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    Mar 02, 2025

    Loving God

    Passage: Mark 12:28-34

    Preacher: Bob Putnam

    Series: Mark

    Keywords: love, priorities, greatest commandment, whole-life worship

    Summary:

    Amidst all the gotcha questions Jesus was asked that final week of his life, there was one teacher of the law that seemed to genuinely want an answer. Jesus' answer set the stage for people's final rejection or acceptance of Him that week. It also summarized the entire law of God into a single command that focuses on the whole person, not just selected segments.

    Detail:

    Loving God with All Your Heart

    Mark 12:28-34

    Pastor Bob Putnam

    For the last few weeks, Jesus has been running a gauntlet with a bunch of- as Pastor John put it, gotcha questions. By this time, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes were probably beside themselves. I’m not sure how many of you have ever run a gauntlet line before, where 10 or 12 guys line up 5 or 6 on two sides, and you run down the middle while they do everything, they can to keep you from running it well, making it through the on slot as to winning a brief prize rather difficult. Jesus didn’t run this race well; He ran it perfectly. I love Jesus’s response to the religious ones, when they ask By what authority are You doing these things? Who gave You this authority? Jesus responds Mark 11: 29-30 I will also ask you one question; then answer Me!!! And I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John: was it from heaven or man? Answer Me!!!!!! They knew, either way, they were stuck. It reminds me of when God spoke to Job 38: Who is this who darkens counsel, by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.

    But in the passage we’ll be going through today, the tables are turned. Turn in your bibles, if you will, to Mark 12:28. We’ll be reading Mark 12:28-34

    “Then one of the Scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that Jesus had answered them well, asked Jesus, which is the first commandment of all”? Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is one. V.30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the First Commandment. V. 31 And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. V. 32 So the Scribe said to Jesus, Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but Him. V. 33 And to love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. V. 34 Now when Jesus saw that He had answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God”. “But after that, no one dared to question Jesus”.

    LET’S INVITE OUR FATHER TO BE WITH US TODAY!!!!!!!!!

    Notice this time, only One Scribe came, after hearing the religious ones reasoning together and perceiving Jesus had answered them well, then the Scribe asks Jesus, “Which is the first commandment of all? Here, it doesn’t seem this is a gotcha question but rather a heartfelt, honest question. Possibly, even showing the Scribe may be agreeing with Jesus, unlike the Sadducees' denial of the resurrection. In any case, Jesus is not being met here with a confrontational, hostile question but an honest one. What do You, Jesus, say is the first commandment of all?

    Jesus's response came from the heart. He knew what was written in the Torah. He knew, I believe, that the Scribe wasn’t asking what is the first of the 10 Commandments, nor what is the first in chronological order of the 613 Jewish laws. Instead, the scribe asks a question of priority, “What is the first commandment of all?”. Meaning that the first commandment of all is not just for the Israelites and the Gentiles but all of humankind everyone on the face of the earth. That is the chief obligation/duty of every human being. Who is created in the image of God. Jesus summarizes the chief obligation of man. That being, to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our soul, with all our mind, and all our strength.

    In the Old Testament, there are many times when people gave an executive summary of what our chief obligation to God is. For example, Micha 6:8 says, “He has shown you O man what is good: And what does the Lord require of you? But, to do justly, Love mercy, and walk Humbly with your God”.

    Micah 6:8 essentially calls for a life of fairness, compassion, and humility in one's relationship with God and others; it's a concise summary of how to live ethically and righteously according to God.

    Another is Habakkuk 2:4: “The just shall live by faith”. In summary, we should trust God no matter what.

    Rabbi Hillel, who taught 20 years before Jesus, sums it up this way. What you would not want done to you, do not do to your neighbor. “Hillel,” adds that this is the essence of the law, and all the rest is mere commentary.

    Jesus takes the Scribe back to the Old Testament.

    In answering the Scribe's question, which is the first commandment of all. Jesus takes him to their very root, if you will, the most fundamental summary of the obligation God gave to His people in the Old Testament. Jesus takes him back to the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6. Before we read the Shema.             Let’s read the introduction: Deut.6:1-2

    “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged”

    Now the call Shema, meaning hear, listen, focus, pay attention Israel V. 4  Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.     This is the summary of the whole Shema, which ends at V.9

    You may be asking, did Jesus add the word mind to the Shema? Why isn’t the word mind in the O.T. reading as it is in Mark? Did Mark randomly add “mind” to what Jesus spoke to cause some to question the Scripture? Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. “This is the first commandment”.

    Explanation:

    To love God with all your heart, soul, and strength Deut. 6. To love God with all your heart. Jewish folks think of the heart as the center of thought as well as feelings. They think of the soul as that which gives a person life and breath Gen 2:17. Mark may have added “mind” because of the Greeks, who might not put heart and thinking together. Strength can mean possibly strength of the mind, or anything that gives us power: physical strength, beauty, wealth, position, reputation, or talent.

    “Is Mark Adding To?” I truly do not believe Mark added anything Jesus didn’t say. Mark wrote exactly what Jesus said. So why did Jesus add you shall love God with all your mind? When Jesus summarizes the Shema, He says not only are we to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and strength, but with all our mind; meaning the fullness of our understanding.            I do have more on this if time allows.

    Loving Who God Is

    Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.

    When the Shema is spoken and the call given for affection to God, it is announced as a whole being of affection from the heart, soul, and strength, not to some impersonal, unnamed high power. It starts with the identity of God: Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one!!! In other words, “The Lord, Yahweh, the Lord has a name, the Lord has a personal history with you, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt.

    Personal Example:

    Karri and I have been together for 35 years, but 30 years ago, Karri and I were planning our wedding. More like she was planning our wedding. Bob Dodge, the person who married us, asked me one morning on the way to cut firwood. Why do you love Karri?   I love her because……… I love her because……………. I love her because       I Continue to share

    Finally, after all those reasons, I said: Because!!! She is Karri. Aha, Bob said, You love Karri because she is Karri.

    Guys, the same is true for God; we must love God for who He is, Yahweh, not because of all God’s attributes. BUT. We must love God with all our hearts, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. Why? because He is God!!!

    Sometimes, I get impatient when I hear people say, “I don’t need to study the Bible. I just want to have a simple faith.” God did not give all of Scripture to His people to be treated as a children’s story. He calls us to apply the fullest ability of the faculty of our minds to attempt to understand the riches and depths of what He has given to us in His Word. As well, I believe our biggest stumbling block is that we love God for the wrong reasons. We love God for His blessing and the benefits we receive from His hand. We love Him because He is polite, courteous, and kind. Don’t get me wrong; those are all wonderful attributes. But we are to love Him for who He is in Himself. We don’t really grow as Christians until we understand that to love God is to love Him because He is worthy of our unequal affection. We love Him because He is God!!!

     David writes in Psalm 18 I love You, O Lord, my strength, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, My God my strength, in whom I trust, My shield and horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.

    How do we love God?

     Jesus warns the church of Laodicea Rev. 3:15-16 I know your works, that you are neither cold or hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. V. 16 So then, because you are neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. So, if you're neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm.

    Hear O Israel: Hear O Mosaic Hear O each one of us individually, The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength

    How can we love God with a cold Heart, a lukewarm soul, or a mind consumed with this world and its system of things? if this exists, our strength will be weak and tried. As though we are only working on our own strength and power.

    To love God with all our heart. We must change our desires. God has given us all things. In Christ, we are children of God. God says in Ezekiel 36:26, " I will give you, a new heart and put a new Spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. When we have a new heart, what else does it also say we will receive? A New Spirit ……………………………… Our souls then are filled and sanctified by the New Spirit, the Holy Spirit living in you. 1st. Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

    Preach………………….. then our minds will be transformed By the power of the Holy Spirit, our Minds are transformed. Romans 12:2 Be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Our strength will be complete. We’ll have all the strength needed.

    Colossians 3:2,10 Set your minds on things above, not on the things on the earth. V. 10 And put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. In short, we must love what God loves and hate what He hates. Ask to see with His eyes and hear with His ears. All of this is within our grasp, not out of reach. ……………………………….Preach………………………………..

     So, now Our Strength. Isaiah 41:10 says Fear not, for I am with you, Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we can walk in completeness Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

    In short, we must love what God loves, hate what He hates, ask to see with His eyes, and hear with His ears.              

    Surrender to God's will

    Put God first in your life.      Read and meditate on the Bible.

    Pray.      Worship God.           Serve God and Others

    Listen to the Holy Spirit.        Rest in God's love.

    As we begin to love what God loves, hate what He hates, see what He sees, hear what He hears. Then, and only then, can we fulfill the second of the first commandments. V. 31 And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

     How do we fall in love with God and our neighbors?

    We must get out of our selfish selves and take ourselves off the throne of our own lives. And Realize Jesus Christ is the only one on this planet who has lived or is living today who’s loved God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength. We need Christ in every walk of our lives. Without Him, our love for God and for others will be filled with heartache, broken trust, and bitterness. Allow what you learn about God to go from your head and sink into the depths of your heart. Let our heart cry out to Him for His love to rescue me, guide me, and protect me.

    The First Commandment of all. Is a commanded to love God not simply with all the heart, but the idea is, that the love which comes from the heart. It is not to be a superficial affection nor a casual one, but an affection from the very root of our being. This affection is not surpassed by any other experience. It is an undiluted, unmixed love for God. It is a love that comes from the soul, from the very core of our being.

    Sadly, how we love God is how we will love our Neighbors. How we show God compassion, we’ll show the same to our Neighbor. How we thank God is how we’ll thank and be kind to our neighbors. When we’re not giving God a second thought, the same is true for our neighbors. I can keep going, but I truly hope our getting the importance.

    We have some time let’s go back and look at Jesus adding mind

    What is stopping us? Today!!! Why don’t we begin together? To love God with all our hearts, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.

     Since I’ve been working on this. I began to wonder. Sense, this is the First Commandment of all. I just wonder. Is Not loving God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength the worst of sins we can commit?

    Where are you at Today?

    Do you need to get rid of lesser loves/idols in your life?

    Do you understand the love God has for you?

    Do you want to know Him personally?

    Do you desire to fall in love with God?

    Are you reaching for Jesus but don’t quite know how to get there?

    We’ll end with this Prayer. Please, if you like, recite after me.

    Dear God, I have tried to do this life all by myself, on my own power, and I have failed. Today, I want to turn my life over to you. I ask You to be my Lord and Savior. I ask You to help me start thinking less about me and my ways. I want to turn my will over to You. To daily seek Your direction and wisdom for my life. Please help me turn and repent from the sins in my life. That I may do the best I can, now to follow Jesus, Your Son.         In Jesus' name, Amen.     

    Go back to Jesus adding mind:  

    I could have been a little more complete, I feel, when I spoke in the beginning when I first spoke of Jesus adding to the Shema, “mind”. Since we have the time. Let’s look at that for a minute, one more time.

    Remember, I stopped at the fullness of our understanding

    The Old Testament, where the Shema is written, is a foreshadowing of what was to come. We know that the Bible is pointing us to Christ. Jesus told the Pharisees that the O.T. was about him.  John 5:39,40,46 You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have enteral life; and these are they which testify of Me. V. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may live. V. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.

    Isaiah 7:14-17 V. 3 The Lord tells Isaiah to go to Ahaz and tell him what the Lord has said, but Ahaz was resistant, so the Lord God says Ask for a sign yourself, Ahaz says No, I won’t. So God gives him one anyway. Sound familiar? Has that happened to you? Anyway, the Lord Himself speaks, says, Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. The Lord goes on Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose good.

    There are about 2000 verses that point all things directly to Christ.

    Jesus was not adding to the law, but, rather, He was filling it up with meaning. By including “With all your mind”, Jesus was filling up with meaning not only what it means to love God. I believe Jesus is pointing us to He is filling up the first commandment with Himself.

    Hebrews chapter 7 speaks of the unchangeable priesthood starting in verse 11, I believe, and to the end of the chapter. For the sake of time, I’ll read the final V.28 For the law appoints as high priest men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son 'Jesus, ' who has been perfected forever.

    Pointing us to Christ again, and ties in with the continuance of the passage of loving your neighbor as yourself. Philippians 2: 1-5 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy. Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. …………………………………………………………………   V. 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.  

    Psalm 139: You, God, know my coming and going, You formed me and covered me in my mother's womb. Continuing You made me in secret, Your eyes saw me yet unformed, all these is written in Your book. V. 17-18 How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God How great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they would be more in number than sand; When I wake, I am still with You. So!! V. 23-24 Search me. O God and know my heart; Try me and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me; And lead me in the way everlasting.