Mark: Not far from the kingdom [Mark 12:28-34]

Mark: Not far from the Kingdom []

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On October 6, 1990, my mom and dad, my uncle Dean, and I, along with 46,000 plus other Mizzou Tiger football fans watched in awe as Mizzou lost to, at that time, #12 ranked Colorado Buffaloes. It’s not unusual to watch Mizzou football lose, but that game became known as the famous “fifth down game”. If you google “Fifth down game” you’ll get the low down on the whole thing.

What happened was, Mizzou had the lead 31-27 with less than a minute to go when Colorado quarterback Charles Johnson hit tight-end John Boman for a completed pass and Boman was stopped just short of the goal line.

This is when the chaos started. Colorado ran up to the line and Johnson spiked the ball stopping the clock. The next play Colorado running back Eric Bieniemy was stopped again just short of the goal line…that was second down. Colorado took it’s final timeout…but in the excitement the chain-gang forgot to click the down marker to third down, so out of the timeout it showed it was second down, when it was actually third down…Colorado ran the same play to Bienimey and it failed again.

Then believing it was third down, when it was actually 4th down, QB Johnson spiked the ball to stop the clock, because Colorado was out of timeouts. That should have been game over…but. The next play, on fifth down…which you don’t get in football, QB Johnson kept the ball himself and pushed his way into the end zone for a touchdown. Which by the way, replays showed the Johnson was stopped short of the end zone, but they didn’t have instant replay in college football then.

The after the touchdown, the officiating crew realized their blunder and had a conference for 20 minutes! To which they finally said the play counted and Colorado won. People stormed the field and torn down the goal posts…it was chaos. Colorado would go on that year to share the national title with George Tech, as back then they didn’t have playoffs to settle, so sometimes you would have shared titles. Years later, at a promise keepers in Colombia MO, the head coach for that Colorado team would share that they should not have won that game or should have been national champions. That didn’t help the sting of Mizzou fans who know all to well what it’s like to be close…but not close enough.

Mizzou football has never won a national title, Mizzou basketball has never made it to a final four, we’ve been close at times but not close enough. In our text today, that phrase Jesus says stands out to us doesn’t it, “you are not far from the kingdom of God.” You are close.

In our text today, we see the command, as citizens of Christ’s kingdom, to love God supremely and love other’s unselfishly…How close are we to fulfilling this command? Jesus lays out for us in our text, two great commands and two great loves…and at the end we’ll look at how close we are to them.

Love for God

A scribe comes to Jesus and asks which is the greatest commandment. Unlike the other religious leaders before who have come to Jesus under the disguise of controversy, this scribe comes to Jesus for clarification. I think He’s sincere with his question for Jesus, Jesus response to him is not in scolding but in teaching, so I believe this scribe is genuine.

The religious leaders of that day had identified 613 laws from the Mosaic system and had divided them up into 248 commands and 365 prohibitions, sorting them into “weighty” and “light”. This categorizing of laws created great controversy. This man wants an answer on the most important.

Jesus begins with the first command as, in verse 29, the “Shema” ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Quoting as the first and foremost command. The Shema was quoted by faithful Jews twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. This provided the basis for love for God rests on the truth that there is but one God. God is the only God and therefore devotion to any other deity is a deity that doesn’t really exist therefore it’s an idol.

Even today it’s popular to say there are other gods, other’s worship other gods, but the bible is clear, and Jesus doesn’t mince words…there is no other God but the God of the bible! And we are to love this God…love for God is basic to all other responsibilities…i.e. love for God comes first and puts everything else in it’s place.

Jesus doesn’t begin with you shall…He begins with God. There is only One God! This is an essential truth that must be first and foremost. If you don’t begin with this truth you get what you have in the world, you serve your god your way and I’ll serve my god my way…Jesus tramples that kind of thinking…there is only One God and if you are not loving Him and serving Him and worshiping him you are worshiping and serving an idol.

This is consistent with God giving the commandments, when God gives the commandments in Ex. and Deut. He begins with I am the God who delivered you. He doesn’t begin with what you should or should not do He begins with Himself…I Am God…the only God and everything else is put in it’s place after God. Because of that truth that God is the one and only God who is first...

Love for God must be from one’s whole being…heart soul, mind, and strength. The commandment is to love God with one’s whole life. Notice the key word… “all”. All heart, all soul, all mind, all strength. Not some, some, some, some…all, all, all, all. i.e. it’s not show a marginal interest in God, to show some consideration towards God when it suits me…it’s love God with all you are! This is no easy command here.

The four-fold distribution doesn’t mean humans are four part beings. Each aspect represents an aspect of a human being, that makes up the whole. The “heart” represents the core of one’s inner being. The “soul” or “self” represents the personal life force. The “mind” represents the capacity for perception and thinking. The “strength” represents one’s energy and power. Together they make up one’s whole being. So you can’t say, I’ll love God with all my heart, but I can’t with all my mind, because there are somethings I can’t perceive. Or you can’t say “I’ll love God with all my soul, but I can’t give him all my strength, because there won’t be any left in the tank for me or my family.”

To love God in the biblical sense is to choose to deliberately make Him the supreme object of one’s devotion: one’s adoration, worship, service, and obedience. The place in one’s life, that can be occupied by God, will be shared with no other person, thing, or pursuit. There will be no indecisive wavering. All we are is His! When this is right then...

Love for God leads to an appropriate love for others. The second command Jesus gives is quoted from . The scribe asked for one the greatest command, Jesus gives him two [Jesus always gives beyond our expectation], because they can’t be separated. Note when it says, love your neighbor as yourself, does not mean or imply we should love ourselves and then love others equally…or that we should love others more than ourselves. There is no hidden psychological meaning called for here…simply implies that we ought to put others in the place in our lives where we would otherwise put ourselves.

While the command does not rule out a healthy self-image, it certainly doesn’t call for it. The emphasis is be unselfish and give to others needs. popular today is talk of “love yourself” that’s appealing because it speaks to the old nature. Jesus says, “deny yourself” put others before yourself…that’s not so easy to do.

The world says, “love yourself” “be content with who you are” “you deserve this...” but any thinking person knows “I’m a flawed human” the bible says we are all sinners, deliberately disobey and rebelling against a Holy God. But the bible also says, that even while we were still sinners…Christ died for us. You know what’s better than “love yourself despite your flaws?” It’s Christ loved you and died for you because of your flaws. That’s how you get a proper self image, it’s remembering what Christ has done for you on the cross.

Despite what I have done, Christ gave His life as a ransom for mine…therefore my response is love God and love my neighbor…who’s my neighbor? [Greek plension] means one close by or near to hand. i.e. in practice loving one’s neighbor means loving anyone you can reach out to, relate to, or have contact with…anyone you can be involve with. [homeless shelter in Fulton].

Love for God is the nature of those in the kingdom of God.

Love for others

Love for others involves putting them in the place of oneself.

Love for others involves actively seeking others well being. ,  Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.

, Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

8 Love never ends

Love for others encompasses the whole law as it expresses our duty toward others. ,  Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

The whole ten commandments are summed up in what Jesus is saying, Love God, love others.

you shall have no other gods before me

you shall not make yourself a carved image [idol]

you shall not take the Lord’s name in vain

remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy

Honor you father and mother

you shall not commit murder

you shall not commit adultery

you shall not steal

you shall not bear false witness

you shall not covet

First four…love God…the last 6…love others, the whole law is in these two. i.e.....

Love for others can exist in proper proportion only when we love God with undivided being. That being said notice the man’s response.

Not far from the kingdom

The scribe said, well said Jesus [read verse 32-33] The scribe acknowledges that loving God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love neighbor as yourself is more important that the sacrifices…he’s not saying the sacrifices are irrelevant, they were instituted by God and served a purpose, but what he’s saying is…the routine of the sacrificial system minus an obedient heart is irrelevant to God. i.e Obedience matters more than religious rituals.

The scribe answers rightly says the same thing obedience matters more to God than burnt offerings and sacrifice. The same principal applies today. Obedience to God matters more than showing up on Sunday, maybe serving in some capacity, doing what is right most of the time…if our idea of faithful religion is show up to church regularly, read your bible occasionally, do some good things from time to time intentionally…then we’ve missed it.

This may be difficult to get and hard to grasp. This guy, I mean he’s got it right doesn’t he? He’s religious, sincere, concerned about pleasing God…how is it he’s only close to the kingdom?

Unless our religion shows us our need for God, our religion will actually keep us from God. I believe that’s where this man is, I believe there many like that in our churches today. Interested and teachable…but what’s the missing link? This man, along with many miss the fact that Jesus didn’t come ultimately to teach us or be an example, though he is both…Jesus came ultimately to save us!

What did the angels say at Jesus birth? Born this day is a teacher? Is an example? No born this day is a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. If the law of God, as Jesus puts it here, to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, doesn’t show us our desperate need for God, it’ll actually keep us from God.

The mindset becomes… “I’m a pretty good person, I don’t hurt people, I don’t cheat people, sure I don’t love God all, all, all, all, but I do some, some, some, some. And sure there are some people I don’t deal with well but I’m giving it a good shot.” You notice the center of that way of thinking? It’s me, me, me, me not God, God, God, God.

You see…these two commands condemn us don’t they. These two commands demand what? Perfection, and if perfection is the requirement for entrance into the kingdom of God then you and I are in trouble. Because you and I have not lived a day in our lives where we’ve loved God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and we have not lived a day in our lives when we have perfectly loved others.

But the gospel is the key to this kingdom dilemma. The gospel tells us that is One who has come who has perfectly kept this law and it is only through repentance and faith in this perfect One Jesus that anyone enters the kingdom of God.

Here we see a man that stood only a small step from the kingdom, and if you’re like me you ask, “I wonder if he took that last step?” I read through the rest of Mark…I don’t know, it doesn’t give any indication. What about you?

When you die will they say about you, “she was close, but not close enough” “he spent his life on the one yard line, but never entered the end zone.” “They could give right answers and looked the part.” but when the savior passed by they wouldn’t call out to him.

Have you called out to Jesus? Jesus…be my savior. It’s that easy, and that difficult.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.