What's Most Important?

Today’s text is significant because in it Jesus is going to reveal and redefine for us the most essential ingredient for a genuine and healthy relationship with God; that thing that God requires of us above all else.

Here’s the scene today. We’re all here to hear from God through the reading and preaching of His word; trusting that the Spirit of God is going to be active among us, bringing His word to bear in each of our lives in a way that changes us.

Sitting before this text is more like sitting on an island the size of this room surrounded by nothing but ocean in every direction and our job is to explore it. Did you know that 95% of the ocean has yet to be explored? 95% of it has never known the presence of man. This passage is like an ocean and we’re going to explore it, but we’re still only going to be sticking our toes in the water. That’s how immense our God is. So let’s read His word together and posture our hearts to receive unreservedly from our Father in heaven.

Let’s start by looking at the context and see what’s going on here. Look at verse 28, “And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing [referring to resurrection] with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Mark doesn’t tell us much about this guy but we know a few things from the gospel of Matthew. We know this Scribe was a Pharisee and we know they believed in the resurrection. We also know his motive was to test Jesus.

But even so, He’s coming with a little softer approach. Probably because he liked the fact that Jesus made the Sadducees look like fools (last week) when He answered their question about the afterlife and it lined up with his own beliefs. But he’s still there to trip Jesus up…and he does it with another loaded question. See these experts in the Law knew that that there were 613 different commands in the torah. And then they broke them down into “do’s” and “don’ts”; they knew there were 248 positives (dos) and 365 negatives (don’ts). And then they had them categorized into weighty and light commandments and took the weighty (important) commandments and put them in order of importance. But different teachers had different lists and interpretations of which commands were most important. So they wanted to know which commandment was on the top of Jesus list. This time Jesus simply answers the question.

We’re going to take a look at Jesus 2 part answer. But 1st we need to spend some time pondering the confession that comes before the commandment. Before we can truly understand and walk in the Greatest Commandment we need to understand the Greatest Confession.

The Greatest Confession: Verse 29: “Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” That’s not a command, is it? The scribe only wanted the command but it was important to Jesus that the command not be separated from this declaration about God. Before the greatest commandment was given, this awesome declaration is made by God, about God. It was important to Him, it’s important for us. God wants us to know that it’s not just about what we do. That’s our default, isn’t it? We want to know what to do. Give me the list so I can prioritize it and check it off.

But we can’t please God in our obedience without knowing God. He’s just as concerned about our motivation to obey as he is about our obedience. So He not only tells us what to do, He tells us why to do it and that empowers how to do it. “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” The Lord is one. The Lord is other, unique, separate; not in the sense of being lonely and cut-off, He is unmatched, infinite in all that He is! There is nothing that can even come close to comparing with the Lord. He’s unequalled and completely distinct from everyone.

Do you know what this means? He is beyond our ability comprehend. Now, thank God in His mercy He has made a way through Jesus for us to know Him. But think the analogy I gave comparing this passage to an ocean. Even the most dedicated marine biologist, who we would say “knows” the ocean doesn’t really know the ocean. He only knows what he’s seen of it and that’s less than 5%. If the ocean is the word of God then God Himself is like a billion oceans. And our minds simply cannot hold that much. It ain’t gonna happen! The finite cannot contain the infinite.

Therefore, we need to get comfortable with mystery. In order to know God and obey God we have to be ok with not understanding everything about God. When we can do this, the things that we don’t understand will cause us to worship and remember how great our God is! We swim down as far as we can for as long as we can. And we take in all the glory and beauty and majesty and we head back to the surface. And we worship Him for what we see and we worship Him for what we don’t. The Lord is one!

But He’s also “The Lord OUR God.” He’s not just an infinite, incomprehensible God that’s distant. He’s also a near, knowable, caring God. Jesus is about to give the command to love Him but first He wants us to know that He is our God, that He loves us. 1 John 4:19 tells us that “We love because he first loved us.” Until we understand and believe this we can’t move on to the command or any hope of obeying the command. Without a functional understanding of God’s love for us we will be just like the Pharisees.

He has loved you with an everlasting love. He has set His love on you. Not because you impress Him. The reason He is your God is because He chose you (Eph 1). He chose you because of His great love for you (Eph 2). We could spend the rest of this sermon, and our lives and eternity-and we will-talking and marveling about this one confession and never reach the end. But it’s not until we begin to grasp this truth about God that we’re ready to move on to the command for us. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

The Greatest Commandment: After this great confession Jesus gives his answer in 2 parts. One comes from Deut. 6:5 the other from Lev. 19:18. Let’s read verse 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.” The most important thing for us to do with our lives is to love God. That means that our biggest sin is to fail to love God.

Some people don’t like this and think the idea that God commands people to love Himself is self-serving, egotistical. But that’s because they don’t understand who God is. If God was like us it would be ridiculous. But He is not like us! Because of who God is, to love Him and Him above all, is to find fullness joy. To love Him is to find complete satisfaction. To love Him is to know Him and to know Him is to be changed by Him and made like Him. Loving God is what’s best for us; the most loving thing that God could command us to do.

And that’s why it’s all inclusive. Heart, soul, mind and strength aren’t specified so that we can focus on different ways to categorize our acts of love for God. This isn’t a check list, it means everything. Love God with every ounce of your being, always. This means we are to get rid of all restraint and commit every faculty and fiber of our being to a total pursuit of loving God above everything else; and to find in Him our joy and satisfaction for all of our lives. Everything we do, say, feel, think is to be devoted to the love of God. That’s what’s best for you/me.

Now, the reality is that we often fail to do this. I’m sure that there are some here not experiencing joy in their relationship with God. But when we sin or meet discouragement and feel like God is far we need to remember that He’s not. The problem isn’t that God isn’t able to give us joy. We’re the problem. We have fickle and sinful hearts that stray. We live in a fallen world. That’s why scripture calls us to fight and battle and endure. Because loving God with all of our being is worth it!

How do we love God properly? Affection for God. Our love should be rooted in affection. Love is an action but it’s also affection. Our affection should be the motivation and source of our action. Because action separated from affection does not honor God.

I love Siobhan and I do “loving” things for. But I don’t do them because I have to. That wouldn’t honor or bless her. I do loving things because I love her; because I find joy in doing things that bless her. It’s the same with God. He wants our hearts to experience affection for Him. And when we don’t it’s because we’re giving our affection to someone or something else. That’s sin. To love God is to be faithful to Him. When we fail to love God with our everything we must repent and destroy those idols and return to our first Love where we find ultimate satisfaction.

Affection for God will lead us to spending time with God. Ps. 16:11 says, “in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Where is joy? In His presence! As we receive it, we’ll love Him more and then we’ll want to be with Him more and we’ll experience more joy. Affection also empowers obedience. If I love God I want to please God; I want to obey the one I affectionately love. John 14:15-“If you love me you’ll keep my commandments.” Not manipulative guilt trip-truth. Affectionate love leads to obedience that brings us joy.

The (2nd) Greatest Commandment: Jesus gives 2 answers to the question because these two commandments are inseparable. Verse 31: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” These two go together but the first is the foundation of the second; the visible expression of the first. This is how we know if we’re loving God? If we’re loving our neighbor, we’re loving God. And Jesus isn’t just telling us to do it; He’s assuming we know how.

We have an instinct to love ourselves; to protect, feed, pursue pleasure and avoid pain, satisfy our desires, to be happy. And we want everyone else to join us in our lifelong pursuit of loving ourselves. And Jesus is calling us to love others AS we love ourselves which is to be sincerely concerned about others and instinctively active in showing them love. And just to clarify, by neighbor Jesus means everyone including our enemies (Luke 10).

So how do we do this? Matt. 7:12: “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” However you want to be treated, treat others the same way; that’s everyone, always. If you like to be loved, love others. If you like to be encouraged, encourage others. If you like people to be patient with you when you sin, be patient with others when they sin. Take that instinct to love self and turn it outward. Don’t let it become self love that will take the place of our love for God. Turn it outward to family, friends and a lost and dying world.

The first great command is to love God and but we saw earlier that the only reason we can love God is because He loved us first. And we see His love for us displayed most clearly at the cross. 1 John 4:10: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” That means that Jesus became our substitute and received all of the punishment that our sin deserves; the full eternal wrath of Almighty God. And when we remember the cross, we realize that God does not treat us as we deserve! He treated Jesus as we deserve! He crushed Him and punished Him and turned His back on Him. And we, because of the undeserved love and mercy of God toward us, have received eternal life and blessings and grace and mercy in Christ Jesus and fellowship with God and hope and confidence of our future.

Jesus says, “Because of what I have done for you, be free from self, be free from sin, free to serve and love and care and exhaust your life in loving me by loving others; even when they don’t deserve it because you didn’t and still don’t. And yet I pour it out on you freely and without end…because I love you. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

This will be quick but we can’t end without looking at the end of the passage. In a nut shell, the Scribe likes Jesus answer. He affirms Jesus and repeats the answer but he adds something, “there is one God and to love Him and love neighbor is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” It’s about time! This is what Jesus has been trying to tell these guys the whole time. It’s not just about what we do, it’s how we do it. It’s our heart. And Jesus commends Him in 34, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” What we need to note is that Jesus says he’s close, not in, the Kingdom of God.

In Jesus reply to the scribe is an encouragement and a warning. Until they love Jesus with all their heart, mind, soul and strength they can be close to the Kingdom but they can’t be in the Kingdom. Christian, does your life reflect this love? If not, before you try to do better, run to His loving arms; find the love and grace of your Father and repent; be empowered as you remember who He is and what He’s done; and then go and love Him and your neighbor.

If you have never loved Jesus, you can today. You may not even be sure about most of what I’ve said, but you know in your heart that there’s something right about loving God. He has already loved you and shone His love on the cross. And your first act of love toward Him can be giving Him your life to Him, repenting of your sin and experiencing the amazing freedom and joy of knowing God. If that’s you, I want to invite you to come up front as we sing this last song and we would love to pray with you. Or if you are a Christian and would like to come forward to kneel before the Lord or ask for prayer I want to invite you to come as well.

The ocean of God’s worthiness is unsearchable and we will spend the rest of this life, as well as our eternal life to come, exploring the Love of God for us and growing in our love for Him and that will bring Him glory; that’s what’s most important.