Where is Love?

The Law of Love and the King of Grace

(Mark 12:28-34, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, January 12, 2020)

[28] And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” [29] Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. [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.’ [31] The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” [32] And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. [33] And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” [34] 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.

What is love? Where is love? How is it associated with law? Did the scribes know love?

A World of Disputes

One of the scribes

Which commandment?

The Law of Love

First: Shamah Israel – Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and context

Creator/creature distinction

One God

Love him

with all your everything

The second: Your neighbor – Leviticus 19:18 and context

No commandment greater than love – Love first for God and second for neighbor

The King of Grace

The Scribe: “You are right … He is one, and there is no other besides him.”

Love (and the obedience that flows from love) is more than ceremonial legal sacrifices.

Jesus: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

THE POINT: Love is the fulfillment of the Law. Jesus and his love are at the center of the kingdom of God. Where Jesus is, there is love.

Applying these verses:

1. God is love.

2. Talking about love is not same thing as love itself.

3. How deep the Father's love for us!

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 122 – Peace, Love, and the House of God

New Testament Reading—Romans 14:13-23 – Walking in love in a world at enmity with God

Additional Passages:

What is love? Love is more than ceremonial legal sacrifices.

Many Old Testament passages – “steadfast love and covenant faithfulness” – Holy desire for communion with another and honorable action before God and neighbor.

Love for God: heartfelt trust, obedience, love for the least

Love for neighbor: forgive, cancel debts, pray for, be devoted to them for their good, serve, spend and be spent, give yourself for them.

1. God is love.

Exodus 34:6–7

[6] The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, [7] keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

1 John 4:7–8

[7] Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. [8] Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

2. Talking about love is not same thing as love itself.

Proverbs 20:6

[6] Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love,

but a faithful man who can find?

3. How deep the Father's love for us!

John 3:14–16

[14] And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, [15] that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. [16] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 13:1

[1] Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

John 15:13

[13] Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.