The Love Principle - Study 15: Love Broken

Matthew 22:37-40 NIVUK 

[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 neighbour as yourself.” [40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’ 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.22.37-40.NIVUK)

It is a matter of historical record that the country of Scotland has never had an empire. 

But not without trying. 

In 1698, some Scottish settlers, convinced they could set up a Scottish colony in the New World, sailed for their intended target on the isthmus of Panama to set up what they believed would be a new and lucrative trading route between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.  

It was a spectacularly ruinous venture. 

They tried to construct their colony in the Darien Gap – an area of Central America that even nowadays is known to be inhospitable and almost impassable. The colonisation was attempted in 1698 and 1699. It failed. It took with it as much as half of the money in circulation in the whole of Scotland, bringing the nation to its knees and causing the Act of Union in 1707 with England. 

Folly for personal gain caused a crippling loss. 

That is what we see in the Gospels – not just once, but four times. The consequences are so inexorably serious. They contributed to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, at least from a human perspective. 

In every case, the ruinous folly began with the same failure: a failure to obey the command to love God, our neighbours and ourselves. 

It might seem overly simplistic to say so, but an examination of each of the four cases will point in this direction.  

And will act as a warning for us all of the ruin that results when God is displaced as the primary focus of our affections. 

Let’s look, then, at the first character study: that of The Pharisees. 

The Pharisees 

Matthew 12:14 NIVUK 

[14] But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.12.14.NIVUK)

I grew up in the West of Scotland during the 1980s. It was by far the single most sectarian setting I have ever known. It got to the stage when arriving at school in year one you were not asked your name, you were asked if you were ‘Catholic or Protestant’ or ‘Celtic or Rangers’. 

The irony is that those who snapped those questions at you to determine which group you were a part of barely ever darkened the doors of a church, except if someone had been born, was getting married or had died. Their religion was nothing more than a cultural affiliation. It meant very little to them. 

Nowadays, with the misappropriation of religion by those on the right, what we are seeing is people claiming to be Christians who have little to no idea about what it teaches or means, because if they did, they would not be claiming to be Christians. 

Over the decades, the Jewish religion had also been misappropriated and twisted. It had become closely intertwined with a cultural affiliation. Successive rabbis had brought their own twist and commentary, which was layered on top of the Old Testament until it became increasingly difficult to see what the original law actually was. 

Their culture was under attack. Conservative groups like the Pharisees resisted and defended their culture and religion. That had been the very reason for their existence: to promote accessibility to Jewish Law and to preserve their religion and culture. 

Yet it spectacularly backfired when Jesus came on the scene. 

Why? 

Because He questioned their traditions. He healed people on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11, 13:10-17, 14:1-6; John 5:1-15). He challenged their nit-picking hypocrisy (Matthew 23). 

And they despised Him for it.  

They plotted to kill Him (Matthew 26:3-5; Mark 3:6, 14:1-2; John 11:45-53). 

Now, I want you to see the strong irony here. These men were scribes – basically human photocopiers of the Law. They would know it inside and out and back to front. They were utterly fastidious about adhering to even the tiniest minutiae.  

Yet they were flagrantly disobeying the principle behind it all. They were breaking the very Law they said they loved. 

All because Jesus was challenging their traditions and their authority. 

The Law said to love God: their traditions had become their God. 

The Law said to love your neighbour: they hated and were plotting to kill their neighbour. 

This all stemmed from a loss of focus and affection from God to their tradition and way of life. Maintaining their status quo was more important to them that loving God. 

That’s why they sought to kill Jesus through an unjust kangaroo trial full of false accusations and witnesses (Matthew 26:59-60). 

What an astonishing fall! 

Yet there is a warning for us all there. 

There are many aspects of our traditions and ways of doing things that we can grow to love more than God. This causes us to completely lose perspective on what God really wants from us. He wants us to love Him, our neighbours and ourselves. Traditions like hymns, music, church language, styles of worship, clothing, liturgy... none of that should ever take priority over God or cause us to break fellowship with other Christians. Neither should our identity – national, cultural or otherwise. 

And I know how strongly these can bind us. Not only because I come from the West of Scotland, where cultural ties are stronger than even church affiliation, but also because, as a missionary, my team and I had our safety threatened and were chased from a village by an Orthodox priest, due to the fact that we were not Orthodox. 

That kind of behaviour is wrong, no matter what Christian group you belong to. 

It ought to be seriously sobering for us to realise that sincere religious people, who had done as much for their nation as the Pharisees, could not only miss out on salvation, but play a pivotal role in the death of their Saviour, just because they loved their religious and national identity more than they loved God. 

We have to listen to this. 

Apart from the Pharisees, we can see people who were much closer to Jesus making a similar mistake: The Disciples. 

The Disciples 

Matthew 20:25-28 NIVUK 

[25] Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. [26] Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, [27] and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – [28] just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.20.25-28.NIVUK)

There is something profoundly distasteful about the argument that led to Jesus’ intervention here. It came out of this: 

Matthew 20:20-24 NIVUK 

[20] Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favour of him. [21]  ‘What is it you want?’ he asked. She said, ‘Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ [22]  ‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus said to them. ‘Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?’ ‘We can,’ they answered. [23] Jesus said to them, ‘You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.’ [24] When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.20.20-24.NIVUK) 

What makes it distasteful is what happened before that: 

Matthew 20:17-19 NIVUK 

[17] Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, [18] ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death [19] and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!’ 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.20.17-19.NIVUK)

Talk about not reading the room! 

Jesus had just told them He would give His life on the cross; they jostled for position. 

And it doesn’t just happen here. Every time in the Gospels when we see the disciples arguing about their position (Mark 9:30-37; Luke 9:43-48), it comes in close proximity to Jesus predicting His crucifixion. 

Luke records this happening at the most galling time of all: during the Last Supper.

Luke 22:24 NIVUK 

[24] A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/luk.22.24.NIVUK)

This is incredible. Astounding. There is no way they should be doing this. 

And yet it is absolutely possible for Christians to meet in churches with crosses or crucifixes or the Stations of the Cross on the wall, but still jostle for position and power. 

There is nothing more distasteful than that. Christ came to serve; but you have to be the lord? What is that? 

You may not have heard of Vit Jedlička or Daniel Jackson. Both of them are smart thinking guys who are seeking to take advantage of unsettled border disputes between Croatia and Serbia and build their own little kingdom. They want to earn money selling citizenship for their kingdoms online. Vit, in particular, wants to build a cryptocurrency-based tax haven. 

Neither Croatia nor Serbia are very amused by these efforts to undermine their border agreements. 

Whenever we seek to push ourselves ahead, particularly at the expense of other people, and regardless of the motivation, we break the command to love God, others and ourselves. We are loving only ourselves. We are seeking to build our kingdom, not God’s. We are seeking our glory, not God’s.  

Given that the symbol of all that we believe in is a cross of shame, disgrace and death, we really have missed the point. 

We just cannot do this. It isn’t fitting for a Christian to do. It is outright wrong. 

But it isn’t just the Pharisees and the disciples who broke this command to love, it was two disciples in particular. The first of these is Peter. 

Peter 

Luke 22:54-62 NIVUK 

[54] Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. [55] And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. [56] A servant-girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, ‘This man was with him.’ [57] But he denied it. ‘Woman, I don’t know him,’ he said. [58] A little later someone else saw him and said, ‘You also are one of them.’ ‘Man, I am not!’ Peter replied. [59] About an hour later another asserted, ‘Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.’ [60] Peter replied, ‘Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ Just as he was speaking, the cock crowed. [61] The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: ‘Before the cock crows today, you will disown me three times.’ [62] And he went outside and wept bitterly. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/luk.22.54-62.NIVUK)

This passage pretty much said it all. 

Peter was in a very dangerous place. He had followed Jesus all the way to the High Priest’s courtyard. The place would have been swarming with guards. 

But having followed Jesus into danger, Peter then did his best to get himself out of danger.

In the meantime, while Jesus was facing tough questioning, Peter wilted under the slightest questioning of a servant girl and denied that he knew Jesus. 

This is so very sad.  

Here is a man who had committed himself to following Jesus to the death just hours earlier (Luke 22:31-34), and yet all that meant nothing. 

Why? 

The answer is shocking, but painfully clear: 

Peter loved his own safety more than he did Jesus. He loved himself more than he did Jesus. 

He may have blurted out these three denials, but his mouth spoke what was in his heart (Matthew 12:34, 15:18). 

Sadly, the same thing is true when we deny Jesus and do what is convenient or easy to avoid being known as His. Like Peter, we don’t love Him enough. 

That is fundamentally the problem, whether we would like to admit it or not. 

There is a second disciple who also had a similar issue, only his was deep-seated and he never repented of it. His name was Judas. 

Judas 

John 12:4-6 NIVUK 

[4] But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, [5] ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.’ [6] He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/jhn.12.4-6.NIVUK)

Judas was the disciples with the absolute worst reputation of them all. I am sure that no PR company would ever be able to rescue it.  

He is known in the Gospels for two things: money and betraying Jesus for money. 

That’s it. 

Nothing else. 

He is presented as man who never really understood what Jesus was about. Jesus was about love and sacrifice; Judas was about embezzlement and enrichment. 

I find it quite telling that his betrayal of Jesus came immediately after Jesus commended the woman with the alabaster jar for her extravagant worship of Him (Matthew 26:6-16).

There are few events other than the crucifixion which highlight the stark contrast between Judas’ and Jesus’ values.  

Yet Judas must have known. He must have. It wasn’t as if it wasn’t clear: 

Matthew 6:24 NIVUK 

[24]  ‘No-one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.6.24.NIVUK)

But for some reason, the worship of that woman seems to have been the catalyst, and Judas proved just how correct Jesus was. 

Why did Judas betray Jesus? That ought to be clear, but it’s worth spelling it out: 

Judas loved money more than Jesus. 

Oh, how I wish the preachers of the so-called ‘Prosperity Gospel'would realise the power and the impact of those words. 

Conclusion  

Matthew 6:19-21 NIVUK 

[19]  ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. [20] But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. [21] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.6.19-21.NIVUK)

Often in history a good idea turned really, really bad. 

For example, in the 1970s it was thought that if old worn-out tyres were sunk out at sea, wildlife would form around them, which would regenerate reefs that were dying. 

It didn’t work. The tyres leached poison into the sea, which destroyed even more wildlife. 

Agent Orange was originally an exfoliating used to encourage the growth of soy beans, before it was dropped in high concentrations over Vietnam and caused untold suffering. 

Thalidomide was thought to be a good drug to help women manage morning sickness, until it caused serious birth defects. 

Even barbed wire once had a positive use. It kept livestock corralled in the Wild West, where wood was scarce. However, it triggered numerous property disputes and became a symbol of oppression worldwide. 

Why am I mentioning these? 

Because the Pharisees, the disciples, Peter and Judas, like the inventors of these items, could likely justify what they had done. I'm sure they thought their plans were perfectly legitimate. Nothing wrong with them. 

The worst ideas generally are fully justifiable. 

But the outcome was awful. 

Each one of these people had a role to some degree in Jesus being captured and killed: the Pharisees sought it, the disciples fled from it, Peter denied Jesus and Judas betrayed Him. 

They all made some pretty terrible mistakes. 

We might look on them disapprovingly and wonder how anyone could so that, how anyone could be so very dumb. But here’s the thing. Here’s the spine-chilling thing. 

Their sin and our sin have the same source. They start the same way. 

Each of them began with an act of disobedience towards the same two commandments: the commandments to love God, our neighbours and ourselves. 

In fact, every single sin begins at the same place. Whenever we feel that pang of temptation in our mind, the reality is that we have already crossed the love line and are already doing what we should not be doing. The only way back is to recognise what is happening and to pull back before we find ourselves treading the same pathway they trod. 

Because their sin had consequences. Serious consequences. 

All sin has consequences. Jesus faced those consequences for us on the cross. He died to pay the price for every time we have crossed the love line and did what should not be done. 

He rose to show us that there is a better way to live. 

We would like to believe that the sin of these people is far from us. It isn’t. It starts with temptations that are so normal, so mundane, so ordinary, that they affect all of us. 

All of these people decided to cross the love line. To some measure, they faced the consequences of it. 

May God grant that we see where they failed and avoid it in the future. 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, I would like to imagine that I would never commit the sins these men committed, but the reality is that I have and I may do again. Forgive me, Lord, for the times when I have crossed the love line into wrong thoughts and actions. Help me to better recognise when this is about to happen and repent of it before it’s too late. Amen. 

Questions for Contemplation 

• What sins did these men commit? What do they all have in common? 

• Have you ever done anything like these men did? How can you avoid it in the future? 

• What are the signs in your thoughts and attitudes that you are about to cross the love line?