The Greatest Commandment

The Greatest Commandment

Mark 12:28-34

            When Taylor was just a little girl. There were so many things I wanted to teach her. Things I wanted her to learn because I thought they were important in life. For example, I wanted her to learn how to throw and hit a baseball. I wanted her to learn to play a musical instrument. I wanted her to learn to love the outdoors.

            It didn’t take long, probably about the time she was thirteen, when I came to realize she didn’t care about any of the things I thought were important and wanted her to learn. They didn’t matter to her. In fact, she had her own mind made up about what was important to her and what she wanted to do. It was about that same time that I realized the most important thing I could teach her was to love God.

You see everything else I wanted her to learn required effort and performance. But loving God required my heart and hers. It meant that I was going to have to model what loving God looked like for her and I was going to have to do that by loving her. It meant that I was going to have to let go of all of the things I thought were important and God was going to become my priority.

             And now, as we prepare for the birth of our Granddaughter. There are so many things I want to teach Georgia Grace. But I understand now there is nothing I will ever teach her that will be more important than loving God.  I don’t care if she ever learns how to throw or hit a baseball. I don’t care if she can sing or dance.  I don’t care about any of those things. The only thing that matters is that she comes to know Jesus and loves Him with all her heart.

            That’s what we learn from this passage this morning. Jesus teaches us that the most important thing we can do in life is love God and love each other. (Read Mark 12:28-34)

              28        One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”

            29        Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord;

            30        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.’

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

            32        The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that He is One, and there is no one else besides Him;

            33        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 himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

            34        When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions. (Pray)

            We have been going through Mark’s Gospel for over a year and a half now. And as we go through this verse by verse and line by line, I can’t help but think about how many times we have seen the divinity of Christ on full display. Mark told us from the very beginning that this was the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God and that is what we have seen.

How many times have we seen the greatness of our King? How many times have we seen with certainty that He is One with the Father, and He has full authority over the world? And yet, there are still skeptics, there are still people who are trying to oppose Him. On every page we turn we see unbelievers who are living outside of the family of God, and that’s what we see in this passage this morning. We see a man outside of the family of God who comes close, but not quite. And I can’t help but wonder if there are some here who have come close but not quite?

            And this passage is a good measuring stick for us. It is a good tool for us to use to evaluate ourselves and our relationship with God. It is a chance for us to find out what is really important in life. Because in this passage Jesus teaches us what it means to be a disciple. He teaches us the golden rule and the greatest Command. And what we learn from this passage is; the most important thing we can do in life is to love God and love each other.

            The first thing I want you to see is the Approach, Vs. 28. As this scribe approaches Jesus in a very different way than those who came before him. He has been standing nearby listening to Jesus teach, and listening to all the interruptions and interrogations, and he is amazed by what he has heard. Vs. 28 begins with the phrase, “One of the scribes came and heard them arguing and recognized that He answered them well.”

            The word ‘them’ in this passage is referring to the Sadducees that we saw last week. They attacked Jesus because they were ignorant of the Word of God, and they wanted to make Him look foolish before the people. They wanted to make the resurrection look foolish.

Apparently, this scribe was listening to the conversation. And there was something about the way Jesus answered them that spoke to this man.  Something Jesus said or did cause this man’s heart to stir. Maybe it was the confidence of Christ when He answered, or the authority and wisdom He spoke with. We don’t know, but something spoke to this man’s heart because he comes to Jesus in a different way.

            It is important that we understand this was still a planned attack. They were still out to get Jesus and they were trying to use this man to do it. We learn that from Matthew’s gospel. If Mark was the only account, we had we would think this man was already a believer. But we learn from Matthew’s gospel that this man was just the next in line to ask a question. But somewhere in the midst of waiting for his confrontation something changed because his approach is sincere.

            I want you to see where this idea comes from. First in Vs. 29 Mark tells us that he recognized Jesus had answered them well. In other words, he knew Jesus was speaking truth to the Sadducees. He heard Jesus shut them down and silence His critics in a way no one could deny. Also, in Vs. 30 we see Jesus answers the man’s question directly. Every other time Jesus was attacked He answered their question with a question of His own, but not this time.

That tells us Jesus didn’t feel threatened by the young man’s approach. He approached Him sincerely and Jesus answered him directly. Finally, in Vs. 34 we see the way Jesus responds to him. He says, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.’ All of this tell us this man’s approach to Jesus was different and we see different results because of it.

            The same thing is true in our lives. When we approach Jesus sincerely from a humble and pure heart, we can expect to get a direct answer. It may not always be the answer we are looking for, but we know He hears us and that He promises to answer us.

Also, we can expect to get different outcomes. The Bible says a broken and contrite heart He will not reject. The one prayer I can guarantee you God will always answer is an honest search for truth.  James 1:5 says, “If anyone lacks wisdom let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given.” So, when we approach God humbly and sincerely, we can expect Him to respond.

            The second clause in Vs. 29 gives us the question. This question is the question we should all be asking. I mean if there is one question we could step up to the mic and come to the Son of God and ask this is it. Because if we want to do what is pleasing to God. If we want to live a life that honors Him. Then we must know what the most important commandment is. What is it that God would have us to do above everything else?  There is nothing we could ask Christ that would be more important than this. What is the greatest commandment of God?  

            We need to understand when this scribe comes to Jesus with this question, he is not expecting to hear the answer he receives. He is expecting Jesus to say it’s circumcision, or sacrifice or obeying the Sabbath rules. Remember these were a people who believed they were working their way to heaven. They believed they had to earn God’s favor. So, Jesus’ answer would have been stunning.

            I am reminded of the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus and says, teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life and Jesus says obey the commands. Do not kill, do not steal, honor your mother and father. And the rich young ruler says, all this I have done since my youth what else can I do? And Jesus says go sell your possessions and come and follow me and he went away sad because his possessions were more important to him than God. But you see how they were always looking for something they could do. So, when Jesus says it’s not about your work but its about your heart, they would have been shocked.

            Jesus commands us to love God and to love each other. The next thing I want you to see in this passage is the Answer. Vs. 29-31. Jesus answers without hesitation. He answers with the full weight and authority of God. This is not a suggestion; this is an imperative. This is paramount.  The greatest command is this.

            Vs. 29 is a direct quote from Deuteronomy 6:4. This is what is called the “Shema.” It says, “Hear O Israel! The Lord Our God is One Lord.” The word Shema in Hebrew is the word hear, and that’s why it is called that. But this statement was so important to the Jewish people they would recite it twice a day; once in the morning and once in the evening. It was so important they wrote it on the doorposts entering their homes. They would paste it on their hands and on their foreheads, so they didn’t forget it. Still to this day every prayer service in the synagogue opens with the Shema.

            Moses gave them the Shema because they had just left Egypt where they were slaves for four hundred years. And the Egyptians had many gods they worshipped, and all of that was a negative influence on Israel.  Moses wanted them to know there is only one God, Yahweh and He is our God, and we are His people, and they were to be faithful to Him and to Him only. Like a husband is faithful to his wife. She is his only wife; He is our only God.

            This principle was so important we find it taught throughout scripture. 2 Samuel 7:22, “You are great o Lord God; for there is non like You, and there is no God besides You.” Psalm 86:10 says, “You alone are God.” Isaiah 44:6 says, “I am the first and the last, there is no God besides Me.” And in the New Testament 1 John 5:7-8 says, “there are three that bare witness in heaven; the Father, the Word, and the Spirit and these three are one.”

            They rehearsed this in their mind because being faithful to the one true God was something that would plague them throughout their history. Their infidelity and idolatry would eventually lead them back into slavery again. And frankly, it is something we struggle with today as well. We may not worship the god of the moon, the stars, and the sun, but we worship the god of money, and houses, and cars. We bow down to the god of lust, and greed, and power every day.

Why? Because We were created to worship, and when we do not focus our worship on God, we will always find something else to worship instead. If you don’t believe me, go to a university of Michigan football game on a Saturday. You will see people worshipping because without God, we can’t separate it. Worship is woven into our D.N.A.

That’s why Jesus continues the command in Vs. 30 He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” In other words, make loving God the commitment of your life, and worshipping Him over everything else your priority.

I want you to notice the word “all” here. All is repeated four times, but what does all mean? it means everything. He could have just said, Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, but instead He repeats it four times. Because He is talking about our entire being. We are to love God with everything we are and with everything we have. He is to be first and foremost in our life.

I find that interesting because we talk a lot about God’s love for us. I mean John 3:16 is the most quoted verse in the bible, “For God so loved the world.” But you hardly ever hear anyone talk about our love for God. Yet here Jesus is commanding it. God is to be loved; we are to have a relationship with Him. He is not like some distant landlord we see once a month to collect a rent check. He is not to be someone we stop by to visit once a week on Sunday just to say hello.

He wants to be a part of our life everyday and it’s up to us to maintain that relationship. We do that through prayer, and His Word, and through worship. Having a loving relationship with God is just like any relationship we have in the world. It requires commitment and loyalty, trust and respect, and faithfulness. Loving God is just like a man who loves his wife or a woman who loves her husband. Besides them there is no other. We are to be committed to God that way.

If we love God, we must pursue God. Jer. 29:13 says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” When I first met my Tammy, I loved her, and I wanted to know everything about her. I wanted to know her favorite food, her favorite color, what she liked and where she lived. So, I pursued her, and we have been married now for almost 27 years. But where would we be if I would have just loved her from a distance and never went after her? We would not be together. Yet that is exactly how so many people approach their relationship with God. We say we love Him, but we never do anything about it.

In Vs 31 Jesus gives the second most important command and what’s interesting here is the scribe didn’t ask for it. Jesus just gave it; it was a bonus for him. He says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s because these two go hand in hand. The second command is a natural by-product of the first. You can’t have one without the other.

Our love for God is expressed by loving others. You cannot see my love for God. I can tell you about it, but it doesn’t mean anything unless I show it to you. The word Love is a verb, it is more than an emotion, it requires action, it is active and alive. So we show our love for God by loving each other. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, by your love for one another.” The only way the world will know that there is a God and that we love Him is by loving each other.

So, the next logical question that everyone asks is; who is my neighbor? Who do I have to love? And I can tell you it is not limit to the people who live in the homes around you. The word neighbor in the Bible means your fellowman. But Jesus answered this question Himself with His parable of the good Samaritan from Luke 10.

He said there was a man on his way to Jerusalem, and he was attacked by thieves and robbers. They stripped him and beat him and left him for dead by the side of the road. And a priest was going down the road and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side, and then a Levite came by and did the same thing.

But a Samaritan (someone the Jews hated) saw him and had compassion on him. He bandaged his wounds and took him to an inn. He paid the inn keeper to take care of him and give him a place to stay. Luke 10:36-37 says, “Which of these proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robber’s hands?” And he said, the one who showed mercy toward him. Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.” And He says the same thing to us today, “go and do like wise.”

So, the question we should ask is not who is my neighbor, but what kind of neighbor am I. Because a good neighbor is someone who is kind and shows mercy to everyone including the rejected and despised.

Jesus commands us to love God and to love each other. The next thing I want you to see in this passage is the almost persuaded. Vs. 32-34.

The words Jesus spoke had such an impact on this scribe he had to agree. He says, “You are right teacher.” He had to recognize and acknowledge the truth. Imagine how that must have made the blood boil of the Pharisees who were standing there listening, the ones who put him up to this. But he didn’t care anymore. He heard the truth, and it pricked his heart and he felt conviction.

Let me ask you this; is that how you respond to the truth? Do you recognize it when you hear it? Does it prick your heart? Are you convicted by it? Or is it like pouring water out on a rock? Is it like a tree falling in the forest? Unless it were to fall on you, or trip over it; you would never know.

This scribe heard the truth and he got caught up in the moment. In Vs. 33 he says, “This command to love is greater than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” In other words, it is greater than anything else I am doing in my life. His whole life was about obeying religious rituals and rules and now he realized none of that mattered anymore, but it was about his love for God and his love for others.

This same thing is true in our life today. It doesn’t matter what church you go to. It doesn’t matter if you are a Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, or Pentecostal. It doesn’t matter how much money you give in an offering or how beautiful you can pray. What matters is do you love God, and do you show it by loving people?

There is something else we learn from this passage. We learn that this command to love is so great that just to understand it brings us to the very threshold of salvation. Look mat what Jesus says in Vs. 34, You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” In other words, he had reached the one- yard line. He was standing on third base. He was in the perfect position on the G.P.S. What’s interesting to me is we never learn if he made it. We never learn if he was able to push the ball across the goal line or scored the winning run.

I know there is one thing he still lacked. One thing we don’t see in this story, and that’s repentance. He needed to repent to receive God’s forgiveness and grace, and we never learn that because we never hear from him again. Entering the Kingdom of God requires more than agreeing with the truth when you hear it. It requires more than joining a church or being baptized or taking the Lord’s supper. It requires coming to God with your whole heart and standing face to face before Him, realizing that you fall short, and you need to be forgiven.

So, in conclusion, I want you to realize something. Everyone in this world is either in the kingdom or standing outside. Some are close and some are far away. Everyone in this room is either in the kingdom or not. There is no middle ground.  There is no one with one foot in and one foot out. There are no other options or possibilities. Each one of us were born on the outside looking in. and the only way we enter into the Kingdom is by fully committing our lives to Jesus Christ.

The scribe in our story was a man on the outside of the Kingdom but not far from it. He heard the truth of Jesus, and it drew him near, but I’m not sure that he made it all the way. I wonder of that might be you today? I wonder if you are near the Kingdom of God, but you have yet to come in? And I wonder what stops you? I wonder what prevents you from taking that step and trusting God with your life? Maybe it’s pride or maybe it’s fear of rejection, what ever it is you need to ask yourself is it worth holding me back from becoming who God wants me to be?

The things of this world are temporary and with every passing moment the window of opportunity is closing. Today is the day of salvation, tomorrow may not exist. Don’t wait. Commit your life fully to Him today. Learn to love God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength and learn to love your neighbor as yourself.