TITLE: “Loving God with heart, soul and mind”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is from the Gospel lesson, particularly these words, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

In Sunday School and confirmation right now we’re working on the 10 Commandments. I am often struck by the simplicity and beauty of these words. You shall have no other gods. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord Your God. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. And so forth. What could be simpler and easier to learn that these commandments? I’ve heard 3 year olds recite them by heart. And yet what could be harder to keep in all the world? It would be much easier if our Lord had said, wear these clothes, work for me an hour a day and the rest is yours, or whatever. But He didn’t. He is not interested in minimalism. He wants all of you.

So it is with our Lord Jesus in our text. Another Pharisee lawyer comes to Jesus to ask him the question, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? In other words, which part do I really have to keep. I remember when I was in college a trick of the trade when studying for a test. The key was always to figure out what did the professor really care about. You figured out what the professor wanted to hear, you learned that and ignored the rest. I figured out what the least was that I had to study in order to pass.

That’s how this lawyer is thinking. He looks at the law as a test to pass. Where’s the study guide? What are the Cliff Notes for the Law? What do I really have to do? Jesus, however, will have no part of such nonsense. So he answers with the summary of the Law in Deuteronomy 10, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

All your heart, soul and mind. Think about that for a minute. The Law demands that we love God with all our heart, soul and mind. Furthermore, our salvation depends on it. On these commandments hang, that is, depend, all the Law and the Prophets. Everything, your life, your salvation, everything, depends on you loving God with all you’ve got. God demands that your every thought, every impulse, every talent and ability, that everything that you are and everything that you have be directed in love toward Him. And furthermore, that the way you love God in this life isn’t by outward acts of piety and bravado, no, it is by loving your neighbor as your own flesh and blood.

Sometimes I don’t think we grasp the gravity of God’s demand. Every desire is directed toward God. Saint Augustine once said that our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Your life, your hope and your future are tied up in God and His love for you. You aren’t to trust in the government, in your own wealth, in your personality or ability to get out of trouble. No, you are to fear, love and trust in God above all things.

But we’re not done yet. Loving God with your whole mind. Your thinking, your creative genius, and every spark of genius you have in you is to be directed toward God in service of your neighbor. Why do we spend so much money and time on music in the church? Why do we put so much energy into making this a beautiful place, into God’s house? We do it because we seek to love God with our whole minds. God has given us so much! If God has given us so very much, and give him anything less than the very best we have, well, that is the height of arrogance. It is stealing from God. That is why it is such a tragedy in the church and elsewhere when we settle for the mediocre. I once worked for a painter whose motto was “close enough.” But there is no close enough for God. He demands absolutely everything you are. On these commandments hang the Law and the Prophets. Everything, your life, your forgiveness, your eternity hang on you keeping that Law perfectly.

Of course, the downside to this is that you can’t do it. You can’t love God with your heart, soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself. God isn’t satisfied with cheap imitation worship or false pretenses of perfection. That’s why Jesus’ words are so hard to hear. They’re hard to hear because we hear them and go “Arg! I can’t do it! God will never be satisfied with me!”

So Jesus continues with the question posed to the Pharisees. How can David’s son be David’s Lord? Of course, Jesus is talking about Himself. He is both the Son of Man and the Son of God. But why? Why did Jesus have to be both fully man and fully God?

Jesus had to be fully man and fully God so that He could redeem you from your sins. Another church father once said “what he did not assume, that he did not redeem.” In other words, in order for Jesus to save you, He had to become like you. He had to become a human being, born of the Virgin Mary. And He is the only one who loves God with his heart, soul and mind and His neighbor as Himself. Only Jesus can fulfill that Law. And He did. He kept the Law perfectly. Down to the last drop of His blood, He kept the Law for you. He kept the Law where you fail. And you do fail, again and again. But He didn’t. When He cried out It is finished from the cross, your work of salvation was done.

So the only way that we can receive the blessings of keeping God’s Law is through Jesus, David’s Son and David’s Lord. You have to receive the image of God on your heart. As we sang with the Sunday School children earlier.

On my heart imprint your image, Blessed Jesus, King of grace,

That’ life’s riches, cares, and pleasures Never may your work erase;

Let the clear inscription be: Jesus, crucified for me,

Is my life, my hope’s foundation, And my glory and salvation! (LW #100)

But thanks be to God, that He did imprint His divine image on your heart in the waters of Holy Baptism. Erin had the very image and name of God put upon her just a few minutes ago. All of Jesus work, His life, His death, His resurrection, all of it poured into her soul with those words and water, Erin Nicole Thomas, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Jesus life became her life, and He became your life in your baptism.

Think about it! God’s divine life is now yours. So we work and strive to love God with our whole hearts, knowing that His life is ours. But this work is joyful, because it is work done out of love, not fear. And when your last hour comes, His angels will carry you to Abram’s bosom. He will bear you home. He will hold you in His arms, and He will be your God.

Lord, you I love with all my heart; Oh, let me not from you depart,

with tender mercy cheer me.

Earth has no joy for which I care, Heaven itself were void and bare

If I can’t have you near me.

And should my guilt my heart subdue, Let nothing shake my trust in you,

You are the portion I desire; Your sacrifice my soul inspire.

Lord Jesus Christ, My God and Lord, my God and Lord, Forsake me not!

I trust your Word. (LW #413:1)

In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM

Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Trinity 18 (October 22, 2000)

Matthew 22:34-46

On the occasion of the baptism of Erin Nicole Thomas

Send E-Mail to Pastor Peperkorn

Last Revised: October 24, 2000