Sunday Message - Today Jesus 126

30/09/07
<Matthew 22:34-40>
WHICH IS THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT?
• We are created by God. Therefore, God understands and knows our needs the best
• God loves us. He also loves those whom we love and are concerned for those whom we are
concerned
• Although we aren’t perfect, there’s no punishment or limitation in the love of our Lord
• We must perceive all our conditions and hardships in God’s love
• We always claim that, “God loves us. God loves us.” However, it is us who do not understand
God’s love the most
• Very often, we judge God’s love and whether God has accepted us, using standards of this world
• A father will not love his child base on his child’s conditions
• People who do not understand God’s love will always want to debate with God, test God or
challenge God
• Worldly people wanted to test Jesus Christ with material things. They didn’t realize that Jesus
Christ is the God who has given everything and can also retrieve everything. Thus, our Lord was
able to reproach them with just one sentence
• Everything we use comes from God. Therefore, if a person has lots of possessions, but not God,
he could lose his life anytime
• The Sadducees did not understand God’s love at all. Therefore, they’d wanted to test Jesus Christ
using marital matter, a topic which everyone is very concerned with
• Jesus Christ is one with the most affection. He is God who connects heaven with earth
• Our contradictions and struggles are a result of our “unhealed perspective”
• Today, another group of people wanted to oppose Jesus Christ. They knew that they could not
test Jesus with material things. Thus, they tried to test Him using God’s law
• The things that Jesus Christ did out of love, seem to violate the laws. E.g. healing people on
Sabbath Day, being together with prostitutes, etc
• They do not know that love embraces all things. Neither do they know that the Lord’s love
deepens as days go by. They really do not know the true meaning behind God’s laws

Read <Matthew 22:34-40>

• Nobody loves deeper and clearer than Jesus Christ
• v36 Sinners always like to ask God, “should I do this? Am I right to do that?” They think that
everything will be fine or is none of their business as long as they have already done something. A
person who understands God’s love will not ask such a question because one who really loves
God will know what he ought to do
• v37-38 In other words, God’s love is already complete
• The Law could be summarized to be “Love God. Love Men”

1. God is love
1) We are able to see God’s love everywhere as long as our eyes are opened
- Everything in this universe is: vast, rich, a lot of variety, beautiful, systematic – to prove
God is love
- The structure, function, details, infinite wisdom, uniqueness of our lives
- God has prepared parental love, children, neighbors, love of teachers all for the lonely
Adam
 - I won’t be me without all these love… God has prepared all these
• God is love. This love is displayed in this world and in our lives
• In fact, God need not display Himself. He did so for us
• Have we ever wondered why the number of stars and the variety of plants are so
enormous? Why are God’s creations so massive? All these are His love for us
• Don’t we also buy a lot of clothes, toys, books for our children because we love them
• After our spiritual eyes are opened, we can see God’s love in everything
• More often than not, it is us who dislike our appearance or figure
• All of us have unique looks. Nobody in this world will look exactly the same as us
• Only machines are able to produce identical products
• God created us meticulously. Only when we love a person, we will pay attention to the
details of the person
• Meticulous equals to love. We can’t say we love our wives and yet we do not know what
she has told us
• We grow up with such qualities and conditions because of the teaching, nurturing from
our parents, teachers, friends, etc
• God will send people to comfort us when we need comfort
• God will strengthen us when we are weak
• God’s love is everything especially when we face with a difficulty
• God’s love doesn’t change. We will see His love when we need it the most
• Very often we say that we can’t feel God’s love. In fact, God’s love shouldn’t be felt. God’s
love is the truth and has never departed from us
• Even though we love our children very much, there will be times they can’t feel our love
also. This is how we are also treating God’s love

2) God gave us “laws, commandments, order” because He loves us

- The spiritual principle: each individual will have more freedom and joy, and everyone will
enjoy blessings…
- We do not live to fulfill the commandments, but live to enjoy God’s given life, love. Thus,
we need God’s principle, commandments, order, etc…
• God prepared some principle and order because He loves us
• God’s principle is, we should eat and drink when it is time for us to do so. We are living in
God’s love when we do that.
• Problems will come If we don’t eat when it’s time for us to do so
• God’s principle, order, decrees are there to protect us

3) Therefore, we must live in “love”. To do that, we must obey and follow the “orders, decrees,
and commandments”
- We must see God’s love (i.e. His arrangement, protection, provision, guidance…) all the
time. If we are able to do so, we will love God and men naturally
- Orders, decrees, commandments must be there to “protect us” instead of “binding us”.
For everyone’s benefit, we must even prepare to make some sacrifices in order to follow
such rulings. God’s love will become more perfect when things are done with order
• Many times, we felt being loved from the things or situation we faced
• When we do something out of love, others will feel our love. If we do the same thing out of
fear of being penalized; not only will others not see our love, they will even judge our work
 • E.g. Imagine: a person will get penalized if he doesn’t clean up the toilet after using.
Everyone who steps into the cubical will start examining to see if the pervious user cleans
it up or not. Even if the pervious user has cleaned the toilet out of love, the latter will not
feel the former person’s concern at all
• We will feel free and good when we love others and spare a thought for others whenever
we do something
• A person in God’s love will like to be sanctified and love to be like Jesus Christ.

2. However, one day, everyone has become captives to commandments and the whole world has
become a refugee camp for the captives
1) The one who deceives, hurt, kill has secretly came to the world = the event of <Gen 3>
① Cause people to doubt God’s love
② Cause people to violate God’s order, principle = original sin
- What is more serious than eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
is to violate “God’s word, way, truth, principle”
③ The spiritual atmosphere of the whole universe was changed in that instant
- Trust has become disbelief; love has become fear, hate, judgment; thanksgiving has
become complaints, etc.
- From then till now
④ God never changes. God’s creation doesn’t change. God’s care and provision doesn’t
change. The only thing that changes is the life and perspective of men
- From another point of view, that men lost their “garden of joy” was not due to
them being chased out from the Garden of Eden, but due to the change of men’s lives
and the blinding of their perspective. Thus, they couldn’t see or enjoy the Garden of Eden
that was still there. The universe changed because men has changed
• There is one who enters this world in secret. He deceives us. He deceives us by twisting
and distorting God’s truth and love
• Adam and Eve were living happily together till they’d heard the lies of the serpent. As
soon as they heard the lies of the serpent, they doubted God
• God ordered Adam and Eve not to eat from that tree for their protection. However, Satan
used that order to make Adam and Eve doubt God
• God gave us rules and orders not to restrict or bind us, but to protect us
• We will not be able to see any love at all after we have believed in a lie. Instead, we will
perceive everything with a doubtful mind
• The most fearful thing that can happen to a person is when his faith turns into doubt. A
million hints will enter a person as soon as he doubts, and he will commit a million sins
thereafter
• We will depart from God’s protection when we believe in the lies of Satan
• We will only be protected when we love God and God’s kingdom. Therefore, it’s not out of
stubbornness that God wants us to follow Him
• When a person’s thanksgiving becomes complaints, all reasons for thanksgiving will also
be gone. Therefore, he will never be blissful. Instead, his love will become jealousy,
comparison and competition.

2) Thus, the whole universe has become a “prison” and “a refugee camp for the captives”
- After sinning, the world is a reflection of Adam and Eve’s guilt, inferiority complex,
closure, complaints and shirking of responsibilities
- The hearts of men have often received accusation, fear of being judged and fear of
others’ perspective of them
 • After Adam sinned, the world has become a “refugee camp for the captives”. In other
words, all the people in this world have become slaves
• Therefore, regardless of what a person has done, he will always be weary of his
surrounding, fearful of “being watched”
• If we always have the question, “should I do this?” in our mind, it means we are already
being accused. Thus, we are worried that others know what we have done.
• A person who always says, “don’t tell the Pastor about this” already knows that the thing
he has done is incorrect. That is why he is afraid that others may know what he has done
• We “don’t want the Pastor to know” because we do not trust the Pastor. If the Pastor
represents God, it means we are afraid to face God

3) The world has become one where “everyone is being watched”

- It is just like in the older days of “ 五户监视制” movement in North Korea and “Culture
Revolution” in China, where everyone is keeping an eye on each other and ready to
judge each other
- The more sins a place has, the more “laws and regulations” that place needs and, there
will also be a need to have more “judges, cross-examiners and lawyers”
• We feel like we are being watched when we live in this “refugee camp for the captives”
• Nobody likes to be watched over by others. E.g. we don’t like our teachers to watch over
us when we are in school. A thief always fears that someone is watching his every move
• Those living under the Communist rule are always keeping an eye on each other because
they will be rewarded for submitting information
• Couples who are always keeping an eye on each other are like a volcano waiting to erupt.
They will accuse the other person when they spot he / she doing something wrong.
Couples who keep an eye on each other will not have love in them

4) A sinner’s concern is always encircling around “laws and decrees”

- In the scripture reading today, those teachers of the law asked Jesus, “which is the
greatest commandment?”
- Men often ask, “What should I do or not do?” They do not know how to show more
concern or how to love God and men more
- They always ask, “What should I do to go into Heaven” “What should I do to receive more
blessings?”
- They worship to “have more blessings”, offering to “have more blessings”, and serve to
“have more blessings”
• It is not the work of the angels to have a situation changed. Angels want to change the
perspective of a person
• God’s provision is definitely sufficient. God’s love has never ceased. Problem is we
always cannot see it
• For the same matter, some might see it as sufficient while others might see it as
insufficient. Thus, our perspective will determine our actions
• Watching over one another is the same as judging one another
• Our family need not place too much emphasis on rules and regulations. Otherwise,
people staying in this family will not love or be freed
• We just need to teach our children if the things they have done oppose the principle of
“loving God and loving men”. We should discipline or teach our children out of love
• The reason why there are more and more laws in this society is because the current laws
are not able to judge some offences. Therefore, new laws have to be added always
 5) Commandments are not able to “save people” or “make people become alive”. It is only used
for “judging people” and “killing people”
- Although Commandments did reflect “God’s righteousness”; it’s intention is to “judge,
curse and kill people”
• Commandments are the display of God’s righteousness. However, commandments
cannot save people
• The objective of commandment is to kill people. There are no rewards under
commandments
• Commandments are only a yardstick to judge if a person has sinned and a standard for
sentencing a sinner. Commandments will not reward those who didn’t sin
• We must understand why God gives us decree, rules, His timetable, etc.
• A country with a lot of lawyers or judges is a country with a lot of problems
• There won’t be blissfulness in a family that has a lot of rules and regulations
• There isn’t a need for our church to have a lot of rules and regulations. We will take care
of the church because of our love for the Church, our Pastor and our brothers & sisters
• A lot of people have tons of guiltiness, accusation, fear of being punished because they
do not understand God
• We will be set free with our mood change when we understand God’s love

3. The “Agape love” (i.e. unconditional love) that Jesus Christ brought forth, has changed the “world”
1) He taught us that, the greatest commandments is “love your God, love your neighbour”
- “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” <v40>
- The Ten Commandments are the “minimum requirements” laid down for sinners. We
should understand God’s perfect will (His desire) better from them
• We must all understand the Biblical meaning of Jesus Christ
• In fact, God has only given the Israelites Ten Commandments. However, the teachers and
experts of the laws had come out with a lot of other laws and decrees. They did so
because people do not follow their instructions. Thus, they came out with more laws to
control people
• They did not understand God’s intention for giving them the Ten Commandments. They
did not understand why Jesus Christ could heal someone on a Sabbath Day or why He
could be together with the prostitutes and sinners.
• The Ten Commandments seem to be very negative by telling us “do not do this or that”
• In fact, all these “do not do this or that” are the minimum requirements for sinners
• We must look at God’s given Ten Commandments with a positive perspective:
① Serve the one and only true God wholeheartedly
② Love the one and only God who loves us, wholeheartedly (it’s not just about not
worshipping idols; it’s about loving God wholeheartedly
③ Call upon God in reality
4 Enjoy true rest with God (it is not about not skipping church; we must enjoy Sabbath
together in church)
⑤ Love our parents and enjoy the blessing of longevity
⑥ Love other’s life and save people (it’s not about not killing people; we should love lives)
⑦ Love your partner and enjoy the blessing of unity between a man and a woman (how
would a King instruct his Prince not to commit adultery?)
⑧ Should help others more (how would God’s children steal, when they are earnestly
helping others?)
⑨ Be honest to people
⑩ Be contented with what we have and bless others with more blessings
 - Men do not live for the commandments. The commandments should serve men
- The Sabbath was established for men, not the other way round <Luke 2:27>
- How ridiculous it is for those who don’t know the “original meaning of the
commandments” to test “Jesus, the Lord who established the commandments”?
- Those who don’t know the perfect will of the “Lord of Commandments” are binding
themselves, judging others and killing people with the commandments
• After we’d fallen, we just need to stand up and face God again. Does it mean that
everything is fine as long as we are able to keep all the commandments?
• Does it mean we need not be responsible as long as we are able to keep the
commandments to restore coming to church for four meetings weekly?
• We are in agony because we do not understand God’s love for us. Laws come from love.
They are given to us to exhibit God’s love
• We must receive freedom. The Sabbath is established for us

2) The summary for all of the Lord’s teaching is this, “to love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and “love one another”
- The conclusion of <Matthew 5-7> and the teaching at the Last Supper <John 14-17>
- Love your enemies, seventy-seven times and “forgive people”
• There is no need to talk about forgiveness in love. We need not talk about who is right
and who is wrong, in love
• We must establish a covenant with God and a treaty with men. We’d experienced God’s
grace together
• Together, we’d been through so many challenges, seen God’s grace and guidance, etc.
Therefore, how would we accuse each another?
• A Pastor does not pastor by preaching. A Pastor pastors the congregation with love
• Ministerial serving isn’t done by our ability to give speech or by our wisdom. It is done out
of love. We do everything because of our love for God and people

3) “Eternal, infinite, unconditional great love” were displayed on the Cross

- The one with no sin died for the ones with sin. He used His own life to redeem us and
shield us with the cruelest form of punishment
- “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”
- He didn’t just die. He resurrected and lives forever. He rose to Heaven and acquired the
authority of the throne, to bring to us the spiritual results that last forever
• It is for us that Jesus had died on the Cross <Roman 5:8>
• If we are able to accept God’s infinite love that saved us; why is it that we cannot accept
God’s love now when we are in the midst of our hardships?
• Why does God allow us to face hardships? It is because our life is eternal. God chose,
saved and called people who have eternal lives in them
• God would not use a barbaric method to lead a civilized person. God is not leading
animals. God is leading the royal Priests. God leads us with the most honorable method
• Are we able to love ourselves when we examine our own lives? Do we have self-respect
when we stand in the presence of God?
• Although we aren’t perfect, do we do and ponder over everything in accordance to God’s
instruction? If we do, we have already loved ourselves
• If we do not love ourselves, yet we’ve received love from others; the love we gotten
comes from our own selfishness
 • When we are with people, we will be looking out for love, compassion, understanding,
care, etc from others. However, we will not love ourselves or accept God’s love when are
alone

4) Tell the disciples, “You must also do likewise”

- Calls them to love, have mercy, forgive, bless, hope and wait for people…
- Save, heal, build and send people
• One day, God makes us receive grace and we are sanctified. From then on, we do not
love people superficially. We will love a person’s life and that is true love, unconditional
love (agape)
• We will love ourselves when we are sanctified. When we look at ourselves, we will see
the most good-looking person
• Where should we place the depth of our lives? We will only feel honored when we look at
ourselves after accepting God’s love
• We will be attractive only when we have an honorable heart in us. Without this, we will not
be attractive no matter how hard we strive to be
• Are our hearts bounded or freed? We can tell from a person’s facial expression
• There’s a difference between worrying for the Lord and worrying for our own selfish desire
• Although Jesus Christ isn’t that handsome, His life will attract people to Him

5) From the apostles and fellowships that follow the Lord Jesus, “the revolution of love” has
started and will expand till the end of earth
- Because of “loving God and men”, the apostles and disciples had paid the price, suffered
and martyred…
- In the ever expanding fellowship, “doubts have become trust, hatred have become love,
and complaints have become thanksgiving”
• We must know what sort of people we are, in the presence of God
• How different are we from all others depends on how much of God’s love have we
acquired and the extent of God’s love we can perceive in the midst of our hardships
• The greatest problem of Pastors is their focus to increase the size of their congregation.
Our church will become very strong if we are able to love one another while we are still
small in size
• People in this world are not able to receive true love anywhere. However, they are able to
receive God’s love in our church. Those who are attracted by the love of our Lord will
enjoy and display God’s love together with us forever
• If we really can love one another and be united in our hearts, our love is able to embrace
all imperfections
• A lot of people are able to rejoice together but are not able to share hardships

4. We must restore all things in the great love of Jesus Christ

1) We are being loved and there are many evidences in our lives
- We have the chance to listen, believe and confirm the Gospel of “Jesus Christ’s love”
- <Romans 8:31-39> No time duration, situation or events is able to separate us from the
love of Jesus Christ
- Today is a part of eternality. Therefore, everything we’ve met today is part of God’s love.
We are able to discover God’s love from where we are today

2) Henceforth, we must see, listen, ponder, discuss and live in the love of Jesus
 ** The most blessed person is not the one “who is successful in all things”, but one who, in
all situations, is “able to discover the Lord’s love, the most”
- God displayed His love the most to those whom He loves the most
- In the whole universe, in eternality, in our personal conditions, relationships and all things
** How much we perceive, enjoy God’s love and how much we are able to love God…
- There is no fear in love. Love is able to embrace all sins. Only love can fulfill the “laws”

3) Because of our love for God and people, we would love to maintain “laws and order”
- We do not love God and people foolishly, but do so with God’s perfect wisdom and love…
- Therefore, we just speak the truth in love, to save people, heal people, sanctify people,
nurture people, …

4) We, “The Life Church and Missions”, must become a fellowship that “receives the most love,
and will love God and people the most”. Through this fellowship, we are able to acquire more
“God’s beloved bodies” and expand this “fellowship of love” till the ends of the earth…
* <Ephesians 4:16> “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every
supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work”
- Our purpose is not to “increase the figures, or revive ministerial serving”. Otherwise, we
will not be able to fulfill the “vision of this era that God has given us”
- Our purpose must continue to be “to love God and people”, and to learn “how to love one
another” from each other as we meet. Discover the Lord’s love among us and attract
many who “need His love”. So that our fellowship could be a part of “the movement to
restore Christ’s love” in this era
Sharing and Prayer Topics
1) People always ask, “which is the greatest commandments”, “what should I do or not do?”
However, God’s concern is always “how much have you loved God and people”? Diagnose
the current thoughts of our hearts: Is there still any guilt, inferiority complex, fear,
complaints, etc appearing in my heart? How do we handle it when such darkness appears
in our hearts and minds? Resolve it or “so be it”?
2) The most beloved person is not one who is successful in all things but one who is able to
discover God’s love in all situations – i.e one who is able to see, enjoy God’s love and one
who is able to love God and people. Diagnose: How much God’s love are we able to see in
our daily life? Have I established a method that enables me to always see God’s love
easily? How to establish? How can we learn repeatedly?
3) There is no fear in love. Love is able to embrace all sins. Only love can fulfill “the laws”.
Diagnose: Do I live my life now with the thought of “loving God or fearing God”? Is there
still any person whom we have yet to forgive? Examine: Did God prompt me to show
concern, help and bless the people in my interpersonal relationships, actively?