The Greatest Law Is Love
Or
The Greatest Love Offering
Sunday August 7, 2022
Scripture To Consider:
“But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Jesus a question, testing Him, and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?’”
“Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’” Matthew 22.34-40
Something To Consider:
The written Word of God commands, not suggests, that we love God and our neighbors or fellow human beings. Out of all 613 laws of the Old Testament, when Jesus was asked which is the greatest, He answered with a resounding one word answer, love. Jesus was well aware of the ramifications of true love.
For all of Christianity would literally hang on one Man’s unconditional, sacrificial love for an undeserving world because of His commitment to the greatest law of love. Therefore, Jesus said to the lawyer and those gathered with him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Love is a difficult weapon to resist surrendering to. Shamefully, it is not impossible to resist. Just look at the evil condition of the world today! In the apostle Paul’s case before his conversion to Jesus Christ, Jesus spoke from heaven, saying to Saul who later became Paul, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard to kick against the goads.”
Or, it is difficult for us to resist the loving pricks and urging of the Holy Spirit. Love is difficult to resist, especially God’s love. For according to Jesus in John 3.16; “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Do we believe that God so loves us that He was willing to die for all humanity?
Something Else To Consider:
Our love for God is cancelled out if we have no love for others. John writing in 1 John 4.20, declared emphatically; “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” He confirms love as an important commandment in the very next verse, by writing, “And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
John, as an early leader in training trained by Jesus, learned this lesson of a lifetime concerning the greatest law being love. And how long have we claimed to have followed Jesus? Have we also learned this tremendous lesson of a lifetime concerning our loving our brothers and sisters in Christ if we claim we love God?
How better would the world be if every leader and leader in training were to learn that lesson of a lifetime? According to Jesus, in John 13.34; “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” And Jesus loved us so much, He was willing to die a very cruel death for each of us!
And according to the very next verse, Jesus proclaimed; “By this [by our loving one another as Christ has loved us] by this shall all men [women and young people] know that you are My disciples, if you have love one to another.”
Something More To Consider:
The second commandment in the order of importance according to Jesus, was quoted by Him from Leviticus 19.18; “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Therefore, the proper sequence of events is our first loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and then loving our neighbor as ourselves.
For it is impossible to love others without first truly loving God, according to the Word of God. So, it all begins with the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts by the prompting and divine influence of the Holy Spirit. Unless, of course we are more like Saul then we are like Paul, John, Peter, and Jesus. For Saul resisted the conviction of the Holy Spirit until Jesus spoke to Him on the road to Damascus and changed his name from Saul to Paul.
Hopefully, it will be hard for many to resist the love of God, because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son Jesus as the greatest love offering ever offered. Truly there is no greater love on earth than the love of God that was and still is offered to us by the invitation that is nailed to the cross at Calvary. That personal invitation is also still blood stained and will remain so until Christ is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords at His second coming.
Also, according to Jesus, speaking of love being perfected in John 15.12-14; Jesus declared, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, then to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” Wow! In other words, if we are not doing whatever Jesus has commanded, would we be forced to say we are not His friends? According to Jesus, I think that is exactly what Jesus has declared!
And that is the heart of the issue! The majority of those claiming to know Christ are not doing or are not obeying or observing what Jesus has commanded and taught. And for the most part, it is because the commandments of Jesus are not being faithfully taught by the many so-called religious leaders of this and a few previous generations. And that is a biblical shame! But we are instructed to study the Word of God for ourselves, that we might not be ashamed at Christ’s second coming.
A Few Final Words:
Yes, the greatest law is love. And the greatest love offering was and is still being offered by God in and through Jesus Christ. If God so loved the world, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. For everyone who loves is spiritually born-again of God.
And according to John in 1 John 5.2; “By this [loving one another and being born-again of God] we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep [or obey or observe] His commandments.” Therefore, let us do this and thereby keep ourselves in the perfect love of God!
The greatest law is love, beginning with the overwhelming and unconditional love of God for us, that was signed, sealed, and delivered by His Son Jesus on that hill called Calvary. For according to Jesus, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, may we never resist Your love offering of Jesus Christ. May the love of God radiate from us to others unto the end of this age or unto the end of our lives. Help us Father, to truly be found loving as Jesus loved us. In Him Always, Amen!
According to Jesus 