Soon after entering Jerusalem amid shouts of Hosanna and a parade of palm fronds, with cloaks and branches covering His path, Jesus found Himself face to face with religious leaders trying to lure Him into an incriminating trap. Even the Herodians, spies for King Herod, were keeping a watchful eye.
The Pharisees and Sadducees grilled the man they called Teacher about laws governing taxes and the resurrection, before turning to the Mosaic law, as recorded in Mark 12.
“Which commandment is the most important of all?” a scribe asked Jesus, who responded by quoting two commands: Love God and your neighbor.
“There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:31, English Standard Version).
In this passage, Jesus clearly articulates the core of the Christian gospel: We are to love God and others. From this foundational statement, I can see three vital questions.
In this passage, Jesus clearly articulates the core of the Christian gospel: We are to love God and others.
First, are we loving God according to His command?
Both the Old and New Testaments contain declarative calls to serve only one God, challenging us to forsake idolatry in all its forms.
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one’” (Mark 12:29, ESV).
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4, ESV).
From these verses, Jesus reminds His hearers and affirms that God is the one and only God worthy of our complete devotion, loyalty and service. There is no other comparison and no other god like God.
God sees our hearts, and He doesn’t want our love to be perfunctory, mere lip service, or in competition with another lover. This would include allegiance to opinions, perspectives, and ideologies of our current day.
The funny thing about idols is that you don’t really know it is an idol until it is either taken from you or determined to be inconsistent with objective biblical truth. If what I think, what I love, or whom I am aligned with competes with this commandment — which Jesus has declared to be the greatest — it is an idol.
Obedience to the whole counsel of Scripture is the filter by which all competing philosophies and ideologies are scrutinized. God wants our heart’s desire, which is to serve Him, worship Him and glorify Him, to be motivated by our love for Him.
God wants our heart’s desire, which is to serve Him, worship Him and glorify Him, to be motivated by our love for Him.
Secondly, are we loving our neighbor according to His command?
“‘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” (Mark 12:30-31, ESV).
The commandment to love your neighbor was not a revelation to the people of Israel, as it is included in the exhaustive instruction manual that God gave to Moses for His people in Leviticus. It shouldn’t be a surprise to believers, either. From the beginning, God says He created mankind in His image. That means every human being is an image-bearer deserving of love and respect. In fact, in the latter part of Leviticus — the book on holy living — God provides an edict on living in community:
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18 ESV).
The apostle John tackles this same topic, writing that the love of God expresses itself in the love of neighbor, in his notable “God is Love” passage:
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20, ESV).
In the two earlier verses we examined from Mark 12, it’s important to note that Jesus not only links the two commandments, but He also places them in a specific order — informing us that loving God is a prerequisite for loving one’s neighbor. So, if the source of your love is not God, it will fail to exhibit God’s unique love to your fellow image-bearer. Love of neighbor is, moreover, the chief means of loving God.
So, if the source of your love is not God, it will fail to exhibit God’s unique love to your fellow image-bearer.
Thirdly, are we making disciples according to His command?
For our Cru® team in the inner city, it is at the center of all we do. In fact, it is the essence of our mission statement:
“Living out the Great Commandment and Great Commission with churches in the inner city.”
It is our compass because it is the Great Commandment that informs the Great Commission:
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you” (Matthew 28:19-20, ESV).
Both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission work in harmony, serving as riverbanks for our ministry. So, loving God, loving people, and making disciples is what we are called to as followers of Christ — period.
As believers, it is always a good idea to gauge how well we align ourselves to both the Great Commandment and Great Commission. Here are some simple but enlightening questions to consider as part of our ongoing spiritual assessment.
Consider our time:
- What idols in my life are distracting me from serving?
- What energy do I put into lesser pursuits?
- What does my calendar say about my priorities?
Consider our mindset:
- What things am I engaged in that create a wedge between me and fellow image-bearers?
- What attitudes of unforgiveness and prejudice am I harboring that keep me at odds with fellow image-bearers?
- What areas of character growth would bring me closer to people, rather than distancing me from them?
It’s never too late to return to our first love. The first step is remembering that ministry is an overflow of our relationship with God. As long as we have breath, our primary purpose on this earth is to grow in our union with God. Let Him continue to form you and transform you into His image so you are uniquely poised to help other image-bearers do the same.
Milton Massie and his wife, Cynthia, have served the Inner City Ministry of Cru since 1986. After leading the Chicago team for 19 years, Milton was named executive director/steward of the entire Inner City division in 2018.
