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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.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” ~ Matthew 22:34-40
Today, we continue our study of Matthew 22 where the Lord Jesus is still responding to another question from the Jewish religious leaders. Although their question was not for discovery of the truth, the Lord Jesus yet again answered it. In doing so, the Lord Jesus gave the religious leaders another opportunity to be defined by the truth. Sadly, these men were deceived to the point of not being able to discover the truth. Much of life is made up of the pursuit of the answers to our questions. And, although often frustrating, our questions are some of our greatest friends because they push us to pursue the Lord of the truth.
In v.34-36 of today's passage we read, "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?'"
In this chapter, the religious leaders of Israel asked of the Lord Jesus three questions. The first, in v.15–22, was a political question: "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" The second, in v.23–33, was a religious question about the doctrine of the resurrection. The third, in v. 34–40, was a moral question about which commandment of the 613 in the Old Testament was the most important. These three questions were not tools that would aid them in discovering the truth, no, they were tools that they hoped would aid them at destroying the ministry of the One who referred to Himself as "the Way, the Truth and the Life."
In v.37-40 of today's passage we read, "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. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.'"
In response to their question, the Lord Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6 which begins with a command to love God. Loving God begins in our hearts, that is the giving our hearts to the Lord. Learning to do this consistently is impossible, especially when we lack an understanding of God's culture. Like the religious leaders of Israel, just when we think we understand what God has said in a particular passage, we realize we don't. Giving our hearts to God involves our choice to worship Him. Worship is ascribing to Him worth and there are varying degrees to our worship of God. We love God when we choose to believe His word and we allow Him to define us. We are being defined by the Lord when we obey Him.
No sinful human can merit God's favor through good behavior or performance. The divide between us and God that our sin created is just too great for us to span by our goodness. Since God is perfect, perfection is required of us. No sinful human has ever perfectly measured up to the truth. It is rather arrogant for us to think we can somehow measure up to His perfection. The only One who can do this is God Himself. No human, this side of the Fall, has ever loved God with his whole being. This is why the Lord Jesus came to be the Lamb of God who would take away the penalty of our sin and put us into a personal relationship with God.
We discover truth through observation. We see things, we feel things, we hear things, and we read things about God. We experience God for ourselves. Truth arrives first in our minds. This is why the Lord Jesus said that we are to love the Lord our God with all our minds. Next, the truth impacts our emotions, or our souls, as it is listed here. Truth comes to our minds and then it moves to our emotions, and we begin to feel moved by the truth that our minds understand. Next, comes our will or our heart.
The word "heart" is used in several ways in the Scriptures. Sometimes it refers to the will, sometimes the emotions, but here it describes our will. We choose with our hearts or our wills. Once our will or heart is moved, then we love God with as much of our strength that we can but it will never be enough to merit His favor. God commands us to love Him with everything we have even though He knows we can't. He has to command us to love Him with everything because that is the way He is. He is holy and He does nothing half way. Could you imagine God commanding us to love Him partly?
In Mark 12:33 we read of an interesting response from the Pharisee who had asked the Lord Jesus the question about the greatest command. He said, "One must love God with all his heart, all his mind, and all his strength. And one must love his neighbor as he loves himself. These commands are more important than all the animals and sacrifices we offer to God."
Despite the fact that he had good theology, the response of the Pharisee revealed he thought more of himself and his ability to love God than he should have. Due to our sinfulness, we lack the ability to be holy good and that is what is required for our acceptance before God. The Pharisee had a low view of God and His Word. When we have a low view of God and His law, we will be given to legalism. When we have a high view of God's law, we will crave God's grace. The two greatest commands require perfection. When we think we can measure up to God's standard, we see no need for God's grace in our lives.
Our passage for today ends with: "These commands are more important than all the animals and sacrifices we offer to God." The Pharisee didn't realize that standing before him was the very One of whom all of the Old Testament sacrifices pointed. In fact, the Lord Jesus was the Only One who could love God with all of His heart, mind and strength. Even though we have been born again, we fall short of the task of loving God with everything we have. Christ’s sacrifice was perfect, complete and sufficient to measure up to God's standard on our behalf. His perfect sacrifice overcame our sin. The Old Testament sacrifices were insufficient because they had to be repeated over and over again and the blood of the innocent animals only covered sin temporarily. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus was a one time event which was and is sufficient for all who believe on the Lord Jesus. His sacrifice met all of God's perfect requirements earning forgiveness for all who believe. And, it is only His sacrifice that captures our heart for the Lord and enables us to love people.
