The Great Commandment

I had the distinct pleasure of speaking at my church's youth group again a few weeks ago. The direction given to me was "living by faith" with a picture of a heart, one arrow pointed up and another out, symbolizing how the Christian should love God and others as a result of their faith. Immediately I was drawn to the Great Commandment and its implications for the saved and even those who do not understand the Gospel. The Bible teaches us we are not deserving of God, or even trying to deserve him, but that he decided to set his love upon us. So he sent his son, Jesus, who was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose three days later, to pay for our sins. Now those who are able to trust in him and want to live for him will spend eternity in life with God, not the Hell we deserve.

There lies a truth many do not understand or they outright reject: we must want to live for Christ Jesus. Someone who professes faith and claims salvation should question their claims (with a mentor, a pastor, prayerfully) if they say "I am saved, so I can live for myself/however I want/for the pleasures of the world." Maybe this is you, but you've been told it is alright by a pastor or leader of some sort. Why should you believe me over them? What do I have that they don't? There is no reason and I have nothing. However, what you should believe, if you are a Christian, is the Bible. Never take anyone at their word, but check their truthfulness against the error-less Word of God.

Here is a passage from Matthew 22 for us to consider:

But 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 is the great 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 first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
(Matthew 22:34-40 ESV)

There are different accounts of similar teachings in other books of the Bible, but I noticed something about this instance in Matthew. The first couple verses are a counter-example of what Christ is about to teach us. For those unaware, the Pharisees and Sadducees were two competing teachers of Jewish law. You may think of them as denominations of the Church today: They are both Jewish, but think differently about the Law and our world, always trying to show each other up, always trying to be seen as the authority of teaching. Here, we see that plainly. The Pharisees were trying to get Jesus to say something incorrect or blasphemous, right after the Sadducees tried and failed. In fact, we see one man, a lawyer (i.e. studier of the Law), looking to be seen as a great Pharisee among Pharisees. It is clear in verses 34-35 that the Pharisees, and specifically this man, are looking to glorify themselves, and oppose the teaching Jesus is about to explain.

 Despite their unrighteous and selfish motives, Christ answers their question. He says the great commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (v 37) It is very important to note that this idea is not added by Christ, but was at first a summary of the law by Moses in Deuteronomy 6:5. You have heard that when Jesus came, everything changed. And this is true in a sense. But he is clear that the law has not and will not change (Matthew 5:18). So never stand for the teaching that Christ came so we could ignore the law and commandments, for that is not what he is teaching here. In fact, God requires love before the commandments because worship or even obedience are meaningless without love for him. Imagine I send my fiance flowers. If I do so out of duty, because I'm supposed to, or in any other motive than love for her, they will simply be plants cut and put in a vase. They may be pretty, but their value is lost. In the same way, if we are singing songs of praise, serving our community, or obeying our Father but do not love him, then it is useless and meaningless to him. More so, we will not truly obey God without love for him. Those who do not love God are incapable and unwilling to follow his commands but are still slaves to their selfish nature. This is the first and great commandment.

"And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The starting phrase holds so much truth about this command. By saying that this is a second command, Jesus correctly declares that loving others is important, but not as important as loving our God. However, by saying it is like it he specifies that loving others is dependent on the first command. Here Christ teaches something controversial. Naturally man is devoted to himself, so there is an absence of true charity without the love of God. I have wrote about this before to the same effect, but we must look at what the Bible calls love in a Biblical way. If God is the best and knows the best for anyone, then the true form of love would be to help him draw the loved closer to himself. But, man naturally does not seek God and only can when he loves them first and gives them a new heart. Therefore, the natural man does not desire God for himself or others, and will not help draw others closer to the Father. So Jesus is telling us that we must love God, then and only then we will also love others as ourselves. That is, along with ourselves. We do not take care of our needs, then another's, but we take care of the needs of all as one.

Jesus closes these commands with the declaration that all the Law and prophets hang on these commands. Again, these are in no way a replacement of either, and it is foolishness to think so. Many will teach that Christ said all we must do is love God and others and we can do that with no regard to the rest of the word. These commands are not meant to replace anything but act as a foundation for the Law and the prophets; First, a love for God, then a love for others. For all commandments are useless without these two. If you are to give soup to a homeless man with no love for God and no love for the man, what have you done? You have successfully filled his belly, but left his soul empty. You have made yourself look like a hero and brought all the attention to yourself. But I tell you this man has not received what he truly needs. It does not matter if you give him a house or teach him to fish, if you do not give him the Gospel in love, he has gained nothing.

Here is what we should know as Christians: we were made to live out our faith. Ephesians 2:8-9 explains that we are saved by grace through faith, which is a gift from God, and not of anything we do. Verse 10 explains our faith will be seen. Explicitly, it says "we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (ESV) We have not been created anew in Christ to live for ourselves but to live by faith through good works. Additionally, these are not random acts we must find, but works God has prepared for us before everything. We have specific purposes on this Earth, and they are to work for our Father in bringing him glory. What joy it is to know God has hand-picked actions for each of us to walk in, that we are not blind in our service of his will, but given the opportunities directly!

So, the Bible clearly teaches us that we are not saved to live for ourselves or the pleasure of the world with disregard for the commandments and Law. Christ died so we are free to love the Lord our God and our neighbors through specific acts and opportunities laid out for us by our sovereign Creator. If you are a Christian, you will live to love God and others, for this is our purpose and our calling.