Matthew 22:34-40 | You Shall Love | Matthew Dodd

it is a blessing to be with you tonight we're gonna be in the Gospel of Matthew again we're making our way through chapter by chapter verse by verse we're gonna be Matthew chapter 22 tonight looking at verses 34 through 40 and the title of my message of this evening is you shall love let's pray father we thank you so much for this privilege to be in your word and we pray father God that the truth of your word would transform our lives we need you Lord we pray that you would be glorified as we give our all to you as we focus on the truth that is found in your word and see it applied to our lives by the power of your spirit so please bless this time we pray in Jesus name and all of God's people said amen and amen you know it is the most sought after yet elusive thing that I believe every person desires in fact it's the most popular theme in poetry it's the most popular theme in literature in fact it's one of the most popular themes in movies and someone did a study about 65% of all songs are based on this theme what am I talking about love you're exactly right love now the question is what is it oh we talk about it we throw it out so carelessly and so easily and yet what is love how should we love who should we love and why should we love tonight as we look at Matthew chapter 22 we're going to discover the four answers to those four questions and I believe these answers will literally transform our lives as we embrace the truth that is found in God's Word let's begin in verse 34 of Matthew chapter 22 but when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees they gathered themselves together one of them a lawyer asked him a question testing him teacher which is the greatest commandment in the law 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 this is the great and foremost commandment the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two Commandments depend the whole law and the prophets now as we've been making her way through the Gospel of Matthew we're to section here where were literally the day after the triumphal entry and Jesus returned to Jerusalem the day after the triumphal entry to teach the people in the temple but when the chief priests and the elders saw him they immediately go over and challenged him by asking what authority are you doing this these things and who who gave you this authority so Jesus responded with the question of his own he said I will also ask you one thing which if you tell me I will also tell you by what authority I do these things and then he points out John he says the baptism of John was from what source from heaven or from men now they come together they reason together kind of chart out a strategy as to what the best response is and what did they do they lied and they said we do not know why because they feared the people because they considered John to be a prophet so Jesus then pivots and uses three parables to basically expose the right reality of their hearts the condition of their hearts we've studied them the parable of the two sons the parable of the landowner and the parable of the marriage feast next the Apostle Paul Matthew recorded that there were three challenges from the religious and political leaders and each of them was an attempt to trap Jesus into making a misstep so that they had grounds to accuse him and ultimately reject him but our Savior Jesus Christ knew exactly what they were up to and he give gave them answers which once again revealed the hardness of their hearts and the wisdom that our Savior has now two weeks ago we studied the first two challenges the first one was the lawfulness of paying the roman poll tax and the second one the resurrection and a woman who had been married to seven brothers tonight we're gonna study the third challenge the third test regarding the greatest commandment of the Mosaic law and it can be summarized Jesus answer with just two words yet very very profound words love God love God after Jesus silenced the Sadducees the Pharisees came back for another round of testing I'm sure they're pretty smug right now because Jesus had put down their enemies the Sadducees so they think you know what let's try again sure they had been silenced earlier when they came with the Herodians to talk about the Roman poll tax but now they brought their ace an expert in the law a lawyer and so the lawyer asked Jesus teacher which is the Great Commandment in the law verse 36 now we look at that and say well wait a second that doesn't seem like a very tough question but we need to understand something very significant at that time there was a raging debate about the law Jesus answer had the potential of bringing about a great division amongst the Israelites now here's the issue and it's so important for us to understand this the ten commandments the ten commandments contained six hundred and thirteen Hebrew characters now using those 613 letters the Jews categorized the law one category had 365 prohibitive laws things that one must not do then they had a second category 248 positive laws things that one must do now it doesn't stop there after dividing the law into those two categories they further organized the law by giving them a relative weight what do I mean by that well some laws were weightier than others now what's the result of that well if you know some laws are weightier and other laws are lighter what will you tend to do well you're going to focus on and obey the weightier and potentially when convenient ignore the lighter but here's the problem with that thinking James tells us if you break just one law whether you think it's weighty or not you're guilty of breaking the whole law James 2 verse 10 for whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles in one point he has become guilty of all Jesus once again amazed them with his answer because his answer revealed the issue in their hearts and he's literally trying to cause them to consider their relationship with God their relationship with their neighbors and even their relationship with him Jesus Christ jesus answered by quoting from Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 4 & 5 which is known in Hebrew as the Shema which means to hear and it was the centerpiece of the Jewish morning and evening prayers it reads here o Israel the Lord is our God the Lord is one you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might now when we think of the Ten Commandments they're broken down into two tables the first four dealt with our relationship with God the last six deal with our relationship with one another so Jesus began with the first and foremost the first four and it summarizes I mentioned a moment ago love God but here's something we all need to understand when we talk about loving God and it's this God love you and me first let that sink in God loved you and me first now some people are bothered because loving God was given as a command I mean how can someone command love though perhaps you know of someone who's tried to do that before maybe through their actions or even with their words and you know there's just trouble on the horizon when you see it because they communicate this idea you're not loving me the way I want to be loved do you know of anybody like that I know none of you are guilty of that but aren't there people like that you need to love me the way I want to be loved you know there's trouble with that person and that relationship if that's what they expect but it's important to understand that we love any love that we do it's because God first loved us first John 4:19 says we love because He first loved us now as a dad I always want my children to know how much I love them and I tell them all the time in fact with my little girl milena she's 6 years old sometimes it even becomes a little bit of a game it's the I love you more game are you familiar with that you know I'll tell her I love you and then she'll come back and she says well I love you more to which I say well no I love you more and the older she gets the more sophisticated and scientific it becomes because then she will say well I love you to the moon and back ok so I begin to calculate and say well I love you to the Sun and back and then she employs a phrase from Buzz Lightyear Toy Story well I love you to infinity and beyond but not to be outdone by my six-year-old daughter I remember what my mom used to say to me I loved you first oh I win I win but here's the key there's something really beautiful about the idea that God loved us first it communicates this idea that he wants relationship with us that he's pursuing us with an ever lasting love he's the initiator were the responders that's why it says in John 3:16 for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting or eternal life in addition we must also see that God in love seeks with all of his wisdom to lead us in the way that is for our greatest good all that God does for you and for me is for our greatest good and David who is called the man after God's own heart understood this and he wrote a psalm that I know many of you know some of you may have committed it to memory Psalm 23 I look at the first four verses here his heart and notice how he keeps talking about how the Lord is the one who's the leader and how he's the responder he says the Lord is my shepherd he doesn't say the Lord is my dad's Shepherd though he might be no the Lord is my shepherd he's my God he's my shepherd and as a result I shall not want he he does this he makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me beside quiet waters when I'm weary he's the one who restores my soul when I'm confused and feel like I've lost my way he guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake and even when I'm faced with an obstacle I go through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil for you my God are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me oh if we could only see how much God loves us it would radically change our lives our thinking our approach to life you see God knows that the very best thing for our lives the place of greatest blessing is for us to draw near to him his presence his protection his provision is guidance they're all for our good one of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 73 look at these verses verse 25 26 and 28 look at this question whom have I in heaven but you and beside you I desire nothing on earth my flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever as for me the nearness of God is my good and I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works that's the place of blessing that's the place where one understands my God is for me who can be against me but you may be here tonight and I completely get where you're coming from if you're thinking this question but how much does God love me okay I know he loves the world that's why he sent the son but you know I'm a Christian but even as a Christian I've made mistakes and perhaps within Christianity you've got some people that God loves more than others you know favorites right I mean I'm sure God loves Billy Graham more than me I'm sure God probably loves pastor rich more than me I mean if you really knew me and the LAX sized baggage that I'm carrying around all the time you can't tell me that God loves me as much as Billy Graham or pastor rich and then you look at this prayer it's in John chapter 17 that answers the question for the believer and for those who are considering becoming one it's right before he's betrayed by Judas Iscariot it says high priestly prayer and I want you and in particular look towards the end the last line but I'm gonna take a running start at at beginning in verse 22 of John 17 the glory which you have given me I have given to them that they may be one just as we are one I and them and you and me that they may be perfected in unity so that the world may know that you sent me here it is and love them how much even as you love me come again did you see that every time I read these verses it's like 94 degrees outside and I drink us slurpy too fast I get a brain freeze you mean to tell me that the Word of God says that God loves his Christian children all the same yes how much as much as he loves Jesus that seems too good to be true that's what the Word of God says there are no second-class citizens in the body of Christ God loves his children all the same oh there may have been favoritism in your family but not in the family of God well I can see why God would love Jesus what's there not to love about Jesus he does the right thing he says the right thing I don't always do that oh but you're in Jesus and that's all that matters and all of his righteousness is given to us and so in light of this in light of God's love I believe there's only one right response and it's this God deserves and all that you are kind of love our God deserves and all that you are kind of love the key word is all God wants us to love him with all our heart with all our soul with all our mind and mark adds in mark chapter 12 verse 30 all our strength and I believe there's a great lesson for all of us here because I submit the way to love God is to receive more of God's love by embracing the truth that is found in his word don't let your feelings dictate to you don't let what other people have told you stand on the Word of God john 17 says that god loves us as much as he loves his son because we're in his son and his son is in us and I believe when we're filled with the Holy Spirit because God's a good father and he gives good gifts to his children he gives the Holy Spirit to us as a down payment a deposit a guarantee that when this life is done we are gonna be with him forever more to enable us to empower us to live a life that pleases him when we are filled with the holy spirit guess what happens we obey because we love and we bear good fruit because God's love is in us jesus said in John 14:15 if you love me you will keep my Commandments and Paul said in Ephesians 5:22 and 23 but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such things there is no law but here's the deal when our relationship with God is lacking it's because we've moved further away from him and his word and you hear the call of Jesus to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2 verses 4 and 5 you hear this call to come back to your first love jesus said but I have this against you that you have left your first love meaning him and we're talking about the church here notice the remedy remember from where you have fallen repent and do the deeds you did at first remember repent and do you see if we like the church and Ephesus have fallen from our first love and then we must remember repent and do as we did it first this last week and it was a week-long celebration and I'm not ashamed to say so my wife and I celebrated 10 years of marriage it was awesome absolutely my wife's my best friend and here's the deal when you have a best friend you do things with your best friend you talked to your best friend you spend time with your best friend right and it doesn't matter where you are you just want to be together what happens in marriages when couples drift apart well they stop talking they stop enjoying one another they stop spending time together well what's the remedy for that remember what it was like when you first fell in love repent meaning return to your first love and do what you used to do it's really simple isn't it but the question for us in regards to our relationship with God is this how do we know things are not what they should be now remember what Pastor Chuck Smith once said if there ever was a time when you love Jesus more than you do today and you've backslide so I ask you do you remember the zeal you had when you first came to faith in Jesus Christ was it more than or is it more now do you remember a hunger for God's word when you first came to faith in Christ was it more than or is it more now do you remember the joy you had in worshiping the Lord maybe you were driving down the road the music's on the radio and you are just singing you don't care what anyone around you thinks because you just want to worship Jesus do you remember that was it more than or is it more now you see it should be increasing every moment of every day remember return and do one of my favorite songs one of my favorite song Christian songwriters is Matt Redmond God has used him in a mighty mighty way over the years in the late 90s he was part of a church where there was just a great revival happening in England but over time it just kind of became a performance it had all the pomp they had all the circumstance they had all the accolades but something was missing and he wrote a song because his pastor began to call out there's been a shift and we need to get back to a simple pure relationship with God and he wrote the song the heart of worship and the chorus I'm coming back to the heart of worship it's all about you it's all about YOU Jesus I'm sorry Lord for the thing that I've made it it's all about you it's all about YOU Jesus and that's a good reminder for us all to remember to return and to do here's the beautiful thing God will take you back in he loves you the reason why he's calling out to you is because he wants to see your life blessed he's got your best in his heart now when you love God what flows naturally is you're gonna love your neighbor you'll love your neighbor jesus said the second great commandment is like the first you shall love your neighbor as yourself and he's quoting from Leviticus 19 for verse 18 and the entire verse is very powerful it reads you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself and look at this I am the Lord and this is a very personal verse for us all and we need to understand the application for our lives what is what is Jesus talking about here what he means is this we need to love others like you care for yourself you see Jesus is not suggesting as some do today we need to spend more time loving ourselves that really isn't a problem for people in fact the problem is self focused arrogant self-love and me first thinking that's what causes the problems we see in our world today and Paul talked about in the second Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 4 he said but realize this that in the last days difficult times will come for men will be lovers of self lovers of money boastful arrogant revilers disobedient to parents ungrateful unholy unloving irreconcilable malicious gossips without self-control brutal haters of good treacherous reckless conceited lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God boy doesn't that summarize the time we live today now if anyone thinks and I'm just saying this because I love you if anyone thinks you don't have this problem then I just want to use this illustration group photos you know what I'm going with this a group pictures taken let's be honest here who is the first person you look for in a group photo exactly thank you brother then what happens after you find yourself the next thing you do is critique all that's wrong in the picture right you critique it now some might say well that's only because I really don't like myself to which I say really because if you hated yourself you'd be happy with how bad you look right but that's not the case now Jesus was talking about the fact that we need to care for others even as we care for ourselves and Paul the Apostle relates it to the principle of marriage and how husbands must follow the example of Jesus for he loves his bride the church Ephesians chapter 5 verses 28 through 30 so husband's ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies he who loves his own wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ also does the church because we are members of his body see the truth is when you love God you will love others I mentioned first John 4:19 earlier I want to add to that verses 20 and 21 John says we love because He first loved us 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 and this is the commandment we have from him that the one who loves God should also love his brother but what's interesting is Jesus with his disciples in the upper room before he's betrayed and crucified up the standard what do I mean I mean this the standard is actually higher for us as Christians that we should love as Jesus Christ loves us love as Jesus Christ loves you but here's the problem one of our great problems in relationships is that we're all imperfect and flawed and I get a witness because we are flawed and imperfect it's easy to fall into the terrible trap of responding in kind to each other's failures what I mean is this if someone's nice to me I'll be nice in return but if someone's rude to me I'm gonna be rude in return right it's gonna be equal and so I let their failure and their flawed dictate my response and the problem with this is it begins to taint all of the ways we think we begin to think the worst about others because we assume the worst about others excuse me here again we must think about God's love for us why did Jesus love us because we're perfect no Jesus loves us with all our imperfections and flaws and he commands us to love others as he loves us John 13 verses 34 and 35 a new commandment I give to you that you love one another even as I have loved you that you also love one another by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another now it's so important is this kind of all that you are love is not a feeling it is a choice a heartfelt choice and Paul the Apostle captures it beautifully in Colossians chapter 3 verse 5 8 and 12 through 14 I put them together for us for consideration he says this and notice this therefore consider ah I'm using the will here I'm thinking the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality impurity passion evil desire and greed which amounts to idolatry but now you also here's a choice put them all aside what does he mean the anger the wrath the malice the slander and abusive speech from your mouth so as those who have been chosen of God holy and beloved God loves you now I want you to put on another choice a heart of compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience bearing with one another and forgiving each other whoever has a complaint against anyone just as the Lord forgave you so also should you beyond all these things another choice put on law which is the perfect bond of unity in closing what happened yesterday breaks my heart as I know it does yours we need to be praying for the dear ones in Texas and in Ohio but I see something deeper here we need God's love and it's got to begin somewhere and it begins by placing your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation he died for you rose again on the third day because he loves you I'm telling you God's love is powerful God's love can heal God's love transform I believe God's love wins so tonight will you let God's love change your life will you ask the Lord to fill your heart with his love have you drifted away will you come back to the heart of worship I'm praying as the Apostle Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus that God is gonna bring revelation tonight about his love listen to this prayer Ephesians 3:14 through 19 for this reason I bow my knees before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God let's pray father we thank you so much for this time in your word we thank you for taking the initiative to love us with an everlasting love Lord we come to you tonight we ask that you would fill our hearts with your love for summits coming to faith in Jesus for the first time for others coming back it's remembering it's returning it's doing if you're here tonight you just want God's love to fill your heart change your life you want God's love to win through Jesus Christ what you just ask even right now by raising your hand and saying Lord I want you and your love in my life would you just raise your hand say Lord I want you have you've fallen away it's time to come home I'm inviting you to come home father you see the hands that are raised Lord we want to come back to the heart of worship we want to be yours so we give all that we are and we pray that you would heal us strengthen us and transform us and use us to share the good news of Jesus so that others may hear and know and be changed by the blood of the Lamb we give you thanks and Jesus name and all of God's people say

Channel: Calvary Chapel Worship Center - Hillsboro, Oregon

Views: 2,327

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: The Bible, God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Holy, Pastor Rich Jones, Pastor Matthew Dodd, Calvary Chapel, Faith, Grace, Revival, Truth, Prayer, Salvation, Calvary Chapel Hillsboro, Exodus, Matthew

Id: znlcZ25KCHI

Length: 37min 4sec (2224 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 05 2019