Have you ever felt like living God’s way is so complicated that you need CliffsNotes for the Bible, some kind of summary of God’s law? As humans, we tend to want God to just give us the bottom line. Tell me what I can and cannot do. Where’s the line? And how close to it can I get and still be in God’s good graces?
And too often Christianity has been made to sound that complicated. The religious leaders of Jesus’ time had certainly made things seem that way. So much so that they had religious lawyers to help interpret all the laws.
But when one of those lawyers asked Jesus for His opinion, He gave a surprising answer.
Welcome to Soul Survival where I blog through the Bible in a Year along with Bible studies and other Christian living posts. This year I’ve added a couple of new features. First, check out the “Free Resources” tab at the top. You’ll find a downloadable, printable PDF with “Going Deeper Study Questions” for each Bible in a Year post. And … this year I’m also reading through the Bible on YouTube. You can check out my channel here. The daily emails now have a link to both the Soul Survival posts and the YouTube videos. I hope you’ll sign up.
Today’s Readings:
Exodus 19 & 20
Psalm 18.37-45
Proverbs 6.20-25
Matthew 22.23-46
Feel Like You Need Cliffs Notes for the Bible?
Matthew 22.23-46
The Greatest Commandment & God’s Law
As I said in the introduction, all too often God’s law, the Bible, has been made to sound so complicated that we need something to simplify it.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ time had made things seem, not just complicated, but difficult and all about rule-keeping. They had come up with so many rules and regulations that they needed religious lawyers to interpret them all.
Then each rabbi or teacher had his opinion as to which were the most important. In Matthew 22.36 one of those religious lawyers asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus gave a very simple answer:
‘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 (vv. 37-40).
In other words, all the Old Testament laws and all that the prophets said can be summed up in this, “love God and love others.”
How Can God’s Law Be Summed Up in These Two?
How can God’s law be summed up in these two commands?
For starters, if we truly love God, we won’t worship other things, use His name in vain, or do any of the things prohibited in the “10 Commandments,” the heart of what Jesus called “the law” (see our O.T. reading, Ex. 20.3-7). And we will want to worship and obey Him (Jn. 14.15; 2 Cor. 5.9).
But notice He said the second is like the first. It all comes from the same heart attitude and we demonstrate the first “great commandment” to a large degree by doing the second, loving our neighbor.
John said:
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? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also (1 Jn. 4:20-21).
If we love others, we won’t commit murder or respond to them in anger which Jesus called murder in the heart (Matt. 5:21-22). Neither will we lie to or steal from them. If we love our sister we won’t commit adultery with or lust after her husband. We won’t covet what someone else has, instead, we’ll rejoice in their blessings.
So, it’s not that we shouldn’t spend a lifetime getting to know God better and better through His Word. We should want to do just that. But the heart of God’s law is summed up in those two commands, love God and love others.
Keeping God’s Law Imperfectly
We won’t do these things perfectly—that’s the point of the Gospel—we could never keep the law perfectly. But we can “fulfill the law” by what John MacArthur calls “gracious obedience.” In his book, How to Study the Bible, he says, “… if He sees a sincere and loving and humble willingness to obey; if He sees a positive response to His Word, even though there are times when we fail, then He counts us as obedient because that’s the spirit in our hearts. Even though our gracious obedience may be filled with defects, it’s the proper attitude that God is after.” This is God’s mercy and grace towards us and the heart of the Gospel message.
Today’s Other Readings:
Now a few thoughts about today’s other readings …
Exodus 19 & 20
The Ten Commandments
It had been three months since the children of Israel left Egypt. They had come into the wilderness of Sinai and camped by a mountain called Mt. Sinai. In chapter 19, God displayed His power with an earthquake, smoke, and a loud trumpet sound so that the people would have no doubt that He was God and that Moses was His representative.
Then in chapter 20, He gave the Ten Commandments to the people Himself. Later He would write them on stone tablets.
The first command was, “Have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20.3). This, of course, was a prohibition against worshiping false gods of any kind. It was spoken to people in a culture where most nations believed in and worshiped many gods, polytheism.
The second was, “Make no images, no likenesses of anything in heaven or on earth” (Ex. 20.4). They were not to make an image of anything that was in heaven (angels, God Himself, or people who had gone to heaven) or on earth (man, woman, animals, or anything else). This command does not forbid artistic expression but forbids the use of these items as part of our worship.
The third was, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” These three and the next seven are the heart of what Jesus called “the law” in our New Testament reading.
The last six have to do with our relationships with other people, but before we leave Exodus 20, I want to share a few thoughts about the fourth commandment.
Remember the Sabbath
The fourth was, “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy” (Ex. 20:8). The New Testament makes it clear that Christians are not required to keep this command as dictated under the Mosaic law (Col. 2:16; Acts 20:7; Rom. 14:5-6), but the principle of Sabbath rest should still be followed. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mk. 2:27). We need times of rest and time set aside to focus on God.
While we are not under the Mosaic law, it doesn’t mean that we should take church attendance lightly, either. The writer of Hebrews said:
[N]ot forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb. 10:25).
So, if you’re not an active member of a good New Testament church, I would encourage you to find one where you can attend and take part in the ministries of discipleship, service, and one-anothering.
Psalm 18.37-45
All Glory to Him
It’s so easy when life is going well and we are experiencing success, to take the credit for it ourselves, but in these verses, David gave all the glory to God.
Proverbs 6.20-25
Instruction in the Way of Life
For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life (v. 23).
God’s Word and His correction are always for our good.
Coming Up:
In the coming days, we’ll talk about the seriousness of promises, look at pride, religious pretenders, and the devastating effects of adultery.
I hope you’ll sign up so you don’t miss them.
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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