Dear Student of the Word,
Forgive me that this week's study is a bit longer than usual. There were quite a few parables and stories in this portion of Matthew that could not be subdivided, so I addressed them as a whole. Jesus is in Jerusalem in these last chapters of Matthew and He is engaged in intense debate with His enemies. Of course, Jesus always emerged victorious from such encounters, yet that didn't keep His enemies from trying their best to humiliate or trap Him. This week I wrote:
v. 35 – This time the Pharisees put forth a lawyer, one who had spent his life studying the law. Not having learned their lesson earlier with the question about Caesar, the Pharisees sought to test Jesus once again by asking Him a difficult question. This question, however, was and is an important one and we can see God’s providential hand in both the Pharisees asking it and Matthew including it. What’s more, it would have been of supreme interest to every Jewish reader to whom Matthew was writing. The question: what is the greatest commandment in the Law?
vs. 36-38 – Without hesitation, Jesus answered that it was to love the Lord your God with all your being. The whole Old Testament and all its requirements and regulations can be summed up in one short sentence, and this represents God’s summary. The Old Testament can seem so burdensome and complicated, yet with one statement Jesus streamlined and simplified it all. How easy and focused that is! Wow! Even the youngest child or the least intelligent adult can understand that.
I have made God so complicated at times, yet Jesus makes it simple. What’s more, we have no reason to believe that this commandment changed in the New Testament. God was and is to be our top priority in all that we do. I have a body of teaching on purpose and I have written extensively on the subject. Yet I could summarize it all in one or two sentences: “You have a purpose, something only you can do or be. If God wants you to accomplish your purpose – and He does – then He must reveal what that purpose is. Yet God is a great communicator and, if your heart is set to hear it, God’s is set to reveal it.”
What is the summary of what you stand for, teach or believe?
v. 39 – Jesus then added that the second most important commandment is to love your neighbor. Our service to mankind must never, ever replace our love for God as the number one emphasis in our lives, no matter how urgent the needs of the people we serve. We serve people because we love God and that is, or should be, our main motivation. Yet Jesus said the second commandment was similar or like the first. We express our love for God when we love and serve others.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:9-11).
How are you expressing your love for mankind as an indication of your love for God?
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. You can write them or find the studies to Corinthians, First Timothy and Mark's gospel on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go there to sign up to receive each week's study.
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