2) understanding
3) mind, i.e. spirit, way of thinking and feeling
4) thoughts, either good or bad
ischus – strength
1) ability, force, strength, might
Love for God, self and neighbor are all agapao
1) a neighbour
a) a friend
b) any other person, and where two are concerned, the other (thy fellow man, thy neighbour), according to the Jews, any member of the Hebrew nation and commonwealth
c) according to Christ, any other man irrespective of nation or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet