God has never made His will complicated. The Bible is a story of God teaching people to love Him and love one another. Everything else is an expression of those two relationships. Even when we see judgments pronounced and carried out in the Old Testament and New Testament, they were caused by those who chose not to love God but instead chose to be an impediment to God Himself.
If we were to start out from the beginning, God always desired a loving relationship with His creation. He gave Adam and Eve everything they could ever want or need but they were seduced to wanting more and not heeding the voice of the Lord.
Genesis 3:2-20 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die: For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where are you? And he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you that you should not eat? And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that you have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life: And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in sorrow you shall bring forth children; and your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you. And unto Adam he said, Because you have listened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field; In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Adam and Eve found out that being disobedient to God’s commands brought consequences and their lives were made infinitely harder than they needed to be. We are still experiencing the effects of their disobedience!!
When God led the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt by miraculous signs and wonders, He gave Moses the Ten Commandments by which Israel was to live. They weren’t called the Ten Suggestions. They were specific rules for them to live by if they were to enjoy success and peace within themselves and others. It is important to see that the first four commandments taught them how to love God. They are found in Exodus 20, starting in verse 3.
No other gods. No idols. Honor His name. Honor His day.
The last six taught them how to love people.
Honor parents. Don’t murder. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t steal.
Don’t lie. Don’t covet.
Imagine if everyone lived out these ten commands!
No murders. No broken marriages. No theft. No lying. No jealousy. No idolatry.
Imagine today what our neighborhoods would look like! Our businesses, our governments, our homes!
The Ten Commandments weren’t given to ruin life. They were given because God designed life. I realize more every day that the God who created every physical thing in creation is so big, so vast, some immeasurable, that I am nothing. It is ONLY BY THE GRACE OF GOD I am alive and able to experience the power and magnificence of His creation. Only He is worthy of worship, certainly not the world as we know it today.
We live in the noisiest generation in history. Every day we’re bombarded with:
Opinions, podcasts, politics, outrage, algorithms, and endless information!
Everybody has an answer. Everybody has a platform. Everybody tells us what matters most. The result?
Many believers feel overwhelmed. Christianity begins to feel like a thousand issues instead of one clear calling. BUT Jesus did something remarkable. He took hundreds of commands, centuries of teaching, endless debates, and distilled them into two simple statements. A lawyer deceptively asked him…
Matthew 22:36-40 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
The lawyer asks Jesus “Which commandment is greatest?”
Jesus doesn’t give another rule. He gives the foundation.
Love God. Love your neighbor.
Jesus says something that is astonishing. “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Think of these two commandments as the two hinges on which a large door hangs. It is on these two commandments which the whole Bible rests.
Jesus didn’t say The Ten Commandments were abolished. Instead, He explained that love is what they were always pointing toward.
You don’t steal from people you genuinely love.
You don’t lie to people you genuinely love.
You don’t covet what belongs to someone you genuinely love.
You don’t worship idols if you truly love God.
In other words, Love fulfills the law.
Let’s now see what the Apostle John has to say about love. Ultimately he says love IS the evidence that we know God.
John doesn’t say love is optional. He says it is the EVIDENCE.
1 John 4:6-8 We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God hears not us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loves is born of God, and knows God. He that loves not knows not God; for God is love.
Love isn’t merely something God does. Love is who He is.
You cannot claim intimacy with God while refusing love toward people.
Church attendance isn’t John’s test. Bible knowledge isn’t his test. The right political opinions aren’t either. Love is the test!
1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:2-3 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing.
We need to ask ourselves some honest questions…
Have I become distracted by secondary issues?
Do I know more arguments than I know love?
Have I become angry instead of compassionate?
Do people experience Jesus because they’ve experienced me?
Could my family honestly say they see God’s love in me?
Spiritual maturity shouldn’t mean becoming more sophisticated or heady. Maturity could be becoming more faithful to the simple things.
Picture a compass. A compass doesn’t tell you every detail of your journey. It simply keeps you pointed north.
Love is the Christian’s compass.
Every decision…
Every conversation…
Every disagreement…
Every opportunity…
Every hardship…
Ask one question: “What does love for God and love for my neighbor require here?”
If you can answer that honestly, you’re rarely far from the will of God.