Love Beyond Slogans

Love Beyond Slogans

Matthew 22:34-46 T Trinity 18

INI

Slogans can be helpful for capturing the heart of a message. But in the minds of those who hear it, it can be incredibly reductionistic too. Thus, slogans can cut out the heart of the message too. It presents itself like an agreeable statement, but people can often be deceived by them and believe a lie.

Some slogans you might hear in the world… ‘Love is love’. Or, ‘Be Kind’. Or ‘Don’t judge’ or ‘Follow your Heart’. These slogans may sound harmless, and even sound to promote good. But slogans often become shields. They let us say ‘love’, or ‘kindness’ without ever really asking what love or kindness entails. They can allow us to feel righteous, because a brief slogan is something we can accomplish and live by – no matter how much it might reduce the truth.

We even have slogans within the church. WE can even turn the most sacred truths into truth reducing slogans. For example, “justification by grace through faith” is the glorious confession of how God justifies sinners. However, it can also be twisted into a careless excuse for sin if it’s divorced from HOW we live AS someone who’s justified. If Christian living takes a back seat to such a slogan, we reduce all Scriptures to the Gospel, and ignore God’s commands for daily living – removing all God’s expectations from our lives.

In our reading from Matthew, Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees. But they had the opposite problem. They believed they COULD accomplish God’s Law. By narrowing down God’s expectations to something manageable, they made obedience seem attainable. When God’s Law is reduced to simple rules or slogans, it gives the illusion that the Law is attainable. And that’s how they lived. They lived as if the Law was an attainable achievement – a way to earn God’s approval.

So, a lawyer from among them confronted Jesus and tested His knowledge of the Law.  He asked – “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Now, Jesus’ answer dismisses another slogan commonly used amongst church folk. He didn’t say ‘there’s no law greater than another – they’re all the same.’ He didn’t say “all sin is the same”. He answered their question by prioritizing the greatest commandment. For there is one above all. He said – “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.” We might not expect Jesus to rank commandments, and thus, sins. Yet, here, He does.

We should EXPECT this to be the greatest commandment. Afterall, it is the first commandment that God gives in the Ten Commandments – “You shall have NO other gods.”That is, you should fear, love, and trust God over anything else – whether that be another being, object, or material thing. And then related to that are the next two commandments that tell us how we are to love God. That is, we shall not misuse His name. It should be called upon in prayer, thanks, and praise, and not frivolous talk. And then, we should remember the sabbath day by keeping it holy. That is, with gladdened hearts, we receive God’s Word – both what we are commanded to do as God’s people. But also, we are gladdened by the fact that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have interacted with time and history to renew, strengthen, and save His people. We should love God, because He has first loved us. We’d be foolish to not love Him with everything we have.

When this commandment is rightly ordered FIRST, the second rightly follows from the Word of God. Jesus says “a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

From Jesus’ words, we’ve devised the slogan – “love God, and love neighbor.” While that is a true summation of the Law, we shouldn’t reduce these words to make it sound like something that we can actually achieve. And that’s my fear when such slogans are used. That’s what the Pharisees did. They reduced God’s Word, instead of expanding it and letting it guide every step of their way.

If we expanded the law of love, like Jesus did – could we ever attain it? The law of love is demanding. And no slogan can soften that blow. God calls for EVERYTHING from you – your heart, your mind, your soul, your strength. And in Deuteronomy, Moses says the same – “What does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in ALL HIS Ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord?”

Who can stand firm in such a word? Has anyone given God their all? Has anyone always given Him all their reverence, and fear, and devotion, and delight? He’s not asking us to love Him in any sort of sentimental or relational sense. But rather, to live in total devotion to Him. When Christ called His disciples into ministry, He didn’t ask for their sentimentality or friendship. He simply said “Follow Me”.

None of us love God as we ought. Our hearts wander, love grows cold, and our service falters. We stray from following Him and His Word, and choose to follow pithy slogans because that seems a bit more attainable. But the command to love the Lord with ALL our heart, soul, and mind? That unmasks every self-made excuse, and we lay bare of any standing before God. For He requires perfection. And sinful man has shown himself far from that. We are poor and needy before an Almighty, Holy God.

….This is the kind of humble attitude we need. The kind which lays bare before God. That’s something many Pharisees never got right. They asked Jesus a question about the Law. So, Jesus responded. But then He asked the Pharisees a question about the Gospel, the doctrine that the Law drives us towards. He asks “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” Figuring that Jesus was leading them to the prophecy in 2 Samuel 7, where God promised that the Messiah would come from the line of David to reign in God’s kingdom eternally, the Pharisees responded “The Son of David.” They had their slogan-like stock answer ready. However, they neglected a different part of Scripture. And Jesus reveals their misunderstanding to them. He says – “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls Him LORD, saying “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet?’ If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his Son?”

Jesus led them to see that He, as the Messiah, is not merely an earthly heir to David’s throne. As Jesus said to Pilate before His crucifixion – “my kingdom is not of THIS world.”Rather Jesus is the inheritor of God the Father’s eternal throne. For He’s not just David’s Son, but God’s! And if the Pharisees truly loved God, then they would receive His Son, who’s prophesied all throughout the Scriptures.

The Pharisees couldn’t answer Jesus. Their slogans failed them, and the Law they thought they mastered stood in judgment over them. Jesus was hidden from their eyes…. but He’s revealed to ours – He is David’s Son, yet David’s Lord. The one enfleshed before them is the Lord who is to be worshipped, adored, and followed.

Why? Because if He is both man AND God, then He is the only one who can fulfill the perfect Law of loving God and neighbor. He is the only one who’s loved God perfectly – with all His heart, soul, and mind. He obediently followed His Father’s will, even to death! And He certainly loved His neighbor perfectly. He called them to repentance and faith in Him. He gave mercy to the poor and needy. He led all humanity to have everlasting life with the Father, even at the cost of His own life.

The love which God commands, Christ accomplishes. And what Christ accomplishes, He freely gives to You, as a gift. The very one who commanded perfection from you, is the same one who supplied it.

The Lord who reveals the condemnation we deserve because of our loveless hearts, He gives us a new heart. As Moses told Israel – “circumcise your hearts.” And in Christ, this is exactly what God has done for you. He’s cut away the guilt of sin from you – removing your hearts of stone and giving you hearts of flesh. With this new heart, you can look at God’s commands, like “Love the sojourner”, “Fear the Lord”, “Serve Him and hold fast to Him, and by His name you shall swear. HE is your praise” (Deut. 10:19) You can look at these not as demands to earn His favor, but as the joyful expression of love – a love that He’s already given you in Christ. You love others, because He’s first loved you.

All too often, we hide behind slogans of love – thinking we’re accomplishing morality. But on the cross, love has no slogan – it has a face, and a name. Jesus Christ has loved His Father, and You, PERFECTLY. In Him, God gives what he commands: a heart that fears, loves, and trusts in Him above all things, and hands that serve your neighbor in biblical love.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston