The Gospel of Mark: Top Priority

What is the top priority in your life? Have you given it much thought? Undoubtedly the scribe in our passage today had given that issue serious consideration. But there is evidence here that while he understood it intellectually, he had never experienced it for himself. He knew about God, but it wasn't enough. It didn't get him into the Kingdom. It simply brought him close. You see, we may know about God, but being close to the Kingdom is not enough. We must enter the Kingdom by making our top priority loving God fully. To fall short of experiencing a full love for our Lord is to fall short of the Kingdom.

I. PRIORITY #1 – LOVE GOD

1. Jesus had been engaged with the various religious leaders as they put question after question to Him, attempting to trick Him into a wrong answer

ILLUS. For the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus cleansing the Temple was simply the last straw. This man was dangerous and he had to go. As a result several Jewish factions had put aside their differences to present a united front against Jesus. Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, scribes had spent days putting question after question to Jesus in an attempt to trip him up, and make him look stupid in front of his disciples and the throngs who hung on every word he said.

a. over and over, Jesus had baffled Israel’s greatest religious minds with a dazzling display of knowledge and wisdom

2. in tonight’s passage we discover a scribe who had been sincerely impressed with Jesus' answers

“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, ... ” (Mark 12:28, NIV84)

ILLUS. Mark refers to the man as a teacher of the law. This meant he was a Jewish Scribe. These were the men who made hand-witten copies of the Jewish Bible before the invention of automatic printing. It was painstaking and meticulous work. They had rigid copying rules they had to follow, one being they must say each word aloud while they were writing. Consequently many of these men knew the entire Torah by heart. Because they knew the scriptures so well these men were distinguished professionals who would exercise functions which today could be associated with lawyers, and judges.

a. this teacher of the law comes to Jesus and puts a very important question to Him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

b. here was a man truly interested in cutting through all the word games and getting to the real meat of the issue

c. he was asking Jesus to explain, in a nutshell, the bottom line of what it meant to follow God

2. in His reply to the Scribe, Jesus quotes two well-known passages of Old Testament Scripture

a. one concerns itself with love for God

b. the other with love for your neighbor

A. THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS

1. these two commandments speak of the top priorities of relational love

a. Jesus says that all the law and the prophets boiled down to these great commandments

1) everything else in the Bible feeds off of these two priorities

ILLUS. As Christians, we have two-thousand years of New Testament authority to fall back on. Any believer who regularly reads their bible would be able to answer that question should it be put to them. "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" That’s a no-brainer ... it’s to love God with all our hears, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbor as our self. VBS kids can tell you that! But in Jesus day, it was a more complicated question. It was a much discussed and debated question among the rabbis and teachers of the law. In their study of the Torah, they had found 613 laws that God had given them to obey. 248 were considered “positive laws” — the “thou shalt do” laws — and 365 were considered “negative laws” — the “thou shalt not do” laws. They further divided them into “heavy laws” which were absolutely binding, and “light laws” which were less binding. Even Jesus recognized the distinctions. “ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” (Matthew 23:23, NIV84). But here’s the problem: The rabbis were never able to arrive at a consensus as to which laws were “heavey” and which were “light.”

2) the Scribe who asks the question is attempting to reduce the entire law into one all-encompassing principle or statement that he could accomplish in order to have eternal life

3) I have a feeling that when he asked the question it got deathly still as all eyes turned to Jesus

2. Jesus, as usual, does not disappoint

a. priority #1: "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."

b. priority #2: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”

c. in Matthews account of this event Jesus adds these words, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:40)

1) that’s astounding! ... all other commandments are summed up and/or contained in these

3. ignoring these priorities is why many churches are dead and dry, and why so many believers are listless and apathetic toward spiritual things

a. in so much of American Christianity the faith has come down to “what do I get out of it?”

1) does it build my self-esteem ... does it fix my broken relationships ... does it ease my burdened conscience ... does it get me the stuff I’m so desperate for?

2) in much of American Christianity God has simply become a means to an end ... “God, if I worship you, if I obey your bible (at least the parts I agree with) what are you going to do for me?”

b. we find an illustration of this problem in the book of Revelation

1) there, Jesus speaks to the church in Ephesus and says,

“I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” (Revelation 2:2–5, NIV84)

4. without loving God and loving others all that we do becomes meaningless

B. DEVELOPING A LOVE AFFAIR WITH GOD

1. how do we flesh out our love relationship with God

a. Jesus gives us four ways

2. 1st – love the Lord your God with all your heart

a. the heart was considered the core of a person’s identity — the source of our thoughts, words and actions

1) love for God must flow from the deepest part of a person’s being

2) i.e. it’s not merely a surface kind of devotion

b. to love the Lord with all your heart means to love Him with pure devotion

c. it's not enough to give Christ a place in our hearts

d. we are called to love Him with all of our heart

3. 2nd – love the Lord your God with all your soul

a. the soul speaks of our emotions

b. to love God with all our soul means that our love for God ought to be full of passion

ILLUS. There are certain hymns – particularly hymns that deal with redemption – that I can rarely sing without getting choked up. Hymns like Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, and In Christ Alone, (My hope is found) will almost always bring a tear. But Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing stirs my soul to heights of rapture.

1) emotions are good – God created them – and we ought to be emotional about our love for God

2) unfortunately, many believers are growing increasingly apathetic about the church and worship and spiritual disciplines

ILLUS The word apathetic literally means "without passion." I remember a Peanuts cartoon in which Charlie Brown was talking to Lucy. He remarked about the tragedy of so much apathy in the world today. Lucy responded, "Yeah, it's terrible. But who cares?"

c. one of the reasons Christian worship, since the beginning, has included music is that it’s music that can stir our souls to love the God we sing about

4. 3rd – love the Lord your God with all your mind

a. our mind embraces the will, the intentions, and purposes

1) worship is not just something we do when we feel like it

b. our love for God is a love that is thoroughly considered — worship thinks about and ponders, and muses over the Word and what it says about God

1) loving Jesus doesn't simply mean turning cartwheels in the aisle

ILLUS. There is a growing trend in the church today which contends that the mind can get in the way of your relationship with God. Now, it is true that when people rely on their own intellectual capacity to figure out God, they always come up short. God cannot be but in a box.

ILLUS. I got one of the nicest off-hand compliments I’d ever gotten about two weeks ago. One of our members (Mike Brown) stopped by, and we were just shooting the breeze. At one point the topic turned to church. The member said, “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I will anyway. You remember – and he named a couple that had stopped attending our church some years ago. Do you know why they stopped coming?” I confessed my ignorance. He said, “They thought you taught too much in your preaching!” I just kind of floated the rest of the day!

c. it is clear from the Scripture that God fully intends for our minds to be engaged in our love for Him

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:1-2, NIV)

1) a mind committed to Christ and being transformed by His renewing power can be a tremendous asset to the Kingdom

5. 4th – love the Lord your God with all your strength

a. Christianity is not just a heart dedicated to God, or a soul full of passionate love for Jesus, or a mind committed to thoroughly consider the Word of God

1) Christianity must be fully lived out

2) the word strength here refers to energy and function

b. to love God with all our strength means to love God in all that we do

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." (Colossians 3:17, NIV)

"Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord, rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve." (Colossians 3:23-24, NIV)

c. for Christianity to be alive, it must be lived out

1) this is what makes the Christian faith the most powerful force in the world

d. a distinctive Christian lifestyle must be evident in the way you ...

1) live your life ..

2) conduct your business ...

3) function on the job ...

4) deal with your wife or husband or children ...

5) relate to friends and strangers alike

e. this is what the Apostle James means when he tells us that we ought to be "doers of the word"

II. PRIORITY #2 – LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

ILLUS. Many years ago, a survivor of a Nazi death camp wrote these embittered words: "Here's to a world that did not care. To those who had eyes but would not see. To those who had ears but would not hear. To those who had voices but would not speak."

1. let me ask you a number of questions:

a. When it comes to the people around you, how well do you see?

b. How well do you hear?

c. Do you speak out on the behalf of others?

d. Do you care about people who have been wounded by life and are hurting? Or do you have blinders on that limit the scope of your vision?

2. loving your neighbor as yourself is found eight times in the Bible

a. he makes it a command ... Jesus couples the command to love your neighbor as yourself with loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength

ILLUS. In fact, Jesus tells us that if we can’t love people, who we can see, how can we love God, who we cannot see?

2. loving our neighbor means three things ...

A. LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR MEANS SHOWING GRACE

ILLUS An anonymous author once penned these words. I was hungry and you formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger. I was imprisoned and you crept off quietly to your chapel and prayed for my release. I was naked and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance. I was sick and you knelt and thanked God for your health. I was homeless and you preached to me of the spiritual shelter of the love of God. I was lonely and you left me alone to pray for me. You seem so close to God; but I am still very hungry, and lonely, and cold.

1. if your were here Wednesday evening, you remember we talked about the One Another passages in the New Testament

a. there are 59 of those verses (some of them are repeats)

2. but it is also striking to notice the “one anothers” that do not appear there ... though they’re the ones we often practice

ILLUS. For example, humble one another, scrutinize one another, pressure one another, embarrass one another, corner one another, interrupt one another, defeat one another, sacrifice one another, shame one another, marginalize one another, exclude one another, judge one another, run one another’s lives, confess one another’s sins . . . .

3. the kind of God we really believe in is revealed in how we treat one another

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

B. LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR MEANS ACTING WITH COMPASSION

“But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had compassion on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”” (Luke 10:29–37, NIV84)

C. LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR MEANS LOOKING OUT FOR THEIR WELLBEING

1. the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13 says, love protects

2. in Philippians 2:4 he writes “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

a. loving your neighbor as yourself is to look out for other people’s wellbeing

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