Matthew 22:34-40

The Greatest Commandment

Intro: Vv. 34-36

I. Thou shalt Love… the first commandment

a. “love” speaks to fidelity, the spiritual authority in our lives.

1. It’s lacking in personal lives

2. It’s lacking in church members lives

3. It’s lacking in the church body

b. “love” speaks to obligations and vows

1. Every person alive has made a spiritual vow

2. These vows require obligations

3. Obligations today have been compromised, “we have made an art out of making excuses about why we cant instead of finding direction in God’s word of why we should or how we can.”

A. With all our heart…

If we love God with all our heart we will…

1. Be in total agreement with God.

2. His will, will be our want.

B. With all our soul…

If we love God with all our soul we will…

1. Serve with affection, “today the church seems to have no problem gathering a crowd for a social event, public gathering, fund raiser or similar event but you mention a visitation, mission work, evangelism, or hey even a Sunday evening or Wednesday evening service, in some instances you can count the number of people on one hand.” At best we are loosing our affection for the things of God.

C. With all our mind…

If we love God with all our mind we will…

1. Keep our thoughts on God daily, we seem to approach God as one of our appointments during the week, we give Him Sunday morning between 11 and 12. Walk in sit down say here am I lord bless me, sanctify me, justify me and send me on my way. We don’t think about Him again until something blows up in our life or Sunday rolls around again.

2. Meditate on God, does anyone meditate anymore? We seem to have some weird idea that meditation is from some lost Asian religion that monks practice. Well mediation is nothing more that deep concentration, and God does ask for it. To meditate on God we need to: stay in His word daily, measure ourselves against it, live it.

II. Thou shalt love… the second commandment.

a. “love” speaks to not expecting more from your neighbor that you’re willing to give your neighbor. That doesn’t mean don’t ask so I don’t have to give.

b. “love” speaks to not being a prideful people. To humble ourselves.

c. “love” speaks to being a living example.

We have became good with the phrase “I’m not perfect” referring to sinless perfection, and were not. However we seem to forget the definition of perfection that’s most often used in the Bible, the one of Christian growth and maturity. We can and are expected to be perfect in these areas.

III. The law and the prophets…

a. These two commandments are actually one which comprises two parts. They speak of duty, that ugly word of responsibility that we just don’t like to use. Duty first to God then to our fellow man. These two parts also draw an illustration, one of the cross.

b. The illustration of the first commandment.

1. The vertical post of the Cross, God reaching down to man. Through Jesus, the written word, the Holy Spirit

2. The horizontal beam of the Cross, Gods enablement of us to reach one another. The spiritual, physical and emotional needs of all. Notice this beam hangs on the post. We don’t have the ability to reach anyone on our own, it’s only through our relationship with God and that hangs on our relationship with Christ.

c. The “love” of Christ is a love which produces joy, not happiness necessarily. I don’t think we really understand joy anymore; we seem to take it as a bland word. How do we find it, well I’m glad you ask, we find it by accepting Jesus and following God’s will and direction, then through His service based in godly love to other people we will find joy.

Conc. Jesus hangs on this cross, bridging the gap between God and man, between man and man. The areas in which you and I are unworthy to fill, He has made a way for us to get there, but we must take it, and take it seriously. Willing to make it work, make it grow. You and I have a covenant this morning, either with God through Christ or with the devil, Satan himself. I don’t know who your covenant is with, if it isn’t with God through Christ, you have the opportunity to change that today. If it is have you been fulfilling it, taking it seriously, or has it became dull and bland, today you can renew that covenant…