Scripture: Matthew 22:15–46
“Teacher,
which is the great commandment in the Law?” And
he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is
like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Observation: From Stephen Dray’s commentary on Matthew 22,
“There is God and there are the political leaders. Both are responsible for
different matters. So, it is not a
matter of choosing one or the other. Jesus said that people must give the right
honour to each of them. Christians today
have hard situations. It can be difficult
to obey Jesus’ teaching, but the principles that Jesus taught are clear. Christians must be good citizens. (Read
Romans 13:6–7.) Paul also encouraged Christians to pray for political leaders.
(Read 1 Timothy 2:1–2.)”
The Pharisees and Sadducees often
asked Jesus questions that were unfair; they only wanted to cause trouble for
Him. Sometimes people deny truth or try
to twist Scripture to say what they think it should say. Jesus answered these leaders with
Scripture. By saying He is Lord of the
Living he was in essence proving there is life after death and He did it using
the first five books of the Bible (Exodus 3:6).
These leaders read the Bible as they
had it in their day (the Law and the Prophets, remember the New Testament had
not been written yet, they were living it out).
“Soon, the religious leaders would leave. They would make plans to kill
Jesus. He knew all about this. But, first, Jesus appealed to them in a loving
way for the last time. He did not use force. He was gentle. He just wanted to
lead them to the truth about himself. But the religious leaders did not want to
know the truth.” (Stephen Dray)
Application: (1) To remember that we have a very big God
who is able to bring life after death.
This realization also teaches us He is a BIG, BIG GOD! There is nothing He cannot do. (Remember what we learned the other day –
nothing is impossible with God!) (2) To remember that love for God will show
itself in love for other people. And real love for other people comes from real
love for God. Love for God and love for
other people are absolutely vital.
Today’s challenge: Think of one person right now that you are
having a hard time loving. Maybe they do
things that irritate you or are not nice to you. Choose today to love them like Jesus, by
giving of yourself to them sacrificially and speaking kind words to them. Pray for them and for you.
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