Love God and Love Others / Matthew 22:34-40
Preaching to Myself
One of the occupational hazards of being a pastor is that you can’t just leave your heart at home. If I made widgets for a living and my spiritual life was dry, who cares? The widget doesn’t care if I’m right with the Lord or not. The widget doesn’t care if I’ve spent time with Jesus or if my heart is full. You can just shut up, make the widget, and figure your spiritual life out later. You can set that mess aside and say, “I just need to do my job, and then I’ll deal with my heart.”
When you’re a pastor, you don’t make widgets. You teach the Bible on a regular basis, and people often assume you are always rock solid. They assume that, like Moses coming down from the mountain, your face is aglow with the presence of Jesus and you’re just dispensing godly wisdom 24/7. But y’all know better, don’t you?
Thankfully, I have an opportunity to preach to myself tonight. Thank you very much for being present, but this message really is for me. It’s kind of like counseling, only a lot cheaper. I’m not teaching this message tonight from a position of authority, as if I’ve got this completely nailed and want you to see how awesome I am. If anything, I am placing myself under the authority of the Word of God and saying, “I need to hear this tonight. I need to wrestle with this text, and I need it to do something in me just like I hope it will do in you.”
There are times in my spiritual life—and right now happens to be one of them—where I just feel a little dry. Don’t worry, I’m not living recklessly. I just don’t feel at one hundred percent. I was walking the parking lot before the service, praying like I usually do, and I just said, “Lord, I need this tonight.” So thank you for letting me preach what I need to hear.
A Tag-Team of Religious Rivals
Turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter 12. We’re going to look at a very familiar passage. Even if you’re brand new to church, if I say “The Great Commandment,” you’ve probably heard something about it. Matthew records it in Matthew 22, focusing on loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind. But tonight, I want to look at Mark’s account starting in Mark 12:28.
Matthew 22:37-40 (NASB)
And He said to him, ’‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ ’This is the great and foremost commandment. ’The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ ‘On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.’
John Mark, who wrote this Gospel, is a fascinating character. If you were with us during our series through Mark, you know his backstory. He was a young man who went with Paul on his first missionary journey and washed out almost immediately. He threw a fit and went home. But Barnabas, whose name means “son of encouragement,” came alongside him, restored him, and introduced him to Peter. Mark then recorded Peter’s eyewitness testimony. That’s why the Gospel of Mark moves so fast, using the word “immediately” about forty times.
To understand Mark 12, we need to understand the run-up in Mark 11. In Mark 11:27, the religious leaders start circling Jesus like jackals around wounded prey.
Mark 11:27-28 (NASB)
They came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him, and [began] saying to Him, ‘By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?’
They begin questioning His authority. They wanted to know His pedigree and credentials: “Who do you think you are? What rabbi trained you? What school did you attend?”
Then in chapter 12, four key religious groups show up who normally couldn’t agree on anything. These guys couldn’t agree on where to get shawarma in the Old City of Jerusalem, let alone agree on theology. But they shared one common bond: a distaste for Jesus.
First, you have the Pharisees. These were the ultra-pious, law-keeping legalists. If drinking alcohol was questionable, they made alcohol entirely forbidden; if premarital intimacy was wrong, they outlawed premarital dancing.
Second, the scribes. They were the recognized experts and scholars of the law who felt intellectually superior to Jesus because He hadn’t attended their elite schools.
Third, the Sadducees. They were the wealthy, politically minded religious elite who denied supernatural realities like the resurrection.
Fourth, the Herodians. They were Jewish political figures who accommodated Roman culture and rule—worshiping God while practically wearing a Roman toga.
These groups despised each other. In Acts, when Paul is on trial, he simply looks at the room and says, “I am on trial for the resurrection of the dead,” and the Pharisees and Sadducees start tearing each other apart. Yet here in Mark 12, they unite against Jesus.
In verse 13, you see the Pharisees and Herodians teaming up. In verse 18, the Sadducees step in. It’s like old-school tag-team wrestling from the classic WWF days—one group gets worn down, tags the next, and they jump in the ring to take a shot at Jesus.
Mark 12:13 (NASB)
Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement.
Mark 12:18 (NASB)
[Some] Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Jesus, and [began] questioning Him, saying,
The Foremost Commandment
Now look at verse 28. One of the scribes watches this whole debate unfold. He sees that Jesus has answered the others brilliantly, so he reaches in for the tag to ask his own question.
Mark 12:28 (NASB)
One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’
He asks, “Which commandment is the foremost of all?”
We might wonder, “Aren’t there just ten?” Actually, there are 613 distinct laws in the Torah. The religious leaders had broken these down into 248 positive commands and 365 negative prohibitions, further categorizing them into “light” and “heavy” laws. They had charted them all out. So the scribe is asking, “Out of all these 613 laws, what is the absolute top priority?”
Jesus cuts straight through the religious debate and quotes the Shema from Deuteronomy 6.
Mark 12:29-30 (NASB)
Jesus answered, ’The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND 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.’
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NASB)
’Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! ’You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Every pious Jewish person quoted the Shema twice a day. They taught it to their children, wrote it on their doorposts, and bound it on their foreheads. Shema means not just to hear, but to listen attentively with an assumption of obedience.
Jesus begins: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Whether this speaks to His exclusivity—that He is the only true God—or His preeminence—that He is supreme over all—both are true. God is the creator of the universe, the sovereign King, the mighty fortress, our shield, our shelter, and our guide. He is eternal, preexistent, and unchanging. Because of who He is, He is worthy of our wholehearted devotion.
Jesus says we are to love Him with all our heart—the core of our inner being and intellect; with all our soul—our will, desires, and deepest passions; with all our mind—our thoughts, imaginations, and understanding; and with all our strength—our energy, power, and discipline. We are called to love God completely, holding nothing back, because He is worthy.
The Disruptive Second Commandment
Up to this point, the crowd would have been nodding along in agreement. They loved theological truth and religious zeal. But as Paul writes in Romans 10, they had a zeal for God that lacked true knowledge.
Romans 10:2 (NASB)
For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.
They had passion without compassion. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus is repeatedly moved with compassion. Biblical compassion isn’t mere sentimentality; it is a deep, visceral ache that compels you to take action. The religious leaders had theological passion, but zero compassion.
Then Jesus drops a bomb in verse 31 that shatters their comfort zone.
Mark 12:31 (NASB)
’The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’
Leviticus 19:18 (NASB)
’You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.
Typically, rabbis only taught by quoting previous rabbis. Jesus quotes no human authority. He takes Leviticus 19:18 and places it right beside the Shema, saying the second commandment is equal in importance: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
In the original language, this isn’t a suggestion. It is an obligation. You must love God, and you must love your neighbor. There are no qualifiers, no loopholes, and no escape clauses. Period. End of discussion.
Who Is My Neighbor?
In Luke 10, another legal expert asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus asks him how he reads the law, the man correctly combines loving God and loving his neighbor.
Luke 10:27-28 (NASB)
And he answered, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ And He said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE.’
Jesus tells him, “Do this, and you will live.” Notice He doesn’t say, “Understand this.” He says, “Do this.”
Wanting to justify himself, the man asks, “And who is my neighbor?”
Luke 10:29 (NASB)
But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’
He wanted a boundary line so he could know who he was required to love and who he could safely ignore: “Do I have to love those people, or just the people like me?”
In response, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. A man is beaten and left for dead on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. A priest and a Levite walk right past him. But a Samaritan—a despised outsider—stops, bandages his wounds, puts him on his own animal, takes him to an inn, and pays for his care. Jesus asks, “Which of these three proved to be a neighbor?”
Luke 10:36-37 (NASB)
‘Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ [hands]?’ And he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same.’
Jesus eliminates every excuse. You love God completely, and you love people unconditionally. In Mark 12:31, Jesus declares, “There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Faith Expressed in Love
These two commands are completely interdependent. You cannot separate loving God from loving people. John makes this crystal clear in 1 John 4.
1 John 4:20 (NASB)
If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
You cannot say, “I love God, but I just don’t like people. I’m an introvert, so I get a pass.” Scripture gives you no such pass. If you lack love for people, the solution isn’t just to put your head down and perform more religious duty. The solution is to examine your heart before God. An absence of love for people is ultimately a heart issue with God, because a genuine love for God naturally overflows into a love for others.
James tells us that faith without works is dead.
James 2:14-17 (NASB)
What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for [their] body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, [being] by itself.
If you claim to love God but never step into the lives of others with practical care, your faith is practically ineffective. God chose you to be the reflection of His love in the world. If we aren’t showing His love to the people around us, how will they ever see the Father?
It is easy for a church like ours to fall into the trap of loving information. We love studying the Bible, debating theology, and attending classes and small groups. We have notebooks full of sermons dating back years. That knowledge is good, but if it never turns into love for our neighbors, we are no different from the religious leaders Jesus confronted.
At the same time, serving without a vibrant love for God reduces the church to a civic social club. If we provide clean water to communities around the globe but never bring them the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have met physical needs while leaving eternal needs untouched. Our good works must be fueled by our love for God and seasoned with the gospel.
Breaking Consumer Christianity: Serve Fresno
We have a tremendous opportunity right now in our city through Serve Fresno. It is a chance for the body of Christ to mobilize across our community, demonstrating the love of God through tangible acts of service.
It’s tempting to sit back and say, “I love that my church does that.” But you are the church. This isn’t just for someone else; it’s for you and it’s for me. If it’s easy for you to just show up and listen, it’s just as easy for me to bury myself in sermon preparation, study all week, preach on the weekend, and completely neglect loving real people in practical ways.
Don’t say you’re too busy. We are all busy. Make the time, even if it’s small. When you step outside yourself to love others for Christ’s sake, God does something profound in your heart. It shatters the mindset of consumer Christianity—where we just sit, get fed, and choke on last week’s sermon—and frees us to live on mission.
Let’s be a people who love God with everything we have, and who let that love spill over into our neighborhoods and our city.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for Your incredible patience with us. Week in and week out, Your Word convicts us, stirs us, and calls us deeper. I pray that Your Holy Spirit would move among us tonight, empowering us to do what our flesh naturally resists.
Help us to reflect Your glory by loving You completely and loving people unconditionally. Open our eyes to the real needs in our city and our valley. May our service not be a one-time event, but a gateway into a lifestyle of giving our lives away for Your sake.
Teach us to live out the Great Commandment, anchoring our lives on what matters most: loving You and loving others. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.