Loving God With Everything We've Got

Loving God With Everything We’ve Got (Mark 12:28-34)

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Loving God

l Loving God (v. 30)

 So, let’s take a closer look at “The Greatest Commandment” of them all

■ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' ( NIV)

■ It’s the greatest because it is foundational to all the others

■ Or, better, and as Jesus said it as recorded in

l l On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." ( ESV)

■ If we are to get anything right and rightly ordered in life, we must put God first and love Him as we ought

 You shall = expected future action

■ Not the normal grammar for a command, but it still has the same feel. It is God’s expectation for how His people are to conduct themselves

 The action: Love

■ Agape ~ self-sacrificing, self-giving love, like the love God extends toward us

l "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ( NIV)

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.

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.

l This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ( NIV)

l But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ( NIV)

■ D.A. Carson ~ “Love in the truest sense demands abandonment of self to God, and God alone is the adequate incentive for such abandonment.”[1]

■ True love puts another and their interests before our own

■ Jesus, foretelling His own sacrifice, said

l Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ( NIV)

■ Love

l Devotion/ affections ~ emotional involvement, loyalty, commitment

l Priority – treated as important, given preference or precedence

l Time – those you love you want to spend time with

 The object / person: the Lord your God

■ Lord = master, ruler, one in authority

l And, so He is, for He is our creator and sustainer!

■ God = Our triune creator, redeemer, God whose story the Bible tells

l God, in all His glory and unchanging character

l God, who has revealed Himself through His Word

 So we don’t have to wonder what He’s like or what He expects of us

 And we must be careful not to try to shape Him to fit our desires – that is a forbidden false representation of God and an idol rather that the real thing!

■ Your God ~ personal relationship with God, the true God, and there is no other, regardless of what other people may say

l Some religions have many so-called gods that are impersonal, but still people hope to somehow appease – these are man-made false deities.

l Others may have one so-called god who they try to appease by doing a variety of rituals or hoping that their good outweighs their bad – all to no avail

l The real God, your God, the God of the Bible is not like that – He want’s relationship with you and made the way for that relationship through Jesus Christ, who made the ultimate sacrifice to set us right with God and that we might have eternal life!

 He, alone, is worthy of our worship and agape love - Loving Him with everything we have and are!

l With Everything We’ve Got

 Now, a couple of weeks ago, I said (at least I hope I did) that the focus of this passage is to love and serve God whole-heartedly – with every part of your being

■ I still stand by that thought, but now we have opportunity to look at the nuances and how we can love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength

■ Several of the terms are very close to each other, but they are not necessarily synonymous

 We also need to note a few words that lead up to each of these things: “with all your” or more literally, “out of the whole …”

■ We are called to give God 100%, not just the bits and pieces that are convenient to us

■ Barclay ~ “…we must give a total love, a love which dominates our emotions, a love which directs our thoughts, and a love which is the dynamic of our action. All religion starts with the love which is total commitment of life to God.” (Barclay 278)

■ After all, He gave His Son, Jesus Christ that we might live, don’t you think it’s only right to give Him our all?

■ Now, that doesn’t mean that we ignore everything else (people, responsibilities, whatever), but that we put and love Him first and foremost

 With All Your Heart (v. )

■ This is more than the typical idea of matters of the heart, which often revolve around feelings and emotions … the Biblical idea of the heart is the very core of us ~ our affections, our will, what drives us

■ Καρδία = Source of emotions, will, thoughts ~ the inner self

■ Craig Evans ~ “The heart is the seat of spiritual life and the inner being, among other things”[2]

■ Application: Love God at your core by letting Him and His Word direct your affections, emotions, and will

l We live in a world filled with people that know how to manipulate these things to accomplish their ends – news & social media, marketing, and other manipulation techniques can all lead us astray

l Then, they tell us to “listen to your heart”

l But the Bible warns us, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ( NIV)

l The wise Christian will let God, and no one else direct the affairs of the heart including our affections, emotions, and will

 With All Your Soul (v. )

■ Ψυχή = the immaterial part of man & the essence of life also, with impact on our thinking, willing, and feeling

■ Our very essence / what makes me, me and makes you, you

l This life is not all there is … you were made for so much more! God created us for eternity with Him!

l What is more, if is our Creator who gets to direct and define who and what we are (here and now) – not us, and certainly not others

l Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. ( NIV)

■ Application: Love God by recognizing that He is the source of your very life, we find our identity from Him alone, and we were created to spend eternity with Him

 With All Your Mind (v. )

■ “διάνοια, “mind,” refers to understanding and intelligence”[3]

■ Our head – thinking & reasoning

■ God is all-wise and has given us His Word as our source of wisdom for life and godliness

l He has not left us to be ignorant, but calls us to soak in all the knowledge and wisdom that we can

l If we fail to do that, that is on us, not Him

l This might be a bit of a zinger, but I’d say that failure to fill our minds with God’s Word is a failure to love Him as we ought

■ Love God by doing your part to know Him and His guidance for life in the Bible

l Literally, “for the love of God …” study your Bible and apply it in all areas of life!

 With All Your Strength (v. )

■ Of all these four, strength is the easiest to define, but I wonder if we really “get it”

■ Strength ~ might, power, ability to act / get something done

■ So, then, what does “With all your strength,” leave out?

l Are we spending the best of ourselves and our strength / ability serving God?

l Or, are we just giving Him the leftovers?

l Does He have priority in all that we do?

 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ( ESV)

■ Love God by giving Him your best in loving service to/for Him.

l He is more worthy of spending ourselves for than anyone or anything else!

l A Concluding Question (or two) & A Thanksgiving Reflection

 Reflection Question: Do our affections, priorities, thinking and time reveal that we’re loving God as we ought – with everything we have and are? If not, what adjustments do we need to make?

 Thanksgiving reflection: Thank God for Who He is, that He wants relationship with you. As you gather with your family, don’t forget that if you’ve accepted the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, you are part of His family!

■ He loves you, do you love Him?

■ Have you told Him so lately?

[1] Carson, D. A. (1984). Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8, p. 464). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

[2] Evans, C. A. (2001). (Vol. 34B, p. 264). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

[3] Evans, C. A. (2001). (Vol. 34B, p. 264). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.