Culver Community Church
Pastor Chris Sweeney
Sermon Notes
December 02, 2018
Matthew 22:34 - 46 The Final Answer
{vs. 34} It’s sad, but this might have been the one time that the Pharisees were rooting for the Sadducees! They must have enjoyed seeing them fail (spectacularly). However, this prompted them to take note of Jesus’ answer to use in future debates with their rivals and get into a new huddle to come up with another ‘game plan’ or question to try to stump the master.
{vs. 35-36} So one of them, a scribe, lawyer or expert in the Law brings an age old question to Jesus. In fact, Matthew usually uses the name ‘scribe’ in his gospel, but here he uses ‘lawyer’ (probably to emphasize that this expert in the law was asking a basic question about the Law!) This scribe was responsible for copying the Law and verifying that it was reproduced without the slightest deviation! They even counted the values of the letters on each page in order be certain. He more than other Jews had memorized great quantities of scripture, and He was the one you found to ask your question about the Law!
This question was one that the Pharisees and Scribes had probably heard over and over again – “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” You see, the Pharisees and Scribes were all about the Law (understatement!) They had carefully counted 613 commandments in the scriptures. When we look at it like that, it’s no wonder that no one could keep the Law! That number (613) was divided into 248 positive (do’s) and 365 negative (don’ts) – one for every day of our year (Israel’s calendar was different). Can you see why they developed an image of God as a negative, condemning and even judgmental God? To help try to make this more manageable they also divided the 613 by importance – what they considered important (not God), by this they made a list of “heavy” and “light” commandments. In the next chapter, Jesus will condemn these leaders because they “tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders , but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” Since they did not understand the Law of Moses as God gave it, they believed that Jesus contradicted or opposed it – but He came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).
To them this division or parceling up of the Law made the impossible load more manageable. They taught and focused on the heavy, while paying little attention to the light. Apparently, it is much easier to be righteous when you are in charge of making these lists! In other words, they picked and chose what scriptures to obey. This was another way of bringing God’s law down to their level, throwing out God’s standard of perfection and settling for ‘good enough’! So when a person would ask the question, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” - what they really wanted to know is “Did I just break a heavy law – one that will send me to Hell?” (Or am I ok?) The heresy in this approach (that we all fall into by the way!) is that our good enough is never good enough for a holy and just God! God never signed off on their adjustments or interpretations to His scripture. In any contract or covenant, both parties must agree to any alterations! James 2:10-11 shows the fault in their thinking, telling us that what is obvious, but often overlooked.
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. - James 2:10-11 NIV
{vs. 37-40} Notice that Jesus responds quite graciously to this man. There is no hint of condemnation or rebuke as we saw with the previous groups. As far as this ‘lawyer’ goes, we know that he came to test Jesus but he seems more sincere than the other leaders who came to trap Jesus. This man may have volunteered to approach Jesus from among his peers because he actually wanted to see and hear Jesus for himself! We must never shut down someone who comes with an honest question – Jesus never did! Mark’s parallel account gives us more of a response in which this man approves of Jesus’ reply and Jesus commends the man for his response! (Mark 12:32-34)
What Jesus does here is simplify all of the Law of Moses (you know they venerated Moses – he was the one God gave the Law to and it was the last word on any subject – unless you could find a work-around). All of the Law, all of righteousness is contained within Loving God with all your heart and loving your neighbor as yourself – not just but especially God’s top ten! We say this all the time! Love for God precludes
Ø having any other/rival god (little g)
Ø making an idol or graven image
Ø taking God’s name in vain (misusing, abusing or misrepresenting God)
Ø we will also obey (from love) and keep the Sabbath (honoring and spending time with God!)
Love for God also requires the second command – you and I cannot love God with all our hearts without loving His other children! (1 John 4) If we hate, mistreat or abuse those that God loves, that He created – then we do not love Him! If we love our neighbor, we will not
Ø dishonor our mothers and fathers (our first representatives of God in life)
Ø Kill (commit murder)
Ø Commit adultery (breaking our commitment of love/causing others to do so)
Ø Steal (to be selfish and take from another)
Ø Lie (bear false witness) – all deceiving is from the Devil!
Ø Covet (this covers all sins of the heart! Having desires/lusting over anything that is not ours)
It really isn’t all that hard when you summarize it like this? Who needs 613 commandments when you can define all of righteousness and evil by LOVE!
After this last question, this final attempt to discredit Jesus and Jesus’ final answer, Jesus presents them with a question.
{vs. 41-45} Now Jesus is asking them to put on their thinking caps and answer a question about who He is. The Messiah and Son of David were interchangeable – many of the Old Testament’s prophetic references including those given to David himself use this name. So when Jesus said “Whose son is He?” – the leaders answered instinctively, and any other answer would have been immediately rejected by the people who also knew this full well! How many of those coming to Jesus for a miracle have cried out, not to Jesus but to the “Son of David”?
Having that name established, Jesus goes to scripture and quotes a Messianic text from Psalm 110. Why would David (the King) call his descendant Lord? We don’t see the full impact in English (in the NIV) because there are two types of Lord here – one is LORD (all caps or Yĕhovah), which can only refer to Almighty God and the other is Lord (capital L or Adonay), which can be used of God or highly exalted men. So in this Psalm – given by the Spirit of God (don’t miss that – it ensures accuracy and no error in the text). Here, King David recognizes the One born from his line will be greater than he is (a contradiction in their thinking). The quote goes on however, God tells Messiah sit at my right hand - the right hand was a position of honor and a show of equality! Hebrews 1 verifies this, it says that God has lifted Christ and placed Him at His right hand. God Almighty tells the Messiah sit at My right hand in the present imperative, continuous tense - take a continuous place of exaltation on the right hand of God. “until I [God] put Your enemies under Your feet.” or I'll subjugate everything under You (a preview for these leaders if they do not change their ways!) There may be rebels, detractors, and Christ-deniers but just wait I (God) will in the proper time make them Your footstool (a show of power over and dominance).
{vs. 46} This is where they should have had the light bulb go on over their heads! The proper response to this look into the mystery of who Messiah is should have left them stunned and repentant. They should have said “I understand now – Son of Man, Son of God – Messiah!” but instead they left with their mouths shut in silence. This is the final answer, not just to these inspections of God’s Perfect Passover Lamb but the the final answer to all of life – Jesus, He is the Messiah! He is the only begotten, beloved Son of God sent to this world to redeem all those who will believe. When we stand before the throne of God, there is only one right answer – JESUS!