LANGUAGE:
Mark 12:28-34
Our study today comes from Mark’s Gospel, chap 12, vs 28-34, and I hope you brought your Bibles with you. One of the reasons I encourage you to bring your Bibles is rooted in 2 Timothy 2:15 (NASB95) Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
I found an article by Mike Phay helpful when it comes to bringing our bibles to church—whether it be paper-back or electronic.
Anyway, reflecting on our last time in Mark 12, you’ll remember that the spiritual leaders of the day were playing the Stump Jesus Game.
With our Bibles open to Mark 12, vs28-34(GW)follow along as we read the Scribe’s interaction with Jesus.
V28, When a certain Scribe saw how well Jesus answered the Sadducees, he had to ask his own question, “Which commandment is the most important of them all?”
29Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord.
30So love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
31The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
32The scribe said to Jesus, “Teacher, that was well said! You’ve told the truth that there is only one God and no other besides him!
3’And’ To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself is more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34When Jesus heard how wisely the man answered, he told the man, “You’re not too far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one dared to ask him another question.
Let’s take a moment and ask God to give us understand as to what He would have us learn from the Scribe’s interaction with Jesus: Heavenly Father, open our eyes that we might see what it means to be close to the Kingdom of God, and yet not be in the Kingdom of God. Make this Book come alive by surgically removing our spiritual blindness. Amen.
On May 6, 1933, the Kentucky Derby was the talk of the nation. Brokers Tip (that’s the name of a horse) had a slow start at the gate. Jockey Don Meade found himself in the 11th post position. He managed to move Brokers Tip to the inside by the rail and began gaining ground. Jokey Herb Fisher was riding Head Play (the name of another horse) who was running in third place. Down the back stretch, Head Play took the first-place lead, and Brokers Tip was closing in on fourth place, rough 3.75 seconds behind Head Play.
As they entered the home stretch, Head Play’s lead was a mere hair in front of Brokers Tip, and at that point the race turned into a literal fight between jockeys. The race became knowing as the Fighting Finish because the two Jockey’s literally fought one another down the home stretch. Brokers Tip won the race day literally by his noise crossing the finish line first.[ii]
I recount the 1933 Kentucky Derby story because of the striking statement Jesus made in V34 to the Scribe, You are not far from the Kingdom of God. And so I’m entitling our study, So Close, And Yet A Miss.
What Jesus said to the Scribe got me to thinking about all the ways we can get very close to a win, and not win. It’s possible to get the football 4” from the end zone, and yet not win. The point is, it’s very possible to be “so close, and yet a miss,” and that is what Jesus pointed out to this Scribe. We really need to hear this story. And we really need to get a grasp as to why this story matters to us 2000 yrs removed from the greatest event ever to occur on this earth.
Let’s take a closer look at Jesus’ conversation with this Scribe. For starters, what is a Scribe?
Initially the word Scribe was a fancy title for a secretary, somebody who took notes, recorded history and the King’s directives as in 2 Samuel 8:17.[v]. After the Babylonian Captivity there arose a need for copies of the Mosaic Law, and because Scribes were well versed in writing and taking detailed notes, they became the ‘photo copiers of their day’, meticulously making copies of the Old Testament Scriptures. In the process they became experts of the Mosaic Law for legal matters. That’s why in both Matthew and Luke’s account of this story the Scribe was identified as a Lawyer.[vi]
For some reason something about the Jesus’ interaction with the Sadducees caught the Scribe’s attention. He was struck as to how Jesus’ interaction aligned with the Old Testament. And so he asks, Which commandment is the most important of them all?” I believe something was bothering him, and it may well be that he wants to know this so he can assess himself against that standard. This wasn’t meant as a trick question as the others had been. He wasn’t trying to trick Jesus in order to put Him at odds with the locals or with Rome. -- He was looking for clarification for his own benefit.
V29, Jesus goes right to the point in answering his question by quoting Deuteronomy 6. – There it says that 29“The foremost ‘commandment’ is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD ( Deuteronomy 6:4–5)
Let’s stop there for a moment. The word ‘Lord’ is the translation of the Gk word Kurios, which means “master, the one who has power over another”. So in essence the verse reads: Hear, O Israel! Our Master is the sovereign God over all. There is none other.
Then comes v30, V30AND 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.’
Because we are so familiar with this verse we tend to gloss over what is actually being said. So let me read v30 again, 30AND 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.’ --
Did you notice the number of all’s in that verse? In case you missed them, there are four--ALL YOUR HEART, ALL YOUR SOUL, ALL YOUR MIND, AND ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’
Remember, I told you awhile back that ‘all’ means ‘all’ and that’s ‘all’. The word all has to do with the whole—in this case the whole heart, whole soul, whole mind, whole strength. That makes the foremost commandment pretty demanding. It's a call to love God in our totality 24/7, 365 days of the year with our whole heart, whole soul, whole mind, and whole strength. So let me ask, how’s that going for you? Do you really love God at that level? If you are honest, your answer will be no.
In the commentary by William Barclay, he says that this kind of love action is meant to dominate our emotions . . . direct our thoughts . . . and control all our actions.[vii] It's a call to a total live-out devotion to God. It’s rooted in a real time choice. We’re talking about taking God’s Word for what it is. John 17:17 (NASB95) His word is truth.
Alistair Beggs cuts to the chase for us with these words -- for a person to say, “I am totally committed to God, body, soul, and mind,” means that such a person is totally committed to what God says about not telling lies; about being totally committed to what God says about marital faithfulness, about being totally committed to what God says about not coveting one another’s stuff, and so on.[viii]
But Jesus doesn’t stop there. There is a second commandment, V31, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
We hear a lot about ‘loving self’ today. Unless we love ourselves, we’re in big trouble. But that’s not what Jesus said. You see, there’s a direct correlation between my love for God and my love for my neighbor. To the degree that I love God, to that degree I will love my neighbor. It works the other way also, to the degree that I love my neighbor, to that degree I love God. So let me ask, how’s your love for God?
That brings us to v32. The Scribe restates what Jesus said, and goes on to highlight the exclusivity of God—that there is no one else besides Him. The point is, he understood the exclusivity of God as laid out for us in Deuteronomy 6:4, Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord. He was acknowledging the reality of Isaiah 45:21 where God is speaking: -- There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and . . . Savior, there is none besides me.
Before there was time, before there was earth, before there were stars and planets, there was God alone. Romans 1:20 (NASB95) Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that ‘we’ are without excuse of knowing of His existence.
The point is, the God who created and sustains all things (Colossians 1:16-17) is the God who obligates us to love Him with a whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.[ix] That is, we are called to respond to Him with every fiber of our being. And so we are told in 1 John 2:15 (NASB95) 15Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. In Ephesians 2:2 (NASB95) we are told that the course of this world, ‘moves’ according to the prince of the power of the air who is Satan, of whom we are told in 2 Corinthians 4:4 is the god of this world. So I must ask, to whom are you aligned with?
Not only does the Scribe agree with Jesus as to the centrality of God, he goes on in v33 to point out that our love for God is more important than all (and notice again the word all), he our love for God is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices[x].
That brings us to v34 (GW) 34When Jesus heard how wisely the man answered, he told the man, “You’re not too far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one dared to ask him another question. Remember, the Scribe's question was not meant as a flippant trickery question. It was a question from the heart. That’s what makes Jesus’ response so striking—You are not far from the Kingdom of God. In a manner of speaking Jesus is saying, you are so close and yet so far.
Interestingly, when Jesus began His public ministry, He came preaching the gospel of God, 15saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” To enter the Kingdom of God can only happen when we recognize that we fall short of the all’s of the foremost commandment. In actuality the foremost commandment condemns us because it is a call to total whole hearted love for love God. Unless we love God on that level we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. If we are honest, we’ve never lived a day when we have loved God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Now let’s stop here and reflect for a moment by taking a closer look as to how the Scribes interaction with Jesus applies to us. Let me give you three practical considerations:
That’s where the gospel comes. The foremost greatest commandment shows us that we can’t do it—we cannot love God with all a whole heart, soul, mind and strength 24/7 100% of our time. As Romans 3:23 (NASB95) states it so clearly, we all fall short of the glory of God—that is, we all fall short of God’s standard. In this case His standard is to love Him with a whole heart, whole soul, whole mind, whole strength.
But the Gospel of the Kingdom says, “someone has come who has done it, who has kept the law in its absolute perfection, who has fulfilled it in its totality, and who furthermore has not only kept all of that but has paid the penalty necessary for the fact that we haven’t kept all of that.” And the one who has achieved this on our behalf is none other than the King who says to us all, “Abandon all your efforts to rule your own life, abandon all your attempts to establish your own kingdom, and enter my kingdom.”[xi] Accept what I have done for you by faith.
In John 7:37(GW) 37On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice “Whoever is thirsty must come to me to drink. Whoever believes in Me, let him come to me and be satisfied.[xii] This offer is the real deal. It is the offer of life itself; It is for all who seek God, it is for all who thirst for the knowledge of His love; It is for all those who think they have everything and for those who know they have nothing. Jesus says in Matthew 11 "Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest." It's without price. Jesus paid the price so that we can have peace with God (Romans 5:1-8).
To have peace with God comes when we confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead . . . and you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For as the Scripture says, Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed. (Romans 10:9-11)
This is where our decisions, choices, plans take formation; It is here that our feelings, emotions, desires, and passions swirl; Its where our commitments are formulated. It is here where we decide to take a stand for God or ignore God. We need to keep in mind what Jesus said in Mark 7:6 (GW) that it is possible to give assent with our actions, and yet our command center is nowhere near.[xiii]
Jesus reminds us in Mark 7:21-22 that the heart is corrupted and filled with evil thoughts, evil deeds, twisted sexual desires, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetous, deceit, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. That being the case, do you love God with all your heart?
In Genesis 2:7(GW) we are told that the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the earth and then blew the breath of life into his nostrils. The man became a living soul. The soul is what brings energy to life. To love God with all our soul is to love God with energetic liveliness. David Garland, in his commentary, points out that those who love God with all their soul will commit all of their energy to him.[xiv]. And so I must ask, do you love God with all your energy?
Our love for God is more than an emotional response. It requires thought which leads to choice. -- 2 Timothy 1:7 (GW) 7God didn’t give us a cowardly spirit but a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. To have a sound mind denotes careful, rational, sensible thinking. Having a sound mind requires a thought process based on the wisdom and clarity that God imparts rather than being manipulated by fear.[xv] Romans 12:2 (GW) 2Don’t become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants—what is good, pleasing, and perfect. A sound mind stabilizes our entire inner world. So I must ask, do you love God with all your mind?
1 John 3:18 (NASB95) Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. To love God with all our strength means to love Him with reckless abandon, an exclusive devotion. Loving God with all our strength is to love Him with our resources, our abilities and our time; to love Him fully with our hands, our eyes, our ears, our feet, and our mouths. In practical terms it means going all-out. To give it your best shot. If we fall down, we’re to get up and go at it again. So I must ask Do you love God with all your strength?
1 John 3:17 (NASB95) whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? To love our neighbor means crossing streets, neighborhoods, cultural and personality barriers. According to Matthew 25:31-46 it means being His hands and feet. We love Him by giving a cup of cold water to those in need, clothing the poor and naked, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and in-prison.[xvi] And so I must ask, do you love your neighbor as yourself?
In Matthew 6:24 (GW) Jesus tells us straight up that 24“No one can serve two masters. He will hate the first master and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and despise the second. You cannot serve God and wealth. The point Jesus is making is that one of those—God or wealth—will govern our lives. As David Garland points out in his commentary, One cannot seek power, wealth, empire, and sensual gratification and at the same time be submissive to God’s will.[xvii]
1 John 2:15 (NASB95) Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If we try to straddle the fence by giving God token love—a few moments of bible study and worship gatherings--while maintaining companionship with the course of this world, we are doomed to frustration in the now, and doomed in the world to come. Love for God cannot be tithed like money. With God it is not an hour or two during the week. It is all or nothing.
And that my friends is absolutely true. Let’s close in prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for recording this conversation between Jesus and the Scribe. Thank you for pointing out to us that loving God is all or nothing. Thank you for the good news—that when we come with an outreached hand with nothing except openness that we can receive from you the gift of Your mercy and grace. In that moment we are transferred from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Your Dear Son, Jesus Christ, no longer in the clutches of Satan and the course of this world which is passing away. Father, I ask for each of us, that you clarify the issues in our minds, because this really really matters. Open our ears that might hear Jesus’ voice calling us to come. And then may we sing softly
1. All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.
[Refrain]
2. All to Jesus I surrender,
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.
[Refrain]
3. All to Jesus I surrender,
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me.
[Refrain]
Refrain:
I surrender all, I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.
. . . Amen
That’s all for today. Don’t forget, In the midst of the swirling difficulties, God is walking with you. --
[i] Mike Phay, Four Reasons to Bring Your Bible To Church,
https://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/four-reasons-to-bring-your-bible-to-church/ Cf., Great Reeasons To Bring Your Bible To Church,
https://www.lighthouselebanon.com/great-reasons-to-bring-your-bible-to-church/. Problem with Electronic Biblers—Matthew Barrett, Dear Pastor, Bring Your Bible to Church, https://credomag.com/2013/08/dear-pastor-bring-your-bible-to-church-matthew-barrett/
[ii] https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1159163-kentucky-derby-2012-closets-finishes-in-kentucky-derby-history. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brokers_Tip
[iii] Cf., Tim White, Close Is Not Enough, https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/close-is-not-enough-tim-white-sermon-on-missing-the-mark-184009
[iv] Steve Thorngate, The Barna Group Thinks I’m a ‘Notional Christian’. https://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2013-01/barna-group-thinks-im-notional-christian. Cf., John 3:3 (NASB95) 3Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
[v] 2 Sam. 8:17; 20:25; 1 Chr. 18:16; 24:6; 1 Kings 4:3; 2 Kings 12:9-11; 18:18-37, etc.
[vi] Matt 22:34–40; Luke 10:25–28; 20:39f
[vii] William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, The New Daily Study Bible (1957; repr., Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 2:324.
[viii] Alistair Beggs, Not Far From The Kingdom (Mark 12:28-34) https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/not-far-kingdom/#[4]
[ix] Ibid.
[x] What does David say in Psalm 51? Speaking of God 16You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. (Psalm 51:16 (NASB95))
[xi] Alistair Beggs, Not Far From The Kingdom (Mark 12:28-34) https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/not-far-kingdom/#[4]
[xii] Isaiah 55:1–2 (NASB95) 1“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. 2“Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. Revelation 22:17(GW) 17The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let those who hear this say, “Come!” Let those who are thirsty come! Let those who want the water of life take it as a gift.
[xiii] Mark 7:6, 6Jesus told them, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites in Scripture: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
[xiv] David E. Garland, Mark, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 484.
[xv] https://www.gotquestions.org/sound-mind.html. A sound mind is not overly concerned with the cares and problems of this life but is set on God and His Kingdom (Colossians 1:1–2). A sound mind is alert and sober, focused on the eternal hope we have in Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13). A sound mind recognizes who we are in Christ, and does not depend on human wisdom and strength (2 Corinthians 10:3–5). A sound mind is guarded through prayer and purity: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:6–8).
[xvi] Luke 10:25-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan
[xvii] David E. Garland, Mark, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 483.