CAN YOU RELATE?
Our Most Important Relationship | September 13, 2026
Matthew 22:37-30, Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Devan Bumstead

MATTHEW 22:37-40 | NIV

DEUTERONOMY 6:4-5 | NIV
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

HEAR, O ISRAEL
Shema
Pro. 20:12, Gen. 29:33, Ps. 27:7, Ex. 19:5

THE LORD IS ONE
YHWH

LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD
Ahavah – Genuine affection that expresses itself through faithful action
Gen. 22:2, 1 Sam. 18:1, Deut. 7:7-8, Jer. 31:3, Deut. 4:37

WITH ALL YOUR: HEART
Lev – the control center of the human person
Pro. 14:33, 1 Kings 10:24, 1 Sam. 1:8

WITH ALL YOUR: SOUL
Nephesh – throat, a living being or whole person
Ps. 42:1

WITH ALL YOUR: STRENGTH
Me’od – Love God with all your muchness
Gen. 1:31, 7:19, 17:2

DEUTERONOMY 6:6-9 | NIV

LOVE GOD WITH EVERYTHING

“Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

“To love you as I should, I must worship God as Creator. When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. In so far as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving towards the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.”
C.S. Lewis, Letter to Mrs. Johnson

LIFE GROUP RESOURCES

SERMON SUMMARY
Feel free to read this message summary to the group before your discussion to refresh their memory on its central themes.

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.” In the Shema, those words call us to much more than simply believing in God or feeling affection toward Him. We are invited to love God with our whole inner life, our entire embodied existence, and everything we have—our whole “muchness.” God is not meant to be one relationship among many, but the relationship at the center that properly orders every other love in our lives. And this love doesn’t begin with us trying harder to love God; it begins with receiving the love He has already given us. As His love becomes more central in us, it should increasingly reshape the way we love our spouses, children, friends, coworkers, neighbors, and everyone around us.

LIFEGROUP QUESTIONS

1. Read Deuteronomy 6:4–9.
The Shema calls Israel to love God with their whole lives, then immediately tells them to build reminders of that love into ordinary daily rhythms. What stands out to you in this passage? What might it look like for the love of God to become more central in the normal rhythms of your day?

2. Read Matthew 22:37–40.
Jesus connects loving God with loving our neighbor and says the rest of Scripture “hangs” on these two commands. Why do you think Jesus refuses to separate our relationship with God from our relationships with people? How might the way you treat people reveal something about your relationship with God?

3. The sermon described lev (heart), nephesh (soul), and me’od (strength) as essentially saying, “Love God with everything.”
Which area feels easiest for you to give to God right now—your thoughts and desires, your embodied everyday life, or your time/resources/abilities? Which area is hardest to surrender?

4. Read Deuteronomy 7:7–8 and 1 John 4:19.
Both passages put God’s love first: He loves and acts toward us before asking for our love in return. How does knowing that our love is a response to God’s love change the way you hear the command to “love the Lord your God”?

5. The message described sin using Augustine’s idea of “disordered loves”—loving the wrong things or even loving good things in the wrong order.
What are some good things—family, success, relationships, security, comfort, approval, career—that can become unhealthy when we ask them to provide what only God can give? Is there one love in your own life that may need to be reordered right now?

6. Read Psalm 42:1–2.
The psalmist describes his whole nephesh longing for God like a thirsty deer longs for water. What have you been looking to lately for satisfaction, comfort, identity, or security? Where have you experienced the difference between those things satisfying you temporarily and God satisfying something deeper?

7. C. S. Lewis wrote, “When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.”
Think about one important relationship in your life. How might loving God more—not less—actually enable you to love that person better? What is one practical step you could take this week to intentionally put God back at the center?