INTRODUCTION
- What is the most important moral issue to God?
- Is it abortion?
- Immigration?
- Spending?
- Hunger?
- Human rights?
- Depending on who you ask, you will get various answers depending on the bias or experience of the one you ask.
- Jesus was asked this question a couple of times during His ministry; the last time was in the passage we will examine today, and the first time was about a year and a half earlier, and that question was recorded in Luke 10:25-31.
- I want to give a little context for what we are reading today.
- Throughout Mark 12, Jesus is being questioned by the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Herodians as they sought to trap with what He said.
- Well, let’s say it was not going too well for any of the groups, as Jesus was administering a verbal beating to them.
- These “leaders” were no match for Jesus; however, a scribe expert in the Law was in the crowd.
- Some versions called this man a Lawyer, which would have been another name for a Scribe.
- A Scribe would have been skilled in the Law of Moses.
- It appears this Scribe was impressed enough by Jesus to give Him a fair hearing.
- Based on the context, it appears this man was seeking an answer to a sincere question.
- So here is a professional man regarding the Law of Moses; he will ask Jesus an important question.
- Here is the question.
Mark 12:28 (NET 2nd ed.)
28 Now one of the experts in the law came and heard them debating. When he saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
- This seemed like a difficult question, given that the Jewish Bible records 613 commands (10 big ones and 603 clarifications).
- The question is good because it goes right to the heart of God.
- God gave the Ten Commandments, in a sense the question is, WHAT IS AT THE CORE OF THE COMMANDS?
- If one does not grasp the underpinning of the Law, one will never understand Jesus or God.
- When Jesus was asked the same question in Luke 10:25-28
Luke 10:25–28 (NET 2nd ed.)
25 Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?”
27 The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
- The expert in religious Law gives the same answer as Jesus will when He answers the question.
- What is interesting is that the first part of the answer from the expert in the Law, Jesus, is found in the Old Testament.
Deuteronomy 6:4–5 (NET 2nd ed.)
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
5 You must love the LORD your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength.
- Let’s move to our text this morning.
- We will see what the most important moral issue is from God’s perspective.
Mark 12:29–31 (NET 2nd ed.)
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
31 The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
SERMON
I. What is love?
- The answer to the question of what the greatest command was originated from is in the greatest command Old Testament.
- We read the passage in Deuteronomy 6:4-5.
- The passage was known as the SHEMA, the Hebrew word for HEAR or LISTEN.
- This passage was used in every synagogue service.
- It is written on small papers and put in the phylacteries the Jews wore and on the doorposts of their homes.
- When we are told to love God, what does that mean?
- What does it mean to love God?
- What is love?
- There are songs and poems written about love.
- Love is the focus of art; love is the subject of many movies, many of which are terrible examples.
- The word love is used and abused daily.
- People fall in love, out of love, and sometimes simply fall.
- Love is the source of both romance and war.
- When you tell someone you love them, what are you saying?
- When you say that you love God or Jesus, what are you saying?
- First, we must understand that love is a verb!
- Many times, when we think of love, we think of its emotional aspect or the feelings that can accompany it.
- Saying the word is not love; it is showing the word by our actions, which give power to our words.
- I have seen so many people say they love their spouse, yet their actions betray their words.
- To love is to do what is spiritually best for another person.
- Love is unconditional!
- True love is not based on conditions or expectations but is given freely, mirroring God’s unconditional love for us.
- God models this love for us, and Christ died for us while we were sinners.
- Love is sacrificial!
- Love often involves sacrifice, as demonstrated by Jesus’ life and death.
- True love will require us to put others before ourselves.
- Love is forgiving!
- Forgiveness is a vital component of love, drawing on God’s forgiveness towards us as a model for how we should forgive others.
- Love is more than a feeling; it is action.
- Don’t tell a spouse you love them while you are beating or cheating on them.
- That is not love; that is selfishness.
- Love is about devotion and relationships.
- How can we love anyone we will not devoted to or have a relationship with?
- How can I love God if I am not devoted to Him or developing my relationship with Him?
- This leads to our second thought.
Mark 12:29–31 (NET 2nd ed.)
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
31 The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
II. The commitment love demands.
- What does the passage tell us?
- The most important command is to Love God!
- How are we to love God, what commitment demand from us?
- When we consider it, the commitment that love demands applies not only to loving God but also to others we love.
- This type of love should center our love for our spouses.
- Verse 30 digs into the depth of the commitment love demands.
- First, we are told to love God with all of our hearts.
- The heart is our emotional center.
- There is an emotional aspect to love.
- The command to love requires that we love with ALL of our hearts!
- The word means ALL!
- Our heart is not divided between God and the world.
- Like in marriage, your entire heart belongs to your spouse, no one else!
- We are called to God with all of our souls!
- The soul is the center of our energy and will.
- That is, with all your life.
- This means to be willing to give up life to Him and to devote it all to His service, to live for Him, and to be willing to die at his command.
- We are to love God with all of our minds!
- We submit our intellect to His will!
2 Corinthians 10:4–5 (NET 2nd ed.)
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments
5 and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.
- We must be willing to submit our minds to His teachings and guidance and to devote ourselves to pursuing His will in our will.
- And we are to love God with all of our strength!
- This means with all the relational capital and physical and material strength, you love God.
- The commitment that love requires is a total sell-out to God!
- Let me ask you a question: For those who are married, when your spouse tells you that they love you, is this the same commitment you are looking for?
- For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.
- Would you feel cheated if you did not get that kind of love from your spouse?
- By the way, for those dating someone with an eye toward marriage, you are foolish to expect anything less!
- When you say you love God, are you willing to make the commitment the words demand?
- Let’s look at the passage one more time.
Mark 12:29–31 (NET 2nd ed.)
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
31 The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
III. How to show love to a God you cannot hug?
- How can we show a God we do not see that we love Him?
- We should love our neighbor and desire for him all those good things, both for the body and for the soul, that we desire for ourselves.
- Jesus not only answers the question, just as the lawyer in Lue 10 did, Jesus gives a bonus answer!
- He quotes Leviticus 19:18.
Leviticus 19:18 (NET 2nd ed.)
18 You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
- Why did Jesus add in verse 31?
- If we love God as much as Jesus said, why is there more to say?
- Here is why.
- Jesus wanted to illustrate how we can carry out the GREATEST COMMAND.
- HOW DO WE KNOW IF WE ARE CLOSE TO CARRYING OUT THE COMMAND?
- God wants our love for Him to manifest itself in the way we love others.
- Love of self is usually pretty strong for all of us.
- We start life selfishly.
- We feed me, change me, hold me, and that is mine!
- We are taught to share and prioritize other people.
- However, if we are not careful, we can revert to selfishness.
- The love of self is deep and sincere.
- Think of a marriage.
- A successful and joyful marriage will happen when spouses love each other more than they love themselves.
- That is a sight to behold!
- Mark Moore offers this insight.
One cannot love God without loving one’s neighbor. After all, you can’t really climb a stairway to heaven to give God a hug or offer him a care package. Our love of God can be enacted only through our care for our neighbor.
Moore, Mark E.. Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Build Your Bible IQ in a Year (p. 209). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
- Of course, the Jewish leaders tried to frame the definition of a neighbor very narrowly.
- The story of the Good Samaritan is the story Jesus told to the crowd the first time He was asked who his neighbor was.
- Jesus illustrated that our neighbor is not someone who is like us or who lives near us; rather, we serve those who surround us at any given moment.
- The circle of who our neighbors are moves where we move!
CONCLUSION
- In the parallel account from Matthew, Jesus says the following.
Matthew 22:40 (NET 2nd ed.)
40 All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
- As a side note, this statement would mean nothing to his Roman/Gentile audience, so it was omitted.
- Loving God and loving others is the foundation for our relationship with God.
- The religious leaders of Jesus' Day knew the command but did not follow the command.
- I pray that we not only know the command but that we live the command.
