Love God and Love Others / Matthew 22:34-40
Preaching to Myself
One of the occupational hazards of being a pastor is that if you do something else—let’s say I make widgets for a living and my spiritual life is dry—it doesn’t really affect the product. 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. The widget doesn’t care if my heart is full. You just shut up, make a widget, and then work on your spiritual life later. You can kind of set your spiritual life aside and go, “Okay, I know that’s a mess, but I’ll set that there. I need to just do my job, and then I’ll deal with that later.” You can do that in most jobs.
When you’re a pastor, you can’t do that, because you don’t make widgets. In fact, not only do you not make widgets, you teach the Bible on a regular basis—like all the time. People assume that all the time, you’re rock solid; that all the time, you and the Lord are like Moses on the mountain, your face is aglow with the presence of Jesus, and you just dispense godly wisdom. 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, because this message really is not about you—this message is for me. It’s kind of like counseling, only it’s a lot cheaper, so I appreciate it. But no, in all honesty, I’m going to teach this message tonight not from a position of authority, as in, “I’ve got this nailed right now, and I want you to listen to how awesome I am and be like me.” If anything, what I want to do is place myself under the authority of the Word of God and say, “I need to hear this tonight. I need to wrestle with this text. I need it to do something in me, just like I’m hoping it will do in you.”
There are times in my spiritual life—now being one of them—where I just feel a little dry. Don’t worry, I’m not binge drinking, alright? I’m not living stupid. I just don’t feel 100%, and I want to be honest with you. Before service, I was walking the parking lot. People probably thought I was crazy, because I like walking the parking lot just praying before I teach. And I just said, “Lord, I need this tonight.” So thank you that I have a church where I can preach whatever I need to hear. Here it comes.
The Greatest Commandment
If you have your Bibles, I’d love for you to turn to Mark chapter 12. We’re going to talk about a passage that is very familiar. Even those who are new to the things of God or new to church have heard something about the Great Commandment. You see this concept mentioned in two passages specifically. Matthew mentions it in Matthew 22, where he talks about loving God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind.
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.’
I want to look specifically at Mark’s account in Mark chapter 12, starting in verse 28.
Now Mark is fascinating. If you were with us during our series through Mark, then you understand a little bit of the backstory. John Mark was a kid who went with the Apostle Paul on his first missionary journey and completely popped almost immediately, threw a fit, and went home. If you read through that passage on Paul’s first missionary journey, it’s pretty sad that this kid was so weak initially. When he came home, the church was most likely meeting in his home. He was kind of a kid of privilege, like a deacon’s boy. You would assume more from him, but he just didn’t do well at first.
However, Barnabas came alongside him and really encouraged him. Barnabas, as we find in the book of Acts, was a natural encourager—literally that’s what his name means. Barnabas helped restore him, and he introduced Mark to Peter. Mark then interviewed Peter and wrote Peter’s thoughts and memories about his time with Jesus. That is the Gospel of Mark. It is riddled with Peter’s very driven, Type-A personality. He uses the word “immediately” around forty times in the book, almost as if Mark was in a hurry to capture everything Peter was saying: “Immediately Jesus did this, and immediately He did that.”
The two passages in Matthew 22 and Mark 12 that repeat the Great Commandment are slightly different, and Mark’s version is particularly fascinating.
The Tag-Team Trap
To give you a little context, in Mark chapter 11, the religious leaders start gathering around Jesus like jackals around wounded prey. They circle Him and ask questions about His authority.
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 wanted to know His pedigree: “Who are you? You didn’t go to our schools. You don’t have a recognized rabbi. How is it that you do what you do?” Of course, Jesus’ authority came from the Father, but they rejected that notion. They wanted to know what school He went to and what credentials He held.
Then in chapter 12, you see four key religious groups that normally could not agree on anything. Literally, these guys couldn’t agree on where to go have shawarma in the Old City of Jerusalem, let alone agree on theology—except for one thing: a common distaste for Jesus. On that, they were united.
The four groups are:
- The Pharisees: These guys are all over the Gospels. They observed the Law strictly with great piety. They were old-school legalists. To them, right and wrong were rigid: if drinking is wrong, then alcohol is completely evil; if premarital sex is wrong, then premarital dancing is wrong. They were those people.
- The Scribes: These were perceived experts in the Law. They studied the Scriptures, considered themselves masters of the text, and knew it inside and out. They were bothered by Jesus because He didn’t come out of the Ivy League institutions they belonged to.
- The Sadducees: These were the religious elite who were more politically minded. They denied supernatural realities like the resurrection, and they operated comfortably under Roman influence.
- The Herodians: These were Jewish political figures who essentially wanted to worship God while wearing a Roman toga. They lived in the Roman world and aligned themselves with Roman rule.
These four groups normally hated each other. Later, in the book of Acts, when Paul is on trial, he looks around the room, sees Pharisees and Sadducees, and simply says, “I’m on trial for the resurrection of the dead!” Then he steps back and watches them fight each other.
Yet here in Mark 12, look at who shows up together. In verse 13, you see the Pharisees and Herodians joining forces against Jesus.
Mark 12:13 (NASB)
Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement.
In verse 18, the Sadducees step up.
Mark 12:18 (NASB)
[Some] Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Jesus, and [began] questioning Him, saying,
And in verse 28, the scribes arrive.
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?’
If you grew up watching classic WWF wrestling—Hulk Hogan leg drops, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka—you remember tag-team matches. One guy would be in the ring wearing someone down, and when he got tired, he’d tag his partner to jump in. This scene in Mark 12 is like a four-way tag team. All these rival groups take turns trying to trap Jesus and pin something on Him.
Look at verse 28:
One of the scribes observes the scrum, sees that the others aren’t doing very well, and reaches in for the tag. He asks Jesus, “Which commandment is the foremost of all?”
We might look at that and think, “Well, aren’t there only ten?” No, the Ten Commandments were just the beginning. There are 613 distinct laws in the Hebrew Scriptures. The religious groups had categorized them: 248 affirmative commands, 365 negative commands, divided into “light” and “heavy” precepts. They charted out which ones carried more weight. So the scribe wants to know where Jesus stands in this grand theological debate.
Loving God with Everything
Jesus cuts right through the debate. He begins by quoting something they all knew by heart.
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.’
In that moment, they all would have nodded in agreement: “Amen, the boy is good.” Jesus quotes the Shema from Deuteronomy 6, a passage every pious Jew recited at least twice a day. It was the central text of their faith. You taught it to your children, you wrote it on the mezuzah on your doorpost, and you placed it inside the phylacteries bound to your forehead and arm.
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.
The word Shema doesn’t just mean to hear audibly; it carries the weight of listening with the intent to obey.
Notice the foundation Jesus establishes: “The Lord our God is one Lord.” God is exclusive and He is preeminent. There are no other gods, and He stands supreme over all creation. When you consider who God is—the Creator who spoke the universe into existence, who fashioned mankind in His image, the Sovereign King, the Strong Tower, the Mighty Fortress, our Shelter, our Shield, our Guide, our Vindicator, the Alpha and the Omega, through whom all things were made and in whom all things hold together—He alone is worthy of our complete devotion.
Because of who He is, Jesus says you should love Him with everything:
- With all your heart: In Hebrew thought, the heart isn’t just about sentimental emotions; it is the center of your intellectual life, the inner wellspring from which every choice flows.
- With all your soul: The soul is the seat of your will, your desires, your deepest affections, and your passions.
- With all your mind: Jesus highlights the mind—how you think, how you process truth, what you dream about, and how you direct your imagination.
- With all your strength: This encompasses your might, your physical energy, your abilities, and your daily discipline.
The summary is clear: we are to love God exclusively, preeminently, and completely. He is not some plastic action-figure deity. He is the Creator of the universe. He is worthy of everything we are, and He invites us to delight in Him, enjoy Him, and love Him.
Up to this point, the crowd is thrilled. They loved talking about devotion to God. But as Paul points out 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. They had zeal without action. Whenever the Gospels describe Jesus, He is repeatedly “moved with compassion.” Biblical compassion is not mere passive empathy where you say, “Oh, bummer, somebody should really help those people,” and keep walking. True compassion moves you at a visceral level to step in and do something.
Loving People Unconditionally
Verses 29 and 30 did not surprise anyone. But in verse 31, Jesus drops the real bomb.
Mark 12:31 (NASB)
’The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’
In that culture, rabbis taught by quoting other recognized authorities: “Rabbi So-and-So said this, and Rabbi So-and-So said that.” They stayed neatly inside their theological sandboxes. But Jesus speaks on His own authority and pairs Deuteronomy 6 with Leviticus 19.
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.
In Matthew’s account, Jesus says, “The second is like it.” He doesn’t mean the second command is an optional afterthought; He means it carries the exact same moral weight. Loving God and loving people are two sides of the same coin.
In our English Bibles, we read, “You shall love your neighbor.” We often treat “shall” as a suggestion, like, “It would be nice if you did this.” But in the original text, it is an imperative. You must love your neighbor. It is an obligatory, unconditional calling. Period. End of story.
In Luke chapter 10, a lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus points him to the Law, the man correctly recites the commands to love God and love your neighbor. Jesus responds, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
Luke 10:25-28 (NASB)
And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?’ 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.’
Notice Jesus didn’t say, “Understand this and you will live.” He said, “Do this.”
Then Luke records the lawyer’s pushback:
Luke 10:29 (NASB)
But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’
The religious mind always looks for loopholes: “Who qualifies as my neighbor? Who am I obligated to love, and who can I ignore? Can I just love the people in my circle who look, act, and think like me?”
In response, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. A man is beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. A priest and a Levite walk right past him on the other side of the road. Finally, a Samaritan—someone despised by the religious elite—stops, binds his wounds, pays for his care, and ensures his recovery.
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 tears down every qualification. You cannot love God with all your heart while picking and choosing which people deserve your love. Loving God with everything demands loving people unconditionally.
Matthew records Jesus summarizing the whole matter this way:
Matthew 22:40 (NASB)
‘On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.’
The entire Bible pivots on these two commands.
The Inseparable Connection
What is Jesus really driving at? He is revealing the interdependent relationship between loving God and loving people. You cannot separate them. A genuine love for God will always overflow into a tangible love for others.
John makes this crystal clear in his first letter:
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.” That excuse doesn’t work in the kingdom of God. If you claim to love God, that love must translate into loving real, messy, imperfect human beings.
If you find that you lack love for people, the solution isn’t simply to sign up for more religious activities. That is just treating the symptom. If your heart does not overflow with love for people, it is not fundamentally a people problem—it is a God problem. You have to return to the source and ask, “Do I truly love God?”
James, the half-brother of Jesus, emphasizes this exact principle in James chapter 2.
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.
Faith without works is dead. If you profess faith in God but show no tangible care for your neighbor, your faith is ineffective. God has chosen to reveal His love to the world through His people. Because God is love, we are called to reflect His character. If we are not demonstrating His love to those around us, how will they ever see the Father?
The message of Scripture is simple: Love God fully, and love people unconditionally. It is simple to understand, but it is not easy to live out.
Knowledge Versus Action
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were obsessed with gathering information. They loved debating theological nuances and arguing over interpretations. And if I can poke at us for a moment: isn’t there a chance that we at The Well Community Church can fall into the exact same trap?
We love knowing our Bibles. We love deep theology. We debate verses, compare translations, and critique teaching. Many of you have been here for years. You have notebooks full of sermon notes, you have graduated from our classes, you have memorized scripture, and you have participated in every kind of small group we have ever offered. That is wonderful.
But what about the second part? How are we doing at loving people?
At the same time, we have to avoid the opposite extreme. There are people who are deeply committed to social causes, standing against injustice and serving the poor, but their efforts are disconnected from a love for God. Good works separated from the Gospel become fruitless, unredemptive labor. If you provide fresh water to the world but never share the living water of Christ, what have you gained? What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and forfeit their soul?
Without Christ, good works make you nothing more than a well-meaning community club. The uniqueness of the church is that we love people precisely because we love God. Our service is fueled and seasoned by the Gospel.
Being the Church
We are in a unique season in our church and across the city of Fresno. God is stirring a movement of people who want to love Him fully and love our community unconditionally. Through initiatives like Serve Fresno, churches all across our valley are coming together without worrying about who gets the credit, simply to unleash the body of Christ into our city so that people see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.
It is very easy to sit in a seat and think, “I love that my church does that.” But you are the church. That means this is what you and I must do personally.
I am preaching to myself because on any given week, it is far easier for me to retreat to my office, study the Greek text, prepare another sermon, and keep knowledge at the center while neglecting people. I can study like a Pharisee and forget to love my neighbor.
So will you join me? Will you go and be the church? Find a place to serve this week. You might feel too busy, but you will always be busy unless you choose to make time. Step out of your comfort zone, not just because our city has needs, but because your own soul needs it. When you love God and allow that love to pour out into serving others, God does something transformative in your heart.
Let’s break the cycle of consumer Christianity that constantly consumes teaching without ever putting it into practice. Let’s take the love we have received from God and carry it to the people around us.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for Your patience with us. Week in and week out, Your Word convicts our hearts, and You are so gracious and gentle to stir us.
I pray that Your Holy Spirit would move among us tonight, giving us the desire and the strength to do what our flesh resists. Help us to reflect Your glory by loving You with everything we are and loving the people around us unconditionally.
There are deep needs across our valley. Use us to meet those needs and point people to Jesus. May our acts of service not be a one-time event, but a doorway into a lifestyle of giving our lives away for Your sake.
Teach us to live out the Great Commandment—to love You and to love others. We ask this in the matchless name of Jesus. Amen.