Quick – what is the most important thing to Christian faith?  Whether you are a Christian or not, have studied the bible or not, you probably have an opinion…you’ve seen what Christians emphasize, or not.

Now let’s see what Jesus said:

Matthew 22:35-40

…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.”

Love God, love neighbour.  Jesus says loving our neighbour is the second most important commandment in the world.  Depending on your interpretation of “like it” the commandments may even have equal stature!

This was a testing question – the Pharisees, religious lawyers, would have been happy to see Jesus was giving their enemies the Sadducees a hard time just before this story happened, but would be very concerned not to support him unless he was orthodox – teaching the right things.  He was risky – he seemed to be a religious rebel, too creative and original.  Was he really one of them?  Was he really a devout Jew?

So they asked this question to see if he was law abiding.  Their faith had 613 laws – all equally valid – so they asked him to pick one that is most important, hoping he’d fall into their trap and say some laws are not important, or invalid, and contradict God himself in the process.

To answer their question, Jesus quoted directly from two separate sections from the Old Testament part of the Bible.  He gave the perfect answer, in many ways it was orthodoxy in a nutshell.  The first was said every day by a devout Jew, so very familiar.  It’s possible Jesus was the first to put that familiar saying together with the commandment to love one’s neighbour, but it has a beauty and elegant symmetry to it.  Love God, people.

He didn’t dismiss anything and prove himself to be a heretic.  All ten commandments, and all other 600+ laws can be seen to “hang” under these two “hooks” or as this translation says, “depend” on these two commands.

Question: Make two columns on a piece of paper, or in your phone.  One column says “love God” and the other “love neighbour.”  Go through the ten commandments below and try to fit them in.

  1. “You shall have no other gods before me.
  2. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
  3. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
  4. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
  5. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
  6. “You shall not murder.
  7. “You shall not commit adultery.
  8. “You shall not steal.
  9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
  10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Exodus 20:3-17 ESV

Ryan Sim - June 4, 2014

Wednesday - Change It - Pioneer Preaching

Yesterday we read about Peter’s opportunity to speak to thousands, and how he chose to Retell the story of Jesus’ death, pointing the finger squarely at the gathered crowd, saying “you did this”. Why would he be so negative? Well, all this terrible news about Jesus dying at their hands gets a surprising but happy ending. …you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.” (Acts 3:15b-26 ESV) Yes, they participated in Jesus’ death, but God raised him from the dead. What seems to be an indictment turns into a reason for their freedom. And there is an object lesson standing right in front of them! The crippled man Peter just healed was still there. He would have begged daily at the temple’s beautiful gate, a prime spot to lay a guilt trip for those passing by in opulent surroundings. Worshippers at the temple were desperate to do right in God’s eyes, and they would know that a big display of giving would look great at the moment they entered the temple. In that culture, they would have immediately seen his disability as a sign that he was a great sinner, or that his parents had been terrible sinners. Now, I can guarantee you that this man was a sinner, and his parents were too, we all are. And I can also say that all pain, suffering and illness in this world is also a result of sin. We were created for a world without pain, illness and death, but by rebelling against God, living in our own way, we brought those into this world. The man in question had never walked in his life, we read that people had to carry him to this spot every day. And now, after Peter stopped and healed him, he could walk. He was doing exactly how he was always meant to do, as if sin had never broken us and our world around us. He was a sign of God’s kingdom, right in front of them. You can imagine, the temptation was for Peter to become the star and tell everyone to look at him! But Peter says, “don’t look at me, and don’t look at the healed man.” You won’t find explanations or power in people like us. Question: Where does Peter want them to look for explanations?

From Series: "Pioneer Story"

We read through the Book of Acts as a Pioneer Story for the church.

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