Matthew 22:34-40 (Deut. 6:5, Lev. 19:18)

Here we the Pharisees gathering together to ask Jesus a question that they thought would finally stump Him. (Let me tell you how wrong they were.) They asked in verse 36, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” You’ve got to give these guys some credit, that’s a hard question. Think of all the laws that are found within the Old Testament.

However, despite their cunning and crafty ways Christ is able to answer. He says quite simple, LOVE! Love God. Love man. Put all that you are into Loving God and put all that you would put into yourself towards loving man. It is important to note that when he says these two commands he uses the same word for love in both. agapáo? is a Greek word that many of us are familiar with. Perhaps you have heard it in context with the greatest type of love there can be. It means to esteem, love, indicating a direction of the will and finding one’s joy in something or someone. It differs from the Greek word philéo? ; which means to love, indicating feelings, warm affection, the kind of love expressed by a kiss. Now phileo is the kind of love that is experienced between a man and his wife, between two or friends, or between family members. But Christ isn’t commanding us to have or show affection, he is commanding us to esteem, love, show a direction of goodwill, and find joy in God and others.

After that Christ says something that is absolutely amazing to me. In verse 40, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” WOE! You mean…all I have to do is love God…love man…and that’s it. You see Jesus names these two commandments for good reason, and by good I actually mean great, and by great I mean perfect. If we follow these two commandments alone and concentrate everything we are towards following them to the fullest extent, then every other commandment will be followed without thought. Repentance, and I’m not just talking words, but true repentance will always come for our sins, and because of that peace. And because off peace, our love will be even greater.

The question I want everyone to ask themselves tonight is Do I love God? Do I love Man? Now we all know that love isn’t just some warm and fuzzy feeling. So, one must inquire what is love? What does it mean to esteem and to indicate a direction of goodwill?

1 Corinthians 13:3-5

Patient (makrothuméo)? – to endure patiently as opposed to losing faith or giving up

Kind (chre?steúomai) -willing to help or assist

Does not envy (ze?lóo?) -to profess affection in order to gain someone as a follower

Does no boast (perpereúomai) – To brag or boast

Is not proud (phusióo?) -to breathe, blow, inflate

Is not rude (asche?monéo?) -To behave in an ugly, indecent, unseemly or unbecoming manner

Is not self-seeking (ze?téo?, heautoú) -strive to find, Of himself

Is not easily angered(paroxúno?) -provoke or rouse to anger

Keeps no records of wrong (logízomai, kakós ) –recollections of worthlessness

Does not delight in evil (chaíro?, adikía ) – To rejoice, that which is not right

Rejoices with the truth (ale??theia) – Truth, reality

Always protects (stégo?) – to cover over in silence.

Always trusts (pisteúo?) – have faith in

Always hopes (elpízo?) – expect with desire that which is good.

Always perseveres (hupoméno?) –bear up under or to suffer

Never fails (ekpípto?) – never falls away or apart

 

The word used here for love is them same word that Christ used when talking to the Pharisees. There are 16 different aspects to love that Paul talks about. I have broken them into 7 different groups based on the common form and meaning in the Greek language. As we go through them we will look at God’s love towards us that shows each group.

1) Patience, Perseverance

The first group is going to cover these two aspects. Love is Patient. Love always perseveres. These two words hold common ground in two areas. The first being endurance and the second being an eternal time period. The more I studied these two words the more I was able to see the literal meaning. In truth it is being said that for all eternity love endures hardship.

Thinking of an example to show this part of love was an instant thought. All I had to do was think of the Old Testament. It all started with a bunch of slaves. God delivered them. They turned their back on him. They receive punishment. God delivers them. They repent. They turn their backs again. Punishment, deliverance, repentance, betrayal, it’s like a never ending cycle.  But the whole time God was patient to endure the hardship. God loves these people, he loves all people. You can bet that every time we choose to turn away, every time we sin; every time we deny his fellowship God is hurt. It’s the hardship he has endured since the fall of man. Yet, he shows love through his patient endurance of hardship.

2) Envy, Boast, Pride

There is patience and perseverance. Next we are going to look at envy, boasting, and pride. Envy dealing with gaining worth at the cost of others. Boasting dealing with the announcing of ones own accomplishments. And Pride dealing with the inflation of one’s egos. All three dealing with the self in a social sense. What I mean by this is that these three words are all about making our own self greater in the eyes of others at everyone else’s expense. Yet, the Bible tells us love is not this way. In fact, love is the complete opposite. Love is humble.

Philippians 2:5-7 tells us exactly how Christ himself demonstrated this characteristic of love. You see in verse Christ showed the humility of love simply by taking on human form. He showed that no matter what ones status is others are more important. He lowered himself from equality with God, the God, and made himself low. Not to become greater, but to instead to love us and to have the chance to do so for eternity.

3) Rude, Rejoices not in Evil, Angered not

Boasting, envy, and pride all deal with the attitude of self. The next three are love is not rude, it does not rejoice in evil, and it is not easily angered. All three of these deals with the attitude one has towards wrong doing. When looked at in its simplest definition these three characteristics mean don’t be a fool. It’s Simple! Solomon did a great job of describing what it means to be wise and thereby live a righteous life when he wrote proverbs. Paul is saying quite simple love does not do wrong. It is not foolish. Love is wise.

How does God show us this kind of love? He shows it in many different ways. A more major way is through his mercy and correction. Mercy is a characteristic of God. It is seen countless throughout the old and new testament. In fact, he shows it every day when he doesn’t pour out his wrath upon us. And he shows it every day when he corrects us for what we’ve done wrong. Through mercy God keeps from being rude and from hasty anger. Through correction God shows that he does not delight in evil.

4) Trust, Hope

Next we move on to trust and hope, both of which have to do with expectations of others. Trust coming from the Greek word pisteúo? which literally meaning to put faith in, and hope coming from the Greek word elpízo? which literally meaning to expect that which is good. These two words show that within love there is a faith in others to do what is right or to be trustworthy.

God began demonstrating this love towards us way back at the creation of man. In Genesis chapter 2 we told that God formed man from the dust of the earth and placed him in the middle of a garden. In verses 16 and 17 God says this, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” It is important to note two things here. In trust God said you are FREE. He gave us free will to make choices. In hope He gave us a command to follow with the expectation that we would do what is right. From our very beginnings God demonstrated his trust and hope in his creation.

5) No record of wrong, Protects, Rejoices in Truth

The next three aspects are- love keeps no record of wrong, love protects, and love rejoices in truth. I love the Greek word for wrongs. kakós literally translates to worthlessness. Paul is saying something very important. Love keeps no record of wrong doing because it’s worthless. Instead we are told to protect or shield others. Which seems completely odd and yet so important. We are to forgive and then help. As well, we are to rejoice in truth or reality, which means that we should know what is and shouldn’t pretend that wrong doing doesn’t happen. Love sees wrong, forgives wrong, and then helps prevent wrong.

In I John 1:9 we told that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God forgives us and washing our sins away from us. This means that God sees that we do wrong. He doesn’t pretend that it’s not there. He knows reality and truth. He is then willing to forgive us. Also, (going back to God’s correction) he helps prevent wrong from reoccurrence.

6) Kind, Self-less

Trust, hope, forgiveness, and protection all these things dealing so much with the denial of self and regard of others. That makes it interesting that the next group deals with just that. Love is kind and love is not self-seeking. What I find interesting about these two aspects of love is that you can’t truly have one without the other and yet we always claim to. I don’t know about you, but whenever I read through this passage of scripture I always think, “Patience. I got it covered. Kindness. No problem. Trust. Sure thing.” I go on and on about how all these things are no problem. You know, “I can do that.” However, whenever I come to the section that says love is not self-seeking I always tend to skip right over it. There’s just something about ME that I can’t allow myself to deny.

Well God thinks differently and thankfully so. Christ came down to and endured a ruthless torturing to save us. He was beaten and hung on that cross out of the kindness that love brought. And I’d like anyone in the world to go through that and tell me that Christ was hanging up there thinking ME! ME! ME! No! His only thoughts were you. You! YOU! YOU!! He was crucified because he denied himself and followed God’s will.

John 15:13 Tells us this “Greater Love has no than this, that a man lay down his life for a friend.” You know what I love about this verse? Christ didn’t just say it, he did it. He didn’t just come down on this earth and say I love you. No, he allowed himself to be up on that cross and die in order to show it and live it. God said I love you more than anything here is my son. Christ said I love you more than anything, here is my life. The denial self, it is all but unneeded for love to be real.

7) Never Fails

At this point we have covered 15 of the 16 aspects mentioned by Paul. The last one last to cover is actually the last one mentioned in the chapter. Love Never Fails. I remember reading this verse in the past and thinking, in a sense, that this meant that love would always make everything better. I thought that it meant that love itself would never fail us. I’m sure may of you have been in the same boat as I have when it comes to this.

When I looked up the Greek word here I was surprised to found just how wrong I was. What I found was something much more comforting and much more visible in life. The word ekpípto? is used here for fail. The literal translation of this word is to fall away or apart. So when put together what Paul is saying is that love never falls apart. He then goes on to describe the way things are and then they are not. That idea is seen countless times in scripture. The things of man are in existence at one put, but will eventually come to naught. They’re meaningless. So how comforting a thought to know that love will never come to naught. I could not think of a better example than this. In I John 4:8 it says this “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Some of you might still be wondering where I’m going with this. Don’t feel bad because it took me forever to realize where I was going with it myself. Here’s the point though- God is not just an example of love. He is love. He is the reason that it can exist. In fact it is part of who he is. So it is that if God is great. If God cannot fail. If He cannot fall apart. If He is eternal. So love must be also. Love never falls apart. It always is. God is love.

Conclusion

Here’s the connection of it all. Jesus answered the question given to him b the Pharisees. He answered it with two specific ideas and he did so for a reason. Love God with all you are and love man like you love yourself.

The word agape is not only used here but in all the places where the New Testament talks about God’s love. Tonight we went through what that kind of love was. We went through different examples of how God shows this love. What must be understood is that when Christ says love God and Love man he is not telling us to have warm fuzzy feelings. It is not Philo God, but instead Agape God. It is not Philo man, but instead Agape man. Where told to love God and to love man in the same way that God loves. After all this is the only love that is good and perfect.

As you leave here I ask that you inquire and meditate on these ideas. Do not just ask if you Philo God and man, but instead ask if you Agape God and man. Take the aspects of love as lain out and defined in 1 Corinthians 13:3-5 and ensure that you have each one. Not just a few, but all. For, this is the love that God has and it is the love that we are commanded to show.

Put on the full armor of god

Armor of God

(Ephesians 6:10-13)

We are in a war. Our enemy is the OPPONENT himself. The name satan originally comes from the hebrew word sawtan, which means opponent or adversary. This name later on came to be known in greek as satanas, which means the accuser. Satan is our opponent. In 1 Peter 5:8 he is described as a prowling lion, seeking those whom he can devour. It is a mighty description of the OPPONENT. He shows us that his very goal is to destroy us, and take us down.

So, how to stop him? How to prevent this? To prevent failure and to prevent our being devoured, Paul gives a few instructions. In verse 13 of Ephesians he says,  “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” That’s it. That’s the advice. That’s the help. Stand Firm.

The real question to start asking ourselves is this. How do we put on the full armor of god so that we can stand firm?

To understand this better, let’s first look a bit more closely at the armor itself.

1. The Belt of Truth

The significance of the belt of truth is that it symbolizes the core upon which all else to built. The proper way to translate this piece of armor is “gird your loins with truth”. The girdle in roman attire was belt that fastened around the waist and abdominal region and draped down to below the groin. It protected the core of the body. The waist and abdominal region controls the movement your body, as well it controls the power and precision of attack and defense in a battle. You can see why it is so significant that the core of who you are is built upon truth. Truth must be what controls us, what leads us, what gives us our reason for attack and defense. Truth must be what hold us together.

2. Breastplate of Righteousness

The breastplate is quite obviously the section of armor that covers and protects the chest. To be more exact, it protects and covers all possible targets of a frontal attack on the heart. The heart is our source of life. Without it, we cannot live. This is something that we all understand and have known since we were small children. It should be no wonder that Paul declares we make our source of life righteousness. Righteousness is act and characterization of being morally correct and ethically sound. It is essentially to be a wise man.

3. Feet Shod With Preparation of the Gospel of Peace

In Matthew 28:16-20 Jesus commands his disciples the great commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Attributing the the gospel of to the idea of out battle ready footwear is by no means a mistake. A large part of battle is taking a stronger position and fortify the army forward. The roman soldiers often times had spikes placed on the bottom of their sandals in order to help them maintain their position and also to move forward. If we live by the idea of having feet shod with the gospel of peace, then we will constantly continue to move forward. Both in our personally walk with god and in our attempt to expand the kingdom of go with new believers each and every day.

4. Shield of Faith

The shield was the most important instrument of defense and protection that a soldier had. It alone allowed for a solider to ward off arrows being volleyed at him from a distance and to close in on an opponent swing a weapon wildly. It was the shield that they themselves put the most faith in. Not their helmet, their breastplate, their sword, or even other soldiers. It was the shield. They constantly had faith it the shield to protect them and withstand the abuse of the enemies onslaught. Our faith in god is our shield. In Psalm 7:10 it says, “My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart.ut faith in him, much like a soldier put faith in his shield.

5. Helmet of Salvation

The head is an important part of life. More particularly, it is the brain that is so important. The brain gives commands to all other parts of the body. It is the place where all our thought happen and the place where we struggle with and must overcome our sinful nature. In fact, the mind is the first place our redemption occurs. It is through the mind that realize our sin, that we realize who god is and what christ has done, and we realize our need to be saved. In order to become a follower of god we must renew our minds by believing in Christ and confessing our sins. It is through the mind all of this comes about and so we must take care to clothe it in salvation.

6. Sword of the Spirit

It is said that the soul of a samurai is his sword. Such a statement can be no more correct. You see the soul has always been equated with life and purpose of one’s self. A samurai lived to fight, serve protect, and gain honor through his sword. His entire purpose came about because of the sword, without it he is nothing and has no purpose. Likewise, we as christians must learn to find our purpose in life through the sword of the spirit, also known and understood as the word of god. It is important to understand that this does not just mean what we have come to know as the bible. But it means everything that god tells us. By knowing god’s word through bible and through prayer, we obtain our greatest means at fighting back against the world, the flesh, and the devil. By forming completely our life’s purpose to the sword, we have a way to fight, protect, and serve.

I have heard many different sermons, lessons, talks, and read books about the armor of god. My biggest irritation with the majority of these, is that too often we focus on what the armor is, how it compares to the roman armor, why each attribute was put together with a specific piece of armor. It’s all very important. We need to know those things because they can help us better understand the purpose for wearing it all. But it doesn’t stop there. There is so much more to it. The biggest thing we need to know about the armor of god is how to put it on. You can know everything else about it, but if you don’t know how to put it on then you it is absolutely worthless. A warriors armor does him no god if he never wears it.

What I want us to understand next is how to exactly to put the armor on. We have just understood fully what each piece is and the purpose of it. We know that it is important to put it on. How else could we stand against our opponent. However, one must wonder, is the knowledge of the armor enough to put it on or is there more to it?

The steps to putting the armor on are in no way magical, mysterious, or reserved for only those who are spiritual enough to be given them. It doesn’t take days of praying and wailing to god either. It merely takes the change in lifestyle that we as christians should already be making every day. Let us take a look.

1. To put on the belt of truth, one must merely indwell himself in truth. The idea in the greek language when talking about the belt of truth, is this idea of surrounding oneself. That is exactly what we must do. We need to surround ourselves in truth in every way that we can, so that it can become to core foundation of who we are. There are many ways to do this such as studying scripture, reading christian books and biblical commentary, and praying. However, the most important way to do this is to surround ourselves with god and god’s people. Going to church and bible studies in order to fellowship and gain understanding together is one of the best ways to surround ourselves with truth. When we constantly seek it  and surround ourselves with it, it soon becomes who we are. If we do this and truly seek out truth and let it engulf who we are, then all other things will follow.
2. To guard our lives with a breastplate of righteousness we need to make our lives righteous. We to seek out everyday in everything we do, a way to live morally and ethically correct. We need to begin making wise decisions. This means choosing to listen to the right music, watch to right television shows, refrain from stealing, honor our parents, love one another. We must make the source of our life righteous so that we can truly have life.
3. The great commission is no easy task. Yet, still Christ commanded it of us and we need to strive to make it a a goal in our everyday life no matter what the consequences. If we can live that great commission out then we will have already fit our feet properly for the war.
4. Put your faith in god for he is your shield. Unlike the roman soldiers, we never have to worry about our shield crumbling or breaking under pressure. No matter the onslaught, no matter how much we face, and no matter the strength of the enemy; god is our shield and he will protect and deliver us.
5. “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) Get ready for the toughest battle your mind has ever had and prepare for it to get worse with each passing day. If you want to survive and live past the temporal, you must confess you sins and find salvation in god. When the battle comes you better find your mind protect by Christ himself.
6. Finally, take up the sword and begin you fight. Mold your life to that will and word of god. Study the scriptures and know what is said. Pray for yourself, for others, and receive the holy spirit. There is no purpose in life outside of life in christ. If you wish to join the battle and wield your weapon of the spirit, then you must commit your life will and commands of god. Wherever he directs, you must follow. The rules and laws he has lain out, you must obey. Form your life to fighting, protecting, and serving through the sword of the spirit.

The lifestyle is not magical, it’s practical. It’s not some hidden secret that only scholars can decipher, it’s plain and has already been lain out before us. The call to put on the armor of god, the study of it, and understanding of it, is meant to serve as a reminder. It is a reminder to everyday live the life that we, as christians, have been called to live. We pray for aid in putting on the armor because alone we will fail. If, however, we choose to stand firm in god and seek his help, then we will succeed.

“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end( keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Ephesians 6:10-20)