Sermon for 10/23/11 "Two Great Commands" audio link http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23575548/111025Matthew22.mp3
Lord, open our hearts to hear from your word. May we hear you rightly and seek your kingdom and glory now and forever, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
You’ve probably heard the debates, or at least heard about them. Those debates that go on about posting the Ten Commandments in public places. Some people like having the Ten Commandments up in the courtroom or on a plaque in the park. Sometimes teachers want to post them in their classrooms. There was a lawsuit in St. Louis not that long ago about a grocery store where the commandments were posted. There are some people in our society who want to do away with God’s Law wherever it shows up. And there are some people who will fight to the death, it seems, to make sure that the Ten Commandments are posted in courtrooms and in city, state, and national parks. You know, as do I, that the people on each side of the debate will stop at nothing. Both sides are convinced of their arguments. And they’ve been carrying this argument on for a long, long time.
Yet today we see two commands, the commands that Jesus says are the greatest commands. This is what our Lord and Savior says our society should be built on. Or at least he’s saying that our lives should be built on these two commands. What are these commands and why are they so revolutionary? What are we going to do about what our Lord has proclaimed here?
First let’s re-visit the commands. There’s “love the Lord your God with all your . . . “ you can fill in the blank. Some places where the Scripture says this it lists heart, soul, mind, and strength. Sometimes it leaves out strength. In any case it’s talking about everything you have. Love God with everything you have. Then what’s the other command? Love your neighbor. Notice there is no third command saying we have to love ourselves. The Bible never sees us as loving ourselves too little. Not at all. We love ourselves plenty, so we’re supposed to love our neighbor that much. Love God. Love neighbor. It seems like a pretty complete picture. So there are our commands. What makes them so revolutionary?
Seen from one point of view there’s nothing revolutionary at all about these commands. They are perfectly normal things for God to say and he’s said them many times in the past. But from another point of view this should rattle your cage. It should make you wonder what happened to your world. These commands should be a little hard for you to understand. Here’s why. When we ask what we are supposed to do we normally want instructions about activities. That’s why the Ten Commandments are so easy to understand. Don’t steal. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t murder. I can understand those physical activities quite well. It may be difficult to live in obedience to those commands sometimes but we do understand what God is commanding. Now how about a command to love the Lord with all your resources? What does that mean you’re supposed to do? It isn’t as straightforward as it seems, is it? Are our heart, soul, mind, and strength four different characteristics? Does each one represent our whole being? Where does money come in there? How about time? To what extent, and more importantly, in what way, do we love God? Does this mean that everyone is supposed to engage in what we call “full-time Christian service”? We have a lot of examples of people who are pleasing to God who did not do that. So how are we going to love God as we repair the farm machines? How are we going to love God while we sell shoes? how are we going to love God while we change a baby’s diaper or sweep the floor?
Our Lord hasn’t told us all the details of how we will occupy our time. He has simply told us to love him entirely while doing what we are doing. That’s not only difficult enough for us to understand, it’s really difficult for us to get over the idea that we will have a checklist of the things to do in order to be acceptable in God’s eyes. He didn’t give us a checklist. He didn’t give us an agenda. He told us to love him entirely all the time. Not only is that revolutionary. It’s impossible, isn’t it? We’ll take just a little example. If you love someone you listen to what he is saying, don’t you? Maybe I should ask my daughter to confirm. Right? And she predictably would answer by asking what I just said. How many times do we tune out what the people we love are doing? How many times have you checked out during this divine service? During this sermon? How many times has my mind wandered? Plenty. We fail all the time. We don’t worship God like we should. We don’t pray like we should.
There’s a story, likely not true, that Martin Luther once wanted to demonstrate to another priest that we don’t pay good attention as we pray. He challenged this other priest to pray the Lord’s prayer without distraction and Luther would give his fellow priest a horse. The other priest said he certainly could do that. “Our Father, which art in heaven, does it have a saddle?”
Yes, we fail. We don’t love God as he has commanded. What are we going to do about it? Are we going to realize our sin? Are we going to confess our sin and know that the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us? Are we going to give up on trying to love God simply because we fail? Or will we look to Jesus’ perfect righteousness which is entirely pleasing to God the Father? Will we look to our Lord for his forgiveness and for the life which he gives us? It’s very important that we do so, and that is because of the second great commandment.
Remember that second great commandment? Love your neighbor as yourself. This is the way we find ourselves pleasing God. This is the way we find ourselves loving God. As we delight in caring for the needs of those around us we can also find that we are delighting in God as he provides for those others. We find that as we pray the Lord will give us our daily bread we are also involved in his work of giving people their daily bread. We find that we are the instruments Jesus uses to love his people in our communities. We are the hands of Jesus extended to the world. We are the ones giving help, comfort, prosperity, and peace to our world. This is pleasing to God. As we view our life and our work in light of the Gospel we see that no matter what our occupation is we can use it to be God’s means of loving this world. All that we do can show the praises of God.
Once again, are we doing it from the right motives? Not usually. We catch ourselves doing something helpful and receiving the praise of our neighbors. Then we want to take that praise for ourselves rather than giving glory to God. As soon as we realize we’ve done something good we seem to be able to turn it around to a self-centered purpose. We realize that we are ultimately loving ourselves even when we set out to love our neighbors. Maybe if I take care of his needs he will do something nice for me. Maybe if I help my neighbor with his problems he won’t bother me as much. Maybe I’ll feel better about myself when I win over all these people around me by my good works. We always tend to turn our good works into works done for us rather than for our neighbor.
Again we are brought to ourfailure. We are brought to our sin whenever we look at God’s commands. We see our need to repent. So where’s the good news in all this? I do have good news for you. You know that by now. Here’s that revolutionary good news. No, I’ll ask you a few questions and let you figure it out yourselves. That’s more fun.
Who loves God perfectly? Jesus. Who loves his neighbor as himself? Jesus. Now let me ask you. How has Jesus loved you and me, his neighbors? He does not want us to perish but to have everlasting life. So he has given himself as a substitute for us. He took on the full burden of all our sin and shame. He carried the wrath of God against all unrighteousness, including our unrighteousness. He himself was crushed for our sin. Why is this? It’s because he loves God with all his heart and he loves us as himself. He loves us enough to restore us to the perfect life of joy and peace in the presence of God the Father which he had from the beginning. There’s your good news. Even as we fail to love God and our neighbor we see that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has done all that is necessary to fulfill all righteousness. There is no condemnation for those who look to Jesus. None at all. On our behalf he has loved God perfectly. And his love for God is shown as he loves us as he loves himself.
Let us pray. Our Lord, you have loved us. While we were yet sinners you loved us and died for us. We pray now that you would give us a heart of love for you, a trust in you, and a desire to love and serve our neighbors as you have loved and served us. Enable us in our efforts. And when we realize the sin with which we corrupt our obedience to your will, correct us. Grant us repentance and faith that we may go forth in your name again as your instruments in this world. Amen.
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