The Greatest Commandment

If you have your Bible and I hope that you do, please turn with me to Mark 12. We are talking today about the Greatest Commandment. That’s kind of weird to hear about in our culture which is so prone to antinomianism. Antinomianism is a heresy that literally means “against the Law”. In other words, many Christians believe that we are under no compulsion to observe any of the Law of God.

What Christ teaches us of utmost importance to us because many Christians I know ask “What does God want me to do?” Working with teens for 15 years that was a massive question, right? “Who does God want me to marry?” “What should my profession be?” “Should I go to college, learn a trade, or enter the workforce?” There’s lots of questions and the best piece of advice I ever heard was from Charles Stanley who said that “God will not reveal His personal will for your life if you’re not following His moral will for your life.” In other words, God will not speak clearly to your heart while you walk in rebellion to His will.

Some of you know about John Wesley was the famous hymn writer and preacher along with his brother Charles that influenced much of English thought and the traditional Methodist movement in America. Wesley was born in 1703. He was the fifteenth child in his family. I know we have some larger families here but nothing like the Wesleys. He was a professor of Greek and logic at Lincoln College at Oxford University. He was ordained as a priest in the Church of England in 1728.

He joined a group called “Holy Club” which was attended by George Whitefield, the famous evangelist, and his brother Charles Wesley. There they committed themselves to devotional exercises, prayer, and the reading of the Greek New Testament. They would pray for an hour every day and meditate on the Scriptures. He committed himself to fast twice a week, visited prisons, helped the poor and the sick. He committed himself to destroy every sin in his own life and forgive others their sins against him.

In 1735 he left England to come to America as a missionary to the Native Americans in Georgia with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. It was an extremely difficult task, one which nearly cost him, his life. But it was there that he began to understand that he was not a convert of Jesus Christ. Yes, you heard me right. He wrote in his journal, “I went to America to convert the Indians; but, oh, who shall convert me?” It was through this season that he began to see the wickedness and waywardness of his own heart!

On the way back to England he met some Moravian Christians whose simple faith left a great impression upon him. Wesley once again wrote that that he was “clearly convinced of unbelief, of the want of that faith whereby alone we are saved.” In 1738 his Bible opened up to our passage today and his eyes fell upon the text that says “You are not far from the kingdom of God”.

Today, we are talking about the Law, but we’re also talking about the Gospel because they go hand in hand.

Let’s stand in honor of God’s Word as we study Mark 12:28-34

Mark 12:28–34 ESV

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “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 and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

We’ve been talking conflicts that have been occuring between Jesus and religious leaders. They’ve all taken their best shots at trying to get Jesus to stumble over His words and they’ve all failed. The scribe here was apparently very impressed with Jesus’ response to the Sadducees questions about the resurrection and so he seems to cut across everyone and ask a question of his own.

The question isn’t asked to entrap Jesus or anything. This seems like a really positive dialogue and it is amazing what happens when the Pharisees, as this scribe likely belonged to that particular group, approach Christ without pretense. There’s just a good question, right?

First point is

1. A Genuine Question

If you were to ask Jesus a question, what would it be? God never frowns on people that are sincere in their questioning. A question is sincere where it follows the following:

It’s honest in its intent. This scribe simply asks a question. Earlier in Christ’s ministry another scribe asked the same question and Jesus gives the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. That question was asked but the conclusion was much different than what we read about here.

There’s an honest curiosity. The scribe saw that Jesus answered the questions really well and so he asked Jesus a question that was important to him because of Jesus’ ability.

There’s respect. Tying in to Jesus’ ability to answer, the scribe obviously saw Jesus pointed to the Word. Even when for years the Pharisees had missed the truth of the resurrection in Genesis.

Active listening. The scribe as we see, responded back to Jesus’ words with thoughtfulness and clarity. He listened closely to the words of Jesus Christ.

The question is “Which commandment is the most important of all?” In the Old Testament there are 613 laws given to the people of Israel to observe. These can be placed in to three different categories: the moral law, civil law, and ceremonial law. The moral law deals with right and wrong. These are the ten commandments and the laws tied to them. The civil law are the laws that made Israel unique as a nation. Everything from dietary restrictions to feasts to circumcision. The ceremonial law dealt with the worship of God. Laws like the kind of incense to offer or the kind of sacrifices to make for atonement or guilt offerings.

So the scribe wants to know which of those 613 laws is the most important. What’s interesting is that Jesus doesn’t say, “They’re all important,” he agrees that one is more important than all the others. That word “important” is the Greek word protos which means first in rank or dignity. Which is the chief law?

2. Jesus’ Answer

Mark 12:29–31 ESV

Jesus answered, “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 and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The most important. The first in ranking, the lead, the chief is this “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Jesus directed the man’s attention to the most fundamental summary of man’s obligation that God gave to His people in the Old Testament, the Shema. Shema literally means “hear” or “give ear”. It is found in Deuteronomy 6.

I believe it is very significant that Jesus chose to cite this passage when asked to identify the highest-priority commandment. It points to the promise given from God to be with His people to take the Promised Land but it is a conditional covenant. If the people obey the Law, He will be with them. If they do not, He will withdraw His hand of blessing and they will not experience the favor of His presence.

Each day the Jews would recite the Shema. The Shema became so engrained with Jewish life that even today Jews have what’s called a Mezuzah on their doors. It’s a clay, metal, or wood case that contains Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Notice the distinct oneness of God. We believe that there is one God. There aren’t many gods. We don’t believe in three gods. We don’t believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three parts that make God. Like the Megazord from Power Rangers. Or three Beings that make one God. We believe as all Christians have believed from the beginning that “In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.”

And don’t miss that He is the Lord our God. He is not distant, unknown, or impersonal. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the deliverer and we are to love Him! Not because He commands it or because of what He has done but because of Who He is!

First: A Genuine Love for the Lord

To love God… that’s the first and greatest command. We can understand this as the primary concern or goal of all people. We believe along with the Puritans that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever! That word “love” there is agapao which is pure, strong, esteem and is used by Jesus in another place.

Matthew 6:24 ESV

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Paul uses it in Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

This love is not simply a fondness, but a strong love that radiates from purity and expresses itself as delighting in. And we are to love God in this way. It’s not a love to keep hidden, it’s not a love that only occurs on Sundays but is an all consuming affection for God and His presence.

This is why God instructs Israel to love Him with all their being and God defines it using heart, soul, mind, and strength. There’s a lot of overlap between all these words but what these four words really communicate is the entirety of the person. Jesus restates it emphatically before each noun that it is “with all” our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. This is the first and greatest commandment. Now… I want you to ask yourself this question… What does that mean?Think about it! What does it mean? What would it look like to love God this way?

This is the most important. The chief law. The scribes of the day distinguished between light and heavy laws. Jesus taught in this way as well: Matthew 5:19

Matthew 5:19 ESV

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 23:23 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

So there is a difference in weight and yet there is no such thing as a small sin in the life of a Christian. I don’t mean venial and mortal sin, I mean lesser and greater sin. Sin is sin and it is judged the same, but there’s a difference between eating shrimp and murder. But, a nuclear bomb will kill you as much as as 70 milligrams of arsenic. If I were to ask you what is the most serious sin of all what would it be? Murder? Adultery? Idolatry? Unbelief?

It seems to me to be reasonable that if The Greatest Commandment is to love God with all our being then the greatest sin is to not keep that command and that terrifies me because I haven’t always kept that command and if I’m honest, I still struggle with it. Let’s just be frank with each other, I don’t think any of us have kept the Great Commandment for an entire day.

I try to love God with all my heart and yet many times its distracted. I try with all my strength but I still fail every day. I try with all my mind and yet it’s so finite and dumb! I try with all my soul and yet my soul lives in the here and now and looks forward to eternity. It’s divided at best because I am an eternal creature living in a finite world.

But this command is not performative. We can’t obey our way into God’s presence and we aren’t going to be perfect in our love. My wife and I have a wonderful love! That’s for sure. She’s just the absolute best. One time, when we were first married she was learning how to cook. I remember one time she was making chicken breasts with some sides. Pretty simple but she’s always been terrified of undercooking chicken and making folks sick. I appreciate that but this first time it was dry and had the texture of shoe leather.

I wasn’t angry with her because her love was sincere and it wasn’t based on how good the chicken was. We laughed about it chewed through it. Loving God means the genuine intention behind our efforts rather than the perfection of our actions

We don’t live by performance in God’s Kingdom either. In other words… it’s not based on what people see around us. If someone doesn’t lie, we would call them honest. If someone is faithful to their spouse we would say they are loyal. If someone honors their father and mother we would say they are obedient. Those are good things but those things do not save. We are not saved by our keeping of the Law but rather we are saved by coming to the One Who kept that Law and His name is Jesus. Only Jesus loved God with His whole Person.

Second: A Genuine Love for Your Neighbor

Mark 12:31 ESV

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Rabbi Hillel who lived from 40 BC to 10 AD was approached by a Gentile who said, “I will convert to your God on the condition that you teach me the whole law while I stand on one foot” in other words, before I lose my balance. Hillel responded with a negative version of the Golden Rule, “What you yourself hate, do not do to your neighbor: this is the whole Law, the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.”

Jesus summarizes the true heart of God pleasing focus toward our neighbor not in negative commands but in a positive, loving attitude toward God and others. This is what Paul means in Romans 13:10

Romans 13:10 ESV

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

So according to our Lord, the who Law is summarized as a whole hearted response with a deep and genuine love to God and our neighbors. Jesus quotes this from Leviticus 19:18

Leviticus 19:18 ESV

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Both of these teachings were old. Ancient even. The rabbis had taught these things for centuries and yet Jesus is the first to bring them together. You see, Jesus takes the first four commandments from Exodus 20 deal with honoring the Lord. The second six deal with how to honor our neighbors. In our home we summarize our rules into these two categories because it’s comprehensive. If you find yourself in a moral quandry ask if it is loving to God and your neighbor.

The brilliance is not only found in their comprehensiveness but also to show that these loves are united, not divided. A right love of God will lead to a right love for neighbor. And a true love for neighbor will flow from a right love of God. 1 John 4:21

1 John 4:21 ESV

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Romans 13:8 ESV

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

But Jesus radicalizes this love for the standard to be “as yourself”. Love your neighbor as yourself. The point that Jesus is making is that we are to love our neighbors with the same purity and sincerity that motivates our love for God. But notice

3. The Scribes Response

Mark 12:32–33 ESV

And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

The scribe praises Jesus, thoughtfully recounting the words of the Lord. He agrees with Him in the entirety of Jesus’ answer. There’s no correction, no argumentation. There’s simply an agreement and even an acceptance of Christ’s words. Even more than that, the scribe understands that love for God and neighbor is even greater than all the civil and ceremonial laws!

The writer of Hebrews takes this point and says Hebrews 10:5-14

Hebrews 10:5–14 ESV

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

The reason Jesus’ sacrifice was effective was because of His love and obedience toward the Father.

Big Point: The greatest commandment urges us to live from a place of love for God and others, revealing that genuine faith expresses itself through relationship rather than mere adherence to rules.

Last thing:

4. Jesus’ Response

Mark 12:34 ESV

And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Coming back full circle, this verse is what John Wesley looked at as he considered the state of his own soul. The truth is that there are many who are not far from the Kingdom of God but what a warning that is! So close and yet still separated! How near we can be to the Kingdom without entering it! It’s like standing on Jordan’s banks and seeing the Promised Land but not entering into it! What kept Israel from going in? Was it not a refusal to take God at His Word? Instead they leaned on their own understanding and continued to walk in rebellion against the God that delivered them from Egypt! We must walk by faith in Christ!

You can grow up in the Church, be blessed with consistent, godly parents, and never come to a saving knowledge of Christ. What a horror that would be to enter into heaven and hear “Depart from Me, I never knew you”. Oh how terrible! Don’t let that be you!

I love theology, but it is completely possible to read and know theology and never become a true Christian. You can know the Scriptures in the Greek, as Wesley did, and to know more than the preacher, and be lost! Don’t let that be you!

It is possible for you to hear the Gospel of Christ preached all your life and still be resting on your own goodness and works. When it comes to salvation, God doesn’t care about your membership, your good works, your baptism, your monetary gifts to the church, your kindness to neighbors, your attendance at a church. What matters is have you been born again? Do you know Jesus Christ?!

It is possible for you to become gospel-hardened, and so seal your damnation even within the Church. It is possible to fool everyone and have the preacher preach your funeral and assure everyone that your soul is resting in Heaven when it really is in Hell. It is totally possible! Don’t be a fool!

It is possible to be within an inch of the Kingdom of God. You can be within arms reach of Heaven and still depart to Hell!

Don’t deceive yourself. God made you for His glory, therefore you and I should live for His glory by loving Him supremely and others genuinely. Yet all of us have fallen short of His glory. We’ve all lived in rebellion like Romans 1:21-23 says

Romans 1:21–23 ESV

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

As a result of this rebellion we all deserve eternal punishment separated from God in hell. 2 Thessalonians 1:9

2 Thessalonians 1:9 ESV

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

Matthew 25:46 ESV

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

But God, because of His great love and mercy sent Jesus Christ into the world to prepare a way for us to go to heaven. John 3:16

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 Peter 3:18 ESV

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,

So, because of Jesus’ payment for us, eternal life is a free gift to you if you will trust in Christ as Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9

Romans 10:9 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Head: God wants you to know that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

This means that failing to love God fully is the greatest sin. None of us have kept this command perfectly, but Christ did on our behalf. Our only hope is in Him.

Heart: God was you to believe that our greatest need is not more effort to love God perfectly, but to trust in Jesus, who perfectly fulfilled the greatest commandment on our behalf.

Only through Him can we truly love God and others as we ought.

Hand: God wants you to rest in Christ’s perfect love by daily seeking Him in His Word and prayer, asking Him to grow your love for God and others through His Spirit.