Message Delivered July 5, 2026
Exodus 34:6
6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:
“The Lord! The Lord! a God who is compassionate and Gracious (Merciful),
very patient, overflowing with loyal love and faithfulness.
Matthew 22: 34-40
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
God’s Nature is to Love. And not some fleeting interest, but a Loyal, Compassionate, Enduring Love. We are the result of a creative God, who made us to love us.
The kind of love that is talked about in our Old Testament passage Exodus 34:6
Do we have any creative people in the house?
When I say creative, I’m not just talking about artists and poets. A creative in this context is anyone who enjoys creating something. Who has that itch to make or grow or develop something. You could be a person who builds with wood or hopes to rebuild a car. Anyone who gardens has a creative heart. You could be a person who bakes, or cooks and endeavors to create a meal. Your creative energies might result in a comfortable home, a healthy family, or the perfect lawn. Maybe you like to take just the right picture or write a really good letter.
The more I started thinking about this the more I realized that creativity manifests in anything that we do that we really care about and consider to be of worth. I think most people, have embedded in them an itch to do creative things. To have goals that they envision. Things that are a product of their energy and that brings them joy and pride, and fulfillment.
As a people who are made in God’s image, I like to think that we get this hankering to make and imagine from our Creator. That these endeavors are a reflection of God’s character within us.
OK. I can hear it already. You are going to say, what about all the creative processes that fail. Like we are sitting in our Art Bible Study and the artwork just doesn’t work out. We look at and think…. I don’t have a creative bone in my body. Have you ever heard the term, “Nailed it”?
As funny as these are, and I’m sure these folks tried, they are trying to imitate creations that people made who had probably spent years learning the skills to make really beautiful cakes. The folks who make the beautiful cakes, for them it was a labor of love. A labor through which they had probably suffered many failures, but with patience and perseverance have become masters of their craft and can now post their cakes to Pinterest and put the rest of us to shame.
I’m going to say, that there are many things I have tried that I was not particularly good at…. Usually, it was because I was impatient and didn’t really want to study the skills needed to really master something. Sometimes I wasn’t good at it because I had no talent for it. And sometimes I wasn’t particularly good at it because I didn’t care enough, so I didn’t have patience for it. In short, I didn’t love it.
But I’m telling you, once I have poured my energy and imagination into something, and feel some level of ownership of it, I am thoroughly invested. That thing becomes my baby, you know. I don’t know if this feeling can even come close to how God feels about us. We, and all created things, are the things that he has poured his creative energy into. He loves us implicitly.
It would take something extremely drastic to change all of that. Think about it, what would your children have to do for you to stop loving them? Or if you don’t have children, then your favorite person or a beloved pet? Once you have fully given your love to another living thing especially those that are under your umbrella of care, it would be like losing a part of yourself to lose them. If they fall short in some way you would forgive them. You would always hope for fullness of life for them and for their highest good.
But, for a lot of Christians they walk in fear. Fear that they have done wrong and that God will not forgive them or that they aren’t good enough. But as it is said in 1 John that Perfect love drives out fear. That perfect love is that Jesus sacrificed himself for us. There is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends. And you are worthy of this.
If there is anything that I want to reassure you of today is the capacity of God to fully love each and everyone of us. This is a challenge to you, because a lot of us walk around feeling unworthy. But that simply isn’t true.
The word that is translated in Exodus 34:6 as loyal love is the Hebrew Khesed. Khesed (or hesed) is a rich word used throughout the Bible that combines love, generosity, and enduring commitment into a single concept. It describes an active, promise-keeping loyalty and steadfast love driven by deep personal care, rather than an obligation or merit.
When we talk about God’s loyal love, we aren’t talking about the kind of passionate or romantic love that can burn itself out, we are talking about sustaining love that picks you up when you fall down, brushes you off, and makes sure you are OK.
Our assurance of pardon today used the word khesed: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)
In fact the word Khesed is used 250 times in the old testament: According to Rev. James A. Wetzstein, The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation frequently translates the Hebrew word KHESED by the phrase “steadfast love”(e.g., Genesis 32:10). Other times, it’s “everlasting love” (e.g., Isaiah 54:8). Other translations offer “lovingkindness.” Depending on the context, it’s also rendered as “loyalty” (Ruth 3:10) (regarding Ruth’s Khesed for Naomi when she says that I will go where you go and your people shall be my people) or “mercy” as in the well-known verse, Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”
What a fabulously diverse word.
So, God loves us. What are we to do with that?
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”
According to our gospel today, we are to Love God in return. I don’t know if you remember that I have preached on the Luke version of this scripture before, where Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 also known as the Shema. And what do you think the word used for “love” is in the Shema? You guessed it, Khesed.
The Shema is a prayer that all Jews recite daily. We actually focused on this prayer in our Art Study last winter. So, when Jesus quotes the Shema, to the Pharisee, he is citing scripture that the Pharisee is intimately familiar with.
It is a verse we should take to heart as well. We are to Khesed God with all that we have, with all that we are.
Jesus is aware in this passage that the Pharisees are growing concerned about his interpretations of scripture (they are like those folks out there today who will tell you that their interpretation of scripture is the only interpretation of scripture.) And so, the Pharisees are legalistically testing him, but he cites the scripture they know so well to make it clear that the law above all laws is to love God.
So, what does that mean to love God, as one commentator wrote, “whole lifed-ly”
Golly, when I think about God’s Khesed for us and that we are to return the same kind of love to him, I get a little overwhelmed by the mystery of what that looks like. We are practical hands-on people, that is how God created us to be. We are busy beavers, out in the world doing things, so maybe showing our Khesed for God is going to look like loving our fellow created things and taking care of God’s creation. Maybe loving God is going to look like real and serious worship. God gave his only begotten son so that we may have fullness of life, so maybe Loving God is going to look like sacrifice and doing hard things, taking up the cross, and putting on the yoke. Maybe loving God is going to look like loving the unlovable. Loving God is going to look like honoring him by showing compassion when we are told to show compassion, being merciful when we are called to be merciful, and remaining faithful to God’s ways.
Other scriptures help us in this. These are all from Matthew and they are all red letter sayings:
Matthew 5:43-44 says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Matthew 7:12 says, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. – Matthew 7:12
Matthew 19:19 says, “Honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’ –
Loving God is going to look a little like making him proud in how we treat our relationships in the world, with people who are close to us and people that we barely know, and people that we barely like. Jesus, shows us the way. He came, peeled back the curtain, and continues to show us the priorities of God.
How do you show your love for God? I’ll start off with an example:
I know that one of the ways I express my love for God is by basking in creation. I feel the evidence of God when I get out in raw, unadulterated nature. And I don’t worship nature, I worship in nature. I feel God in the wind through my hair and the sun on my face and I see him flying on the wings of the birds. I hear God’s voice in the birdsong, and in the rustling of grass. These things are not God of course but the are the evidence of his hand. Feeling God in the wind is not unlike going to a museum and staring long and hard at one of Claud Monet’s Water Lilies. Doing so may help you to understand Monet better, to be drawn into his world, and see the world through his eyes.
I have been doing some digging into our roots, as Presbyterians, our roots to some extent lie in Celtic Christianity. This form of spirituality recognizes that the world is marked with the imprint of our maker. And so are we. And that creation is there with all the flora and fauna and land and sea and sky, so that humans, who are the focus of creation can see, can look around and learn about both our origin and our eventual end as earthly beings. So, one of the ways that I love God is to go out in nature and study it like a book, to know all that is has to teach me about God.
Jesus did this too, he retreated to be alone with God many times in nature, and so many of his parables and metaphors refer back to the natural world: the fig tree, and the vine, the birds of the field and the mustard seeds, the weeds and the grain. The natural world as witness has so much to share.
The Apostle Paul writes in his epistle to the Roman church that “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
Beyond what I learn out in creation, science shows us that nature is measurably good for our health, and it restores our peace and is good for our souls, and often when I’m out there, I break into song. Another way that I can express my love for God.
How do you express your love for God?
God radiates Love which he poured into Creation and he pours into us.
We are to love God with our whole lives. This can be through nature appreciation, song and study, worship and confession, partaking in the sacraments, and prayer and witness. Another way to love God is to want to be wholeheartedly led by him. God, I will go where you lead me.
Jesus tells us that our next priority is to Love others as we love ourselves.
In the version of this scene in Luke, I don’t know if you remember, but Jesus words are coupled with the parable of the Good Samaritan. This is our example of loving others. We love those who are related to us by blood, we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, we love our friends and coworkers. but then we are also called to love people who have nothing to do with us, like the Samaritan who took pity on a Jewish stranger. We do this because they are image bearers of God, and God loves them just as he loves us. This is regardless of nation, religion or socioeconomic status. We show love that is both Jesus example and command.
I think our church does this well. In the wardrobe we get all kinds of people, and our job is to make them feel loved and taken care of. We don’t care where you are from. Here is a shirt. Here is a coat. That is fulfillment of the law right there, in all it’s glory.
God loves us, we love God, and we love Others. But do you know what else is there in the verse, that maybe doesn’t get enough attention? The last but not least is the implication that we are to Love ourselves. Sometimes this can be the hardest of all. We know all of our faults intimately. We walk through the world being of service to others but failing to love ourselves. But Jesus is all about personal restoration. It is clear that is a large part of his earthly mission. Jesus heals the sick and the afflicted. Because he wants each and every one of us to be whole. And part of being whole is self-love.
Every mother of young kids knows that they can be a better mother if they take care of themselves. And sometimes that doesn’t feel right because it seems selfish. But it is essential that if you are to be of service to others you need to be healthy and whole and joyful. So, take care of you.
The call to love yourself is there and it is real. I have seen online Christian forums where someone comes under attack for using the word “I” too much. I’m hearing a lot of “me, me, me.” in what you are saying. While I think that being part of community and loving others does require a certain level of sacrifice, it does not call for complete self-denial or annihilation. You are still here, and you are worthy, and you are valued. You are worthy of God’s love, my love, and your own love. I hope this is a place where you can talk about your feelings and your struggles and be lifted up.
And I hope that we all live into who we are created to be, with our diversity of personalities and gifts and quirks. Our creative God made us in his image, but he did not make us all to be the same. That is evidenced by the diversity of humanity in the world. So be you, embrace your relationship with God, embrace the unique way he has gifted you, and use those gifts for service and to reflect his Glory.
And always keep in front of you as the driving force of your life the Divine Priority of overflowing Loyal Love.