top of page
Search

The Love Principle - Study 1: The Principle

  • Writer: Paul Downie
    Paul Downie
  • 1 minute ago
  • 25 min read

Matthew 22:34-40 NIV 

[34] Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. [35] One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: [36] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 

In 2019, at Houghall Farm in England,  little piglet lost its mother and needed to be hand-reared. The farmer and his family did what was needed, and kept the piglet in the same barn as their lambs. The piglet started to behave like the lambs, seemingly believing that it was not a pig. It played with the lambs, slept with the lambs and even ate straw with the lambs. Yet, no matter what it believed about itself, the piglet was not a lamb, it was a pig. 


That’s a nice and amusing little story, but I’m sure you wonder why on earth I’m starting a series about love with the story about a species-confused pig. 


Christianity has a similar, but more frightening, identity issue. In America, large swathes of the church have successfully been politicised on the left and the right and used as a weapon in the hands of the powerful to win elections. In parts of Europe, the Far Right are making serious attempts to present themselves as ‘Defenders of Christianity’ in order to dress their hatred in religious garb and capture the Gospel message. In parts of Africa and the Christian parts of Asia, politicians regularly seek the Christian vote and seek to capture denominational blocks to win elections. 


It’s so easy to be swept along with the smell of power. But if we do so, we are not defending Christianity, we are actually diluting it.  


Jesus told us this kind of thing would happen: 


Matthew 11:12 NIV 

[12] From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.11.12.NIV)


It has never been more critical for us to be able to tell real Christianity from the fake, politicised ‘Christianity’ peddled by those who seek power and not obedience. We need to be able to tell the sheep from the pigs. Or, to use a more Biblical metaphor, the goats. 


I want to be plain about this. A Christian is someone who follows Christ first above all others.


If someone says they are a Christian, and yet pledges allegiance to a political figure, believing all they have to say and doing what they want without question, they are not a Christian because they are not following Christ. 


All this confusion causes us to ask a huge question: what does a Christian look like? What do they do? How do they think? 


Last year, it became more and more evident to me, after forty-five years of Christianity, reading the Bible cover to cover at least thirty times and spending three years as a preaching missionary, that the very essence of a true Christian is love. This thought has taken a long time to develop and percolate. However, I am now utterly convinced of it. 


If we truly want to defend Christianity (which, by the way, needs no-one to defend it), and we truly want to follow Christ, we must love. If we fail to love, we are not following Christ. 


This is far too glib and easy to say. It has far-reaching consequence that touch every area and facet of our lives. There are no darkened corners of our heart where its piercing beam does not reach. It is all-encompassing. 


This series is designed to help us to understand the truth of this most basic principle and to explore its unrelenting demands on us to repent and change, if we truly want to live like Jesus. 


As we begin, I should tell you that I have no intention of emerging from this series of studies without being challenged and changed. I am not studying the Bible to confirm or buttress my own thinking.  


No, I am submitting to this series of studies to have my thinking renewed and redirected. 


I hope and pray that this is your approach too. 


There is one last, and crucial, issue we must clear up. Our generation, and even generations before it, has been raised on grace. And that is correct and proper. 


We have also been raised in freedom. Praise God for that! 


But when you bring the Biblical concepts of submission and obedience and discipleship and holiness to the core, modern Christians sometimes react with revulsion. They do not like their freedom being ‘impaired’ or their lifestyles challenged – and make no bones about it, this series will do precisely that. 


Their idea of grace is that it is some form of insurance against hell; that it sets you free from sin, to sin. In other words, Jesus dealt with the consequences of sin at the cross, leaving us free to live as we, and as our modern society, so chooses. 


That is utterly wrong. It is profoundly unBiblical: 


Romans 6:1-2 NIV 

[1] What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? [2] By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  

Such a cheap grace is an insult to the incomprehensibly high price Jesus paid for us on the cross and an insult to grace itself. 


So, then, are we saved by our obedience?  


No. 


Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV 

[8] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— [9] not by works, so that no one can boast. [10] For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/eph.2.8-10.NIV)


We are saved by grace: by God’s work, not our work, but we are saved to work. 


These studies are about the nature of that work, in that the work of obedience Jesus commands of us is to love: 


John 13:34-35 NIV 

[34]  “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. [35] By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

So, what does this mean? 


That is precisely what we will uncover. 


We’ll start by looking at the two commands Jesus quoted from the Old Testament and said were the greatest in all the law: 


Matthew 22:34-40 NIV 

[34] Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. [35] One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: [36] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 

As a family, we travel to Asia every few years because we have extended family there. It’s also a vast and incredible continent to visit. 


One aspect of it always grabs the headlines: its beaches. Our family hails from the Philippines, which has some of the most incredible natural beaches of any nation on earth.  


However, you have to be very careful when swimming in the sea, especially in an archipelago. While the water may be inviting, especially in the high humidity of South-East Asia, and the sand almost velvety soft, many of these beaches are on ledges that have a significant drop further out. 


I'm not a confident swimmer. I’m much more proficient at drowning, but you don’t get a certificate for that at school. If I’m in the sea, I like to be able to touch the bottom with my head above the water, in case my swimming skills let me down – which they do fairly consistently. So I have to be aware of deceptive depths, where the sea looks safe, but is much deeper than I thought. 


These verses look shallow and easy to grasp. ‘Okay, all I have to do is love God and love my neighbour. I can do that. Easy. Okay, thank you. Next!’ we might say to ourselves. 


But these verses contain within then hidden depths and implications that we must understand. If we don’t, we will very quickly find ourselves in over our heads. 


Firstly, let’s look at Who to Love. 

 

Who to Love 

Matthew 22:37-39 NIV 

[37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  

I should have been an exam invigilator. It must be a perverse pleasure to see students working hard to resolve difficult questions in an exam, then come across an easy one, and waste precious time looking for form of trap or trick. I’ve been in that situation. Sometimes the easiest questions are the biggest of curveballs. 


On the surface, these commands are very clear and simple: love God, love your neighbour as yourself. Simple, straightforward, uncomplicated. 


But that is the point. Beneath their simplicity lie two commands that ought to bring us to our knees before God, begging for mercy and grace and His help, because, although they are the simplest to understand, we just cannot do them. 


Let’s start booking at these laws in detail. 


They were both given by Moses to the Israelites in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, as we can see below: 


Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NIV 

[4] Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. [5] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/deu.6.4-5.NIV)


Leviticus 19:18 NIV 

[18] “ ‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/lev.19.18.NIV)


Now, when Jesus quoted these two laws, not one Jewish leader spoke up against Him. This was interesting, because at the time they were seeking to entrap Him in something He said (Matthew 22:15, 23, 34-35). 


Not only were Jesus’ detractors silent when Jesus stated that these were the most important laws to obey, one of them even said this: 


Mark 12:32-34 NIV 

[32] “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. [33] To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” [34] When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. 

So even the foremost Biblical scholars in Israel at the time agreed with Jesus that these are the most important commands. 


But who is it precisely that we are to love? 


Firstly, and I would hope, obviously, God. 


Now, the Hebrew word for ‘God’, much like the English word, could apply to any superior being, not just the God of the Jews. This is why it’s qualified with ‘YHWH’ before it – in essence, ‘your God Jehovah’. 


God also takes great pains, in the middle of His awesome display at the top of Mount Sinai, to qualify precisely who He is: 


Exodus 20:1-2 NIV 

[1] And God spoke all these words: [2] “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.20.1-2.NIV)


In other words, the God the Israelites were required to love by law was the God who had miraculously redeemed them from slavery and was about to give them the Promised Land.


The Israelites had been free for forty years. They were about to enter a land of milk and honey when God’s promises before them were going to be fulfilled. They were at a critical juncture in their lives, both as a nation and as individuals, and so Moses commanded them to love their God. 


That ought to have been easy, right? He had done so much for them: 


Deuteronomy 8:2-4 NIV 

[2] Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. [3] He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. [4] Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/deu.8.2-4.NIV)


Yet they had spent those forty years constantly complaining! 


The reason that Moses told the Israelites to love the Lord their God was so that they would live a long life in the Promised Land, and would not be swayed by either wealth or the gods of the nations that lived around them (Deuteronomy 6:1-19).  


Loving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength would bring them from the struggles and complaints of the desert into the good life of the Promised Land. 


Now, the reason why Jesus echoed this command was not so that His people would live a rich, long and prosperous life. That was not the point. Besides, they should love the Lord their God, and not His blessings, with all they had. 


No, it was so they would live a life of obedience and faith. It was so they would understand what God requires and follow Him, no matter what. 


However, there are some parallels with Moses’ situation, as there are with ours. Jesus Christ has redeemed us from slavery to sin through the cross (1 Peter 1:18-19). He has set us free (Romans 8:1-4). 


But He has set us free to love Him, to serve Him, to obey Him. We receive all the promises He has given us when we love Him and follow Him. 


The call to love God should be obvious. After all He has done for us, it is the only fitting and proper response. 


But we also see the second person we are to love: our Neighbour. 


Now, here we need to understand that the word ‘neighbour’ doesn’t just mean ‘the one whose house is near to yours’, as it does in English. In both Hebrew and Greek it means more or less any other person to whom you happen to relate. 


We know from the famous Parable of the Good Samaritan that the person we should love is not necessarily a person we would naturally like (Luke 10:25-37). But that makes no difference: we are commanded not just to like them but to love them. 


Let me give you a very powerful illustration. 


Where we live in Scotland has been riven with a rivalry that is over a century old. It began in 1888. It is more than going strong today. It is rooted in history, identity, politics and religion.


It flares up between four and six times a year. When this happens, the police are out on force, including on horseback, and Emergency Rooms in hospitals are put on alert to pick up serious injuries. 


I have even seen Christian pastors become embroiled in it. I actually heard one pastor say about his rivals, ‘I know I have to love them, but I don’t have to like them.’  This is utter nonsense, of course. 


Believe it or not, this is a sporting rivalry. It’s called ‘The Old Firm’ in Scotland. It’s the football rivalry between Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers. 


Why am I mentioning this? 


Because my own physical neighbours are on the opposite side of the divide from me. I support Rangers. They support Celtic. 


And yes, I know I have to love them as I love myself. 


Because that is the reality. No matter their religion. No matter their race. No matter the colour of their skin. No matter their immigration, civil or working status. No matter their bank balance. No matter their sexuality or gender. There are no get-out clauses. Jesus makes no exceptions. He leaves us no excuses. 


We must love our neighbour as ourselves. If we don’t, then we sin. It is as simple as that: 


James 2:8-10 NIV 

[8] If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. [9] But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. [10] For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.2.8-10.NIV)


Romans 13:8-10 NIV 

[8] Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. [9] The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” [10] Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 

Suddenly this command is easy to say, but a lot less easy to do. 


That then leads us to the third person we should love, one that is often neglected:


Ourselves. 


Think about it: we are commanded to love our neighbours as ourselves. But if we don’t love ourselves, then this command makes no sense.

 

Paul explained how this was assumed in his day, while talking about how a man should treat his wife: 


Ephesians 5:25-33 NIV 

[25] Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her [26] to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, [27] and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. [28] In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29] After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— [30] for we are members of his body. [31] “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” [32] This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. [33] However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. 

A man should take care of his wife (also a neighbour) in the same way he would himself. This includes the provision of food and care. 


Jesus explained it another way: 


Matthew 7:12 NIV 

[12] So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.7.12.NIV)


So loving others as yourself means to treat them how you treat yourself. 


But that poses a huge problem for many in our day. 


The legacy of the Enlightenment, atheism and nihilism, not to mention the breakdown of any form of stable, loving family and community structure, is a pandemic of self-loathing.


People constantly measure themselves by themselves. Even if the target above them is a fake and a fantasy, they feel bad about themselves because they don’t measure up.

 

The Bible meets this head on. It says right off the bat that we don’t measure up, not to some artificial standard, but to the only one that matters: God’s: 


Romans 3:23 NIV 

[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.3.23.NIV)


So if you feel like a failure, welcome to the human race! 


But the Bible also says things about is that we do not hear anywhere else. 


We are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). We are not a cosmic or a biological accident. 


We are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). Our creation was a deliberate, intricate act. 


We are God’s handiwork (Ephesians 2:10). We are God’s work of art: His Mona Lisa, His David, His Sunflowers. 


We are so valuable to God that He sent His Son to save us (John 3:16). 


We are not useless. We are not worthless. We are not garbage. We are not nothing. 


We are not soulless drones. We are not at the bottom of the food chain. 


We are God’s handcrafted works of art for which He paid an enormous price. 


Believe it. That is who you are. 


Let me tell you, it will be impossible for you to have properly functioning, rewarding relationships with other people until you have a properly functioning, rewarding relationship with yourself. People will observe you. If they see you having a bad relationship with yourself – being hyper-critical, chiding yourself over your appearance or your achievements or your abilities – they will simply not want to be around you.  


Why? 


Because they will look at you and they will say, ‘If that’s how hard they are on themselves, how hard will they be on me?’ And they will simply avoid you. 


Which leads us on to another aspect of loving ourselves, something I wish I had known much earlier in life. Paul equates it to feeding and caring for ourselves – looking after ourselves. When we are looking for companions (romantic or otherwise), one of our key criteria, whether we are aware of it or not, is whether or not they can take care of us. This goes for men and women. After all, if a man finds a woman who can take care of him, what happens when the woman is out of action due to illness or injury? Will the man be able to take care of her? 


Part of loving ourselves is being able to manage ourselves: to regulate food intake, rest, work-life balance, organise ourselves, our abilities to cook, clean, wash and dress ourselves. 


The basics of life, really. 


Someone who has not mastered these will not be able to help someone else when needed. 

Before you make yourself available to a future partner, get these aspects sorted out first. Fix your self-esteem. Strengthen your self-care. Love yourself. 


Then, and only then, will you be able to truly love and care for someone else. 


I can tell you that if I had learned this before I met my wife, the early years of our marriage would have been a whole lot easier. 


So we see, then, that Jesus commands us to love God, ourselves and our neighbours. We have seen that this is an Old Testament command that is absolutely relevant in the New Testament and today. 


These verses also teach us How to Love. 

 

How to Love 

Matthew 22:37-39 NIV 

[37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  

For many years now, people in the West have got used to receiving furniture in pieces that they have to put together themselves. Normally we also receive an instruction booklet – some of them only with pictures to save on production costs – and we have to follow the pictures to assemble our bed or shelves or chair or cupboard. 


The Bible goes further. It not only tells us to love, but it tells us how to love. It gives us the instructions for constructing the most basic, fundamental relationships we will need. Those instructions are, as I said earlier, simple but magnificently profound and far-reaching. 


We see three aspects of how to love in these verses. Firstly, we see that it should be complete. That is, we should love fully: loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. This should be an all-in, all-out, uncompromising, no-holds-barred kind of love. There should be energy, willingness, enthusiasm.  


It should be obvious to all around us that we love God. 


And that should be a normal reaction to what He has done for us. After all He did not skimp or penny-pinch when it came to saving us: 


2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV 

[9] For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/2co.8.9.NIV)


1 John 4:9-10 NIV 

[9] This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. [10] This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.4.9-10.NIV)


But this command has astonishing implications. Think about it – as we will in more detail in this series: this means that God must be our number one priority in everything. He must be our first and foremost love. So if anything were to challenge His pre-eminence in our lives, it has to go and God must remain. 


That is what this means. 


Love therefore implies obedience: 


John 14:23-24 NIV 

[23] Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. [24] Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 

It isn’t what we do in church that shows our love for God. That’s like saying love for someone is proven when you give them a Valentine’s Day card, some flowers and a box of chocolates on the big day. That’s fine, but a year has three hundred and sixty-four other days. Do you still show your love then? 


In the same way, coming to church, singing our songs, praying our prayers and even raising our hands are something anyone can do. They are not evidence of our love for God. 


No, this love is shown by what we do outside of church: by living our lives in obedience to Him in the muck and the grind of everyday life. That is how we show that we love Him. 


The question is: do we? Or do we only love God on a Sunday? 


How bad would it be to be in a relationship with someone who loved you only for one day a week, and ignored you every other day? 


We also see that our love should be compassionate: we love others in the same way that we love ourselves. We look after them as we do ourselves. Our love has fairness and integrity. 


As we saw earlier: 


Matthew 7:12 NIV 

[12] So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.7.12.NIV)


But do we? 


I’m sure we can all cite examples of annoying people who seek their own comfort and advancement at the expense of others. They really irritate, don’t they? 


It ought to be clear as day that these people are disobeying this command. 


Or those who drive you crazy with their incessant demands, but don’t lift a finger to do any of them themselves.  


Again, it’s obvious. They would not like to be treated that way. They too are breaking this command. 


But what about those who lay themselves down for others, who push themselves to the brink of utter exhaustion, who do not care for themselves one bit so that they can look after others? 


They too are breaking this command. They love others more than they love themselves. At least on the outside. 


You see, what we have here are three people to love: God, our neighbours and ourselves.


But these loves are not just complete and compassionate, they are also connected. 


Think about it: 


1 John 4:19 NIV 

[19] We love because he first loved us.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.4.19.NIV)


We love – not just God, but anyone - because He first loved us. He didn’t just tell us how, He showed us how. 


1 John 3:16 NIV 

[16] This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.3.16.NIV)


So we love God in return, but this causes us to love others: 


1 John 4:20-21 NIV 

[20] Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. [21] And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. 

And because we love them as ourselves, it also causes us to love ourselves. 


These commands are not meant to be followed in isolation. We can’t rotate them: God on a Sunday, our neighbours on a Monday, ourselves on a Tuesday, God on a Wednesday, our neighbours on a Thursday, ourselves on a Friday, and no-one on a Saturday because we need a day off and the football is on. 


That’s not how it works. 


We should obey these commandments at the same time, all the time. 


To me, this brings a tremendous sense of balance that provides us with a brilliant weapon against sin, and another means to identify it. 


Think about it. 


All sin is a failure to love God, other people or ourselves – and often all three. 


We now have a means to measure our intentions in situations to ask if it’s the loving thing to do for God, our neighbour and ourselves. If it will prove to be harmful to any of these three, we know it’s wrong and can flee the temptation. 


This is a beautiful, but also a highly practical, command. It helps us expose sin and keeps us close to Jesus.  


But there is another reason why we should obey it. After seeing who to love and how we should love, we see, lastly, Why we love. 

 

Why we Love 


Matthew 22:40 NIV 

[40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.22.40.NIV)


Above our dining table hangs a picture. We bought it online for not a lot of money. It depicts a tropical sunset through a window. I thought it would brighten the room up and give my wife something bright and pretty to look at on the cold winter nights. 


We later realised that the picture appears to have been influenced at least by one of the beaches in the stunning area of El Nido, Philippines. 


That picture is held up by nails banged into the wall.  


What would happen if those nails gave way? 


The answer us obvious: the picture would fall. 


This verse is often brushed over and forgotten. However, what it says is of such incredible importance that we need to take the time to fully digest it.  


When Jesus talks of the Law and prophets ‘hanging’ on two commands to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbour as yourself, he means that they hang on it like that picture hangs on the nails in our wall. That is, if there is no love, the Law and the Prophets fall to the ground. 


That is an incredible thing to say. 


By now, Jesus was talking about centuries of revered Jewish teaching and tradition, not to mention the very Holy Scriptures themselves. He was talking about everything that made the Jewish people who they were: their very identity and religion.  


Yet not only did He dare to say that without love it was nothing, not only did the Jewish leaders not disagree with Him, but, as we saw already, they actually agreed with Him completely (Mark 12:32-34). The finest scholars and theologians in Judaism at the time, people who knew their Bible better than we ever will, and were vehemently opposed to Jesus, yet even they could not disagree with Him on this point. 


Because it is true. Look what Paul said later: 


1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NIV 

[1] If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. [2] If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. [3] If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.13.1-3.NIV)


Paul took three aspects of what the Corinthians would have considered the highest, most spiritual, achievement, and cut them down to size in one fell swoop by saying that without love they are nothing. 


And that hasn’t changed. 


Love is the absolute essence of obedience. No matter how fine our theology or religiosity, if we don’t love, we are living in sin. 


Look what Jesus said to the Pharisees: 


Matthew 23:23-24 NIV 

[23]  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. [24] You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 

Do you see it? 


These men were fastidious perfectionists when it came to obeying the religious law, yet they totally neglected justice, mercy and faithfulness – loving God, their neighbour and themselves. 


Let’s remind ourselves of what James had to say about this: 


James 2:8, 10 NIV 

[8] If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.  
[10] For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.2.8-10.NIV)


By James’ measure, these Pharisees were sinners and lawbreakers, regardless of their religion. 


And right there lies the problem. It is entirely possible to have the ‘right’ theology, the right pedigree, the right history and still be a lawbreaker and sinner because you don’t love. 


Of course, it’s important to have the right theology. It’s not good to think wrong thoughts about God and the Bible. You are setting yourself up for a life of disappointment if you don’t.  


But if you don’t love God, your neighbour and yourself, you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of disobedience, which is far worse. 


If you want to be truly ‘right’, if you want to really obey, if your heart’s desire is to be like Jesus, then you must love first. 


Everything else will come from that. 

 

Conclusion 

Matthew 22:34-40 NIV 

[34] Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. [35] One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: [36] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 

Pretty soon after my daughter was born, I resolved to do something people might think is controversial. I resolved to not buy her expensive toys until she was a bit older. 


Now, in a sense, this resolution was a bit of a waste of time. We couldn’t afford expensive toys, so that problem was solved before it even came up. But I also advised my family not to buy them, and they agreed. 


It wasn’t because I didn’t love her. It was because very young children don’t really appreciate those toys at all. They are just for parents to show off. More often than not, when you buy a very small child a toy, they are more entertained by the packaging than they are the toy. 


It’s cute and a little amusing when a small child does it. 


But when an adult does it, there is a problem. 


And this is precisely what I believe has happened in the church.  


We have become distracted with the packaging. Whether it’s the ‘bells and smells’ or ‘Christian culture’ or the music or the decor or the simple act of religion, this is the packaging that the message of the Gospel and the call to follow Jesus come in.  


It is not, and never has been, the essence of the Message. 


Worse, we have fought with each other about different aspects of this packaging: over dress codes and ritual and minor theological points of view. We have split churches and denominations over things that do not matter and forgotten the one thing that absolutely does matter: 


Love. 


Love is the very essence of obedience. 


Love is the whole law. 


Love is the basic building block of every relationship. 


Love is what it takes to follow Jesus. 


Love is God’s very nature. John is very clear: 


1 John 4:8 NIV 

[8] Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.4.8.NIV)


Love is the one hallmark of a true believer. 


Love is the only possible response to the love God has for us. 


Love is the aspiration of a true disciple. 


Love is the missionary’s heartbeat. 


Love is the pastor’s calling. 


Love is everything it takes to be a Christian. 


Without love, we are nothing. 


Without love, our religion means nothing. 


In this study, we have seen who to love, how to love and why we should love. There can only ever be one response to this call. 


We must love. 

 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, I am thoroughly chastened by this call to love. I know I haven’t always done it. I know I have fallen short. Please take over my heart and teach me how to love You with all I have, my neighbour and myself. Amen. 

 

Questions 

  • Why is love the sum total of all obedience? What does this mean? 

  • Who should we love? 

  • What does this mean to you? How will you show your love to others and yourself? 

Comments

Thanks for submitting!

Drop Me a Line, Let Me Know What You Think

Thanks for submitting!

© 2023 by Train of Thoughts. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page