Mark 12:28-31 What drives your life? / My drivers for living

What drives your life?

What drives the life of this church?

Those are critical questions to answer.

When a church looks for a pastor, it needs to seek one who shares its passions / its heart. As part of the process, you need to determine the passions and heart of any prospective candidate.

So my goal this morning will be to share the areas that drive my life and ministry. These areas shape what I do and how I lead and minister. They are the foundations upon which I see a church should be built.

A single passage encapsulates these ideas Mark 12:28-31.

(ESV) Mark 12 28 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?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the 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 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The centerpiece that drives my life is a passion for God.

I. Driven with: A Passion for God

A. The key element of what God’s teaching is all about

It was a time when the religious leaders of Israel were seeking to trick and trap Jesus.

(ESV) Mark 12 28 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?”

29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the 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.’

Jesus summarizes the intent of all that had been recorded in the Old Testament. This is what the Lord intends to be the driver of all that one does. A passion for God

1. Wholehearted devotion to the one true God

a. Not just any god / not just some sense of ‘spirituatlity’

b. The One and only God is the focus – the One who has revealed Himself

c. He is to be the focus of our thoughts / energy / will / our being

2. If we don’t begin with a pursuit of God nothing else will work

a. Being spiritual can become formal ritual or superstitution

b. Loving people can become mere sentimentality

c. Knowing truth can become a source of pride and superiority

d. Without a passion for God it all becomes self centered

B. It’s all about Him

(ESV) Colossians 1 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

1. By Him – He created it all / Sustains all things – still involved

2. For Him - He is the purpose all things / us / the church /

3. He must be preeminent - He is the focus / everything else secondary

4. In everything we do He is to be glorified

a. A God centered and God directed life

b. If what we do / say does not cause others to worship Him, something is wrong

c. Pursuit of Him / Enjoyment of Him / Seeking to please Him / Worshiping Him

C. Example: David – a heart for God

(ESV) Acts 13 22 … he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

1. For Saul it was about himself / for David it was about His God

D. Displayed in the early church – worship / focus

(ESV) Acts 2 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles … 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. …

1. The hallmark of the early church --- focused on God

2. The living God at work in their midst (different then, but the same God)

This is my passion - God / and I believe should be the passion of the church

How can He not be – look at what He has done for us?

First is the Lord Himself. Then we must seek to share His heart. And He cares for people. So we also must have a heart for people. A passion for God / A heart for people

II. Driven with: A heart for people

A. The secondary key element of what God’s teaching is all about

(ESV) Mark 12’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

1. About every person around us

a. Not

1) About just our friends – called a clique 2) Not just some add on or duty to do a good deed 3) Care for people with the same intensity we care for ourselves.

b. People that we have an opportunity to do good to

2. Good Samaritan – sacrificially gave time/effort/money for someone who he could offer nothing in return / enemy

B. A sign of the Christian /His church

(ESV) John 13 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

1. The distinctive mark of Christ’s church

a. Not division / backbiting / gossip

b. Underserved compassion

2. People who are known for caring for / building up one another

3. A subculture that looks very different from the world

C. Ex: Jesus - Compassion for people

1. To Jesus people mattered

(ESV) Matthew 9 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

a. Fed them / Healed them / Taught them / Died for them

D. Displayed in the early church

(ESV) Acts 2 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

1. Impacting every day / every action

2. An attitude / Thinking differently

3. A way of life – caring for and building up people

4. How can we gossip / backbite and say we have a heart for people?

This is my heart – People - and I believe it should be the heart of the church Jesus loves the people around us – people who fail / are sinners / struggle in life just like us ----- they need Him / It should move our hearts

A passion for God / A heart for people / and a desire to share hope in Christ that is found in the Word of God

III. Driven with: A desire to share hope in Christ from the Word of God

A. The discussion was about the teaching found in the Word of God

(ESV) Mark 12 28 … “Which commandment is the most important of all?” … 31 …There is no other commandment greater than these.”

1. The foundation of what we know – this is how we know about Him

a. About Him / About us / About finding Him / walking with Him

2. In the Word of God we find hope

a. Message of how the all-powerful God seeks to restore a relationship with His disobedient people

3. The way we understand how the Lord in mercy died for our sins

B. A living Word of God

(ESV) Hebrews 4 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

1. More than just words / more than just concepts or ideas

2. The very Words of God spoken through men

3. Transforms lives

C. The means of salvation in the gospel

(ESV) Romans 1 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed …

1. The gospel illustrated in life but make clear with words

2. The spoke and explained gospel is the means for people to have a relationship with Christ

D. The equipper / transformer of the Christian

(ESV) 2 Timothy 3 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

1. The centerpiece of Christian ministry

2. Sufficient for everything in the Christian life

E. Ex. Paul to Timothy

(ESV) 2 Timothy 4 1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

F. Displayed in the early church

(ESV) Acts 2 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching

This is my desire – the sharing of the Word of God – the means of hope for all –

- and I believe this should be the desire of the church – sharing God’s Word give hope to a lost world / provides the means for Christians to grow and transform / to be encouraged and have hope

This morning is God speaking to you?

· Do you need to realign your priorities to make Him the center for your life? Is He really the priority of your life?

· Do you need to check your heart – do people around you really matter? Do your words and actions prove that you do?

· Do you need to discover the hope that He has provided in Christ? Come to Him and trust Him as Savior? Seek His help in the midst of discouragement and trouble?