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?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 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.”
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. (Mark 12:28-34 NIV)
Do you know how many commands there are in the Bible? A lot! If you’ve read the Bible, you know that God has given lots and lots of commands for how people should live. Have you ever counted up exactly how many commands there are? People in Jesus’ day did. The experts in the law carefully studied the Old Testament and counted 613 different commands. 613! That’s a lot! Wouldn’t it be nice to have a simple summary? A man in Jesus’ day thought so. He asked Jesus, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” That sounds like a good question, doesn’t it? “Of the 613 commands in the Old Testament, which is the greatest commandment?”
We might expect Jesus to say, “They’re all the same.” But he didn’t. We know that every word of the Bible is God’s Word. If God gave his people 613 commands, how many were they to obey? All 613! Yet, Jesus said, “The most important one is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” The greatest commandment is this: “Love!”
People today love this! At least, I think they would if they read the Bible. What does everybody want to talk about today? Love! We want people to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Know where that comes from? Jesus! We want people to “do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). Know where that comes from? Jesus! We want people to look at each other as equals, regardless of race or nationality or language. Know where that comes from? Jesus! It’s ironic, isn’t it? If people love hearing about love, they should love hearing about Jesus.
In fact, Jesus takes loving others further than anybody does. On a different occasion, a man asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Remember how Jesus responded? He told the Parable of the Good Samaritan. A man got beaten up on the road. A priest and a Levite refused to stop and help him. Who stopped? A Samaritan—one of the bitter enemies of the Jews. That Samaritan went above and beyond to help his enemy. So, who is my neighbor? What’s the answer? Everybody! The people like you? Yes. The people different from you? Yes. The people from your country? Yes. The people from a different country? Yes. Want to know how to summarize God’s commands? It’s, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Isn’t that just what people want to hear?
The problem is that’s a lot harder than it sounds. Recently, I heard a man describe his church. He said, “People don’t get along with each other. There’s constant conflict. Everyone insists on their way or the highway.” Ever been a part of a church like that? Has our church ever been like that? The truth is, it’s hard to love people who are like us. It’s even harder to love people who aren’t like us! This is one reason why people call Christians “hypocrites.” Are they right? Sometimes. Christians should be the first to love other people. If we don’t, when we don’t, people are right to criticize us, aren’t they? This is the greatest commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Actually, that’s not really the greatest commandment. That’s the second greatest commandment. Did you see what we just did? We just skipped over the real greatest commandment. It’s not “Love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s second. According to Jesus, what’s really the greatest commandment? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” It is all about love, but whom are we to love most? God!
How often don’t we do what I just did in this sermon? We skip over the God part. As loveless as our world can seem, I hear people encouraging other people to love each other. “Be kind. Love!” You hear people say that, right? How often do you hear people encouraging other people to love God most? That’s missing, isn’t it? Not to love God sometimes. Or to love God a little bit. What does the Bible say? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Being a good neighbor is important. But that’s not the most important thing. What’s the greatest commandment? To love God with all your being.
That love for God isn’t so popular, is it? Jesus commands total dedication to God above all else. If you’re kind to your neighbor, but you ignore God, what will be the result? Hell. At least, that’s what Jesus says. If you do a good deed every day, but you reject Jesus as your Savior, what will be the result? Hell. We don’t like to hear that. If you try your best to be a good person, but you don’t see any need for religion, what will be the result? Hell. Why? Because here’s what matters most to God: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” According to Jesus, that’s the greatest commandment.
If you want a summary of all God’s commands, this is it—straight from Jesus: “Love God most. Then love your neighbor.” I’ve seen Christian churches make that into their slogan: “Love God. Love people.” We’ve used that around here too. It’s true. Jesus himself says it. “Of all the commandments, which is the most important? Love the Lord… Love your neighbor as yourself.”
The teacher of the law agreed with Jesus. He said, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 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.” He agreed! “Love God. Love people. That’s what it’s all about!” So, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
Wait a minute… That doesn’t sound good! “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” In other words, was that teacher of the law part of God’s kingdom? No! I bet he was surprised to hear that. He was trying his best to love God. He was trying his best to love his neighbor. Yet, what did Jesus say to him? “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”? He was still missing the most important thing. What is it? It’s not a commandment. It’s a person: Jesus! This is important! When people say that Christianity is all about loving God and loving people, who is missing? Jesus! You can try to love God and try to love people and miss what Christianity is all about.
Know why? Because we don’t. Even if you reduce all of God’s commands to those two simple commands, “Love God and love people,” do we keep them? No, we don’t. Have you loved the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength? In how you carry out your relationships? In how you use money? In how you talk? In what you do with your time? Have you loved God above everything? No! Have you loved your neighbor as yourself? Not just your actual neighbor, which can be hard enough. But your neighbor at church? And at work? And on the highway? No! Even with just those two commands, what are we all? Sinful. Even when we try our very best, we sinners are still outside the kingdom of God.
Here’s an example: Have you heard of Mother Teresa? Mother Teresa was a Catholic nun who selflessly served people for decades in India. Anyone who knew Mother Teresa would have said, “Here is a woman who loves God and loves people!” Yet, after her death, a number of letters written by Mother Teresa were published. Know what she wrote about? Darkness. The darkness inside her. She wrote about how she strained hard and forced a smile on her face each day, yet she felt hopeless and dark. It’s heart-wrenching to read. You could love like Mother Teresa, but that wouldn’t give you a clear conscience. Serving other people doesn’t take away your guilt.
What does? Well, that man asked the wrong question. The real question isn’t, “What is the greatest commandment?” The real question is, “Who can save us from our sins?” Who does? Jesus! If that teacher of the law had asked, “Teacher, who can save us from our sins?”, Jesus could have told him what he told Zacchaeus the tax collector: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus could have told him what he told his selfish disciples: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). It’s good to know the greatest commandment. It’s even better to know the greatest Savior—Jesus! I hope that before she died, Mother Teresa learned to trust in Jesus as her Savior.
The Bible is not a rule book. It has rules in it, but it isn’t a rule book. The Bible is a rescue story. It’s the adventure of how a King risked everything to find and save his lost people. Jesus for us! It’s the love story of how a perfect Prince left everything behind to save his bride. Jesus for us! The rules in the Bible show us our sins, so that we can see our Savior. Can you see that? So that we go to Jesus and say, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” And we can hear Jesus say, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
This is so important. You can try to love God and try to love your neighbor and still not be in the kingdom of God. Because the way into the kingdom of God isn’t by following a commandment. It’s by believing in Jesus. Jesus perfectly did all that we fail to do. Jesus loved God. Jesus loved every neighbor as himself, even to the point of dying on the cross for us. God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of commands. It’s by grace. To enter heaven doesn’t depend on our obedience. It depends on faith in Jesus. The greatest commandment doesn’t save us. It shows us that we need Jesus.
That’s where love comes from. It doesn’t come from us. It comes from Jesus! “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). “Christ’s love compels us” (2 Corinthians 5:14). See how this works? We don’t follow God’s commands to earn a place in God’s kingdom. We follow God’s commands because God has given us a place in his kingdom by faith in Jesus. Jesus’ love for us is what compels to follow God’s commands. What commands? Well, love God. Love people. “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.” We love because Jesus first loved us.
Have you ever heard the last words of Buddha? Buddha lived even before Jesus did. His final words were, “Keep striving.” Mother Teresa tried that. She strove hard, but she found darkness. Do you know Jesus’ last words? Not, “Keep striving!” He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). If you want to know the greatest commandment, it’s this: “Love God and love people.” But if you want to know what Christianity is all about, it’s this: “Jesus died for me.” See the difference? It’s good to know the greatest commandment. It’s even better to trust in the greatest Savior—Jesus.
(To listen to this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior podcast, please click HERE. To watch this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior YouTube channel, please click on the link below.)
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