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If you could ask Jesus any question, what would it be? If it was intended to stump Jesus, there’s no doubt He would answer it well. But what if Jesus asked YOU a question that YOU couldn’t answer? Today we are amazed by the question that clarifies the identity of Jesus.

Remember that this testing of Jesus wasn’t to prove he WAS the Messiah, but to prove that He WASN’T; they were attempting to “trap Him in his words” (Mt 22:15). 

Out of the 613 commands in the Old Testament (365 negative & 248 positive), there were several differing views on the most important command. 

• Rabbi Hillel (whose ministry flourished around 20 BC) - is said to have been approached by a Gentile convert who asked him to summarize the whole law while he stood on one leg (it had to be a quick summation). He responded by inverting the ‘Golden Rule’ and something similar to, “Do not do to others what you don’t want done to you. This is the whole law; the rest is just commentary.”
• Maybe the man hoped Jesus would point people AWAY from the authority of the Scriptures and to His own teaching, thereby opening the door for the Pharisees to condemn Jesus for diluting the authority of the Scriptures.

Jesus boils the 613 Old Testament laws down into 2, quoting from Deut. 6:5 (Love Yahweh) and Lev. 19:18 (love your neighbor). We say it this way at Fellowship: Love God. Love People.

Everything from the Law & the Prophets (the Hebrew Scriptures) is under the umbrella of one of these 2 commandments.

• For example - the 10 Commandments God gave the Hebrew people demonstrate how all laws fall under the 2 commands to LOVE GOD and to LOVE PEOPLE.

To love God is to be devoted and obedient to our Creator & Provider - to love Him with every fiber of our being. We should think about Him, thank Him, live to honor him, and long to be in His Presence. 

Jesus quotes this phrase “Love the Lord Your God…” from the Hebrew Shema (Hebrew “hear”) from Deuteronomy         - a prayer that many Jews in Jesus’ day prayed 2 times a day - morning & evening.

We can’t LOVE HIM without being devoted to Him. We can’t LOVE HIM & live in disobedience to Him.

Feet to Faith 

Get in the Scriptures to know WHO God is & what God says. Think on His holiness, His graciousness, His justice. 

LIVE OUT what you read about. Put it into practice every day. 

Be aware of God’s constant PRESENCE. If we really lived like God was with us, it should impact what we say & what we do.

The spill-over from loving God with all we’ve got is the God-given ability to love people - to treat people He has made in His image as VALUABLE. Have a neighbor who is in need? We should help them the way we hope someone would help us.

This is not a new command, but an old one. Jesus is once again quoting from the Hebrew Scriptures (Lev 19:18).

Leviticus 19:9–18 (NET) When you gather in the harvest of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. You must not pick your vineyard bare, and you must not gather up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God. You must not steal, you must not tell lies, and you must not deal falsely with your fellow citizen. You must not swear falsely in My Name, so that you do not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. You must not oppress your neighbor or commit robbery against him. You must not withhold the wages of the hired laborer overnight until morning. You must not curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person. You must fear your God; I am the LORD. You must not deal unjustly in judgment: you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. You must judge your fellow citizen fairly.You must not go about as a slanderer among your people. You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the LORD. You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him.You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the children of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD [Yahweh].

This is vivid imagery of what it means to love your neighbor - people created in the image of God. When someone asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” - Jesus responded by telling the story of the Good Samaritan, where a person from a different tribal race - whose ancestors had fought one another - cared for a Jewish man he had never met, who had a need he could meet. The importance of loving our neighbor is echoed by the New Testament authors - Paul (Rom 13:9, Gal 5:14) & James (Jam 2:8). 

❖ To love your neighbor as yourself is to treat people with value & help meet their needs. 

• Be consistently kind. People need friends - someone who will treat them like they matter. 
• Share your stuff with those in need. (e.g. money, a meal, or a ride)
• Be quick to forgive & restore. People will hurt you, but we must be willing to forgive & restore - the way Jesus does for us.
• Speak the truth in love. It is NOT loving to nod in agreement when our neighbors are hurting others & living for lies.

We have seen several times in this writing that the Messiah was to be “the Son of David”. This could not have meant that David was his dad, as David had died 1000 years before Jesus starts His ministry.

Many of the people who saw the amazing things Jesus did thought He just might be “the Son of David” (Mt 12:22-23, 21:9).

Matthew begins this gospel with these words:

Matthew 1:1 (NIV) This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

While the religious leaders would have disputed the claim that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of David - it was an undisputed fact that the TRUE messiah would be “the Son of David”. 

First, Jesus claims that David was speaking by the Spirit in writing this text - that’s Scripture - God speaking TO people THROUGH people by what He has led to write. This Scripture Jesus quotes comes from Ps. 110:1. How is it that King David calls the Messiah - someone who would have been a great, great….grandson - my Lord?!!! 

• If KING DAVID were alive on earth, he would bow his knee to this Messiah and declare HIM to be the MASTER

Although the Greek text from this passage uses essentially the same term - kurios - lord - the originating Hebrew text uses 2 different terms here (Yahweh & doni).

Yahweh, the One true God, tells the One whom David calls my Lord to sit at Yahweh’s right hand until I put your enemies under your feet - the right hand being the place of honor and authority, as enemies are forced to bow to his authority.

Using an enemy as a footstool is ancient imagery for defeating an enemy, as the conquering king would place his foot on the neck of the defeated leaders as a footstool (Joshua 10:24). This is what WILL happen to the enemies of the Messiah - in the future, forced to BOW before Him.

So, just WHO IS this Messiah? 

 He is the one that King David will FREELY bow before - His Lord - His authority, while the very men being asked this question will be FORCED to bow before the Messiah - the One they have labeled an enemy - the One they have been planning to kill.

The Messiah is no mere teacher, miracle worker, or prophet! The Messiah - “the son of David”, is the one King David calls his Lord! And that Messiah is standing in their midst - Jesus is that One the Scriptures have spoken of!

What Kind of Man Would God in Skin BE?

Bernard Ramm gives answers that question like this: 

1. We would expect Him to be sinless.
2. would expect His words to be the greatest words ever spoken.
3. We would expect Him to have profound power over human personality - like being able to stump the most intelligent people.
4. We would expect Him to perform supernatural miracles.
5. And we would expect Him to demonstrate the love of God. 

* Of all human beings who have ever lived, Jesus Christ alone met all of those criteria.

• Will YOU - like King David - call the Messiah - Jesus - your Lord! - the One who you bow your knee to - the One you obey above all others?

OR…will you wait too late, and one day be FORCED to bow - an enemy forced to become a footstool? 

The day is coming for us - the day when we will either DIE or be alive when the Lord Jesus returns. And on that day…You WILL bow.

The day is coming when ALL will bow our knees and confess with our mouths that JESUS is Lord. That IS going to happen. The only question is...Will You Bow NOW? 

Take some time to discuss these questions with your family, friends, or group.

1. Read Matthew 22:35-40. What are the 2 greatest commands and can you give examples how all the commands of God hang on these 2?
2. Take some time to share what it should look like to 1) Love God 2) Love People. Consider looking at the FEET2FAITH challenges for some ideas.
3. Did you know that “love you neighbor as you love yourself” came from the Old Testament (Lev 19:18)? How did hearing the context of that passage (Lev 19:9-18) give insight into what it looks like to really love your neighbor?
4. Read Matthew 22:41-46. Why does Jesus’ question stump the religious leaders? How does King David’s response (Ps 110:1) to the Messiah model what OUR response should be to the Messiah? How does this passage demonstrate that the Messiah - Jesus - was more than just a special man?
5. What criteria did Bernard Ramm propose for identifying the Messiah, and how does Jesus fulfill these criteria?
6. Read Philippians 2:9-11. As you read this text, does it excite you or concern you? What does it cause you to think about friends & family who have yet to bow their knee to Jesus? 
7. What does God want YOU to do with what we studied today?
8. How can we pray for/care for one another this week? (Pray for one another.)