4.1.28 6.5.2022 The Greatest Commandments Mark 12.28-34 (2)

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Sermon Series Intro--->

I was a checklist guy long before I read Atul Gawande's bestselling book

The Checklist Manifesto.

Checklists help us to summarize, organize, and prioritize information. In critical circumstances such as flying an aircraft, performing surgery, or preparing a prescription you want the person in charge to be a checklist person! FYI my sermon writing checklist consists of 101 items the last of which is "preach the word."

Perhaps the most famous list of all time is the 10 Commandments. It does all the things a good list does. It summarizes, organizes, and prioritizes a proper response to God and relationships with others.

Christians have always found this list useful though there are valid questions as to how we understand the relationship between OT law and new covenant grace.

We are saved by Grace through faith.

We have no claim on performative goodness.

So, while believers quote the 10 and we have cultural kerfuffle’s about its display, agreement is not so unanimous about what purpose it really serves for the Church.

So,

are the 10 commandments a checklist?

are they merely for reference?

How do we integrate the 10 commandments?

not to even mention the rest of the OT into our grace-driven Christian life?

This series is entitled

10 Words, 2 Tablets, 1 God, 1 People: The Gospel in the Ten Commandments.

I promise not to repeat that title any more than necessary and there will be no test.

Jesus came not to break the law but to fulfill it, to bring it to its logical conclusion. What He says on the matter should inform our understanding of the "list" as well as the broader OT in which it is embedded.

The 10 are not magic.

They are not a panacea.

You can be a pretty despicable person

and never violate a single one.

The purpose of the 10 is to teach us how to regulate our approach to God and our attitude to one another.

Entice: So today we hear Jesus on the matter.

Mark 12:28–34 ESV

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.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other 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 oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

In this text Jesus is a master exegete. He initiates an intertextual conversation bringing together two separate texts in the Pentateuch to summarize the "big 10" which we primarily associate with yet a third book by Moses--the book of Exodus. As originally spoken and or written they read as follows...

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 ESV

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Leviticus 19:18 ESV

18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

In other words, to explain the central idea of the 10 commandments Jesus does not quote any of them. With skill and cleverness Jesus is able to consolidate, clarify, and communicate the spiritual heart and intent of the law. In understanding the heart of the 10 commandments we get a glimpse into God's own heart.

Engage: And in understanding God's heart our minds rightly fill with questions.

Who is good?

What is good?

Where should I be good?

Why should I/am I good?

How do we learn to be good?

Do rules really answer these questions?

Can a checklist of do's and don'ts really make us better? No one is really naive enough to think that following such checklists actually penetrates the heart. Law was a means to an end. An end that it did not always achieve. More importantly the law is about orienting a person with others-->vertically and horizontally.

Expand:

Jesus alone,

kept the law perfectly.

He does not answer the question in this text as an authoritative teacher He answers it like the divine author of the texts He cites. He discloses the laws intent. Later that week He will nail the law to the cross because there was no more heavy lifting for it to do. Today, the 10 commandments are a benchmark for our behavior and a mile-marker on our way to spirit-led Christ-likeness. The 10 commandments are a pretty good place to start--->but a bad place to end your moral education.

Excite: We understand law not to keep it for its own sake but to use it as a ladder to climb beyond its necessity.

Explore:

The Purpose of the 10 is to teach us to love God fully, and our neighbor intentionally.

Explain: In today's text Jesus summarizes our responses to both God's word in general and His commandments, in particular.

Body of Sermon: First God needs our

1. Attention!

Jesus answers this question about the greatest command, which most would have associated with the decalogue, not by referencing the decalogue from any of its most familiar citations but by invoking the Shema...which amounts to a divine summons to pay attention. There is no point in having a big lede if no one is listening.

1.1 Before we can think theologically, before we can respond to God with a faithful heart we must

listen carefully!

1.2 Are you? I wonder at times whether the Church in general is listening to God on His terms or whether we have appropriated God-talk to do what we already intend to do? Jesus takes us right back to the beginning of Biblical faith. It may have been written in Deuteronomy and recited as the Shema, but it is as Old as God calling out "Adam, are you listening? Noah, Abraham."

God the Father needed our attention...

so, He sent Jesus.

Jesus needs our attention

so, He reminds us to listen.

The next response is our undivided...

2. Allegiance.

Undivided allegiance begins with an

2.1 Affirmation of God's nature.

(God is one)

Hebrews 11.6 “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Allegiance means

2.2 Attraction to God's person.

OUR God.

And allegiance requires

2.3 Action.

(Wholly and entirely love Him: Heart, soul, mind, strength)

Finally, Jesus requires that we respond with undiluted

3. Application

3.1 We are responsible to/for our neighbor.

3.2 Self-love is the standard.

This keeps anyone from claiming ignorance, or bias, or any kind of exemption.

Shut Down:

It is not altogether uncommon for we humans to make things more difficult than they need to be. God needs us to listen. God needs for us to respond to Him. God needs us to responsibly extend our love to others. Doing or not doing this, in one way or another is pretty much the short form of the story of human history.

The vast apparatus of social, devotional, cultic, and political law in the OT was about normalizing and regulating the process of responding to God and responding to others in the context of God's ongoing revelation.

God's final message is Jesus Himself, who takes this entire complex upon Himself, perfects obedience and nails it as fulfilled upon the cross. This gives Him the right to dictate the terms of our obedience.

The ten, then, are really the two and it comes down to that relationship between God and us. Ten words. Two reactions. One God. One people obediently following.

I hope He's gotten your attention. We will learn much about how the 10 commandments can help regulate our walk with Christ. But God's Word for today-->listen, Love, Love!