A Call to Simple Love

Matthew 22:34–40

Rev. Juvenal Cervantes, Pastor
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Greeley, Colorado
February 13, 2022 

Preachers have a learned a little lesson on teaching and communication. When the congregations begin to drift, feeling bored, they say, “Let me tell you a story…” and folks perk up a little bit to listen to the story. In the classroom, our seasoned teachers in this room such as Ms. Karen Berry, Ms. Cindy Quick, Ms. Thelma Renz, Ms. Wendi Oster, Ms. Lamar Cervantes, and Dr. Steve, learned that when students are distracted by cell phone or scribbling notes to classmates, the teacher says, “What I am going to say is going to be on the test…” and students quickly pay attention.

Let me tell you a story. It is the Tuesday before Jesus will be crucified on Friday. It has been a week of trial for Jesus. His opponents have asked him questions to trick him. The Herodian had political questions, the Sadducees with theological/biblical questions and then a Pharisees steps up to ask him a question. Heretofore, Jesus had responded to each question like a professional tennis player returning the serve of a junior high student, he dealt with each question so adeptly and then a lawyer asked him a question.

Matthew 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.

Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

This is a significant moment. The Jewish people were taught that the Torah was the greatest revelation of God to humankind. They know there are 613 commandments, 365 negatives, “Thou shalt not...” I guess one for every day of the year, and 348 positives, “Thou shalt…” one for every bone of the body.

The question was asked to test Jesus. Do the commandments have equal weight? The expert in the law asks the greatest teacher who ever lived. Whatever Jesus responds is crucial; it will be on the test. So everyone takes out their paper and pencil, ready to write what Christ will say.

Jesus does not blink an eye, he does not shuffle his feet, he responds:

Jesus 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 greatest and first commandment.”

And before anyone can contest and argue this commandment he continues:

“And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

What a dramatic moment. Jesus response to this question is the greatest response to simplicity.

He takes the 613 commandments pours them into a beaker and turns up the heat of revelation until it is distilled into just two: Love God, love people.

He takes all the complexities, arguments and sums it up in four words.

If the greatest teacher who ever lived gave us the greatest commandments you and I would do well to heed this important word.

Often we become familiar with biblical words and don’t really focus on their significance.

Why do you think this is the greatest commandments?

Because they express God’s purposes for the world

In recent weeks we’ve mentioned that God desires to gather a people of all nations who love him wholeheartedly and teach others to love unselfishly. This is the will of God for His church, this is what eternity will look like.

God gave the two tablets of the law, the 10 commandments.

The first 4 deal with loving God.

-      I am the Lord your God, not take my name in vain, keep the Sabbath, honor father and mother

The last six deal with loving others.

-      You shall not kill, shall not commit adultery, not steal, not bear false witness, not covet neighbors’ wife, not covet your neighbor’s goods.

The cross represents to us the death of Christ and we’re reconciled with God and we’re to love God.

The horizontal dimension of the cross represents being reconciled with people, loving our neighbor.

When we don’t love people we are out of sorts with God. We’re called to reconcile with others and love.

Jesus said, “before you bring your offering, go and reconcile with your neighbor, so that offering is acceptable” (Matthew 5:24).

The greatest commandments express God’s greatest purposes in the world.

Loving God and loving people is relational, not legalistic. It is ongoing.

At another occasion, Jesus said: “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others (Luke 11:42).

Then, another lawyer asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus shared the story of the man who is robbed and the one Samaritan who comes to help and asks, the attorney, “Who do you think is the neighbor?”

The lawyer responded, “The neighbor is the Samaritan, the one that I was taught to hate.” Jesus said, define your neighbor as broadly as possible. In the kingdom of God, everyone is my neighbor.

These are the greatest commandments because they affect life.

How do we love our neighbor?

Chuck Colson wrote How to Love God and a stack of other books. He said the impetus for writing the book about loving God came from a devotional of R.C. Sproul who insisted that if we cultivate our relationship with God, we would fulfill the greatest commandments.

Heretofore, Colson asked spiritual people, “How do I love God?” They said:

-by loving God with all mind, heart, and soul

-by maintaining worship

-recite scriptures,

-warm feeling, like a romantic relationship

He pressed for specifics and none of the answers satisfied Chuck Colson.

He concluded that love was not generic, real love of God is to love neighbor.

Chuck Colson reflected:

“That did it. The cumulative effect of my survey convinced me that most of us as professing Christians do not really know how to love God. Not only have we not given thought to what the greatest commandment means in our day-to-day existence, we have not obeyed it.”

How do we love God?

By surrendering our substitute forms of relating to God. Choosing to live out of relationship, conversation, realizing that it takes pains to nurture and cultivate the relationship.

In revelation, Jesus writes to the seven churches in Asia minor, here is a message for one particular church:

Revelation 2:

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:

I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false.

I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary.

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love that you had at first.

Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

What are the consequences of neglecting the greatest commandments?

We adopt a deed-oriented religion, a data-oriented religion

Information, set of rules, regulation, rituals

Consumerism- What is in it for me, surrender to our cultural norms, us four and no more, only our kind of people

Peter failed miserably. At the garden, Jesus asked, “Peter, do you love me? Jesus did not say, “Peter, promise that you will not to do this again!” Peter said, “Yes, Lord, I love you.” Jesus responded, “Feed my sheep, take care of my people.”

Jesus affirmed to Peter, “If our relationship is intact we got something to work with.”

Relational. When we get up on Monday morning, remember: Love God, Love people. This is the word of the Lord to His people.