THE FIRST AND GREATEST COMMANDMENT
Jeremiah 3:10,11 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense, declares the Lord. The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.
Following King Solomon’s death two kingdoms were set up making two nations out of one. When King Solomon’s son Rehoboam decided to rule the Hebrews even more harshly than his father Solomon did, the northern ten tribes rebelled under the leadership of Jeroboam. To prevent his people from going to the Southern Kingdom to worship at the temple, he made two golden calves for the people to worship. They continued in this disobedience until God sent the Assyrian army to defeat them and send them into exile. For the most part the Hebrews of the Southern Kingdom continued to worship the Lord with periods of idol worship. It wasn’t until the Southern Kingdom refused to repent of their idol worship that God would send Babylon to conquer them and send the into exile.
Today we read in chapter 3 where God confronts Jeremiah of the sinfulness of the Southern Kingdom. The Lord points out to him that even after Judah has seen what idol worship brought the Northern Kingdom, the Southern Kingdom still would not return to the Lord. Because of this the Lord pointed out that Israel who constantly worshipped idols was more righteous than Judah. Judah should have known better. They saw what the Lord did to punish the Northern Kingdom, yet they turned to idols making them more accountable. Then the Lord adds something that is interesting by saying that Judah did not return to him with all her heart, but only in pretense. A pretense is the attempt to make something appear true that is not. Judah would go and make sacrifices at the temple of the Lord and then go out under a tree or high hill and make sacrifices to idols. Their attempt to appear loyal to the Lord was only a pretense for the real priority or desire to worship idols like the nations around them. From the very beginning when Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt, there was a desire to want to trust in idols especially the calf of Egypt. God had made it very clear in the ten commandments that they were to worship him alone. Now in the reign of Josiah God’s patience was running out. Sad to say even while God was crying out to them to return to him and he that he would cure their backsliding, they continue to worship idols with token attempts of sacrifice at the temple. Thus God confronts them of their lack of wholeheartedness.
In Matthew 22:36,37 we see where an expert in the law tested Jesus by asking him what was the greatest commandment. In response Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” If this is the greatest commandment, then it is obvious that the greatest sin must be not to love God with all your heart, soul and mind. How many of us break the greatest commandment every day? The answer is of course, all of us! This is why everyone needs Jesus to be our Lord and Savior. The things is should we settle for just not trying to have this be a priority for everyday of our lives? Sad to say many people today still do as the people of Jeremiah’s day and the day of Jesus, and that is to attempt to fulfill this commandment with the pretense of righteous living and obeying the law of God. Many times Jesus confronted the religious leaders of his day by calling them hypocrites. He told them that they make sure they give a tenth of everything including spices, but neglect more important things like justice, mercy, and faithfulness. He told them that they strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.
Matthew 23:27,28 he says, “Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” In other words they were living under the pretense that if they make their sacrifices and appear to be holy, then they really don’t have to love God with all their heart, soul and mind.
all over the world are full of people just like this, and for most they don’t even realize that they are missing the mark of what God wants in their life and relationship with him. Even many pastors spend countless hours working hard for Jesus and the church and miss the mark! They are just like the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. Their relationship with the Lord is based on works rather than wholehearted love. We see the same thing in many homes today. Both parents work hard every day to make ends meet, but fail terribly on the aspect of loving each other. The greatest thing we can do to affect how people will remember us and how we will mold generations to come is not how much we can buy or have, but how much we love others and they us! To this I am sure Jesus would say a he did to the Pharisees and teachers of the law, “Practice the latter without neglecting the former.” In other words we need to provide and bless our family, but don’t forget the priority of loving them. The same is true for the Christian. It is good to serve the Lord and the church, but we must make loving the Lord our priority!
Backsliding is a gradual falling away. For Christians it seems so often that it comes so easy regarding our wholeheartedness in our love for Jesus. Do you remember how you felt when you first became a Christian? It was great wasn’t it? With our new freedom of our guilt being gone and God’s wonderful grace continually confronting us, we couldn’t help but feel and express to Jesus our love for him. When we would think about his love and sacrifice for us on Calvary’s cross our heart would swell up and tears would fill our eyes. But then as the weeks, months and years went by and our focus being placed on learning the Bible, attending church services and serving on committees, our attention began to focus less and less on Jesus and more and more on things. The next thing we knew we were spending less and less intimate time with Jesus, and less and less time praying and telling him how much we love him. It can happen to all Christians. I have notice that many Catholic and even some Protestant clergy have started putting their cross in their pocket even though it is on a chain round their neck. In a way it is ironic that what they were once so proud to display to the world is now in their pocket. I have a feeling that the major reason is that their love for Jesus has also changed somewhat . Oh, they still love Jesus, but the wholeheartedness and passion in their love and appreciation for Jesus is no longer what it first was. What a shame.
Now I am not pointing fingers, because I have to continually keep my focus on loving Jesus as my priority. I cherish and love my interminate relationship with Jesus, but just like my relationship with my wife, children, grandchildren and the rest of my loves ones I have to daily work at it. Yes, I did say work at it. We may fall in love, but enduring love requires work and commitment. This means I need to pray for them at least three times a day, tell them I love them, talk to them and spend time with them. I realize that due to time, location and the like it is not always easy, but I can guarantee you that when they no longer become a priority in your life your love for them will quickly waine. The same is true with Jesus.
When you die and go to stand before Jesus will he have to say, “Now let me think. Who are you?”
Prayer: Lord, you said you can cure our backsliding, and you will return to us if we return to you. Lord please help us to always and forever have our love and intimate relationship with you to be our priority. We love you Jesus!
