Jesus & Greatest Commandment

Let's try that again. Good morning. There's a commercial on the radio that I've heard a few times and it's always left me kind of surprised, a little perplexed. The commercial is encouraging folks to sign up for being foster parents. And I want to say that that is a fantastic ministry. If, as we're thinking about loving your neighbor as yourself, there's a few ministries that are more, it's a fantastic way of loving your neighbor as yourself than foster parents. But the ad is trying to appeal to people to sign up for it. And the appeal is, you don't have to be a perfect parent, you just have to have unconditional love. And as I think about that, I'm thinking, how many people have unconditional love like that? It's assuming something about everyone as if unconditional love is a low bar or readily available for most people. How many people think, oh yeah, I've got that all the time in every way? I say that because I think we oftentimes overestimate our power to love, and I think we oftentimes underestimate or undervalue God's love. This morning we're thinking about the great commandments, the most important commandments according to Christ that center around this word, love. If you're new with us, we're walking through the book of Mark. We're in Mark chapter 12. If you don't have a Bible, please take that one with you. We're on page 848. And as we've been walking through the Gospel of Mark, we've seen Christ teaching his disciples, healing, proclaiming he must suffer, die, rise again. The disciples still aren't getting it quite yet. He goes up to Jerusalem for the last time, and if we look at just chapter 12, you can see there's different groups. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, all these different folks who are religious leaders are trying to trick Jesus. I used to be a grader in seminary, and I got to teach sometimes, so the professor was out. In Everly, whenever the substitute teacher's in, the students play a game I call Stump the Chump. The goal is to see if the new guy is foolish or not, and it was a given, it happened. But you see here that the religious leaders, they're trying to stump Jesus. And over and over again, he just answers so wisely. And then that great declaration of verse 34. No one dared ask him anything. They keep coming thinking they've got a trick, some kind of little, little leverage. If, you know, if he answers one way or the other, we've got him. And every time he proclaimed the Word of God with absolute truth and wisdom, and no one dared ask him anything anymore. Well, this last section, it's not as much of a confrontation as before. You know, if you just go back to the Sadducees, Jesus says to them, you're wrong, verse 24. And then verse 27, you're quite wrong. And then notice there's a scribe. That's a legal position in the synagogue and in the temple. Someone who is responsible for the transcribing and interpretation of the law. They have great authority. He overhears Jesus. And we see a different approach. Instead of a group coming to Jesus to try to trap him, we see an individual coming with a real question with a posture of learning. If you're taking notes and you want an outline, I'm gonna try to outline the story as it's presented, and then we'll come back and focus more on those two last commandments. The first section, an honest question. An honest question, that's verse 28. And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, which commandment is the most important of all? Again, this is a different approach. It's not a preconceived group that are coming with an idea, coming with some questions that you're gonna try to stump him. It appears as if he's recognizing, okay, every time we ask this guy a question, he comes up with just the right answer. I'm gonna ask him the question I really want answered and see what happens. He asks another question. What is the most important commandment? Now, this is important. We think about 613 commandments in the Old Testament, and then the Torah. 613, and so this scribe, this man who is given the authority to interpret God's Word by the people, as he's appointed, he's coming and asking, what is the most important? And this was a question that was circulating during the day. Here are some other options that some scribes or Pharisees or religious leaders gave. One option, the given, was what you would not want done to you, do not do to your neighbor. Kind of the golden rule flipped upside down in the negative. That was one option presented by Jewish leaders. What you would not want done to you, do not do to your neighbor. That was the most important rule. Now notice that's just relating how we, speaking of how we relate to one another. Another option was quoting Proverbs 3.6. In all your ways, acknowledge God. He will make your path straight. That makes sense as an important law. It's very clear, and so many of the laws can be brought up underneath it. Or, the righteous shall live by faith. Another option. What I wanted to see here, though, is the scribe, he seems to be coming with a different posture, a different kind of question. He actually wants information. And so Jesus answers him differently. The second point in our story. A true answer. We have an honest question and now a true answer. Jesus does not confront him like he has the previous. Right? The Pharisees, he points out, you're just flattering me. The Sadducees, he points out, you're quite wrong. Here, he just answers. The most important is this. He quotes Deuteronomy 6.4. Here, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And then he adds to it Leviticus 19. The second is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Now, he asked for the most important, and Jesus gave him two. As far as we know, this is the first time these two commandments are actually put together. Jesus is the first, as the actual author of God's Word, the commandments, he is the first to put them together. Now, the question, what is the most important law? Jesus literally, he answers him, the most important is, and then he says there's no commandments greater than these. So what does it mean to have more important and less important? Remember last week we talked about how marriage is an ultimate, but it's important. We have a hard time wrestling with things that aren't most important or less important. To be very clear, God speaks, and that's a blessing. He gives us commandments. and laws, and those are good for us. You can meditate upon Psalm 119 or Psalm 19 and just hear how the law is good, it is right, it is pleasing. If we go to the before sin existed in the world, Genesis 128, God blessed them and said, be fruitful and multiply. God blessed them with that commandment. Blessings come in the form of God telling us what he expects. The laws and the commandments, they're good because they reflect his character. The laws and the commandments are good because they tell us what he wants. He doesn't leave us guessing. That's good. Jesus also teaches us in Matthew 517 that not one word of the law is to be ignored or abandoned. but every part of the law will be fulfilled. So we think about greater and lesser. There's no point of the law that is supposed to be laxed or ignored. And we see this most importantly, this is where it gets a little complicated. I'll be very clear. The purpose of the law, first and foremost, if we are to look at it from our perspective, is to see how we fail. It's to see that we sin. It's actually to help us see how far we fall short and how much we need salvation and grace and forgiveness. When we think about the law, it teaches us about God, it shows us how sinful we are, and when Jesus says the whole law must be fulfilled, we have to look and say, praise God, Jesus Christ came to fulfill that law. He's the only one who obeyed all the laws at all times. He's the one who came to be perfectly obedient when we could not, and then he died the death that we deserve, and then he rose again to give us new life and forgiveness. So as we're meditating and thinking about the law, I just want to back out and make sure we understand, the law is good. And when you look at the law and you see, I fail, the law is actually having its proper work. To point you to Jesus, the only one who actually fulfilled the law? And Christian, we are not a lawless people. We have been saved by grace to now look to Christ and fulfill His law. That's the actual words from Galatians 6 too. Paul tells us we are now to fulfill the law of Christ. Now, to get back into this specific text, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6, 4. It's what the Israelites would call the Shema, because the first word is Shema. It means here. It's the Hebrew word for here. H-E-A-R. The Shema is kind of like the Lord's Prayer. It's just that one verse that everyone recognizes is, as the Lord's Prayer is to Christianity, the Shema is to Judaism. And it makes it very clear there's a statement. God is one. There is no other. This is important for Israel because they were constantly lured into practicing paganism. They were constantly seeking to worship other gods, and it's very clear that Yahweh is the one true God. The one who created The one who speaks promises, the one who keeps those promises, the one who redeemed you from Israel, there is one God. And flowing from, following from the truth that there's one God, we're supposed to have one direction. Love the Lord your God. And the repeated word is always an important word. As you look at a text, you always want to ask, what are the repeated words? Well, what's the repeated word? All. Just as there's one God, we have one direction, with all your heart, all your strength, all your mind, all your understanding. Love isn't something that actually happens to you. Love is something that flows out from you. It could actually be easily translated, love the Lord your God from your heart, from your soul, from your mind, from your strength. Love is something that flows out from you towards another. And just to be very clear, as we think about love, you were designed to love. You are always loving. The question is, who? It's not just all of a sudden start loving God. No, it's you're loving something as if God. What do you need to bend your heart from so that it is toward God? There's one God. He is not divided. We are not to have a divided affection. We are not to be double-minded in lacking faith. We're not to be double-hearted in love. An example here is Cain. You know, some people think Cain, his sacrifice wasn't accepted because of the grain offering. No, that's not the case at all. Abel brought the first fruits. He gave him all his love. Cain brought some. He, he brought what was left over. He, he brought what, what wasn't the best. He didn't love the Lord your God, God with all his heart. He, he, he was willing to give him a sacrifice of some. Oh look, God's what I gave you. God, God, God doesn't need our sacrifice. God has created us so that we can enjoy Him and know Him and His love. It's not part of us. It's not a divided us. It's all of us. You know, we think in a secular versus sacred. Our culture teaches us to think this way. You're supposed to love the Lord your God with all your heart at church. Okay, we can all say, all right, yeah, I get that. How about at home? How about at church? Or the work? How about at the park? All right, we love the Lord your God in all times, in all places, in every way. So it's a high command. And then Jesus says that the second is this. There's the most important, love the Lord your God, and then the second is important, that it is coming in the second place. He quotes Leviticus 19, 18. Love your neighbor as yourself. Important, that qualifier. Love the Lord your God with all, with all, with all, with all. The qualifier's important for loving your neighbor as yourself. Not as you think your neighbor deserves, but as you love yourself. There's no greater commandments than these, because these two summarize the entire law. If you look at the Ten Commandments, there's a vertical aspect of the Ten Commandments. You are to have no other God before you. You are to have no other image. You're not to take the Lord's name in vain. That's the vertical commandments. Loving the Lord your God. than the horizontal commandments. Honor your parents. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not covet. Those are the horizontal commandments. We see how both of these two most important commandments encompass the entirety of God's law. We are created to love God first and love our neighbor as ourself. Make it another way. We cannot say we love God and then curse our neighbor. They're connected. They're intertwined. It's not an either-or. I'm going to love God or my neighbor. They're necessarily connected. Let me say it another way here. Loving the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind. That is the end goal. There is no other. There's no other end. That is the ultimate end. Loving your neighbor is a way that you love God. It's part of your worship. Loving your God means you will be loving your neighbor. These two commands go together. Our third point, starting in verse 32, we see the scribe, he's an agreeable student. We have an honest question, we have a true answer, we see an agreeable student. The scribe says, you're right. He is the right one he's talking to. Oh God, you're right. Thanks, the author of the commandments, for telling me what is the most important commandment. But notice the Sanhedrin, everyone who comes from there, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, they all address him as teacher, but he's the one who really means it. Well said, teacher. It's amazing how posture matters in this situation. Unlike his friends in the Sanhedrin, The scribe, he's coming with a posture, really wanting an answer. And you see how much more pleasant this entire experience is for him. He recognizes the truth of what Jesus says. You have truly said that he is one and there is no other beside him. He's reciting what he's already, what Jesus said, but it's in a way of saying, I now realize what you've said and I'm going to say it back to you in agreement. You've truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all your heart, and with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself. That's right. But notice how he gives us an interpretation here in the last part of verse 33. This is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. The scribe is making it clear. He sees loving God is more important than the expression of that love. He's saying the outward expression of worship without the love is empty. Love God more than sacrifice. To obey is better than sacrifice. Anyone ever just feel kind of guilty and confused, that all you're doing is going through the actions. This is what we're getting at right here. I'm just going through the expressions of what should be love, but my heart's empty. My mind is thinking about everything and anything but God right now, but I'm here, I'll sing the words, I'll go through the actions, I'll go through what should be an expression of love, but But I'll at least express it. I want to be clear. Loving the Lord your God has clear outward expression. But we can just too easily think we're doing the right thing by simply going through the actions that are the outward expression of worship. And to recognize practice leads to the right heart. Practice means we're disciplining our hearts. But practicing without a true love is hypocrisy. Jesus responds, verse 34, an encouraging affirmation. And when Jesus saw he answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that, no one dared ask him anything. It appears as if everybody who's overhearing this, everyone is, there's a crowd, because remember the scribe's overhearing the Sadducees' conversation. The Sadducees are still there. Everyone who's listening recognizes he just told us the most important commandment. Everyone recognizes we've got to quit asking questions because he just keeps looking like the truth and we look foolish. But look at this affirmation for the scribe. You're not far from the kingdom. But remember, the scribe has an amazing amount of authority. According to the religious practices, according to the religious Sanhedrin, the scribe had great authority to interpret the Word, and Jesus first shows the scribe he has ultimate authority to judge the Word. Make sense? So Jesus is showing, I have ultimate authority. I have the true authority to interpret God's Word, unlike the scribe. But he just did something more. He just told the scribe, I have authority over you. He just spoke authoritatively over the scribe. You're not far from the kingdom. Now, he also spoke authoritatively over the Sadducee. You're wrong. You're quite wrong. Here with a scribe, it's, you're not far. Now, why would he say you're not far? The scribe has said, you're right, teacher. That the scribe has showed himself agreeable to what Jesus is teaching. I believe the not far, or the fact that he's not there, shows that he hasn't really turned in faith yet. You see, we can hear Jesus. We can find what He says agreeable, we can like what He says, but yet not actually turn in repentance and faith to follow Him. Jesus has made it very clear to be His disciple, to be part of the Kingdom of God means you deny yourself, you carry your cross, you follow Him. You just don't nod your head. You do have to nod your head. But He's not yet part of the Kingdom, because He's not yet said, I'm going to give up all of my life to follow You with all of my heart, with all my strength, with all of my understanding. Another question I think we're supposed to be asking. How far am I from the Kingdom? How much does my life reflect loving God with all my being? How much do I love my neighbor as myself? If that is a true mark of the expression of being loved by God, of being a child of God, of being in the kingdom, how obvious is it that I am in the kingdom? As we think about this passage, I want to meditate on those two great commandments, those two most important commandments, as Jesus says, a little bit more. Let me read what Jesus says in verse 29 once more. The most important is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. So I'm gonna ask some questions as we go through this just to make sure we understand what's happening here. Who are we supposed to love? Who are we supposed to love? It's the God of Israel. It's the God who made himself known to Abraham and to Moses. It's the God who has given promises. It's the God who says in the most loving, clear way, what is actually most loving, I'm with you and I'm for you. Anyone who stands against you, I'm against. That's a definition of God's love. He's the God who created, who redeemed, who spoke his word, who gave instruction, who is committed to be with his people. More specific, we can see that this same God is revealed in the New Testament as our Father. God the Father who chose us, who predestined us, who adopted us as his own children, whose actions are all of love, who provides and protects for his people. We can see this Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He's born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered her Pontius Pilate. He died on the third day. He rose again. He's at the right hand of the Father, and he will return. He walked among us to know us. to be with us, to be for us. He came to serve. He came to share His inheritance of love with us. It's God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. The Spirit of truth, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit who seals our hearts, the Spirit who opens the eyes of our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, I'm a Father for us. This is the one God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And it's amazing if you think about it, He's not only the object of our love, but He's the one who's made love possible by, by being love. God is love, and we know He's love because the Son died for us. We know He's love because the Holy Spirit seals us and allows us to love. We love Him because He first loved us. So who do we love? It's the God who has revealed himself as perfect love towards us. Secondly, what is love? We use this word in so many odd ways. We need to make sure we understand that the object of our love really defines the kind of love, right? I love flowers. I love yard work. I love cheeseburgers. I love my wife. I love God. Those are different kinds of love. Right? And in Augustine he says, a wise life is one whose loves are properly ordered. That is, the most important things that are loved must be loved most. The simple condition is, is we typically always love things that are not where they're loved with the greatest love. Love is a choice. You see this from Deuteronomy 7. When God defines His love for us, He doesn't say, you look so lovely, so I just had to have you. No, He says, when you're at your worst, no matter how much you sin or how little you are, I have loved you. I loved you because I loved you. It's an inward commitment to someone outside. I want to say God's love towards His Son is unconditional. That is a mutual forever love. God's love towards us is not unconditional. The condition was His Son had to die to remove our sin so that He could put His love on us and let us enjoy it. That's the great condition of God's love towards us. His Son had to suffer and die And then it never leaves. If we think about what is love, it's us turning our hearts back towards Him who is most lovely. So why should we love God? It's what we're created for. There's no higher calling. This is the chief end of man, to enjoy Him forever, to delight in Him who is most lovely. And when God commands this, He's not saying love something that's unattractive or not worthy. He's saying, love me who's most satisfying. I'd love to get into this a little bit more, but our culture's insistence that we just love ourselves more, the problem is we're so turned in on ourselves, we're causing problems. The heart is most healthy when it's bent up towards God. Love Him who has first loved us and is most lovely. How do we love God? Simply put, Jesus says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Simply put, it's taking our affections away from things that are destructive and sin and putting them upon God. It's seeking to have our lives ordered according to God's priorities because His commandments are good to lead us. Think about when you've had a significant other. If you're married, you go back to when you started dating. Do you remember how much your time commitments changed all of a sudden? Like your whole life gets turned upside down because that other person changes everything about what you eat, how you eat, when you eat, where you eat. A lot of eating and dating. But think about how much love altered your entire life. That's how it is with God. As we grow in love, He alters our priorities. He makes them better. There's something when you're entering that kind of loving relationship, there's an expectancy. There's an excitement. You're not late. You come expectant. This is how God invites us to come to Him. Expectant in love. The second commandment. Love your neighbor as yourself. Again, we see the same word love is used, but we have a different object, we have a different qualifier. There's different kinds of love. The neighbor. Now the neighbor is somebody who's next to you. Right? It could be somebody who's like you, but probably not. Whoever's next to you, whoever's closest to you, your neighbor, or the other human beings around you. It could be your spouse, could be a stranger. You know, when the Pharisees asked Jesus, who's my neighbor? We need to understand what they're looking for is a loophole. Just like we do. Where's the loophole that lets me out of the commandment that I don't have to love that person as myself? The Pharisees, they wanted to figure out a way of saying, like, because of where they came from, or the way they've acted, or the way they've treated me, I don't have to love them as myself. And Jesus makes it very clear, no, there's no loopholes in this. There's no room for hate. Look, some folks are more difficult to love than others. It's interesting how water is, it always follows the flow of least resistance. When our love is like that, we're not acting Christian, right? Your heart, if it flows to those who are easier to love, that doesn't make you more Christian. If your heart's like a river and it's always avoiding certain people, that's not acting like a Christian. That's letting your love lead you. It's very clear, you are called, we are called to discipline our loves. It's not a matter of the path of least resistance, it's putting our love where God says to, on Him first. If you let your love follow the path of least resistance, it's always going to go towards sin and selfishness. That's just what happens. Every human being is made in God's image. Love is the mark of a true believer. One of the things that really should mark Christians is that we're willing to love our enemies. That is one of the clear, ethical, unique aspects of Christianity. So who do we love? It's all human beings, no matter what. As ourselves. What is love? What does it mean to love your neighbor? What is love? You know, it's pretty amazing when we think about this. Loving God is hard and He's the most lovely. Loving our neighbor is hard because they're sinners like us. But we have to kind of remember that. Others are sinners like us. Love is setting our affection on even those who are difficult, even those who are prickly. There's no loopholes. Loving is putting yourself in a position to be with someone and for someone. Why should we love others? Because loving others is one of the most important ways we love God. Because loving others is one of the most important things we can do as humans. To love God with all your heart, that is the most human thing you can do. To love your neighbor, that's the second. The world's full of hate, anger, and jealousy. The church should not be. Be patient, gentle, kind, forgiving. How do we love our neighbor? As yourself. That's the measure. You're successful if others truly feel like you've prioritized them as if you're loving yourself. We can say the commandments. You can meditate upon Romans 12 and 13 here. Outdo one another in showing honor. I love the competitiveness Paul introduces there. Do not return evil for evil. Stay focused on speaking kind words. Don't get dragged down in slander and gossip. It's amazing what kind, gentle words can do in the midst of hostility. It's the test of a Christian. If you only love those who you find lovely, you're not really exercising what Christ has commanded. Love those who are unlovely as we would love ourselves. There's a few practical, very focused points. There are corporal works of mercy, ways you can love your neighbor in a corporal way. Feed the hungry. It's very clear this is an expectation that if you were to see somebody in need, you would actually try to meet that physical need. Visit the imprisoned, visit the sick. It's been so encouraging to have a number of folks ask, where are the homebound and the sick? I want to start visiting people. That is a way of loving your neighbor as yourself. The spiritual works of mercy. Admonish the sinner. Well, when you see somebody going astray, admonish them. Correction is a godly, kind thing to do. But as Galatians tells us, it's to be done with gentleness. Instruct the young and the ignorant. Teaching God's Word to those who do not know it. Sharing the Gospel. That is a spiritual work of mercy. A way of loving your neighbor as yourself. Comfort those in sorrow. Bear the burdens of the brothers and sisters. Forgive all injuries. You cannot love while linking yourself steadily upon the sin that you perceive against you. Love demands forgiveness. Bear wrongs patiently. And finally, the way to actually discipline your heart and love your neighbor in the most significant way, pray. Pray to the God who is love that you would know how to love them, that they would be loved, that they would experience love. As we conclude, I want to make it very clear, the only way to truly enjoy the full blessing that God has intended for us, the God of love who has poured himself out of us as Father, Son, and Spirit, is to seek first our identity in His love. Not in our love for one another. That'll change. That's fickle. That's not gonna work. Your identity, your purpose is first and foremost found in God loving you so that you can now love Him. And then that flows over into how we love one another. That is how to live the truly blessed life. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your kindness that you have been patient with us. We thank you for your love that overflows in such a clear, demonstrable way that your Son died so that we can know you and your love. May your Spirit stir in our hearts. Lord, convict us. for that little secret compartment of our own heart and soul and mind and strength that we have reserved for sin. Burst that open and help us to love you with all of ourselves, with all of our being. Help us, Lord, to not believe this lie that there's some kind of sacred and secular, Lord. All of our lives are meant to be lived for you. Lord, help us to know how to love our neighbor, especially that neighbor who professes faith in Christ, that other commandment to love your brothers as Christ has loved us. What an even higher calling we haven't even thought of today. Lord, help us be so full of your love that we overflow to others. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.