Greetings!
Someone has said that love may not make the world go around but it makes the trip worthwhile.
Those words perhaps gather up the sentiment of the world that the sweetest and most exhilarating of all emotions and experiences is love. In whatever age or with whatever group of people, it has been the almost universal belief that love is the greatest thing in life, the summum bonum, the virtue par excellence. Consequently volumes upon volumes of poems, songs, plays, novels, and films have been produced about love.
God's Word concurs that love is the greatest virtue (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13), but the love which it elevates as supreme is of a much deeper and more substantive kind than that which the world understands and admires. Jesus declared that agapē love is the supreme divine requirement of men, both in regard to Himself and in regard to other men.
Love for God is the foundation of the Christian life, it is the defining characteristic identifying a true believer. Christians are those who love the one true and living God; the God of the patriarchs; “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 15:6; 2 Cor. 1:3; 11:31; Eph. 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3).
True spiritual and eternal life begins with loving God imperfectly in this life, and culminates in loving Him perfectly in heaven. Love for God is also a universal command, disobedience to which brings divine judgment and everlasting punishment. Hell will be forever populated by those who refused to love God.
I pray you will be challenged, convicted, encouraged, and blessed by today's devotional to the glory of God.
THE TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS
MATTHEW 22:34-40
Part 1
THE GREAT COMMANDMENT
Matthew 22:34-38 (NASB)
But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"
The first test of Jesus by the Pharisees, made through their disciples and the Herodians, was political, dealing with the payment of the despised poll-tax (Matt. 22:17). The second test, by the Sadducees, was theological, pertaining to the reality of the resurrection, which they denied (Matt. 22:23, 28). Now "the Pharisees" were about to test Him again in the area of theology.
The particular "one of them" that they chose to confront Jesus was "a lawyer." The man was a scribe (Mark 12:28) but was called "a lawyer" by Matthew to indicate his unusual expertise in the Mosaic law and perhaps also his renown in adjudicating religious and social disputes. He was probably the most learned and astute expert on Scriptural and rabbinical law in their ranks, and if anyone would be a match for Jesus, they thought, this man would be.
This "lawyer," however, also seems to have been a cut above his fellow religious leaders in honesty and humility. Like that of a few of the other scribes, his acknowledgment that Jesus had answered the Sadducees wisely seems to have been genuine (Mark 12:28; cf. Luke 20:39). Obviously the man was not totally straight forward, because he allowed himself to be used in "testing" Jesus in order to discredit Him. But apparently his duplicity was mixed with a measure of sincere concern for what Jesus would say in response to the test "question."
THE QUESTION BY THE LAWYER
Matthew 22:36 (NASB)
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"
In his addressing Jesus as "Teacher," the lawyer was probably not being scornful, as the previous questioners had been (see Matt. 22:16, 24). As already noted, he seems to have had respect for Jesus and may have felt somewhat guilty at being used to ensnare Him.
In asking, "Which is the great commandment in the Law?" the lawyer was asking what was the greatest commandment of Moses. Although the scribes and Pharisees considered the whole Old Testament to be authoritative, and not just the five books of Moses as did the Sadducees, they nevertheless considered Moses to be the supreme human figure in Scripture. Moses had spoken with God face to face (Ex. 33:11; Dt. 34:10), was the humblest man on earth (Nu. 12:3), and had taken the engraved tablets of the law directly from the hand of God (Ex. 31:18), as it were. He was also the great deliverer whom God called to lead Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land (Acts 7:35). He was therefore without peer among those the Lord chose to be human instruments of His divine revelation and activity (Ex. 34:10). The scribes and Pharisees were said to sit in Moses' seat (Matt. 23:2) because that represented the ultimate authority in Judaism.
From the beginning of His ministry; Jesus assured His hearers that, far from seeking "to abolish the Law or the Prophets," He had come to fulfill them, and that "until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law until all is accomplished" (Matt. 5:17-18). He made clear that, although He was the Messiah and God's own Son, He was not preaching and teaching anything that obviated the law of Moses or any other part of Scripture.
But because Jesus' teaching of Scripture was so utterly contrary to theirs, which for centuries had been encrusted by thousands of humanly-devised rabbinical interpretations, the Pharisees were convinced that He must be teaching a message He considered to be greater than that of Moses. And it was evidence to that effect that they now hoped Jesus would disclose, because to contradict Moses was to contradict God and be guilty of heresy. Their purpose was to expose Him as an apostate and thereby turn the people against Him.
Because He considered Himself to be the Messiah, they apparently assumed that surely Jesus had devised a system to display His great scholarship and knowledge of the law just as they were accustomed to doing. And judging by the lawyer's single and extremely simple question, they also apparently assumed that His naming the one "great commandment in the Law" would be sufficiently unorthodox to condemn Him.
THE LORD'S RESPONSE
Matthew 22:37-40 (NASB)
And 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.'38 "This is the great and foremost commandment.
Jesus responded without hesitation, and the answer He gave was in total accord not only with Mosaic law but with an ancient Jewish custom based on that law. The command, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind," was part of the Shema (Hebrew for "Hear"), so named because it began with, "Hear, O Israel!" The Shema comprised the texts of Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21; and Numbers 15:37-41—by far the most familiar, most quoted, and most copied Scripture passages in Judaism. In Jesus' day, every faithful Jew recited the Shema twice a day.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 were two of the four Scripture texts (with Ex. 13:1-10 and Ex. 13:11-16) that were copied on small pieces of parchment and placed in phylacteries that were worn on the foreheads and left arms of Jewish men during prayer. The practice was based on the admonition of Deuteronomy 6:8, "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead" (cf. Dt. 11:18). It was for the ostentatious display of phylacteries that Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees only a short while later, while He was still teaching in the Temple (Matt. 23:5). In a similar way copies of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 were placed in mezuzabs, small boxes that Jews attached to their doorposts, following the instruction of Deuteronomy 6:9 and 11:20. Both phylacteries and mezuzahs are still used by many orthodox Jews today.
"I am declaring to you," Jesus was therefore saying, that "the great commandment" is the commandment of Moses that all of you recite every day and that many of you bind on your arms and foreheads every day"
Aheb, the Hebrew word for "love" used in Deuteronomy 6:5, refers primarily to an act of mind and will, the determined care for the welfare of something or someone. It might well include strong emotion, but its distinguishing characteristics were the dedication and commitment of choice.
It is the "love" that recognizes and chooses to follow that which is righteous, noble, and true, regardless of what one's feelings in a matter might be. It is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek agapaō in the New Testament, the verb of intelligent, purposeful, and committed love that is an act of the will. This love is in contrast to the emotion and tender affection of phileō and the physical, sensual love of eros (which is not used in the New Testament).
To "love the Lord with all" one's "heart,"... "soul, and... mind" (Mark's account adds "strength," Mark 12:30) does not express separate and technical definitions of each element of human nature or a compartmentalizing of love into three or four categories, but rather connotes comprehensiveness. We are to "love the Lord our God" with every part of our being.
On the other hand, the areas are listed distinctly each one preceded by its own "with all your." It is therefore helpful to look at some distinctions in each of them in order to understand the fullness of what "love" for God should include.
To the ancient Hebrews, "heart" referred to the core of one's personal being. The book of Proverbs counsels, "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life" (Prov. 4:23). The term "soul" is closest to what we would call emotion and is the word Jesus used when He cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane the night He was arrested: "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death" (Matt. 26:38). "Mind" corresponds to what is usually translated "might" in Deuteronomy 6:5. The Hebrew term had a broad connotation and carried the general idea of moving ahead with energy and strength. "Mind" is used here in the sense of intellectual, willful vigor and determination, carrying both the meaning of mental endeavor and of strength.
Genuine "love of the Lord" is intelligent, feeling, willing, and serving.
Love involves thought, sensitivity, intent, and even action where that is possible and appropriate. God has never sought either empty words or empty ritual. His desire is for the person himself, not simply what the person possesses. If He truly has the person, He inevitably has all that the person possesses as well. And just as God loves us with His whole being, we are to return His love with our whole being. His love for mankind was so great "that He gave His only begotten Son" for their redemption (John 3:16). Godly love, whether as His love for man or man's love for Him is measured by what it gives, not by what it might gain. It does not love because love is beneficial but because love is right and good.
God requires more than bare belief. James reminds us that even the demons believe that God exists; but instead of rejoicing in that belief, they shudder (James 2:19). The distinguishing mark of saving belief in God is love of God. Faith in Jesus Christ that is not characterized by a consuming love for Him is not saving faith but simply an acknowledgement of His divinity such as even the demons make.
I believe that the transforming new creation that takes place at salvation produces a new will, desire, and attitude deep within the person that can best be described as love for God. John makes love for God the true mark of the believer.
- John 14:23-24 (NASB)
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Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.
- 1 John 3:17 (NASB)
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But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
- 1 John 4:12-13 (NASB)
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No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
- 1 John 4:16-21 (NASB)
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We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
The Ten Commandments themselves make clear that love for and obedience to God are inseparable.
The Lord shows,
- Exodus 20:6 (AMP)
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Mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Compare:
- Deuteronomy 7:9 (NASB)
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"Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments."
- Nehemiah 1:5 (NASB)
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I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments.
Jesus declared,
- John 14:15 (NASB)
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"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."
John wrote,
- 1 John 2:3-5 (NASB)
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By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.
A person who belongs to God loves God and therefore obeys God. One of the most beautiful descriptions of a Christian is one who loves "our Lord Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible" (Eph. 6:24). And one of the most sobering descriptions of an unbeliever is,
- 1 Corinthians 16:22 (NASB)
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If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha.
True love of God declares with Paul,
- Romans 7:15 (NASB)
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For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
In essence Paul was saying that, even though he did not always do what was right, he always loved what was right and longed to do what was honoring to God. That was the opposite attitude of the scribes and Pharisees, whom Jesus repeatedly condemned for making great pretense of love for God on the outside while having no inward love for Him at all. They were interested only in the outward religious ceremonies and actions that fed their self-righteousness, self-satisfaction, and hypocrisy. Although they recited the Shema with meticulous regularity that verbal declaration of love for God was hollow and meaningless.
Just as belonging to God is loving God, not belonging to Him is hating Him (Ex. 20:5). God's people are those who love Him, and the unsaved are those who hate Him and are His adversaries (Prov. 8:36).
- Deuteronomy 32:41 (NASB)
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If I sharpen My flashing sword, And My hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, And I will repay those who hate Me.
The person who truly loves "the Lord" with all his "heart and soul and mind" is the person who trusts Him and obeys Him. That person demonstrates his love of God by,
1) Meditating on God's glory.
- Psalm 77:12 (NASB)
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I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds.
- Psalm 119:15 (NASB)
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I will meditate on Your precepts And regard Your ways.
- Psalm 119:27 (NASB)
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Make me understand the way of Your precepts, So I will meditate on Your wonders.
- Psalm 119:48 (NASB)
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And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes.
- Psalm 119:148 (NASB)
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My eyes anticipate the night watches, That I may meditate on Your word.
- Psalm 143:5 (NASB)
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I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doings; I muse on the work of Your hands.
- Psalm 145:5 (NASB)
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On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
2) Trusting in God's divine power.
- Psalm 9:10 (NASB)
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And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.
- Psalm 22:4 (NASB)
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In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them.
- Psalm 22:5 (NASB)
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To You they cried out and were delivered; In You they trusted and were not disappointed.
- Psalm 25:2 (NASB)
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O my God, in You I trust, Do not let me be ashamed; Do not let my enemies exult over me.
- Psalm 26:1 (NASB)
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Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, And I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
- Psalm 28:7 (NASB)
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The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.
- Psalm 31:14 (NASB)
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But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD, I say, "You are my God."
- Psalm 32:10 (NASB)
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Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him.
- Psalm 33:21 (NASB)
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For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name.
- Psalm 37:3 (NASB)
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Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
- Psalm 37:5 (NASB)
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Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
- Psalm 40:4 (NASB)
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How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
- Psalm 52:8 (NASB)
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But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.
- Psalm 56:3 (NASB)
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When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.
- Psalm 56:4 (NASB)
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In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?
- Psalm 62:8 (NASB)
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Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.
- Psalm 84:12 (NASB)
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O LORD of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!
- Psalm 86:2 (NASB)
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Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man; O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You.
- Psalm 91:2 (NASB)
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I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!"
- Psalm 115:11 (NASB)
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You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.
- Psalm 119:42 (NASB)
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So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your word.
- Psalm 143:8 (NASB)
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Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.
3) Seeking fellowship with God.
- Psalm 63:1-8 (NLT2)
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O God, You are my God; I earnestly search for You. My soul thirsts for You; my whole body longs for You in this parched and weary land where there is no water.2 I have seen You in Your sanctuary and gazed upon Your power and glory. 3 Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! 4 I will praise You as long as I live, lifting up my hands to You in prayer. 5 You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise You with songs of joy. 6 I lie awake thinking of You, meditating on You through the night. 7 Because You are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings. 8 I cling to You; Your strong right hand holds me securely.
4) Loving God's law.
- Psalm 119:165 (NASB)
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Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.
- Psalm 119:97 (NASB)
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O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
- Psalm 119:163 (NASB)
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I hate and despise falsehood, But I love Your law.
5) Being sensitive to how God feels.
- Psalm 69:9 (AMP)
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For zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches and insults of those who reproach and insult You have fallen upon me.
6) Loving whom God loves.
- 1 John 5:1 (NASB)
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Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.
7) Hating what God hates.
- Proverbs 6:16-19 (AMP)
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These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren. (emphasis added)
8) Grieving over sin.
- Matthew 26:75 (NASB)
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And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, "Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.
- Psalm 41:4 (NASB)
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As for me, I said, "O LORD, be gracious to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You."
- Psalm 51:4 (NASB)
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Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.
- Psalm 106:6 (NASB)
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We have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly.
9) Rejecting the world.
- 1 John 2:15 (NASB)
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Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
10) Longing to be with Christ.
- Philippians 1:21-24 (NLT2)
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For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. 23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.
11) Obeying God wholeheartedly.
- John 14:21 (NASB)
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"He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."
Above all, the one who truly loves God is the one who truly obeys God. Like Paul, he knows his love is imperfect and his obedience is imperfect, but he presses on,
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Philippians 3:12 (NASB)
- So that [he] may lay hold of that for which also [he] was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 3:14 (NASB)
- [And he presses] on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
To say that Jesus died for mans' sin is to say that He died for man's hatred of God, which is the essence of all sin. Christ died for man's lack of love for God. And just as He offers forgiveness for past lack of love for God, Christ also provides for future love for God. The great Forgiver is also the great Enabler, because through Christ...,
- Romans 5:5 (NASB)
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Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Heavenly Father,
Even before Your Son came to earth, Your way was the way of
love, which Your Word teaches us is the way of obedience.
Lord help all who claim Your name but do not keep Your
commandments to be convicted of their lovelessness
and their disobedience, because Your Word is clear
that the person who does not obey You is
without love for You and is therefore
without You.
Amen.
Proverbs 22:19 (NASB)
So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have taught you today, even you.
Amen.
