Dear Christian friends:

We don't not think of the Ten Commandments as a showing of God's love for man. We customarily think of His law as something hard and too strict. That is because we are not holy like God, but sinners. Really the Ten Commandments are good, they teach us to love.

Man is not happy unless he loves God and his neighbor. Hatred, is like poison. It poisons our whole heart and life and often leads people to insanity. We must learn to love God and our neighbor then we are very happy in heart and mind. True we may still have problems and enemies but we will be happy none-the-less.

Our lesson this morning shows us that:

God shows us this way of love in the Ten Commandments. Here in our text a Scribe asked Jesus: "Which is the first commandment?" Then Jesus answered: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like namely this, "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."

Sometimes churches make other laws and they think they are important: Don't smoke, don't drink; don't eat pork; don't eat meat on Friday; don't wear lipstick; don't go to the movies; don't dance; go to church on Saturday and many more. And they think these laws are very important. They argue much about these and write and preach. But these same people are very weak in loving God and their neighbor.

But Jesus says love. First love God. There is only one true God, verse 29. And the Bible shows Him to be Father, Son and Holy Ghost. We love the Father. He made us and all things. He feeds us, protects us, etc. We love the Son, Jesus. He died for our sins. We love the Holy Spirit our Teacher from heaven. He gave us the Bible through the prophets and leads us to faith in Jesus our Savior.

This good, kind God we must love. How much should we love Him? Love Him more than anything else in the world. Jesus says with "all heart, soul, mind and strength."

Then Jesus says we should love our neighbor. Who is our neighbor? In the Gospel lesson today Jesus told the story about the Good Samaritan. A neighbor is not only the man who lives next door but everyone who needs help. No matter if he is an enemy or a member of another race or country. If he is in trouble and needs help I should help him if I can.

How much should we love our neighbor? Jesus says, "as you love yourself." You love yourself and see that you get enough food, see that your neighbor does too! You love yourself and see that you get good clothes, see that your neighbor does too! You love yourself and see that you have fun and good times, see that your neighbor does too! You love yourself and see that you have a job, see that your neighbor does too. You love your self and talk nice about yourself, talk nice about your neighbor too. You love yourself and hide your faults and weaknesses hide your neighbors faults, too!

This is God's good way of love: Love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourself. Can we do it? Often people think they can, but they are not honest with themselves. The Bible says we can't. "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6) God says in Psalm 14:1, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good." The Publican said, “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13)

We, too, must confess our failures as the Publican. John says in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:8, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

Let's be honest and confess: New cars, pleasures, beautiful homes, money - Don't we often love these things more than God? And our neighbor: Don't we often envy him, hate him and refuse to forgive him? This is not God's way of love. Lets confess our sins.

What is God's remedy? He shows us the good way of life, but we can't walk that way by ourself. His answer is Jesus Christ. The Scribe in our lesson was "close" to the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, "Thou are not far from the Kingdom of God." But he was not close enough. He did not confess his failure and he did not look to Jesus for help.

Jesus now tried to call him and the other Jews to Himself for help. (verses 35-37) He showed them that He was both David's Son and David's Lord - Son of God and Son of Mary. They should look to Him He will die for their sins.

As Jesus was their Savior so He is ours. When we believe that God loves us and forgives us although we are unworthy, that gives us power to improve in loving God and our neighbor as John says, "We love Him, because He first loved us." True we do not become perfect in loving God and our neighbor but we try and daily aim for that perfect goal. Daily we confess our sons and failures and daily receive His mercy and forgiveness. This is the way of life here and the way to heaven too.

Amen.