The Greatest Commandment
Text: Mark 12:28-34
Core Idea: The greatest commandment is this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. “We love because He first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19).
INTRODUCTION
Good afternoon, Lighthouse. It is good to have all of us here worshiping together. Today is special in that we get to include our children in our service. We do this once a month to remind ourselves that children aren’t outsiders but valuable members that complete this community. But this isn’t always easy. Imagine a worship service without children. No little ones crying or talking during the sermon. No need to answer a dozen questions during the service. A worship service without children would be a lot more orderly, quiet, and peaceful. In contrast, children, imagine no more joining the adult service. No more singing songs that you’re not familiar with. No need to sit through a long message from me. You can do fun crafts with your friends. A worship service just for you would be more fun. Now, as much as these two scenarios sound great, a service without children or a service only for children would be a sign that the church is missing something. I say this because, since the beginning, God’s people have always known that worship was an event for the whole covenant family (Ez. 10:1). In other words, children are never out of place in congregational worship. It’s true that they may not understand everything that goes on here. But what they will learn is that it’s good to worship together – to sing together, sit under the Word together, do life together. My prayer is that they (and I’m including our Anchor youths too) will come to love our church, that they will embrace this community as their own. So, let’s not give up. Children, it’s okay to stand up to stretch or yawn or go to the washroom or draw something or eat snacks if it’s hard to stay seated the whole time. And for all of us, it’s okay if you miss something I say, it’s okay to smile and comfort a child who’s having a difficult time, it’s okay to encourage and help a parent who might be struggling. We’re in this together. So, let’s learn to love God with the people we love so much.
We are going through the Gospel of Mark – exploring the life of Jesus. Last few weeks, we saw that ever since He arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus has been greeted with fierce opposition from the religious leaders as they brought a series of controversial questions to publicly discredit Him while privately plotting to kill Him. Even though Jesus responded with great wisdom and patience every time, they just wouldn’t give up. And we’ll see another confrontation today. Now, if you’ve been with us, you’ll notice that I’ll be skipping a section. I did this because I thought that it wouldn’t be so relevant to our children as it talks about marriage and resurrection – Jesus will tell us who we’ll be married to in heaven. In case you’re wondering what the answer is: no one. We won’t be married to anyone. But we’ll deal with that in two weeks – after our retreat. Then with this in mind, let’s turn our Bibles to Mark 12:28-34. And I’m going to invite Abi to the front – and she will read the passage for us.
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked Him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 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: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” 32 “Well said, Teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but Him. 33 To love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask Him any more questions.
Thank you, Abi, for reading the passage for us. Three things from this story:
· THE QUESTION
· THE ANSWER
· THE RESPONSE
1) THE QUESTION
Verse 28. One of the teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Actually, this question was hotly debated at that time given the fact that the religious leaders counted at least 613 laws to obey in Scripture. They categorized these laws to help people clearly understand what they were commanded to do – but as you can imagine, this had become a crushing burden to many of them. How could anyone possibly obey all 613 commands? It seemed daunting, overwhelming – utterly, impossible. So, to make the law more manageable, doable, achievable, many started questioning what might be the weightiest matter in the law – the most important, the most essential command. They were thinking, “If I can rank the commands of God, if I can put a priority to them and make sure that I keep that one, even if I fail to obey other minor commands, I’ll be okay – I’ll be right with God.” I don’t know if you did this but whenever I took an exam in university, the first thing I did was flip through all the questions. I marked the easier ones – and I did them first because I knew I could finish them fast. Then I looked for the ones that were worth the most – and I spent most of the time solving them because if I didn’t have enough time to finish everything, as long as I got that one right, I thought I would be okay. In one sense, that’s exactly what they wanted to do – they wanted to know the most important command because they thought that if they got that one right, they’d be okay – because like I said, “How in the world can anyone perfectly obey all 613 laws?”
Just like others, this teacher of the law also perceived the Bible as a book of rules. In order to be right with God, he had to make sure that he was performing well. He thought that he could somehow earn God’s acceptance, God’s love, God’s favor through his obedience. In other words, he thought of his relationship with God as some kind of transaction. And sadly, many people view Christianity this way as well. Some time ago, I met someone I haven’t seen in a while. I was so glad to see him, so I asked, “How are you doing?” And this is how he responded: “I’ve been okay. I haven’t been going out to church. I know I should, but I’ve been busy.” And I’m like, “That’s okay. You don’t have to confess to me.” But this is what I mean: many people assess their relationship with God based on their performance. This is so dangerous because performance always leads to either pride or fear – it causes you to feel good about yourself when you’re having a spiritually good day, but it causes you to question His love for you when you’re having a spiritually bad day. Either way, performance-driven faith always pushes you away from God. But the people who are anchored in grace – regardless of their performance, they’re always drawn to God. They always find ways to trust in His love for them. Brothers and sisters, do you see the Bible simply as a book of rules? Do you evaluate your relationship with God based on performance or His promises?
Jesus knew that this man operated from the belief that one’s worth comes from accomplishments, performance which means that He could’ve exposed him. He could’ve said, “Why are you even asking this question? Don’t you know that all commandments are important?” But He didn’t. Instead, He answered him clearly, which leads to our next point.
2) THE ANSWER
Verse 29. Here, we notice something strange – Jesus began by first stating something about God. “The most important one is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” This is what’s known as the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4. And it tells us that God is one – that there’s no one like Him. What does this mean? It means that there’s no one more powerful than Him, no one holier than Him, no more just than Him, and no one more merciful, more gracious, more loving than Him. But here’s what’s most important: Jesus described this God (this Almighty, amazing God) as our God. This is what Jesus wanted this man to know even before He gave the command to obey – that this God is for him. Brothers and sisters, I pray that we won’t take this truth for granted. It’s a humble privilege for us to be able to call Him, “Our God.” He is for us, and we are His. This is important to see because Jesus was trying to redefine our understanding of the law. If we realize that God is for us, we begin to see that His law isn’t meant to oppress us, manipulate us, rob us of the fun we can have in life. No, His law is the expression of His love for us – to protect us, to guide us, to keep us holy and pure before the Lord. For example, when He commands us not to steal, it’s because He wants us to be radically generous to the people around us. When He commands us not to lie, it’s because He wants us to be authentic in the way we live. When He commands us to forgive, it’s because He wants us to be freed from the weight of our anger. When He commands us to die to ourselves, it’s because He wants us to be filled with His Spirit. We must remember that God’s law ultimately comes from His love for us.
Then only after emphasizing who this God was, Jesus went on to give this man the answer to his question. And here, Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 6 (loving God) and Leviticus 19 (loving one’s neighbor). Now, it’s interesting that even though this man asked for the most important commandment (meaning one), Jesus gave him two. He actually did this intentionally because He wanted to show that these two belonged together – they were two sides of the same coin. To ignore one was to ignore both.
Then let’s look at this two-part answer more closely. First, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” Now, we must pay close attention to the fact that Jesus repeated the word “all” four times. Do you see that? This is important because that really is the point of this command. We can spend a lot of time talking about what it means to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength (going through what each means) – but that really wasn’t the point Jesus wanted to make. Instead, He wanted us to see that we are called to love God with everything we have. Just as God loved us with everything He had, we ought to love Him with everything we have. Then how do we know if we truly love Him with everything we have? To answer this, let’s think of the word, “Love.” It’s the Greek word, “agape” which means sacrificing or self-giving. It’s no longer thinking about ourselves but thinking of others first. Then let me ask you, “What are you sacrificing for the Lord today? Are you letting go of your pride for the Lord? Are you surrendering your love for power, money, status for the Lord? Are you giving up your sleep to spend time with the Lord in the Word and prayer? Are you letting go of opportunities at work to serve the body of Christ? Or is your life very safe?” – in the sense that it’s very comfortable, you don’t risk much for the Lord. In other words, you’re settled; you’re doing the minimum to have an appearance of loving God. Brothers and sisters, let us love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our strengths for He is worthy of our complete worship. May everything we do be a reflection of our love for Him.
Second, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Now, the assumption Jesus makes here is that everyone loves themselves which is true. We all have a powerful instinct for self-preservation and self-fulfillment. We all want to be happy. We all want comfort, satisfaction, and security. We all want to be loved – to have meaningful relationships with others. We all want to have a purpose – a meaning for our lives. And this is why this second part of the commandment is shocking, radical – He calls us to love others as ourselves. Just as we work hard to achieve safety and security for ourselves, we must protect others from calamity and violence. Just as we desire intimate friendship, we must offer ourselves to be friends with those around us. Just as we desire our lives to count and be significant, we must pray the same for our friends and neighbors. Just as we desire to be forgiven of our mistakes and sins, we must be quick to forgive others. Just as we desire to be served, we must serve others humbly and intentionally. In other words, we must make our self-seeking the measure of our self-giving – whatever we desire for ourselves should be the measure for which we give to others. This is a high calling – loving others will cost us. But Jesus is calling us to bear the cost with joy knowing that this is how God loved us. Then brothers and sisters, is this how you’re loving those around you? It’s easy to love people who we’re fond of. But this command isn’t dependent on the loveliness of our neighbor – we ought to love everyone God places in our lives. Then how are you loving your family – your spouse, your children, your parents, your siblings? How are you loving your friends, co-workers, clients, neighbors? How are you loving other church members here – the one sitting beside you? How are you loving strangers – and even those who may have offended you, hurt you? Are you loving them as yourself?
Jesus tells us that the most important commandment, the greatest commandment is to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. Now, is it just me or does this seem absolutely crushing to hear? I don’t know about you – but thinking through this makes me feel overwhelmed and hopeless. Who in the world can love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength? Who in the world can love others as ourselves? I fail to do this all the time. No matter how hard I try, I often find myself loving God only partially – I often find myself loving others just enough so that I can minimize the cost. The standard is too high. This seems impossible. In fact, that’s what this teacher of the law should’ve recognized. So, in response to Jesus’ answer, he should’ve said, “Jesus, well said. You’re certainly right. But woe is me because I can’t live like that. I will never be able to love that way.” But he didn’t. Verse 32. Instead, he simply agreed with Jesus. He probably thought, “That’s good because that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. I’m not doing that bad.” But Jesus wasn’t going to leave him thinking this way, which leads to our last point.
3) THE RESPONSE
Listen to the way Jesus responded to him in verse 34, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” Jesus was basically saying, “You’re getting so close to the Kingdom of God.” Think about it – this teacher was different from other religious leaders. His attitude toward Jesus was not confrontational – there was no malicious intent. He was incredibly sincere in his approach – he came to Jesus wanting to know more. He was very humble – he was respectful in the way he responded to Jesus’ answer. He was also courageous because, no doubt, other religious leaders were listening to this conversation. But he wasn’t intimidated by how others might think of him. So, Jesus saw that he was making progress and He commended him for it.
This is important for us to note because some of you here are getting closer too. You haven’t been completely sold out to Jesus but you’re getting close. Some of you used to think that there was no God, but you just couldn’t explain so many things in the world without the existence of God – the space, the complexity of life. Now, you believe in a God and you’re searching. It means that you’re getting closer. Some of you, for the very first time, genuinely want to have a relationship with God. You used to think that God was just a distant divine being, but you have this deep desire to know Him more – to have an intimate relationship with Him. You’re getting closer. Maybe you realized that you don’t like the way you’re living – you feel like you’re living a double life, you feel meaningless, you want to have a purpose, you don’t want to be the same person. You’re getting closer. Maybe you realized that you’ve been just going through the motions in your faith. You’ve been attending church for a while, but you’ve been doing this just to make your parents happy, you’ve been doing this just for your kids because you want them to grow up with good morals, you’ve been doing this because you just wanted to belong somewhere. And all of a sudden, you feel this urgency to do something about it. If this is you, you are making progress. And Jesus is saying to you, “You are not far from the Kingdom.”
But there’s a flip side to this: you’re near but not yet in. That’s what Jesus was saying to this teacher, “You’re getting close but it’s not far enough.” Now, this would’ve been news to him. He was a teacher of the law – an expert in the law. He must have thought that he was in which means that Jesus’ words would’ve startled him. But that’s why Jesus said these words – He wanted to provoke a further response from him. But do you know what’s interesting? Jesus didn’t tell him the next step. He didn’t say, “You’re very close. So, here’s what you should do to get in.” Why not? I think because Jesus wanted this man to be on the journey with Him to the cross. Jesus wanted this man to see for himself that He wasn’t just a good teacher but the Messiah, the Savior who came to die for sinners like him and all of us as well. Jesus wants us to see that He’s the One who has the authority to declare who’s in and who’s out of God’s Kingdom, the only One who perfectly loves God with all of His heart, soul, mind, and strength, and His neighbor as much as Himself – in fact, more than Himself. He was ostracized, beaten, spat on, crucified – all because of His love for us. He substituted His place with us so that in His death, we can have life. Jesus knew that it was only by clinging to Him that we can enter the Kingdom. Then by not telling him everything at that moment, it was like Jesus was inviting this teacher to be on this journey with Him to the cross. He was saying, “Come and see it for yourself. All will be made clear soon.”
Friends, you might still be on this journey. Then I want to say to you, “Don’t give up. And don’t take your eyes off of Jesus because He alone is sufficient to save.” Some of you may be making slow progress. That’s okay – keep coming out to hear the gospel. Children and youth, it’s possible for you to grow up in the church with godly parents and never come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. It’s possible for you to be near the gospel, hear the gospel every Sunday but never be transformed by it. Then take this opportunity to think about what it means to trust in Jesus. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask your parents or me anytime.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, the most important commandment is this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. Then my prayer is that our church will be marked with this kind of love – loving God and loving others with everything we have. “We love because He first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19).
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) How does experiencing the love of God transform the way we love God and love others? In other words, how does the gospel empower our obedience to the Great Commandment?
2) What is the relationship between the first command to love God and the second command to love others? (1 John 4:19-21)
3) How can you grow to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength today? How can you grow to love your neighbor as yourself today? Share some practical ways you can express this kind of love this week.
4) Undoubtedly, we know various people in our lives who are far from the kingdom, but also those who may perhaps be near the kingdom. Who are some of these people in your life? Pray for them with your CG members.