Adapted from a Jeffery Anselmi sermon series https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/5-jesus-used-the-word-to-focus-people-on-love-jeffery-anselmi-sermon-on-love-233078?ref=SermonSeriesDetails

2. Jesus used The Word to try to get folks to place
their focus on what was important to God so
that they would do what God called them to do
for the right reasons!
Imagine that you have lived your whole life with
a particular worldview, then one person comes
along and lets you know that your worldview is
built upon a false premise?

3. In Jesus will be confronted first by
the Sadducees with a question concerning the
resurrection that was designed to trap Jesus.
Well, Jesus turned the tables on them with His
answer, so next up is a question from the one of
the Scribes, who was an expert in the Law of
Moses.

4. From the parallel passage in , it
appears that the Scribe’s question was a sincere
question.
The religious leaders were no fans of Jesus.
They saw Jesus as a threat because He was
shaking things up, He was working on getting
people to understand the real focus that God
wanted them to have in life.

5. Whenever something or someone comes along
that challenges one's current worldview, it can
be unnerving, to say the least.
One of the things that we need to grasp is the
real place we are called to place our focus.
In the days of Jesus, many of God's chosen
people were placing their focus on things that
caused them to miss the real point of God and
faith.

6. The religious leaders were masters of the
minutia, time and time again throughout the
ministry of Jesus, they were angry at Him for
violating one of the 613 commandments the
rabbinic authorities had established to HELP the
people keep the Law of Moses.
By the way, of those 613 commandments, 365
were negative, and only 248 were positive in
nature. That should tell you something.

7. Yet today, Christians can fall into the trap of
missing what is essential.
We can easily place our focus on things that are
not the main thing.
We too can get so trapped in the “RULES” we
make up for people to follow that we miss the
main thing that God wants us to place our
focus.

8. When we become more zealous for keeping
rules than we are focusing on the main point,
our rule keeping really does not mean much
because we are missing the main point.
Please do not misunderstand what I am saying,
OBEDIENCE to God is EXTREMELY
IMPORTANT; however, obedience with the
wrong focus misses the point.

9. When I am OBEDIENT, but I am doing so with
the wrong focus, I can become self-righteous
instead of humbly serving the Lord.
I can begin to look down on people instead of
seeing them as God sees them.
I will see people as my enemy instead of
someone who God loves who needs salvation.

10. Jesus used the Word to do many things, we
should do the same.
Today Jesus is going to use the Word in an
attempt to get people to focus on LOVE!
NIV Hearing that Jesus had
silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got
together. One of them, an expert in the law,
tested him with this question: "Teacher,
which is the greatest commandment in the
Law?"

11. The Sadducees tried to trap Jesus with a
question, and when the Pharisees heard about
this, they were probably overjoyed, and they
thought maybe they could outsmart Jesus.
So, one of the scribes approaches Jesus with a
question.
This scribe was an expert in the Law of Moses.

12. Here is the question, and the question is a
pretty good question.
As I mentioned earlier, the religious leaders took
the Ten Commandments and turned them into
613 commandments, of which 365 were negative
in nature, and only 248 were positive in nature.
On top of that, the rabbis differentiated between
LIGHT and HEAVY commandments.

13. So, given that background,
we can see why the question was asked.
We do the same thing at times.
We kind of try to put God’s commands on a
weight chart.
We try to see what we think God will not care
about and what He would care about.

14. The question is found in verse .
"Teacher, which is the greatest
commandment in the Law?"
The religious leaders discussed the relative
weight of the laws.
This question reveals the ignorance of the
nature of God and His Word.
They were kind of looking for loopholes.
NIV Yet you are near, LORD, and
all your commands are true.

15. When we are looking for loopholes, we are
looking for ways to be disobedient without
being too disobedient.
This is missing the point; however, Jesus is
going to answer the question.
NIV Jesus replied:

16. The answer Jesus gives will make the Pharisees
happy for the moment.
Jesus quotes: NIV
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your strength.
Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is to
Love God.

17. Love is more than emotion, it is hard to
command emotions, love is a CHOICE!
The free will that God blessed us with is to be
directed toward loving God.
Jesus also offers the depth at which we are to
love God.
When Jesus quotes , the
passage shows us how we are to love God
completely.

18. The , , and are not meant to be
divided, but rather those three areas represent
the total person.
I am to love God with my whole , down to
the depths of my , and on top of that,
I am to love Him with my entire .
In we are told we are to
take every thought captive to obey Christ!

19. NIV The weapons we fight
with are not the weapons of the world. On the
contrary, they have divine power to demolish
strongholds. We demolish arguments and
every pretension that sets itself up against the
knowledge of God, and we take captive every
thought to make it obedient to Christ.

20. The religious leaders promoted a self-righteous
way of living, they were obedient to earn their
righteousness instead of relying on the
righteousness of God.
When we obey God to earn something, we gain
nothing.
Jesus told the religious leaders on many
occasions that if they were doing what they
were doing for the applause of man, that is all
they will get out of it. ( )

21. Loving God is the greatest commandment
because of the depth of our love for God will set
the tone for all other areas of our life.
We talked about this a little last week, when we
look to God’s Word with a for God, we will
not try to avoid doing what He has asked of us,
nor will we try to justify the sin we are engaged
in.

22. This is where the church has to be the example,
we have to love God enough to obey Him and
when we sin, repent and get back on track.
We have to quit excusing, explaining and
justifying our sin.
When God says something is sin, it is sin,
END OF STORY.

23. For those of us who belong to Jesus, if you are
going to willfully sin, at least admit it and don’t
try to justify the sin because doing so will drag
other people down with you.
Our motivation to live for Jesus should spring
forth from our love for God.

24. The first four of the Ten Commandments deal
with our relationship with God.
Our love for God will affect our next thought.

25. NIV

26. Linked to the first commandment is an equally
weighty and binding commandment drawn from
NIV "'Do not seek revenge or
bear a grudge against anyone among your
people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am
the LORD.
Nowhere in Judaism are these commandments
linked as having absolute priority among God’s
commandments.

27. Yet here is Jesus tying them together.
When you look at the Ten Commandments, one
has to wonder why no one else had made this
connection considering the last six
commandments deal with our interactions with
people.
This second law focuses on “horizontal”
relationships—dealings with fellow human
beings. A person cannot maintain a good
vertical relationship with God (loving God)
without also caring for their neighbor.

28. The Jewish leaders had a significant number of
discussions as to who was their neighbor;
however, once again, these arguments missed
the spirit of what God was calling His people to
do.
God loves people, reminds us of how
much God loves us and what that love led Him
to do for mankind.

29. The Jewish thoughts concerning who one's
neighbor showed they had no clue how God
sees people and what kind of heart He has for
them.
These folks were so focused on being
righteous, they missed the mark.
This is evidenced by:
NIV For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt
offerings.

30. God desires for all people to be saved!
NIV This is good, and pleases
God our Savior, who wants all people to be
saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

31. NIV
Jesus makes a point to these religious leaders
by telling them that all of God’s commandments
depend on or hang on these two commands.
Obedience to commandments degenerates into
mere legalism.

32. Love for God necessarily entails the pursuit of
the external welfare of others, regardless of
race, class, or economic condition (=neighbor).
Love, therefore, becomes the basis and guiding
principle for understanding and applying the
law in diverse and complex situations.

33. The way I treat my wife, my children, the
checkout person at Wood’s.
The server at The Catfish Cafe MATTERS!
Love is what Jesus was trying to get the
religious leaders to place their focus,
not on the rules.
When we focus on loving God and loving
others, we will not have a problem doing what
God calls us to do.

34. Why do you do what you do?
Jesus says we should be driven by our love for
God and our love for the people He sent His Son
to the cross to die for so that they might have
the opportunity for eternal life through Jesus!

35. If we do what we do without a love for God and
a love for others,
we are doing it for the wrong reason.
Love is the thing we need to place our focus,
we are not to put our focus on loving self.