Matthew 22:36-40
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
I have a somewhat strange and embarrassing confession to make that I hope will help somebody. I did fairly well in school. I especially enjoyed writing. So, after high school I earned my undergraduate degree in English from Rutgers University, and it really served me well. I was a grant writer for more than 20 years. I also was owner and editor of a digital newspaper. Needless to say, writing has been a huge part of my life. But here’s the weird part. Because I tested well in school, I was never asked to take any remedial classes or entry level exams. Teachers presumed I knew enough about language to skip those basic and fundamental courses. And that wasn’t good at all. I was a grown man, married with children, working as a writer, and didn’t even know what a conjunction was. Or adverb. Or pronoun. I know. Sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. However, I did finally learn.
My saving grace was a children’s television program called, Schoolhouse Rock. Schoolhouse had these grammar school level programs with songs, catchy lyrics and animation that was captivating. And I would sit with my kids and listen to every word. It was life changing. And for me, one of the most impactful was Conjunction, Conjunction What’s Your Function. I can only imagine most of you wondering what in the world any of this has to do with today’s scripture lesson. I assure you, it does.
There’s a spiritual principle at work in this morning’s communication. In any business, building, development, or enterprise, form should always follow function; because function is the byproduct of purpose. And as Children of the Most High, before we do anything, say anything, go anywhere, or commit to anything we must confer with our Lord to ensure it suits His purpose for us. So the form of our worship, the essence of our life and living, our daily exercise and concentration of all our energies must flow from God’s predesigned purpose and not our predetermined form. And when it doesn’t flow, we know we are out of order and must course correct immediately.
In studying conjunctions, I learned there are three powerful words that bridge form and function to purpose. They are the words, AND, OR and BUT. With that in mind, let’s review Matthew 22. Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment in the law. And Jesus answered, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. In these three sentences, Jesus uses the conjunction “and” multiple times. As a conjunction the word “and” combines and connects two independent thoughts into a unified whole. In other words, you can’t separate one from the other without destroying the purpose of the statement. Had Jesus used, “or” or “but” the meaning would be completely different. However, since He said what He said, we can’t escape responsibility for responding in deference to the purpose of the statement, irrespective how difficult it may be.
I can only imagine every one of us has regular, routine and constant rituals to denote and affirm our love for God. We regularly make sacrifices for and pay homage to our Lord of lords and King of kings. There’s very little we wouldn’t do for God. Everything except maybe using the same energy we use to demonstrate our compliance towards the command to love God, to also love our neighbors. Loving our neighbors is as necessary as loving God. It’s not either, or. Its not but or whether. It’s AND.
GOD BLESS
