Sermon Text: Mark 12: 28-34
The Greatest Commandment
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 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: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.
33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Morning Message:
Every once in a while I believe that we need to be reminded of how devastating sin is. Because we are forgiven people and no longer need to fear the consequences of sin, we tend have a more relaxed attitude towards sin. Sin is the only reason that God’s creation knows death. What is sin? It is simply disobedience of God. In the beginning mankind had total freedom to live in paradise and do almost anything that they wanted. Everything: with the exception of one. Only one restriction that became impossible to resist. God warned Adam and Eve that there would be consequences for disobeying. In Genesis 2: 16 we hear this: And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” God said, when you do. God already knew that Adam was going to fall; maybe because of what he was about to do. In the next two paragraphs God creates woman: the answer to the question, “What came before the fall?” No, please ladies, I am just kidding, the fall was inevitable, and God knew that as surely as he told them to resist it, they would not. Parents, we all know this. If you put something in front of a child and forbid them from touching it they eventually will.
Two things to remember from today’s message: sin is sin, there is no such thing as a small or large sin in the sight of God, and sin leads to death. God said that there would be certain death for disobeying his command. Certain death is inevitable death not immediate death. Because of sin mankind now would experience death. As a result of sin Adam and Eve who once knew communion with God now hid from him. They once knew exactly who God was; now their minds are clouded with falsehoods. Before sin they were alive both physically and spiritually. Now they began to know death and feel separated from God. Many people tell me that they don’t like reading the Old Testament because it is too filled with gory things like blood. Without understanding why, we tend to view the shedding of the blood of animals as something gross and barbaric. The sacrifice of livestock was a foreshadowing of the sacrifice that God would one day make to save all of mankind. We should not look away from the significance of the blood of Jesus our Savior. That is why our reading in Hebrews is important. You see, God could have just waved his mighty hand and declared mankind forgiven, but then God’s word would be meaningless. A price had to be paid for disobedience. The blood that gives life had to be spilled in order to fulfill God’s word and make us acceptable to God.
Through the shed blood of Jesus, we are saved from our sins if we accept his sacrifice and believe in him. We still are called to live a Christian life and to resist sin. The commandments are still our guide. They have been fulfilled by Jesus; not done away with. This question of what the greatest commandment is was a common argument among the Jewish leaders. They would categorize the commandments, for example, some were considered heavy or great, which meant they were more important than others. Some were considered light or little, which meant they were less important. Why would you do this? This categorizing was used to rationalize their sins. We do the same thing today. Think about it for a moment. We can all agree that murder is a sin and breaks God’s commandments, but in certain circumstances it becomes acceptable for some. Now I will leave that one right there because I don’t want to get into the politics of it; I will only say this, “I don’t believe that God distinguishes one kind of murder from another.” God is very clear when he says, “Thou shall not commit adultery” and as Christians we agree with this, and yet, we look upon, and judge sexual sins with different standards. We look at one as socially acceptable and are appalled at others. I don’t remember reading the part of the commandment that said unless it is socially acceptable. I could go on, but you get the idea. Lying is lying; there is no such thing as a white lie or a small lie; cheating is cheating; gossiping is gossiping. While we may find excuses for our actions and our behavior, we should remember that God sees our hearts and our true intentions. To God sin is sin.
“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 your neighbor as yourself.” This may be one of the most significant pieces of guidance that Jesus ever spoke to us. As human beings we always like to ask why. We tend to want a reason for everything that we are told to do. Why should we obey God’s commandments? Because we love God. This is so simple yet so overlooked. If you have a true love for God and you love your neighbor as yourself (by the way everyone is your neighbor), you won’t do any of these things. Think about this for a moment. I am not going to read it to you; it can be homework for those of you who really want to know how you are supposed to love. Read 1Corinthians chapter 13. If you read it and take it to heart, you will not have to categorize God’s commandments, you will keep them in love.
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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