MOVING YOUR LIFE TOWARDS THE GREAT COMMANDMENT

Mark 12:28-34

INTRODUCTION One day a religious leader walked up to Jesus and asked Him, "Jesus, in your opinion, what is the single most important thing for us to do? Of all that God has commanded, what tops the list?" Our Lord's response deserves our careful attention. The Pharisees were delighted that Jesus had silenced (literally, it muzzled") their religious rivals, the Sadducees. (See Matthew 22:23-33.) But they were still frustrated at their own failure to discredit this man from Nazareth. So they decided to have another go at him. This time they sent an especially brilliant and well-educated man. Mark calls him a “scribe".A scribe was an expert in the Mosaic Law. He was probably the most learned and astute scholar in their ranks at that time. "Jesus," he asks, "in the lengthy list of God's laws, which is number one?" It was not a bad question. The Jews frequently drew distinctions among the laws of Scripture, regarding some as "great" and others "small," some "heavy' and others "light." All were inspired and good and true, but some took precedence over others. The rabbis had determined there were six hundred thirteen separate letters in the Hebrew text of the Ten Commandments. Likewise, there were six hundred thirteen separate laws in the Pentateuch: two hundred forty-eight positive laws (one, supposedly, for every part of the human body) and three hundred sixty-five negative laws (one for each day of the year). By asking Jesus, what was the most important of all; they hoped to trick Him into committing an embarrassing theological error. But Jesus responded by quoting the opening sentence of every synagogue service called the Shema Israel taken from Deuteronomy 6:4. This was also repeated by every pious Jew morning and evening every day. In fact, it was warn by the devout in a tiny leather box called the Phylactery, on the forehead and on the wrist while in prayer. Godly households also hung the Shema on their doors in a small round box called a Muzuzah. It was the creed of Israel. Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God who gave the Shema, hundreds of years before to Israel, to whom all authority in heaven and earth is given reiterates His supreme demand. “The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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” "Love God!", before you do anything else and in the doing of everything else, "Love God!" Loving God is preeminent among all virtues. Loving God is the quintessential Christian act. Loving God is of paramount importance. So if Jesus makes this the highest demand of God, this morning I would like for us to look at this demand and what it means for us today.

I. THE EXTENT OF OUR LOVE FOR GOD Jesus came to restore human beings to the kind of relationship with God that we were created for. The most important thing he has to say about that restored relationship with God is that we were meant to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.So, what is involved in loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind? (Note the repetition of "all" modifying the extent of our love for God) To use the adverb "all" with heart, soul, and mind implies that we are to love to the fullest extent of each faculty God has given us, to love Him energetically, to love Him throughout the whole timeframe of our existence, and to express that love through everything that He has given to us. To love God with "all of your heart" insists on engaging the full measure of human affections in devotion to the Lord God. The "soul" involves the full range of your personality, all that you are focused on loving God. Yet no love can be shown to God without loving Him "with all of your mind." You must think upon Him, enlarging your thoughts as your understanding of Him grows. You must grapple with how this God has revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ, considering His two distinct natures in one person, thinking upon the weightiness of His love that kept Him on the cross bearing His own wrath, thinking upon the nature of His grace that condescends to you as a sinner and brings you into His own bosom as a son. Loving God is nothing we do on automatic pilot. We are to love Him intentionally, energetically, lavishly, consciously, and demonstratively!

II. WHY ARE WE TO LOVE GOD SUPREMELY? Jesus means that loving God means lovmg Him for who He really is. His demand for loving God is because He is infinitely worthy of supreme love. As a matter of fact, the most loving thing God could possibly do for us is to free us to love Him supremely! We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). Paul says this in Romans 5:5: "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit." The Spirit of God, who indwells the believer at salvation, enables him to love God. Jesus has redeemed us, made us born again, and given us His Holy Spirit so that we could see and treasure and love God as our Creator, our Sustainer, our redeemer; a God of infinite wisdom, righteousness, power, wrath, compassion, love, grace, mercy, goodness, kindness, forgiveness, justice, holiness. ‘He is as Jonathan Edwards describes him, “An admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies” He is a person, not a mere force, and can be known as a Father who loves us as his children (John 1:12; 16:27). Is it no wonder that Jesus makes this radical and wonderful demand upon us to, "Love this God. Love Him with all that you are for all that He is. ." There is no other adequate or appropriate reaction other than an all consuming love. That is why Paul said of his life that “the love of God compels me”( Cor. 5:14).True love for God has to be an affectionate love, with all the heart. It must be a a sincere love, with all the soul. It must be an intelligent love, with all the mind. It must be an energetic love, with all the strength. It is an all-consuming love. We are to love God without hesitation, without reservation, without qualification, without calculation. This wholehearted love for God is what Jesus says makes us “worthy” of Him. “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” Matthew 10:37). Loving Jesus with our all makes us worthy of Jesus. This does not mean that we desrve Jesus. It means that Jesus deserves this kind of love. Our worthiness means that God has produced in us affections and behaviors that are suitable and fit for His worth. They correspond properly to His value. Jesus demands that we love God because He is infinitely worthy to be loved. The beauty of this demand is that to love Him is really to enjoy Him, treasure Him, and value Him for all that He is and it is this love that gives us worth and value. “The worth and excellence of a soul is measured by the object of its love.”. So Jesus command to love Him is the sweetest, most wonderful, and most loving demand from His love that overflows upon us.

III. WHAT DOES THIS COMMANDMENT MEAN FOR US? This is our greatest challenge: How do we go about raising our love for God? How do we come to love God more than we love our ease and comfort? More than we love our jobs and salaries and houses? More than we love our possessions? More than we love our fathers and mothers? More than we love our husbands and wives? More than we love our sons and daughters? “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37-39).Jesus says that the love that He demands must exceed the love we have for mother, father, son, or daughter. The deep affection we have that binds those relationships must never be equal or more than the love that we have for Him. Jesus demand to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength means that every impulse and every act of every faculty and every capacity should be an expression of treasuring God above all things. Jesus warned that this most important of all demands would be widely forsaken in the last days. "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold" (Matt. 24:12). Beware lest your love for God grow cold in these days. If we are to love God, we must know Him. We must know for who He is aand what He is like. Paul writes, “I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ,” and then he summarizes his desires by saying, “I want to know Christ.” (Philippians 3:8,10). Hosea is even more explicit: “Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD.” (Hosea 6:3).

God would not be honored by groundless love. In fact, there is no such thing. If we do not know anything about God, there is nothing in our mind to awaken love. If love does not come from knowing God, there is no point in calling it love for God. There may be some vague attraction in our heart or some unfocused gratitude in our souls, but if they do not arise from knowing God, they are not love for God. The very essence of Christmas is that Jesus Christ came into the world, to make God known, that He might be truly loved. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth...No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known…If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father…I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 1:1,14,18; 14:7, 9; 17:26) This is the long awaited fulfillment of the prophecy in the law of Moses that Jesus fulfills Himself. “The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”(Deuteronomy 30:6). The revelation of God in Jesus Christ changes our hearts to see, God, to know God, and to see Him as compelingly beautiful, soas to love Him for who He really is! Loving God is not a mere decision. You cannot merely decide to love hip hop music or rock music or classical music or country western music, much less God. The music must become compelling. If you don't love it, something must change inside you. That change makes it possible for the mind to experience the music with a compelling sense of its attractiveness. So it is with God. You don’t merely decide to love Him. Something changes inside you, and as a result He becomes compellingly attractive and appealing. His, glory—his beauty—compels your admiration and delight and complete love. Oh that we would say like one Puritan that we… “Would love him with every fiber of their beings; would love God purely and passionately and totally and exhaustively and comprehensively, with Him as our magnificent obsession; would look at Him and sigh, "What beauty, what magnificence, what purity, what power, what splendor, what life, what a God. There is none like you; glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.”

II. WHAT DOES IT PRACTICALLY MEAN TO LOVE GOD?

God desires that men love Him. We express our love for Him by:

1. An All-Consuming Passion If I truly and wholeheartedly love God, He will be the all-consuming passion of my life. If I love Him, there should be a heartfelt love with deep, emotional attraction in my heart for Him-strong feelings of admiration for His attributes, abiding enjoyment of His companionship, undying attraction to His presence, warm affection for His relationship, and strong gratitude for loving us before we loved Him.

2. Loyalty and Fidelity If I truly and wholeheartedly love God, He will be the supreme recipient of my affection. That is to say, I will be loyal to Him. I will love him more than anything or anyone. I can’t very well claim to love Him if I'm involved in an extramarital affair with another god. The proof of my passion is fidelity. Love that isn’t loyal isn’t love. If I love God 1 will be faithful to Him. I will not sleep with other gods. I will not run after another lover. I will not give myself, either in body or soul, to any rival. I will forsake all others and cleave only unto Him. I will not commit idolatry. I will not love money. I will not covet the praise of men above the approval of God. Love for God is seen in my relentless commitment to be loyal to Him.

3. Loving Protection If I truly and wholeheartedly love God, I will oppose and resist anything or anyone that seeks to do Him dishonor. I will live to manifest His fame and renown. “O LORD…your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul….hallowed be your name …whatever you do whether you eat or drink, do to the glory of the Lord” (Isaiah 26:8; Matthew 6:9; 1 Corinthians 10;31). I will also be diligent to honor His name and promote his fame as well as to protect his fame and defend His name. To love God is to hate evil (Psalm 97:10; Romans 12:9). To love God is to hate and resist and oppose evil without regard for the cost.

4. Time Spent Together If I truly and wholeheartedly love God, I will want to spend time with Him. For the Psalmist, nearness to God was the only all-satisfying experience in the universe. “One thing I ask of the LORD," wrote David, "this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple" (Ps. 27:4). “As the dear pants for the running stream, so my soul pants for you oh God; my soul thirsts for God, the living God” (Psalm 42:1-2).

5. Obedience If I truly and wholeheartedly love God, I will seek to do those things that please Him. Jesus said it best: "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15). John says in 1 John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” Obedience comes from our love for Jesus. Loving Jesus is does not separate deeds from love, it distinguishes them. First, we love Jesus. Then because of this-overflowing from this love we have for Jesus-we do what He says. So, love is not the same as commandment keeping; it is the root of it.

6. Faithful service If I truly and wholeheartedly love God, I will be inclined to fulfill the ministry He gives me to do. Remember in John 21 when Jesus asked Peter three times “do you love me?" Simon repled each time, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus replied to Peter each time,"Tend or feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, "Follow me."(John 21:15-22) “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3;16). The call of love is to live and die in loving, faithful service to Christ.

7. Boast in God If I truly and wholeheartedly love God, I will brag on Him to others. I will boast of His beauty and rave about His greatness. I will be quick to tell the world what a wonderful maker and beautiful savior He is. "Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done… Glory [literally, ‘boast' in his holy name" (1 Chronicles 16:8, 10). Tell the world how great He is and how much you love Him.

Closing thoughts Jesus demands this morning that we “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” This is not the harsh demands of a taskmaster. What Jesus demands from the us can be summed up as: “Trust and treasure me above all.” This is good news! Paul said in Philippians 1:9, "I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge." He was saying, "I know you love God, but I pray you learn to love Him more perfectly. Jesus said, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27). Oh this Christmas season would you take the time to look steadily at Jesus and pray that He would reveal God to you in a way that would cause you to move your life toward obeying the great commandment? May you seek “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge’ (Ephesians 3;19) so that you can love God with the love He is worthy of being loved..I will end with a quote by Saint Augustine on what it meant to him to love God. “But what do I love when I love my God? ... Not the sweet melody of harmony and song; not the fragrance of flowers, perfumes, and spices; not manna or honey; not limbs such as the body delights to embrace. It is not these that I love when I love my God. And yet, when I love him, it is true that I love a light of a certain kind, a voice, a perfume, a food, an embrace; but they are of the kind that I love in my inner self, when my soul is bathed in light that is not bound by space; when it listens to sound that never dies away; when it breathes fragrance that is not home away on the wind; when it tastes food that is never consumed by the eating; when it clings to an embrace from which it is not severed by fulfillment of desire. This is what I love when I love my God.” Augustine in his “Confessions”