SERMON TITLE: Jesus, what’s the most important commandment?
TEXT: Mark 12:28-34, 38-40 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 11-14-21
You can watch the sermon here.
You can find the sermon notes here.
As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshipping with us for the first time or are joining us at our North Main campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
This is our last week — in the gospel of Mark — for this year. And — what we’ve been seeing — are many different people coming to Jesus with all kinds of questions. And their questions have been what we’ve focused on — because — we’ve all got questions. Questions about life, about spiritual things, about relationships, and so on. And many of the questions — we see people asking Jesus — are questions we’re still asking today.
So let’s turn to our passage and see what Jesus will be asked. If you have your Bible please turn with me to Mark chapter 12. We’ll be reading verses 28 through 34 — and a few more verses from near the end of the chapter. And the question asked this week is, “Jesus, what’s the most important commandment?” The Bible’s full of commandments — so — “Jesus, which one is the most important” — that’s our question for today.
Here are the words found in Mark chapter 12. Beginning in verse 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.” And skipping to verse 38 — we read — “And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”” (Mark 12:28-34, 38-40 ESV)
So — here’s what we’re gonna do today. Our verses have four commands in them — four things for us to do — as we hear Jesus’ answer to the question, “What’s the greatest commandment?” And the four things we’re to do are 1) hear, 2) love God, 3) love others, and 4) beware — a warning about pretending to love God and others. Again — we’re to hear, love God, love others, and beware of the temptation of pretending to love God and others.
So we’re going to look at each of these as we dive into Jesus’ answer to our question — “Jesus, what’s the greatest commandment?”
We’re back in verse 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.” (Mark 12:28-29 ESV)
Hear — listen — be attentive to what’s being said. This is where Jesus begins when questioned about which is the greatest of all the commandments.
Now — if you haven’t been with us in previous weeks — here’s what’s been going on. The Pharisees — they’re religious leaders — came and questioned Jesus about authority — specifically who’s given Jesus authority to do the things that he’s been doing. And then the chief elders sent the Pharisees back to Jesus — and this time with some Herodians — to question Jesus about money — they were hoping to trap Jesus in his words. Then some Saducees came and questioned Jesus about eternity. And now a scribe comes to question Jesus about God’s commandments. So everyone’s had their shot at questioning Jesus — except for the scribes — and now it’s their turn.
So who are the scribes? Scribes were experts in Old Testament law — kind of like religious lawyers. And they counted 613 commands — in the writings of Moses — what’s known as the Mosaic Law in the Old Testament. Two hundred and forty-eight of those commands are positive — things to do — three hundred and sixty-five of them are negative commands — things you’re not supposed to do. (Ben Witherington III, The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 330.)
One person has noted that, “[The scribes] recognized that all [the commands] were not equally important or equally foundational. They debated which were the ‘heavy’ commands [meaning more important] and which were the ‘light’ ones [less important commands].” (Thomas Constable, “Notes on Mark,” https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/mark.pdf.)
Now — Jesus ignores the categories of heavy and light and shows a different way of viewing the commandments. What do I mean? Well — Jesus first begins by quoting what’s known as the Shema. It’s found in the book of Deuteronomy — chapter six — where we read, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV) This was a prayer repeated twice a day by the Jewish people. A reminder to them that — in the polytheistic world in which they lived — in a world with many different religions and all kinds of views about spiritual things — the true God — Yahweh — is the only God. So this is a daily — twice repeated prayer — and it’s an affirmation of monotheism. Mono means one. Theism means God. That there is only one true God.
And the command to hear — or to listen — as in some Bible translations — is a command to receive this truth. God is one — there’s only one true God. Father, Son, and Spirit — three persons — yet one God. A divine mystery known as the Trinity. Not three gods. One God. The Father isn’t the Son. The Son isn’t the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit isn’t the Father. Yet there’s only one God. Listen — hear — receive this truth as the starting point to our question, “Which is the greatest commandment?” For this is where we must begin — receiving the truth — that there is only one God.
“Well, OK Josh. But why must we start here?” Because this is where Jesus begins. No other commandments — found in any other religion — given by any other so-called god or gods — matter. For there is only one true God. And I know this kind of exclusive dogmatism doesn’t sit well in our culture. Actually — it’s not that exclusive dogmatism doesn’t sit well — it’s that biblical exclusive dogmatism doesn’t sit well. For there are many — today — who preach a message of non-biblical exclusive dogmatism and there’s a building pressure in our nation to submit to their authority — but I digress.
So before we listen to — or submit ourselves to — the dogmatism of others — we must listen to Jesus’ answer to our question about the greatest commandment.
Which leads us to our next verse — and his answer to our question, “Which is the greatest commandment?” Here’s his answer: the greatest commandment is to love God.
“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.’” (Mark 12:30 ESV)
Now these are actually the next words found in the passage of Deuteronomy that the Shema is found in. So let’s go back to Deuteronomy chapter six. “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. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you — with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant — and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you — 15 for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God — lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. 16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised. 20 “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’” (Deuteronomy 6:4-25 ESV)
“Jesus, what’s the greatest commandment?” His answer: love God. However — research from last year — found that less than 20% of American adults believe that their life’s purpose is to know and love God. (Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, “God is Absent from Most People’s Views of Purpose and Success,” May 6, 2020. https://www.arizonachristian.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/CRC-AWVI-2020- Release-04_God-is-Absent-from-Views-of-Purpose-and-Success.pdf.) And — if you’re doing the math — that percentage is less than the number of evangelicals in our country. And that’s a problem. Back in the Old Testament — loving God was an entire way of life — a way of life in response to having been loved and rescued by God out of enslavement.
And — all of us were slaves to Satan, sin, death, and Hell — this was our natural state prior to our faith in Christ. But — if you believe in Christ — you’ve been set free through his work on the cross. And your response — to being set free from Satan, sin, death, and Hell — is to love God. But — the danger with this commandment — is that we all like to reduce “loving God” to loving him on our own terms. We tend to take on an authority that’s not been given to us — an authority where we define our relationship with God. So we tell God what it means for us to love him. And we always do an awesome job of meeting the expectations that we’ve set for ourselves.
But — then we pick up and read the Bible — and something comes up that starts to convict us of how we’re not loving God. Uh-oh! And what do we often do? We’re quick to dismiss what we’re reading as being outdated, or “that’s not what this really means” or something like this that appeases our conscience because conviction was starting to creep in on us.
But — in Jesus’ answer — we see that loving God includes loving him with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And — even more specifically — loving him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
So what does it mean to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Though we tend to think of the heart as the place of our emotions — in Jesus’ day the heart was the “center of the person.” (Daniel Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2014), 287.) The heart was your true self — the core of who you are — that’s what’s meant by heart in our verses. (James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 371.) The soul is our self-consciousness. The mind is our intellect. And the word strength — comes from the ancient idea of “much-ness.” Meaning our “substance, our possessions, everything that God’s given to us.” (James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 371.)
All that to say — there’s not a single part of us that’s left untouched by the command to love God — all of who you are is to love God. Which leads to some specific implications and applications of what it means to love God.
To love God means we must pursue truth — for God is the giver and definer of truth. Jesus tells us that he is the Truth. And — to know truth — so we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength — means we must be men and women of this book.
God’s Word clearly tells us what it means to love God. Just think of the first four of the 10 Commandments.
Did you see how knowing God’s Word helps to define what it means to love him? And it’s kind of convicting, right? Just take that last commandment — number four. I mean — what kind of priority would gathering with God’s people — to worship the One who’s rescued us from our enslavement to Satan, sin, death, and Hell — what kind of priority should gathering with God’s people be for us? Especially since we gather to worship the God we say we love. Yet supposed good church attendance is right around once a month — in our country — for Christians. Some display of love, right?
Additionally, to love God means we submit our money, possessions, and wealth to his will and authority — as we saw a few weeks ago. To love God means our calendars — and the way we spend our time — are influenced by our love for him. It’s so easy to waste the one thing that — once spent — can never be spent again — life. And wasting life is a tragedy. It’s a misprioritization of our most valuable asset. And loving God will influence how we spend our time. And our love for God will have a direct influence on our love for others.
Which leads us to Jesus’ second commandment. He was asked for the greatest commandment — singular — but his answer includes two commandments. Why? Because there’s no way to love God without loving others. For sure — we can love others without loving God — but not the reverse. Love for God will always show itself in love for others. We’re in verse 31.
“The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”” (Mark 12:31 ESV)
Now — in Jesus’ day — Jews viewed only fellow Jews — and converts to Judaism — as their neighbors — people they were responsible to love. Yet Jesus expands the definition of neighbor as clearly seen in his parable of the Good Samaritan. In Luke’s gospel, we find the same encounter between Jesus and this scribe. Yet Luke records a parable that Jesus uses to show what it means to love our neighbor. Here’s what we find in Luke chapter 10.
“One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” 27 The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” 29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. 31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. 33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ 36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. 37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”” (Luke 10:25-37 NLT)
Now what this parable teaches us is that — similar to the danger with loving God — we also like to define what it means to love others. And — often — we even like to define who the others are — that we’re to love. So we pick and choose how and who we’ll love making it impossible for us to break our version of this commandment. The priest — in Jesus’ parable — probably didn’t see himself as breaking a commandment. Neither did the Temple assistant. And to make his point — uncomfortably clear — Jesus picks a despised Samaritan to be the person who demonstrates love for the man who’s been attacked.
So what are some practical and specific ways that we can love our neighbors?
Well...to love our neighbors means that — just like our love for God — our love for others comes by being people of God’s Word. God’s Word tells us how we’re to love our neighbors. Let’s return to the 10 Commandments again for some examples.
Additionally, to love our neighbors means that we serve them. We’re all surrounded by neighbors in the seats and pews around us. How are you loving them by serving them?
We’re also surrounded by neighbors in our community. How are you loving them?
And — remember — this is a love for others because of our love for God. As the apostle John tells us, “Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. 8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him. 10 In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:7-11 NET)
As it’s been said, “Since God went out of his way to show us how much he loves me it only makes sense [that] I would love people like he does. I show people how much God loves them by doing it myself.” (NewSpring Church, “Love Because God Loves You,” https://newspring.cc/fuse/devotionals/understanding-and- applying-the-bible/love-because-god-loves-you.)
And with what kind of love are we to love others? A kind of love — so often spoken of in weddings — is actually a love not reserved solely for marriage — but is a love we’re to demonstrate to our neighbors. “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT)
“Jesus, what’s the greatest commandment?” His answer: Love God and love others. And now he gives a warning. We’re in verse 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.” And skipping to verse 38 — we read — “And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”” (Mark 12:32-34, 38-40) ESV)
So the scribe is on to something — but — as we saw in Luke’s gospel — he hasn’t figured everything out yet. But what he has figured out is that God’s more concerned with our love for him and others than he is with the practice of religious rituals and sacrifices. And that’s where the second story comes in.
You’ve got scribes — again — and they’re walking around in their fancy robes and doing their fancy greetings in front of others so they’re seen as a spiritual authority. They’re sitting in the best seats in the synagogue — seats where you’re seen by others — and they also take the best seats at the feasts. They pray these super spiritually sounding long-winded prayers — all while devouring widows’ houses as they take advantage of widows who couldn’t afford to financially give to the synagogue. To sum things up — they’re unloving hypocrites. They’re not loving God nor neighbor.
And — Jesus says — they’ll receive greater condemnation. Not just condemnation — greater condemnation. Why? Because they know exactly what they’re doing. They’re not ignorant. They’re intentionally not practicing love for God nor love for neighbor.
And we’re told to beware of them. Not because we’re going to run into one of them at Walmart — but because it’s so easy to be one of them. Faking Christianity. Faking love for God. Faking love for others. All while knowing — not being ignorant — but knowing that you’re just playing a religious game — and God’s no fool.
This is why loving God and loving others are the greatest commandments. This is why they’re the most important commandments for us to evaluate our lives by. Not only have we first been loved by God — though that should be compelling enough for us all to respond in love for him and others — but there’s condemnation to come for those who don’t love God and don’t love their neighbors. So — be warned — Jesus says — there will be a price to pay by those who don’t love God and don’t love others — according to God’s terms.
But let’s end on some good news — better yet — great news for all of us. Jesus didn’t just give us an answer to our question — he is the answer to our question. For loving God and loving others are the commandments that Jesus lived by. Every decision he made and every action he did aligned with these two commandments.
And though we’ve all had moments in life — many many moments — where we’ve failed to obey these commandments — and should be recipients of greater condemnation — God — in love — sent Christ to be our substitute — to pay for our sins — and to give us new life. A life that desires and has the ability to obey these commandments. A life transformed by his power and grace — power and grace offered to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A new life of loving God and loving others because — he Jesus — first loved us. And though we’ve all failed again and again to obey these commandments — Christ did not fail. And that’s great news for all people. Great news — for you — if you turn to him who loves you. And listen to him. And love him. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your love for us. A love for us that comes prior to our love for you. For yours is an eternal love for your people.
Holy Spirit, remind us of your great love for us. Bring it continually on our minds. May your love be something we think and talk about often. For the more we meditate on your love for us the greater our love for you and others will become.
And — Jesus — we are so grateful for your love for us. While we were your enemies, you gave your life for us on the cross because of your love for us. May we — in response — love you and love our neighbors on your terms. According to your Word. For this is what it means for us to be people who love. May we be a people who are known for our love for you and our neighbors. In your name we pray. Amen.
May you go loving God and loving others in response to God’s love for you. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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