The First of All Commandments

Mark 12:28-34

Children who are raised in Christian homes will answer “yes” when asked if they love God. They’re so conditioned to say that. And we pray they mean it from their hearts. Similarly, when we’re asked, we also say we love God. But yes, we also know that we don’t love him enough. When Peter was asked by Jesus - “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” Jesus used the highest word for love - agape - a selfless love. Simon, do you love me sacrificially and selflessly? But Peter replied, “Lord; thou knowest that I love thee,” but he used a lower form of love - phileo. Lord, you know that I’m fond of you. That’s frequently our response - even though he’s loved us with the most profound love. Why? Because we know our love for him is imperfect. We often fail to love. We break his commandments; give in to sin. Yes, we love our flesh too. We struggle to love him. That’s why, we must struggle to hate our sin; to put them to death.

Today, we want to see how we should love God. We’re told here, that the first of all commandments, the most important commandment, is to love God. When the scribe asked Jesus which commandment was most important, Jesus told him – “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” This morning, I will expound from this passage in two points: Firstly, love God by obeying him. Secondly, love God by surrendering to and trusting him.

Firstly, love God by obeying him. Now, the background of this encounter was Jesus answering questions by the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees, who, according to verse 13, were trying to catch him in his words. They asked him about paying taxes and about the resurrection. And Jesus had answered them so well that one of the scribes was duly impressed and moved. That’s why he asked Jesus this important question, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Meaning, which commandment is the most important. Now, Matthew 22:35 says lawyer asked this question to test Jesus, maybe to ascertain if Jesus was indeed genuine and wise. I don’t believe he was out to trick Jesus but was sincerely asking. And why he asked was because this question consumed all Pharisees’ minds. But this man was a special Pharisee. He was a lawyer, also called a scribe. He was a full-time Pharisee. His job was to study the law, to transcribe and write commentaries on it, and on occasion, he would be hired to interpret certain legal points and draft legal documents. That’s why his question was vital to him. But it also showed how fixated on the law they were rather than on the God who gave the law. Their starting point was skewed. And it led to their idolatry of the law.

If you search the Books of Moses, Genesis to Deuteronomy, you’d find 613 laws given to the Israelites to obey. 248 are positive commands – what God requires his people to do; and 365 are negative commands – what God forbids. These 613 laws are an expansion of the 10 commandments. They relate to the object of worship, the manner of worship, the reputation of the God we worship, the day of worship; and they relate to our duties to the rulers, the life, relationships, vocations, truth, and the blessings that God has given to us. You can imagine that with so many laws, the Pharisees spent much time and energy trying to determine which of the 613 laws was the most important. They also had their own way of grading laws. And so important were some, they invented regulations to ensure they weren’t broken. For example, in order not to sin by your walking on the Sabbath, Rabbis limited travel to 2000 cubits from one’s house. So if you traveled more than 2000 cubits, you’ve sinned. That’s why in Luke 11:46, Jesus accused the Pharisees of laying burdens on men that were too grievous to be borne. The Law had become their idol. The chief end of keeping the law was not pleasing God out of thankfulness. And because they had this idea, they also found ways around the law. The Pharisees extended the boundaries of their home with fishing line called eruv lines. This allowed them to walk more than 2000 cubits because they were still within the boundaries of their home. With such additional regulations, they could “keep God’s law” to their convenience. But such obedience was not genuine. God gave the Sabbath commandment to rest from our labors to focus on him. But their regulations made them work even harder by mentally thinking how to circumvent their own laws. And Q&A 95 reveals that this is idolatry. It is “having or inventing something in which to put our trust instead of, or in addition to, the only true God who has revealed Himself in His Word.” You see, the purpose of keeping the law their way was to say - I’ve kept it, I’ve not transgressed, God can’t accuse me of not keeping the law. It wasn’t God they were trying to please, it was themselves. This is why the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable in Luke 18 was able to say, “I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” Ultimately, the Pharisee’s idolatry of the law, was an idolatry of man and his ability.

So what was Jesus’ answer to him? There isn’t one law that’s more important than another; all the commandments are important. But the foundation of the commandments is love. You miss that, and the law becomes an idol. Jesus took all these 613 rules and regulations, which were summarized in the 10 commandments, and further summarized them into two great commandments – love God, and love man - verses 29-31, “And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” In the parallel passage in Matthew 11:40, Jesus said that on these 2 commandments hang all the law and the prophets, which taught the people how to please God. Q&A 93 affirms that these commandments are “divided into two parts - the first teaches us how to live in relation to God; the second, what duties we owe our neighbor.” And what the scribe had to relearn was that love for God under-pinned these commandments. What’s the essence of keeping the law? Why do we obey? Is it for self-satisfaction and that you’ve manage to not to break the law - or that God should congratulate you for being obedient? No. It’s out of love to God.

When God gave his law to the people at Mt Sinai. Especially the second commandment in Exodus 20:6, he told his people not to make any graven image or bow down to them. If they didn’t, he’d show mercy to them because they loved him. Not making idols showed they loved him. Another time in Deuteronomy 5, when the law was given a second time to the second generation of wilderness wandering Israelites, this was reiterated again in verse 10 – “And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.” When you love God, you keep his commandments. Even our Lord said that in John 14:15 - “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” And that’s not the only instance. 2 John 6 says, “And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.” Also, if we keep his commandments, we abide in his love. John 15:10 says, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.” Hence, to love God means to obey God; the one who obeys God will be loved by God. And here’s a final verse – John 14:21, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

This was important to the scribe because of his idolatry of the law. He obeyed the law to gain righteousness. He taught certain ways to maintain righteousness even while circumventing that law. This is not love. It’s not devotion. But the law has to do with love. Even the word “love” gives this impression. Jesus used the word “agapé.” He didn’t use the word “eros” which means sexual love; nor the word “storgé” which is a love for things; nor “phileo” which is fondness between friends. He used the word “agapé” which is to a generous, unending, and consuming love. Sometimes the word is translated as “charity.” It’s not a sexual love which is carnal. Neither is it a love for things, which is selfish. Nor is it simply an affectionate love that’s feeling only. This “agapé” love is an active and affectionate love. For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son. God commendeth his love for us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. Such love is always accompanied by action. So much so that if man is to have this love, it must be shown by actions. Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” Husbands are to so love their wives they should give themselves sacrificially. That’s the kind of active love Christ had for his church. Therefore, that’s the kind of love that fuels our obedience to him.

This leads us to the second point. Love God by surrendering to and trusting him. We can never hope to obey him out of love if we don’t surrender to or trust him. Remember the preface of the 10 commandments where God said, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” He’s YOUR God and deliverer. We’re not obeying some tyrant - we’re obeying the LORD. He’s the covenant keeping God. When Israel was oppressed by Egypt, they cried out to God. And God heard their cries. This is what he told Moses. He heard the cries of my people. He’s the LORD - the one who is, was, and is to come. He never changes. And he’s your God - the only true and living God. He has condescended to be your God. He didn’t need to be anyone’s God. He’s God alright - but he came to be our God who delivers us from sin. This is why the catechism says concerning the first commandment - “That for the sake of my very salvation I avoid and flee all idolatry, witchcraft, superstition, and prayer to saints or to other creatures. Further, that I rightly come to know the only true God, trust in Him alone, submit to Him with all humility and patience, expect all good from Him only, and love, fear, and honour Him with all my heart. In short, that I forsake all creatures rather than do the least thing against His will.” Because we’re saved, because God has so lovingly delivered us, we’re to flee idolatry and to come to him and submit and trust and love and honor him. Notice the beauty of the phrase – Love the Lord THY God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. Our obedience is not first to the preacher, or the commands of the church elders, or the civil government. Yes, the fifth commandment has much to say on this - but firstly, we obey God rather than man.

God is far different from man. There’s a graciousness in God that doesn’t exist in man. God is a gentle task master, that’s why we take his yoke upon us, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light. He may be great, but he humbles himself, and is concerned with the affairs of even a sparrow. Psalm 113:4-7 reads, “The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill.” He is not like proud man, who though small, can think highly of himself and is without compassion.

God doesn’t wait for man to love him first before he initiates. In fact, he loved us first, that’s why we’re able to love him. 1 John 4:10 says, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” God loved, and so he gave Jesus to be a sacrifice. Christ loved the church and gave himself for the church. He told the Father in the garden of Gethsemane, “not my will, but thine be done.” He surrendered himself to God as a sacrifice, trusting in the will and providence of the Father whom he loved. We love Christ when we obey him and give ourselves a living sacrifice to him, holy and acceptable. This is surrender. We love by surrendering and trusting him wholly.

How? By loving him with all our faculties. By obeying him and all his commandments with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This includes the whole being, not just the doing. Heart refers to sincerity and honesty. Our love for God must be genuine. Our obedience to God must not be out of pretense. Soul refers to devotion. We’re to love God devotionally and with much affection. Our obedience to God must be out of deep gratitude and affection to him. Mind refers to a conscious acknowledgement of who he is – that he’s God and that he’s mighty and demands our entire being – and that he deserves it. We are to love God with intellectual assent, agreeing consciously that he must be loved. Our obedience to God must be willing and voluntary. Strength refers to effort. We are to love God with consistently, ardently, and forcefully. Our obedience is not dependant on our natural feelings, whether we feel like it or not, but we must obey because we must. And we stir up our affections for him. And when we stir up our affections for him, we obey rightly.

And we are reminded to love with ALL our hearts, ALL our souls, ALL our minds, and ALL our strength. You can never love with all, unless God is all to you. After hearing this, the scribe understood - that loving God with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength along with loving one’s neighbor is more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices one can perform – that’s because it includes the greatest sacrifice of all, that one can give to God – oneself. He was fixated in the past with idolatry of the law - what he could do - the offerings, the sacrifices, the tithes, the regulations - but now he realized it was far greater. Jesus said to his disciples that their righteousness must surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. It’s a surrender to God, to let God work that loving obedience in us. God doesn’t want our obedience if it doesn’t include our whole selves. He doesn’t want our sacrifices unless the sacrifice is ourselves. In Psalm 51:16-17, David says, “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” This is a heart of humility, knowing that we can’t do anything apart from God. It’s a heart of surrender wanting to please God. And the one that we surrender to is our God. He won’t leave us alone, he’s not done with us yet. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” We ought to have hope and to lean upon God. Why? To obey him.

After Jesus said all of this, the scribe replied wisely. Verses 32-33 - “Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” You see, he recognized the idolatry of his own heart. That he focused on the laws rather than on God. And he acknowledged the first commandment - for there is one God and there is none other but he. He admitted his own idolatry. And Jesus replied, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” Jesus said this because this man showed he understood his idolatry.

Thou shalt have no other gods but me, before no idol by thy knee, take not the name of God in vain, nor dare the Sabbath Day profane; give both thy parents honor due, take heed that thou no murder do, abstain from thoughts, words, deeds unclean, nor steal though thou art poor and lean, and do not lie but always say what is true, and covet not the things that don’t belong to you.

1. Love God by Obeying Him

A. Their idolatry of the law

B. Love is the foundation of the law

2. Love God by Surrendering to and Trusting Him

A. He is YOUR God and Deliverer

B. Love requires all your faculties