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Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

Love Commanded

Bryan Schneider · October 21, 2023

Mark 12:28-34

sharonrpc.org/sermons/love-commanded

Summary

  • A sincere scribe asks Jesus for the chief commandment, seeking the interpretive key to the law rather than another trap.
  • Jesus answers with the Shema: because the Lord alone is God and covenant Redeemer, his people must love him with the whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.
  • Love for God takes concrete form in exclusive loyalty, worship, obedience, holiness, and trust rather than mere religious sentiment.
  • Jesus adds love for neighbor, extending it to every person encountered across family, work, nationality, politics, religion, and even opposition.
  • Love for God and neighbor is greater than outward sacrifice; ritual without such love is empty.
  • The commandments reveal God's righteous path but also expose universal failure, so they cannot function as a covenant of works by which sinners earn life.
  • Jesus alone perfectly loves the Father and neighbor and gives his life for sinners; redeemed people love because he loved and fulfilled righteousness first.

Reflection and discussion

  • Do I love God himself or mainly the gifts he gives?
  • What rival affection or loyalty competes with wholehearted devotion to the Lord?
  • Does my worship and obedience arise from covenant love or empty routine?
  • Whom have I excluded from the category of neighbor because of occupation, nationality, politics, religion, or conflict?
  • How does this command expose my inability to earn life through obedience?
  • Am I responding to Christ's perfect love with gratitude and Spirit-enabled love for others?

Key terms

Shema
Israel's daily confession from Deuteronomy 6 that the Lord is one and must be loved with the whole person.
Great commandment
The command to love the Lord with all heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Neighbor love
Seeking the good of every person God places near us, without limiting duty by social group or personal preference.
Covenant fidelity
Wholehearted loyalty to the redeeming God expressed in worship, trust, and obedience.
Threefold use of the law
God's law exposes sin, restrains evil, and instructs believers in righteous living.
Covenant of works
The demand for perfect obedience in order to live, which fallen sinners cannot fulfill and which drives them to Christ.

Notes and prayer