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and if you're keeping track keeping track it's still Tuesday of the passion week and Jesus has had a long day
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and we have more who come to him I'm going to read Mark 12 starting at verse 28. verse 28. and one of the scribes came and heard
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them arguing them arguing and recognizing that he had answered them well asked him what commandment is the foremost of all Jesus answered the foremost is
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hear o Israel the Lord our God is one Lord and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
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mind and with all your strength the second is this you shall love your neighbor as yourself there is no other commandment greater than these and the Scribe said to him right teacher
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you have stayed truly stated that he is one and there is no one else besides him and to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor
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as himself is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices and when Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently he said to him
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you are not far from the kingdom of God and after that no one would venture to ask him any more questions let us pray
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our heavenly father we do ask that by your Holy Spirit you would speak to us you would help us to understand these things but also to understand them with all of our heart mind soul and strength
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father to understand the greatness of this commandment this commandment and yet to understand our impotence to actually do it
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without your son your son and so we pray father teach us help us speak to us this morning in Christ's name we pray amen
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side of the Gathering Around Jesus remember the Sanhedrin had come to Jesus as a group and they had asked him about
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his authority his authority the Sadducees had come and asked him their ridiculous some called grotesque question about
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what happens in the resurrection knowing that the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection the resurrection and apparently the and I can't quite my
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imagination is not good enough I'm not an artist but trying to understand where all these people are standing around Jesus but but we know that the Pharisees of whom the
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The Scribe was one of them thank you thank you were listening were listening they were rejoicing they were excited
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because Jesus had had disassembled the Sadducees argument against the resurrection and they thought he he's on our side
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will ask him another question just to be sure the Pharisees did believe in the resurrection as Jesus did the Sadducees
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did not and now the Pharisees want to put a question to Jesus designed I I think to obtain an endorsement from him
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the scribes were experts in the law and in the interpretation of the law and it tells us here and again with looking at Matthew as his parallel gospel here
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he uses Matthew uses the word to tempt Jesus I'm not sure that Mark goes in that direction but if it's tempting or testing I I
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think he's really putting before Jesus a disputed question that that was a real question among them what is the foremost commandment
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the The Scribe as Mark tells us he heard them arguing he recognized in Jesus that he answered very well against the Sadducees and now
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he inquires of him what commandment is the foremost of all and I I think that question as I can understand the Greek it's not just
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perhaps in some people's mind it was which one which one of all the Commandments tell me the one but I think the Greek tells us that he's
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asking about quality what kind of or what quality of commandment is the foremost of all see the the rabbis I'm I'm told
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um kept a catalog of The Commandments they they said there are 613 of them there's 248 on the positive side and there's 365 on the negative side
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I don't know if they're somebody created a daily calendar you know your negative commandment of the day but they were trying to decide of these
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613 which is the first which is the greatest and some of them assign numerical values to the
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to the letters in the words in Hebrew and then looked at the Hebrew words it's almost like a a giant Scrabble game the the letters had an assigned value
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and the Commandment that had most of those words with the largest value letters went to the top so they did have a hierarchy they did have a a scale of
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The Commandments that were the at least the ones that they put at the top the foremost and the ones that were lesser
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other rabbis argue no what you need to do is you need to assign to the Commandments their importance what we think the importance is to
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so that you can judge and you judge them by the penalty that is described to that commandment so if the rabbis thought well the
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Commandments about the sacrifices take precedent over the Commandments about the Sabbath or the Sabbath takes president over the Commandments about circumcision then they made a decision
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which is the foremost of all but Jesus kind of sweeps all that away and he responds by quoting from both Deuteronomy chapter 6. and Leviticus 19.
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some believe that it's a summary of the tables of the law that you should love the Lord your God first table of the laws second table
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deals with man and his relationship to man and I think they do include the rest but I I think and again from our study
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uh the Chuck study on Thursday nights in James where we looked at how James connects to the Leviticus 19 the Holiness code
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Holiness code we we see that these two Commandments or the foremost Commandments are the key the hermeneutical key to the rest of scripture in Matthew 22 when
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we read about this same incident with the Scribe the Scribe Matthew ends his by saying on these two Commandments hang all the law and the
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prophets and the idea of the the Hang is I can understand it is like a door hung on a hinge if that door is not hung everything it's going to fall all of The
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Commandments hang on these two Commandments in fact all of the Old Testament hangs on these two Commandments and and the second relates
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to the first is is some would say is enfolded into the first because it shows people how to interpret the first it is part of loving God with all our
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heart soul mind and strength so he says the firm foremost is to do this to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart but but he doesn't just jump
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there he he does read the whole verse he does recite the whole verse in Deuteronomy it begins with what we uh know at least I've come to hear people
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call it the Shema and I wonder okay that's just a Jewish word for loving the Lord your God no the the word actually comes from the Hebrew word to hear
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and so when we read in Mark here o Israel it's a reminder that when this commandment was given by
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Moses from God through Moses to the people a reminder that they were to constantly repeat it doesn't chapter six tell you and you shall tell these things
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to your children and to your children's children when you sit down when you lie down when you rise up it's a constant reminder to be consistently repeated and
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applied In Worship the idea behind this word hearing hear o Israel it's it's a hearing that heeds it's a hearing that responds in
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obedience and isn't that where Paul says the gospel begins in people's hearts people's hearts how can they believe unless they hear
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faith comes through hearing and hearing by the word of God so I think Jesus is right he begins his little sermon by saying here have hearing that heeds that obeys
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hear o Israel the Lord thy God is one is one and it's not just an abstract proposition it's not just saying well there there is
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one God one God it's personal the Lord our God the unchanging powerful Lord
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or let me say it this way I I read from time to time and you've probably heard it people will say the Old Testament is is
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all of God's Wrath Grace and love come in Jesus Christ in the New Testament there is Grace in the Old Testament
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Deuteronomy when he says Hear o Israel he says Jehovah elohanu Jehovah the name of God it's a covenant name
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it's a Covenant of Grace somebody has mentioned it already this morning God chose them that's Grace God said I will be your God
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and you will be my people that's Grace and and elohainu has in it the idea of not just a god but the God who is omnipotent the God
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who is all-powerful the god who was able to sustain his peop sustain his people but it's possessive Our God you are mine he says I have
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chosen you chosen you and he is not just one right we we sometimes read you know he is one God as if there is a Pantheon and and we
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happen to pick this one that that's not the idea behind Jehovah the Jews would never say he is the Jehovah that that's I don't know if it's an
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oxymoron but it it clashes it doesn't fit he is Jehovah it's not that he is an another one of that type
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Jehovah is able to make and to keep an eternal Covenant with his people that's it that's it there we speak of God As One
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and it doesn't negate the Trinity what we're speaking of is is not one and there are three persons in the Trinity but there's Oneness in being and he is the one
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there is a dignity to this name Jehovah elohanu there's a dignity because he is our creator and sustainer he addresses us
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God to man many of The Commandments deal with man to man how we are to get along how we are to respect one another and work
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together God addresses us personally God did not have to reveal himself to us but he did he chose to
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but there's also Justice because he is almighty God almighty God he is a Divine Authority there is righteous in-ness in Jehovah there is love in Jehovah there is
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Justice and grace these things this quality is so deep I can't explain it all and yet we have it is all of Grace
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there is dignity there is justice but there is also Duty this phrase the Lord our God is one Lord and you shall love the Lord your God
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it is the language of law it's it's legal language you shall
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but it's also an expression of God's claim upon us and that makes all the difference when he says love the Lord your God there there is a an exclusiveness to
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that idea of love he we do have Commandments in the scriptures that say fear the lord your God trust him put your hope in him
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but they have limitations the idea of Love is All Inclusive it is God's claim upon his people and thou shalt love the Lord your God
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with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strengths your strengths with what shall I love God
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well there are many who say well there's there's no point in looking at all of these four things because they're all an entity they're all the whole being and I
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think that's true but sometimes we I think need to be reminded that it's not just he's adding words to
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add words add words because the heart is to be given
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holy not to something but to an object to a object God is the object of all-out pursuit of
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our love our love there's a sincerity of the thoughts and the feelings in loving God that comes from the heart
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the soul is basically our life we prefer God over our own life
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we would be willing to give up home friends Comforts emotions
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to love God with all our soul and with our mind we are to love God with all of our intellect but not just again this abstract thought of God
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but all of our reason all of our judgments all of our convictions brought to honor him
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and what about strength well strength ought to bring to mind activity my wealth my talents my mental faculties my whole body
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In Worship In Worship and love of God and he says the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself we're not talking and again I would
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recommend that you read the notes from the Plumb line class where we talked about the Royal law it's not necessarily A fondness or
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affection and it doesn't demand as our brother wrote Merit or reciprocation you've met people like that right well I
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love people who love me you know I like people who like me but um that's not what's behind it what's behind it is doing no harm to
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one's neighbor one's neighbor doing things that are in my power to meet the need of another person
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and there are some we say yeah what doesn't it say you shall love your neighbor as yourself that's a self-love no he's not talking about self-love
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but it requires us to extend to others the same kind of personal care and concern that we have for ourselves again our brother mentioned Ephesians 5.
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no one hates himself but he nourishes himself he cares for himself what the Commandment is talking telling us to do is we ought to have
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that same care and concern for our neighbor and who is our neighbor it's those who come near to us who come into contact with us
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and why does Jesus stated in this order well because our love for God is the natural order before our love for our neighbor
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but it's also he's speaking of them together as the foremost commandment because the quality and the character of our love are alike
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are alike he is not one love for one and one for the other it's not
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but the quality of it the character of it the way we approach it he's saying oh these are alike and there's no commandment greater than these that means no commandment is placed
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ahead of them all the other Commandments again it's like that door hinge if it's not hanging the rest Fall Apart
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because I was studying this week some words from the Isaac Watts hymn came to mind when I survey the Wonders
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one of the stanzas of that hymn says love so amazing so divine demands my soul my life my all
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sometimes and I'm like one of the writers who wrote about that hymn the depths the depths of these Commandments to love the Lord my God with all my
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heart all my soul all my mind all my strength the first thing that comes to mind is how badly I fail
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but the Commandment commands nothing less than that we are not commanded to love ourselves as much as we love God but we are commanded we are bound to love God with
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all our heart mind soul and strength the the idea that comes through in here at least to me and Mark is the idea of
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whole with all your heart all your mind all your soul all your strengths the idea of wholeness is stressed
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it's repeated it's repeated and I think it's repeated because it is the source the Greek means out of the whole heart out of the whole soul out of
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the whole mind out of your whole foreign all the powers
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that the whole man has all of his affections all of his life as Watts wrote my soul my life my all
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there's no excuse for those who neglect God there's there's no excuse for those who have an indifference toward God there's no excuse for those who lack
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interest in God it's not an option that we love our neighbor but we don't love God John says that right that right how can you say
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I love God and hate your brother it's not an option there's no nothing less I love God and I love my neighbor
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and it cannot be left to Mere Wonder to wonder over God's creation sometimes over the years we've we've met doctors and I don't know they're Christians but they might acknowledge
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what yes you know how fearfully and wonderfully we're made and how the body heals itself and all those things and you might yeah yeah yeah but it's more than a just an acknowledgment
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that that God is great and God can do those things it's more than the astronomer looking at all of these beautiful pictures from the web telescope looking deep into space and
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seeing all these wonderful things and saying yeah that's that's you know it's amazing it's more than that it's not just a mere wonder and awe at what God
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has done in creation and it's not just an attendance on religious services religious services that's not a substitute for loving God
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and obviously you cannot live as if there is no God because then you're doing just the opposite living as if there is no God is the same as hating God
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because God has said You shall love the Lord your God so it's nothing less but it is also nothing else
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there are no substitutes there's no Replacements there's there's no um I've been reading about you know people now scared of drugs and they're
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self-medicating right well I I the equivalent in the Christian Life is
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I kind of think that that's what the Scribe thought Scribe thought his thought in verse 34. sorry in verse 33 he's saying you're right you've spoken excellently about
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these things you you this is a very intelligent answer Jesus that you've made about loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself and it's much more
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than all burnt offerings and sacrifices perhaps he thought that might be the answer but there's been a transformation in him at least in his far of his mind
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no it's not sacrifices and it's not these burnt offerings
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there's none other no thing no thing or no one that can be placed alongside God
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our equal to our love for God one the same love means to stand that that person that object stands as God
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does equal does equal I would Echo Paul May it never be and nothing is left to what Charles Persian called the deities of our brain
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I like that phrase luck see that's not love to God
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we may speak of our morality we we may be proud of our benevolence we may say I've got a pretty good record on human rights I respect other people
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we may be proud of our intellectual knowledge but education is no substitution for love we may say and you hear people say it in
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our day too religion my religion is between me and my God my God and I think our response ought to be well Jesus said You shall love the Lord
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your God with all your heart mind soul and strength do you or do you love the god that you've made in your image
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or we would ask them how far are you from the kingdom this is what Jesus says Of The Scribe you are not far from the kingdom
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but but did describe realize what he was saying he's saying you've spoken rightly you've spoken intelligently you've you've nailed it on the head Jesus
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it did produce an effect on him he's finding deeper meaning in the law he's found an unexpected meaning that Jesus has brought to his attention you have truly stated this well
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but did he just have an intellectual perception did he have a doctrinal
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or was there a moral perception perhaps he was looking back at first Samuel 15 which reads has the Lord as much delight and burn offerings and sacrifices and is as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold
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to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams
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also that no one can keep this commandment it is the first and greatest commandment you shall love the Lord with all your
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heart soul mind and strength it is the Commandment but no man woman or child can ever keep it I mean we've talked about Jesus as the
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Cornerstone and what are the Cornerstone it was the level and the Plumb line try taking your Justice and measuring it by God's level try
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taking your righteousness and stacking it up to God's Plumb line are you going to make it how do you know
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you cannot do it salvation by works of the law is an you will fail you will be swept away
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and that is why we need a savior this really is the gospel you can't do it but there is one who did
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here there is one who kept all the law who satisfied the law
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he fulfilled all the law and he did it for his own by works of the law no man is Justified but what Jesus did by satisfying the law is now mine
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so when the law says to me if I could personalize it that way if the law says to me to me love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength I can I
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can't do it but in Jesus Christ he has satisfied the law so that I might be justified before God
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this is the first commandment this is the Commandment that Spurgeon calls the emperor emperor of the law it must take precedent over every other
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but Jesus is the one who kept it perfectly and in him in him and only in him can I answer this commandment
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and strive to love the Lord my God with all my heart soul mind and strength so my prayer is that God would give his
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people us a new understanding new judgments new thoughts new memories of his Lord love toward us and our duty
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toward him toward him that he would give us new Strength to actively love him and as we love him to love and serve our
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neighbors that our whole being our whole church body each with all our heart soul mind and strength May
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Proclaim the Lord our God is one Lord let us pray
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you have given us a command that we cannot keep but you have given us a savior who did we rejoice
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and yet father we know that that Duty that dignity that Justice of the law is still there it's not abrogated that is still placed before us we pray that in
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his strength and by the power that you have given us by the Holy Spirit that we would walk in that commandment and we would strive and we would
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hear with heating and we would love you with all our heart soul mind and strength in Christ's name we pray amen
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from second Thessalonians chapter 3 and may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ
