Mark 12:28-37, Do You Have Questions?, Dr. John B. Carpenter

Mark chapter 12 verses 28 to 37 here the word of the Lord and One of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another and seeing that he answered them. Well ask him which commandment is the most important of all.

And Jesus answered the most important is here. Oh Israel the Lord our God. The Lord is one 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.

The second is this you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said to him you are right teacher. You have truly said that he is one and that there is no other besides him.

And to love him with all your heart with all the understanding with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all Hobart offerings and sacrifices. And When Jesus saw that he answered wisely he said to him you are not far from the kingdom of God.

And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions and as Jesus taught in the temple He said how can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself in the Holy Spirit declared the Lord said to my lord sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.

David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son. And The great throng heard him gladly. Hey, the Lord had his blessings for the reading of his Holy Word. Well, do you have any questions. Maybe instead of another sermon we have a question and answer time.

We'll go through every verse and we'll try to answer any questions you have about them and when we get to the end.

We're done just like that.

We kind of do that on Wednesday nights. Some professors prefer that kind of teaching called the Socratic method or discussion style. When I was a student, I usually didn't like it. I would get bored or maybe even irritated if another student asked bad questions.

Now the professors would always say there are no bad questions and I would think yes, there are. One professor of teaching of the Bible was particularly intent on getting us students to ask questions or participate.

He thought this is the best way to teach the Bible get people participating asking questions. And so when a Japanese man seated next to me said something the professor answered him and then said well.

It's good that you spoke up because Asians are usually shyer about participating. And then he said now every student in this class relatively large class has commented has participated except for one.

And it's good to pry participation and then because I Was the one student who had not yet participated and ask any questions or made any comment? He turned to me and said Don't you think so John? Do you have anything to say.

Yes, why not and everybody laughed. But asking questions is a good way to learn Catechisms tease the faith through questions and answers like the Westminster Catechism, which begins with what is the chief end of man?

You know the answer questions drive Breakthroughs and understanding sometimes questioning the most basic things that everyone did just take it for granted. And thought to ask about like Isaac Newton questioned.

Why do things fall? According to legend when an apple fell on his head and because he asked basic questions. He discovered the laws of physics. My professor at the University of Chicago first questioned sometime back in the 70s or even earlier what American slavery was really like.

What were the conditions of the slaves? Was it economically efficient? In other words did the plantationers did they choose this because this was good business or did they just like to be lazy? They were kind of pseudo aristocrats like Scarlett O 'Hara's father.

You know drink mint juleps and ride their horses while others did all the work. And so my professor did the research and found that it was unlike What it was pictured as it was efficient. It was good business and was thriving by the mid 19th century.

And he won a Nobel Prize for his work and that led him to another question the next question because since economists. Assume that if something is efficient if it's good business that it will spread it will last.

Then.

What ended slavery? To that question my professor confessed. Secular Jew Said he was surprised to learn that Christians ended slavery. One question leads to another. One question acts as a catalyst for further inquiry and discovery creating a chain reaction that leads to great breakthroughs.

A right answer can lead to more questions that you couldn't even dream of you wouldn't have thought to ask. For example Benjamin Franklin asked well, how can we stop these lightning strikes from setting our buildings on fire?

Well that led to the lightning rod. We spark further questions about you know. What materials best conduct electricity that led to electrical wires. Which led to the telegraph which led to the telephone which led to a widespread?

Electricity. It's why we have lights right here right now. In theology Martin Luther's driving question was how can I be right with God? When he found the answer and He realized it was different Than what his church had taught he was faced with a question.

How do I know? Who is the authority? One question leads to another.

So.

Do you have any questions. Here we see Jesus answering and asking Questions this is after three hostile questions questions meant to trap him. There is one final question made of him and then he asked a question himself.

We see that here in two parts first what. Then who our first question is. What is the greatest commandment? And it comes from a scribe who's just seen Jesus answer those trick questions and he is impressed.

He sees that Jesus answered them. Says the verse 28 and thinks that this is a good time to ask a a burning question that he's been trying to figure out. And so he asked Jesus what commandment is the most important of all?

It's a good question actually. His question is a common one like a lot of common questions people have today. Like how do I know the Bible is true? You can answer that question with historical evidence.

Like recently the young apologist Wesley Huff did on the Joe Rogan show or some ask. Why do bad things happen to good people if God is loving? Try not to be sarcastic when you answer back. Who are these good people.

You're talking about good people. Who are they? Maybe you could say well. It only happened once and it happened so the good things could happen to us bad people. This is a typical question. Especially for the Jews of that day.

They had 612 or 613. I think there's probably a debate about how many it is. But whatever they had that many laws that they had to obey out of all those laws. Which is the most important so that can focus on that one?

Well first, is there a greatest commandment? That's an interesting question. James chapter 2 verse 10 says whoever keeps the whole law, but fails at one point. Has become guilty of all of it. So someone could argue that then all the laws are equal and they're all equally binding.

But the scribe is asking if there's one command that encapsulates all of the other commandments. So that if you do this one You will then necessarily Do all of them. The question is what is it. And Jesus answered in verse 29.

The most important is Here. Oh Israel. Now this is from the Shema. He's quoting the Shema from Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5 or Shema. It's from the first Hebrew word in that verse. Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5.

Which is Shema. It means here this with their daily confession every day or twice a day Jews were supposed to recite it here. Oh Israel the Lord our God. The Lord is one and so the question is common in Jesus's answer.

Really is it unusual? It's not from some obscure passage or it has some previously new. It's a previously hidden insight. It's totally new. Sometimes the answers to your questions are just obvious. What command and all the Bible is the most important will go right to the most well-known.

Often recited passage the one we say every day telling us first to hear. Announcing that God is one. There's only one God and that's basic. This is Monotheism other words belief in one God is the starting point before you ask any more questions about God.

You have to understand the oneness of God. There's only one God described himself will say. There is no other besides him. So no matter what you ask later if you get an answer that there's multiple gods or that you can become a god.

You're getting wrong answers. The serpent of the garden first ask a pernicious question. Has God really said? Sometimes skeptics ask. Pernicious questions meant to plant seeds of doubt. Has God really said.

Is that what it really says?

Now then Satan promised Adam and Eve that when they eat of the forbidden fruit They will come like God and that's often the promise of false religion. Follow us and You'll become like God or even you'll become a god yourself.

Mormonism promises that men can become a god over their own planet. With a celestial marriage they call it perhaps many celestial marriages that last forever. And Jesus answered the question about marriages just before saying that they are only for this life.

Here Jesus says that only God is God. The Lord is One there is no other besides him. That's why Mormonism fails the very first question of being a Christian. Do you believe in only one true God? That's not what the scribe asked, but Jesus goes to that command.

He asked about what was the greatest commandment? That comes in.

The Shema.

Here in verse 30. 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.

The most.

Important command is.

Love.

But Jesus doesn't just mean a gushy or sweet disposition toward everyone. What is the greatest command. First get the object, right? That's the one you are to love. He's the one Jesus just designated by quoting the Shema the Lord the one who revealed himself By his name the I am who I am the one true God love.

Him.

Not just a general will choose love. Like what is printed on the end zone of the Super Bowl choose love. Okay, what worthless advice? Everybody loves. Everybody chooses love. Everybody loves something.

They love themselves. They love their ego. They love their stomach. They love football. They love money. They love Häagen-Dazs vanilla bean ice cream if they have good taste. But to keep the greatest commandment, you must love the right one.

Some people love their families above all. Traditional Chinese culture even made a religion out of that filial piety family ism and. People can look at that. They can look at how people will sacrifice sometimes literally offering sacrifices to their ancestors to their dead ancestors.

But more often giving all to their living family. I think if people can look at that and think well, that is the greatest virtue to be a loyal family man or woman that Jesus says. No, that's not it. That's not the greatest.

Some people love wealth. They will obsessively pursue success and possessions. They can't be in church on Sunday mornings. They think because they got to make a few more dollars. You're pursuing that wealth often, especially in this culture people love.

Love.

They love romance the relationship. Placing the romantic partner above their commitment to the Lord this week brings us Valentine's Day. Which of the holiday to celebrate the God of love. Eros. But that's not what Jesus is talking about here.

You've got to get the object of your love, right? The Lord and notice Jesus says.

Love.

What's the greatest commandment to obey God. Because it to obey right? Is that just a good. There are lots of commands to obey. Practice the Word of God. Be a doer of the Word. Here these commands be sure to do them to obey them over and over again.

To the Bible says that. So why is it a Obedience. The greatest command after all is obedience for the greatest command. Then you could obey the command to love right? Man's me to love so I'm gonna love.

I'm gonna obey the command and I'll love. Except you can't. You can obey the other commandments. You can keep the Sabbath you can honor your parents. You can not murder. You cannot commit adultery. You cannot steal.

You're not slander. You can force yourself by sheer willpower To obey all those other commandments, but you can't make yourself love God. What you need is a new heart that now holy loves God. You need that old.

Cold.

Dead Stone heart. That love that love money or some idol. You need that taken out and a new living warm heart put in. That is pumping out now. Love for God, but you can't will yourself to have that heart.

Indeed as long as you have that old dead cold stone heart. You will never want to have that living heart. You'll never want. To love God. The idea of loving God is it. Why. So that would never be your free choice.

You could be threatened with hell. You could choose then to be religious. You want to avoid. I want to avoid hell. So I'm gonna be religious or I'll be moral. I'll keep the laws. Or you could be convinced with good moral reasoning that keeping the commandments is best for you.

If you keep these commandments, it'll keep you out of jail. It'll keep you out of divorce court and so forth. But you're still not loving God. You're just loving the better life that keeping God's law provides.

What you need. And what you can never obey this commandment without is for God to do that surgery. That heart surgery. Take out the old dead stone cold heart and Put that new living heart in and then it's pumping out.

Love.

What's the greatest commandment? Is it to believe? Well, we're Protestants, right? We believe in salvation through faith alone. Yes, we do. Does that mean that faith that saves does not transform you to love God.

That you can believe God? But not love him.

No, it doesn't mean that.

You're saved through faith alone, but faith that saves is never alone is never without love for the one you believe in a heart with true faith. Loves the Lord and if you love him Jesus said You will obey My commandments so if you love him You believe him and you obey him.

So the what the greatest commandment that encapsulates all the others is the command to love the Lord and That love is total. It's holistic. It encompasses all of you. It's from your heart your soul your mind and strength now the heart the spiritual center of who you are.

It's the hub of the wheel of your being for all your intentions your inclinations your desires your will. Things you enjoy things you like the all the other things you love they flow out of your heart.

Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23 says that from the heart flow the springs of life. Your heart thing is like a spring. There have been a mountain spring just gushing out pure water. Your heart is that spring where all the where all the rest of who you are is affected by it comes out of that.

So to love God with all your heart is to be so centered on him that love for him then gushes out and Saturates all the rest of you all the rest of your life all your relationships or use of time and money and everything.

Everything else that you love. So loving God with all your heart with all your being doesn't mean that you don't love other persons or other things. You can indeed love many persons and things that you'll just say soon love neighbors.

It means that now if you love God with all your heart you love them as a way of loving God. You love your mother. As a way to love God. You love your children as a way to love God. You don't love money, but you do love giving and so you want money and you'll work for money.

So that you can love God with your giving. You can love football even the Super Bowl as a way to love God. You love Haagen-Dazs ice cream. Haagen-Dazs vanilla bean ice cream if you have good taste as a way to love the God who made it.

So loving God with all your heart flows out to the the three other realms of who you are your affections producing Orthopathy your beliefs your doctrine producing orthodoxy and your actions. Producing orthopraxy the ortho prefix means, right?

So right affections affections pathos, right doctrines docs, right living praxis. So if your heart wholly loves God it then orients all the rest of you to love God in the right way. First you love God with all your soul.

The Greek word is where we get psyche from. Your your thoughts your motions your perceptions your affections. What you like? What moves you? The love of your heart for God changes your soul changes your feelings.

So you have an affection for God you desire God you enjoy God. You say with Psalm 73 verse 25 whom have I in heaven but you and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. You desire God when you love him with all your soul and so worship and it's hearing his word.

Seeking him obeying him singing to him. Is this something you kind of you make yourself do? Because it's a just a it's a dreadful duty. You think it's like a dieting or like taking medicine. You do it because you want the result you don't enjoy the thing now you your soul wants to worship.

Because you want God your greatest desire is God and That shows in your emotions in your singing your enjoyment Of praising the Lord in the feelings of joy and delight and all of having encountered God from beholding Wondrous things in his word so you're filled with a sense of wonder when you hear about him.

You enjoy God and you want you crave to enjoy him forever. This is why we have some songs in our services. There are mainly about expressing.

Affections.

More love more power more of you in my life. Some people would scoff at songs like that. Oh, that's so simplistic. It's so so childish. There's nothing there's no depth there. There is there's a depth of feeling there and that's that's enough.

More love to thee. Oh Christ more love to thee. This is my heart's desire. So we sing songs like that the Psalms are full of psalms like that a full of an intense feeling for God. Psalm 42 verse 1 says as the deer pants for flowing streams so pants my soul For you Oh God.

So our music should not only about be expressing right doctrine orthodoxy. It should do that. But not only that. It should be expressing right affections a passion for God. Orthopathy. This is what I like so much about John Piper's ministry.

What's it named? You know?

Desiring.

God it's a focus on delighting in God enjoying God. What he calls Christian hedonism now. He's got sterling academic credentials. He could put that forward. All his understanding his knowledge is a scholarship.

But no, he puts forward you need to love me to a joy. You need to have pleasure and seeking God and knowing God. Pursue God because you want to. Because you enjoy him. You feel in your bones that your happiness comes from glorifying God Rather than from fleshly pleasures or for money or stuff.

Beware of ministries that are all about some secret insight or bare knowledge. Doing the right thing or the right disciplines or belonging to the right organization without any any feeling of delight in God.

Loving God with all your soul Means loving him with orthopathy.

Right.

Affections.

Then he says love God with all your mind. Now in Greek, it's literally the word mine naos with the prefix dia like diameter. And going through so it's what goes through your mind. So it's not just about the mind but the use of the mind the understanding thinking love God with all your your thoughts the result will be Orthodoxy that's right doctrine the love of God from your heart will move your mind.

To think right thoughts about God you want to think right thoughts about God. Now the basic problem with most people who have false doctrine who are heterodox literally other than right doctrine their basic problem is.

Not just with their thinking or that they're badly taught their people have been taught. Well, they've been in churches that teach sound doctrine and somehow they still end up gravitating to some weirdo on the Internet that teaches some nonsense.

What's wrong with them why do they go astray like that and There might be those who are new in the faith who are young and because of that they're not well taught yet. They might have some heterodoxy some false doctrine, but if they love God.

When you show them with Scripture the truth. Well the love for God in their hearts will draw them to that truth. Say you show them that well the Father is God Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is a person and he's God and there's only one God the Lord.

I got is one the doctrine of the Trinity. Ah. Maybe they were badly taught before by someone that that's not true. Ah, they will see it. They'll change their minds and they will repent but for most people with false doctrine their basic problem is not in their mind.

It's not as you can try to teach them but they won't accept the truth because their problem is in their heart. They don't love God. Their bad doctrine shows that they love something else. Maybe their egos.

They love something else more than God. So we have a confession of faith that expresses right? Doctrine. Orthodoxy and if you love God with all your thinking. You'll love that. Finally love God with all your your strength literally all your power your abilities.

Everything that you can do you will love God with it exert your body your brain your will. To love God use your talents whatever you can do. To love God and that will show in your life and you're fleeing from youthful passions.

What you do with your body with your sex life keeping yourself from idols like greed covetousness living for things. It appears in your checkbook and you're giving. It demonstrates itself in the time that you give to prayer and Bible reading and coming to church.

You have to exert yourself to come here, right? You had to get up. You don't clean yourself up. You had to drive. It's an exertion and you love God with all your strength. You apply yourself to be here to worship to hear the word and we have a church covenant focused on right?

Living.

Orthopraxy.

Then surprisingly Jesus adds the second greatest commandment. What does he do that? He wasn't asked about the second verse 31. He gives the second but the scribe didn't ask him about the second greatest commandment only the first.

When Jesus gives him the second because it is like The first and the parallel passage of the same incident of Matthew Jesus explicitly says that the second is quote like the first now here in Mark. It's implied by being attached to it as if to say that you cannot really describe the greatest commandment without also describing the second greatest commandment.

And it is. You shall love your neighbor. Right your neighbors a person near you and most of us can't control who is near us, right? God's in control of who's near us. He brings people in across our path and into our neighborhoods near us and we love them.

Some people think well, I love some people love my family. Maybe I love people who like me love my race. No, he says. Your neighbor those that God puts near you. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

So if you love God with all your heart, not only will that flow out or the?

Pathy and.

Orthodoxy. It will also flow out to the orthopraxy of loving your neighbors. That is people that God has put near you of whatever ethnicity even if like the parable of the Good Samaritan. They are from an ethnic group that your culture says you can hate or reject or suppress.

So what do we do then in this culture? Where we had slavery racism and segregation living side by side with churches, can you love your neighbor and.

And.

Enslave him Jonathan Edwards the younger the son of the famous theologian as he saw in the late 18th century. What this new and it really was kind of new this new race based perpetual Slavery was he realized at least this kind of slavery as practice in America the racist it was intergenerational.

That is there were no years of Jubilee. There's no opportunities for anyone to get out of it and Arise from man-stealing that this kind of slavery was a violation of the second greatest commandment. Which is like the first that it contradicts the commandment to love your neighbors.

He preached fervently Against slavery because of that He was one of the pioneers of the movement to abolish slavery. Now the test of our loving others is Jesus his own golden rule. Whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them.

You would want others enslaving you it's an easy test. Especially not just because you want them especially don't want to be enslaved because of your race. Keeping you and your children forever as property.

So don't do that to others. So as people were converted In America, they're given new hearts. They love God and they love their neighbors even neighbors of another race, so they rejected slavery. They then eventually Voted against it.

That's how through the Great Awakening and Afterward to the preaching of men like Jonathan Edwards the younger. Most of the USA was turned against slavery for many. Because it was turned to Loving God.

Well described likes Jesus answer. You're right teacher. He didn't sums it up with mark which mark reports for us as a way to emphasize Jesus is teaching here. Say again again repeating it. Love God with your whole heart.

Understanding and strength and your neighbors yourself that he says to the implicit approval of Jesus is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Jesus saw that as a wise answer. And this is a friendly exchange Between these two men and he concluded you are not far from the kingdom of God.

But that implies it describes missing something doesn't it think about it you're not far. He's not far. He's close. But he's still not in it yet. The question is what is described black? To be in God's kingdom that Jesus answers in the second question.

Who.

Starting in verse 35. Jesus asked the question. He's now answered everyone's questions. So well. Even avoiding the trap questions. Well, no one dares ask him any more questions. But Jesus has one more question.

He wants to get to one more question. He wants them to begin thinking about and. And that question answers what the scribe is lacking to be included in. The kingdom of God. He asked how can the scribes like that's.

Like this man. He just was dialoguing with. How could how can they say that the Christ is the son of David now? Remember mark has already established that Jesus is the son of David. That's the Messiah Bartimaeus Remember cried out Jesus son of David have mercy on me and Jesus healed him.

Accepting that title right then immediately next story in Mark Jesus has hailed coming into Jerusalem with Hosanna and Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father.

David.

So whether the people he's talking to here in the temple verses 35 to verse 37 whether they know it Jesus is talking about himself. He is the son of David. So his question is why do the scribes say that the Christ Messiah same thing Jesus from Jesus point of view me?

Why don't they say I?

Am the son of David. In other words, who is the Christ? Who is he? Is he just a son of David or? Something more someone more. After all in Psalm 110 David writes. Inspired by the Holy Spirit. David didn't didn't just make this up himself the Spirit carried him along inspired these words the Lord and the original Hebrew.

That's Yahweh the I am who I am the one true God the Lord said to my Lord and Hebrew my master. I don't I. Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. Now Jesus's question in verse 37 is since David calls Him the Christ the Messiah from Jesus point of view me.

Since Jesus since David calls him Lord.

Master.

How is the Christ? David's son again, who is he? Jesus is not questioning understand. Jesus is not questioning that the Messiah is David's son. That's not what he's really questioning. But how can the Messiah be both David's son and his Lord?

How is that possible why is David calling his own son Lord. Who calls their own son Lord. Now your son could become the president of the USA and you're still not gonna call him. Mr. President. Unless it's a sarcastic, you know, mr. President take out the trash.

I hope Joshua reaches great success, but I don't care how high he gets. I'm still not calling him Lord. It's not gonna happen. Not gonna happen. No wonder what no matter how wealthy you get you could beat Elon Musk.

You're not no way I'm gonna do that. So what's going on here in Psalm 110? That's a good question. Well, the first question about the Greatest Commandment was was common. The second question this question is a question they hadn't thought of.

But it comes out of the previous question one question leads to another. It's what the scribes describe who answered him wisely. Didn't understand it was so still outside the kingdom of God. What's he lacking?

To be in God's kingdom. Well who exactly to love with all his heart? Who is the object of our wholehearted love who do we love? Oh, yes, the Lord the one God. Well now why does David call his own son Lord?

Why? Does it make any sense to call your own son Lord? Why does the here the Lord the God? Promised to enthrone him to have him seated at the father's right hand. While he puts all of David's son's enemies under his feet.

Of course, he's the king of the kingdom of God the one thing that the wise scribe didn't recognize. That was keeping him out of the kingdom of God was who was the king of that kingdom? Well, he's Jesus.

We know that Jesus of course the son of David. He's the Messiah, but it goes beyond that Jesus is the king that the Messiah was going to be the king was taken for granted. But that still doesn't answer Jesus's disturbing question.

Why? David call him.

Lord.

Jesus won't answer that question yet. They aren't ready for the answer quite yet. But they are about to see in Just a few days the father enthroned the son and put even death under his feet and then They'll realize the answer to that disturbing question.

Why?

Does David call him?

Lord.

Because he is.

The.

Lord.

He is the one God whom you are to love With all your heart and soul and mind and strength and show it by loving your neighbor as yourself. That's a question They didn't even know existed. And once they answer it.

Rightly.

Now finally. They are in the kingdom of God so Have any questions? Sometimes we're so wrapped up in minor questions Like how can I get more money? What's for lunch? Who's gonna win the Super Bowl? that we forget about the big questions like What is the chief end of man?

Do you know. It's to glorify God and enjoy him with all your soul mind and strength Forever. You can only do that if you love him Jesus with all your heart. The question for you now is.

Do you?