Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good morning Rivertree.

It’s a joy to be with you today.

Whetehr you are watching at south, here at the main campus or joining us online I want to say we are so glad you are here.

Also if you are visitng with us today Thanks for being with us today

If you have your bibles go ahead and opening up to Mark chapter 12 and in a moment we will start in verse 28 as we conitnue our journery thorugh Mark together.

about a year ago a friend of mine shared a podcast with me from dave barnes.

Dave is a muscian/communicator/comedian out of nashville and man I loved the podcast so much

It was about how Dav used comedy as a means to help people who were hurting.

It was in that moment I thought this is something I can do.

so I pitched the idea to a few friends.....I told them how I felt like I was funny(which sounds wierd and somewhat arrogant when you are sitting in front of people who are your friends and say that

but I have pretty awesome friends and they all said yes.

I also told them if I pursued this I dind’t want it to be like american idol.

Like I dind’t want that person who decided to do this and then all of a sudden find out all the laughs over the years were just pitty laughs

people started getting wind I was interested in this and sure enough I got my first 2 gigs.

One was in front of a group of engienners at thier Christmas party.....and it was so bad.

The other a group of school teachers which went better but was still super difficult

Here is what i learned in that process: I didn’t know how to be funny in that way

So I tried to learn......I wanted to understand what it meant to be a better comendian.

I read books, listen to podcast, started writing more and watching more stand up

because ultimently I wanted to understand how to be got at stand up comedy

and it’s something we might all have in common

maybe it wasn’t stand up comedy but there was something new in you that you wanted to learn, or understand, or soemthing you just wanted to be better at

So you took a class, you found an expert, you listened to podcast with the hope of mastering this

that’s why people sign up for master classes online from time to time

and while we might all have that in common when it comes to a new trait, talent or abilty

I will offer you this.

Maybe it’s more true when it comes to things of a spirtual nature

I remember when I first started going to church in high school how I really enjoyed youth group, loved the idea of God and Ultimently wanted to become a better person

So I started looking for answers.

I started attend church more, I started reading my bible more hoping that would help me live a better life.

Hoping that would help fix the void in my life.

I started asking questions.

But none of that seemed to help me with what was going on inside of me

and maybe it’s something we have in common.

If you have ever wanted to know you were write with God, If you ever wanted to know that you are ok.

You seek understanding.

because if there really is a God.

And there really is life after death.

And there really is this void in our lives that we can’t fix on our own we cannot afford to get the spirtual wrong

It’s what we have in common with the scribe we met in the bible today.

In the midst of people trying to trap Jesus, to trick him, to ask questions that aren’t sincere

we are introduced by Mark to one guy.

A relgious man who has a sincere question

Let’s read

28 uAnd 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?

Let me paint the picture for you a little.

They are in the temple.

Thousands of jewish people have made the pilgramage for the passover and Jesus in in the temple area.

thousands of animals are being bought to be sacrificed

and relgious people are coming up trying to trap Jesus

One ask who do we pay our taxes to?

ANd Jesus answer goes deeper then the relgious leader had even considered

Then another comes up trying to trick Jesus about the reserection but Jesus brillantly qoutes the book of Exodus and shares with this person who was skeptical about the resereciton that the God they both long to serve is the “god of the lving not the God of the dead”

and as this is going on and there is this disputing another relgious leader came up to see what was going on.

This guy is impressed by Jesus so he asked a question.

The question is a great quesiton

“Which commandment is the most important of qll?”

It’s a great quesiton right?

Like instead of trying to trick jesus with a riddle or to put Jesus up agaisnt the roman goverment.

The scribe asked a quesiont any person who condders themsleve relgious at all would want to know the answer to

and I think this comes from a pretty sincere place in his heart.

He has this desire to be right with God.

He has committed his life to studying the Bible.

To making sure how he appeared on the outside was good enough.

He had gone to great leanghts to make sure his good outwieghed his bad.

He had Devoted his entire life to God and to Gods commandements

Yet he still had questions.

He sees the amazing ways Jesus has been answering the questions Jesus had been asked so he shares what’s on his heart.

Most likely he looks around and he sees all the effot, all the sacrifice, all the religous acitivate in his life and the life of others that day and knows there has to be something more.

There has to be a “most important of all” way of life

There has to be a commandment he could keep that would fix the brokness he is expirenceing in his own life and his own heaert.

and not only that for this guy it was important for him to understand.

Because as he understood what the most iportant commendment was he would appear as the expert

This mans whole identiy was wrapped up within the law and if could understand the answer to this quesiont maybe his understanding, his knowledge, his expertise would fix the utter bankruptcy that he was expierencing.

The great news.

He is standing in front of the only person in all of human history is can answer this question

Jesus looks passed the traps and tricks of the day, he looks past this mans religious appearnce and speaks right to the mans heart and hopefully our hearts today

29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, v‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, wthe Lord is one.

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 xThe second is this: y‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

There is no other commandment zgreater than these.”

Hear, O Israel,” the opening sentence of every synagogue worship service, taken from .

It was also repeated by every pious Jew morning and evening every day

In fact, it was worn by the devout in a tiny leather box, called a phylactery, on the forehead and on the wrist while in prayer.

Godly households also hung the Shema on their doors in a small round box called a Muzuzah.3

Everyone knew this part of Jesus’ answer.

It was the creed of Israel

and then Jesus says to Love god with heart, sould, mind and strenght.

In other words Jesus is saying that everything about a person should be devoted to loving God.

To love God for his goodness, his kindneess, his steadfast love, his power, his might, grace, his forgivness, his greatenss, his faithfulness

To love God as creator, sustianer,

To love him for his beuty, his majesticy, his glory

The list could go on

But this is what the most important commedment is accoridng to Jesus

In other words we should love God with all we are Because of all he is

In other words we should love God with all we are Because of all he is

but the second part to Jesus statement is the radical part.

He says the second is like it to love one nieghbor as himself

Jesus is going back to the book of Leviticus where God said