Love God, Love People Part 1 - A Deeper Dive
Scripture: Mark 12:28-34
Message Recap
This week we begin the sermon series, Love God, Love People. The series is a follow-up to the If You Love Me series we completed a few weeks ago. During If You Love Me, we examined how Jesus taught that we show love for him by following his commandments. In part three of the series, we considered Jesus’ response to the question, “What is the most important command?”
“29 The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.
”
To demonstrate our love for Jesus, we are commanded to love God and love people. It is nearly impossible to unpack this command in a single 20-minute sermon, so we have returned to it with a dedicated series of messages. Over the next few weeks, we’ll take a closer look at what Jesus taught were the most important commandments.
Jesus’ response to the teacher’s question combined two passages from the law - or what we refer to as the Old Testament. When Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” he quoted the opening verse of the Shema from the Book of Deuteronomy 6:4-9. The Shema has long been the central part of morning and evening prayers for the Jewish people. The opening verse is an affirmation of God’s singularity and kingship. The words Jesus used would have been immediately familiar to those listening since they recited the same words twice each day.
The second part of Jesus’ response, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” is a direct quote from Leviticus 19:18. Jesus answered the teacher’s question from the law. The words of his teaching were not new, but the way he used scripture was. The teachers and leaders gathered would have considered how Jesus used the scripture as almost revolutionary. They ultimately saw it as a threat to their power and authority.
Returning to what Jesus specifically said about loving God, we find four ways we’re instructed to love God: with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Each of these words holds significance. First, the Greek word for heart used in the scripture is kardia. The term is not a reference to the physical organ in the body but a figurative reference to the center of human life. It is the source of feelings and emotions, like joy and happiness. To love God with your whole heart (kardia) is to love so deeply and personally that it impacts our very being.
The Hebrew word nephesh is translated to the English word soul, but that may be slightly misleading. In the case of loving God, the word means the entire life of a person - their entire existence. Nephesh refers to our physical selves and our whole physical existence, the “All of Me.” When we love God with our entire soul (nephesh), we confidently say to the world that we are a follower of Jesus Christ.
The word strength, as used by Jesus, does not mean our physical capabilities. It refers to what you spend your energy on and where you place your focus and attention. No matter what activity you’re engaged in - a job, a hobby, or helping someone - you should do it as though it’s being done for God. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians, “23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord….” When we love God with our soul, people notice. They watch how we act, how we treat others, and how we do our work.
At this point, you may have noticed that we skipped “with all your mind.” As mentioned before, Jesus’ quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-9 when he responded to the teacher’s question. While the text includes all your heart, soul, and strength, “with all your mind” is not included. Jesus added the reference to the mind. Why would Jesus do something as unheard of as adding to sacred scripture, especially scripture as well known as the passage from Deuteronomy? The Greek word dianoias, which translates to mind, refers to the center of intellectual activity, learning, reasoning, and discernment. Perhaps Jesus was foreshadowing the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that with the Holy Spirit, there is no longer a dependence on teachers to tell us what scriptures mean. With the help of the Holy Spirit, each person can discern their own understanding. We are to love God independently of an intermediary.
Jesus commands us to love God with our whole selves. We are to love with every fiber of our being, during everything we do, with everything we have, and in every moment of every day. For Ocoee Oaks, loving God and loving people is our battle cry. It’s what we strive for and what we do. Committing ourselves to this command is a tough ask. How can we accomplish such a daunting task? With God’s help, of course. Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Some misinterpret this, and other passages like it, to mean God will give those who believe in him anything they want. But the more accurate meaning within the context of loving God and loving people is that the more we love God, the more God will give of himself.
As we learn to love God more, it is easier to love others more. Our mission is clear, and everything we do should be an expression of loving God or loving others.
Doing Our Work For God
Earlier, when discussing the idea of loving God with all of our strength, we considered the words of the Apostle Paul, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord….” (Colossians 3:23 NIV). When you are engaged in some kind of activity - your job, a hobby, helping someone in need - do you think about doing it for God?
The Practice of the Presence of God is a collection of writings attributed to Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century French monk. Central to his writings was the idea of living in God’s presence in every moment. He found ways to remain in God’s presence even when partaking in the mundane tasks of daily life. His job in the monastery was the very nonspiritual task of washing dishes, which he didn’t particularly care for. But it was from his post at the sink that he realized the most effective way to communicate with God was to simply do his ordinary work.
Brother Lawrence embodied the commands to love God and love people. He was content doing the smallest chore if he could do it purely for the love of God. His words are simple, but his approach to keeping God at the center of everything he did was not easy. Like all of us, he found himself straying from time to time, only to confess his sin, saying, “I can do nothing better without you. Please keep me from falling and correct the mistakes I make.”
All of us could probably benefit from following the example of Brother Lawrence. If we truly love God, then everything we do, down to the most uninteresting chore, should be done as if we are doing it solely to glorify God.