Sand Mountain Sermonette 23
Luke 10:27; Matthew 22:37-40; Exodus 20:2-11; Exodus 20:12-17
Papaw Goes to the Movies!
When I was in High School in the early Seventies, I once asked my Papaw Mabrey, “Papaw, what was the last movie you remember seeing?” He thought a minute and then said, “What was the movie that starred Charlton Heston?” And I replied, “You mean The Ten Commandments?” To which Papaw said, “Yes, that’s the one.” “That’s the one your grandmother and I saw at the drive in.” Now, even with the Ten Commandments being released in theatres in 1956 (the year I was born!), that means, even then, my grandparents had not been to a movie in close to twenty years!
As I think back on that little conversation with my grandad, I am reminded that it opens the door to another question, this one of blockbuster proportion! What is the primary purpose of the Christian life? Have you ever thought about that question? Just as the purpose of an automobile is to transport a person from one place to another ot a movie projector is to project the move onto the big screen, so the Christian life does indeed have a primary purpose. That purpose is found in Luke 10:27, “You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” In Matthew 22:37-40 we read, “And He (Jesus) said to him (a lawyer), ‘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 foremost commandment. And a second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
The incredible thing about The Great Commandment of Luke 10:27 is that this one verse includes the Ten Commandments found in the book of Exodus in the Old Testament. The first four commandments found in Exodus 20:2-11 have to do with our relationship with God, therefore Jesus says we are to love God with our entire being (heart, soul, strength, and mind). And the last six of the original Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:12-17 have to do with our relationship with one another, therefore Jesus says we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. What Jesus is doing is bringing it all down to our attitudes and our actions!
Christian, do you love God with your entire being? Do you want to spend time with Him and spend time alone with Him? Do you desire to read his love letter, the Bible, written to you? And do you want to spend time talking to Him in prayer? These are important questions to ask yourself as you feed upon Luke 10:27. To know and spend time with God is the primary purpose of the Christian life, just like it is so important that my wife Nancy and I love one another and spend time together in nurturing our relationship. Then, in obedience to the Great Commandment, you and I can love our neighbor as we love ourselves to the glory of God who loves us so, and first loved us with the love of the Son!
In Christ’s love, Pastor Louie