Loving God Supremely Part 2 - Mark 12:35-44

3:20Well, we're in the temple the week before, just days now before Christ is crucified. And in verse 28, there's been this ongoing attack from the Sanhedrin. First, they sent the Pharisees, then they sent the Sadducees, and then the scribes came out. And in verse 28, you remember the question was asked. One of the scribes said, Which is the foremost commandment of all? Basically, what is the most important commandment? If you boiled it all down, what is the overarching principle of life? If you do nothing else, what is the one thing that God wants from us? And what is the supreme duty of man? And Jesus answers and basically says, Your responsibility to God is to love Him supremely above all else. And His response, in Jesus' response, He answers three basic questions: Why is God worthy of our supreme love? Well, the reason is simply because He is Lord, He is God, you are not. And that means He has the right to. Expect your supreme love. The Lord is one. Second question Jesus answered by way of review is, what does our supreme love look like? Well, supreme love involves your whole being, it involves your heart, it involves your soul, it involves your mind, it involves your strength. And then the third question Jesus answers in this section was, how is our supreme love to God to be expressed? And he says in verse 31, the second is this, that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That loving others as yourself is the expression of loving God. And so as we go forward from there, he's just spoken to the describe about the greatest commandment. So we would get ourselves way off track if we failed to connect our passage this morning with what has just happened, this theme of loving God supremely. This is what immediately proceeds. So last time we began, if you will remember, it's been two weeks, we began to answer the question, how do I love God supremely? How do I love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength? And if you and I were to be honest with ourselves and look inside our hearts, we'd come to the conclusion that we probably don't love God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, with all of our strength, because in our very nature is to hold back from God. Though we have been justified by His grace, it's an ongoing process of putting Him first. In our lives. And so I think if we were honest with ourselves this morning, that every one of us probably does not love God like we should. We do not love Him supremely. So the question is: how do we love God supremely? How do we grow in our love for God so that He is becoming more and more precious to us so that we could really truthfully sing He is above all else? Well, this is the same thing that Jesus wanted of His disciples. And so He is actively teaching His disciples. He wanted His disciples to grow in their love for God. And our passage this morning gives us three steps that are necessary for us to grow in our love for God.

6:48And I want you to understand these so that you will grow. First step, first step to loving God supremely is to recognize who Jesus is. The first step to loving God supremely is to recognize who Jesus is. If you don't get this one right, you're not even, you can't even begin the walk, if you will. You must recognize who Jesus is. And there's three things about Christ, I think, that are evident in this passage. First of all, he is Christ. That's who Jesus is. He is Christ. It's interesting that now the scribes have just brought their question. Now, Jesus turns the question around. So they have three questions: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and then the scribes. And now Jesus is going to start asking the crowd questions. And he asked the question in verse 35.

7:37How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David? How is it? Talk to me now. Let's think. How is it that the Christ is the Son of David? The Christ means Christos, which means anointed one. The Hebrew equivalent is Messiah, the political ruler that will come one day and sit upon the throne of David and rule over the nations and rule over Israel as king. This is all contained in the meaning of Messiah, the political ruler. And the rightful expectation was that Christ would be a descendant of David. And this, in chapter 10, if you remember, this was the cry of Bartimaeus: Jesus, son of David, have mercy upon me. And then he comes into the city of Jerusalem in that triumphal entry. And they are shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, rightfully recognizing him as the Son of David. And Jesus has made it very clear, this is who he is. At this point, the secret is over, it is out. He is presenting himself as Christ, as king, as Messiah to the people of Israel. He's made it clear.

8:50But there is more to the Christ than just being a mere descendant of David. And that is the question. The scribe's view was correct. The Christ is a descendant. Of David, but he is not just a descendant of David. So the first thing to recognize about Jesus is that he is the Christ. The second thing to recognize is that he will rule over his enemies. He will. Jesus will rule over his enemies, all of them. Look at verse 36. David himself says in the Holy Spirit, the Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet. Now, the expression, sit at my right hand, implies the highest possible honor and authority that could be given to anyone. This is it. Jesus is loved and honored by God more than anyone else or ever will be. This is the relationship that the Son has to the Father.

9:52Sit at my right hand. And then that expression, beneath your feet, is an expression of the utter defeat of his enemies. And it goes back to Joshua chapter 10. There was these five kings when Joshua was coming into the land way back after coming out of the Exodus of Egypt and they had come into the land and these five kings came up to Joshua to take him on to attack the armies of Israel and they captured them and they put the kings into a cave and then they finished decimating the army and then they came back and when they Came back. Joshua, I'll just pick up in chapter 10, verse 29, when they brought these kings out to Joshua. Joshua called for all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, Come near and put your feet on the necks of these kings. So he pulled all these kings out, set them on the ground, and he said, Okay, all you leaders of Israel, come out, put your foot on their neck. And then Joshua says, This: Then he said, Do not fear or be dismayed, be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies with whom you fight.

11:10And so afterwards, Joshua struck them, put them to death, and hanged them on five trees, and they hung on the trees to leave. That's a picture of utter defeat when your foot is upon the neck of your enemies. And that's the expression that is being used to speak about Christ here. He's going to sit at the right hand of God until his enemies are put under his feet. The quote is taken from Psalm 110. Let me just read to you this Psalm. Psalm 110.1, a Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

11:49Verse 2, the Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion, saying, Rule in the midst of your enemies. So you get this picture of Christ, that God is, that he is ruling. Ruling in the midst of his enemies. Even right there in the temple. You got all of the religious establishment that has surrounded him, and they are trying to bring him down. And in a day or two, they are going to have him crucified. And there is Christ right in the middle of the temple, ruling over his people. And even today, even in the midst, as Christ's name is drugged through the mud, and people continue to surround and set their hatred towards Christ, we are vastly and quickly becoming an antichrist world, yet he still rules in the midst. This is a picture of Christ. This is who he is. In verse 4, it says, Psalm 10 says, The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. This is why Jesus could come in and totally obliterate the temple and clean it out, because he is from a priesthood that is of a higher order. He has authority over the go-between, between God and man.

13:04And then he says this in Psalm 110: The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings in the day of his wrath. He will judge among the nations. He will fill them with corpses. He will shatter the chief men over the broad country. This is a picture of the total victory of the Messiah. So you need to know who Christ is. You need to know who Jesus is first. He is the Christ. He is the one appointed to rule and govern. And he will rule over his enemies. First of all, he is the Christ. Second, he will rule over his enemies. Third thing you need to know about Jesus is that he is God's Son. He is God's Son. He is more than just the human descendant of David. Verse 37.

13:52Jesus presents a logical problem to the mere view of the scribes. Verse 37, David himself calls him Lord. So in what sense is he his son? And the large crowd enjoyed listening to him. See, he is David's Lord. David in the Holy Spirit said, called him Lord. Therefore, he cannot just be David's son. He is much, much more. What Jesus was doing is he's pressing the crowds to think more in depth about the person of the Christ. Who is the Christ?

14:26Think deeply about it. He cannot just merely be a physical descendant of David. He is much, much more. He's not merely a human Messiah or a political savior. He is Lord of all. He is Lord of all. He is God's Son. And that's where this whole thing is going. He's already presented himself in chapter 12, in the parable of the vineyard. In verse 6, it said, he has one more to send, a beloved son, and he sent him last of all to be sent to. The vineyard owners, and he said, They will respect my son.

15:05And if you'll remember, they didn't respect his son. They said, This is the heir, let's kill him and throw him out, and the inheritance will be ours. But this, he's coming in, he is revealing himself now as God's Son. He has already revealed himself as the Christ, and the final confession will be that of the centurion that truly this man was the Son of God. And this is what has happened. He is now revealing himself as God's Son, He is Lord of all. Let me tell you something about corporate America. Let me just give you a little advice for those of you who are going to get a job in firms. If you take a firm where the, if you go to work for a firm and the president of the company or the owners of the company has a son in the company, I want to tell you something what's probably going to happen over time. That son is probably going to be promoted. And I remember working at one firm that I worked for. There was a big advancement made for a great business opportunity. A new office was put in another town, and they sent somebody who most people thought was not qualified and went over to open up this office. I was talking to the president, and it was really funny because, well, the whole reason we sent him over there because he has the same last name that I have.

16:30That's kind of the way corporate America, in fact, and later, then in another time, there was a guy who had been elevated to executive vice president or vice president very high. He was in the inner circle, but he wasn't in the inner circle within the inner circle. And that is where one of the sons were. And I remember having a long conversation with him. He's like, I just can't, I've hit a ceiling. I said, yeah, you have. You know, you have. Finally, he decided it was time for him to leave because he couldn't go anymore. All that to say, in corporate America, you can expect that there is a favor that a president has towards his son in the corporation, whether he deserves it or not. Let me tell you something about heaven and God's son. And the difference between corporate America and heaven is that God's Son is worthy of all the highest praises. He is the competent one. He is the one to be glorified. It is right. It is not just nepotism. It is just. But I can tell you something about the Father's love towards his son, is that he esteems the Son greatly and supremely. This is the one that God has appointed to rule the nations. And I don't care what anybody says anywhere or what forces try to oppose him. Ultimately, this is God's man, and God will see to it that God's Son reigns. He is the supreme favorite of heaven.

18:01So, you know where loving God supremely begins? With recognizing who Christ is, or recognizing who Jesus is. He is the Christ. He is the one God has appointed to rule over all of his enemies, and he is God's Son. So, loving God supremely begins with loving his son supremely. That's where loving God supremely begins, with an intimate and close relationship and love towards Jesus Christ. If you don't start there, you'll never love God. You'll suppress the truth in unrighteousness. He is the one that has opened heaven's doors, and only Christ, only Jesus has opened. So, you must recognize who Jesus is. But there's a second thing, second step. If you're going to grow in your love for God, second thing, you need to be careful of who you look up to. First, recognize who Jesus is. Second, you need to be careful of who you look up to. Look at verse 38.

19:04In his teaching, he was saying, Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and like respectful greetings in the marketplaces and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows' houses and, for appearance's sake, offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation. So, in this context, the enemies of Jesus are the religious elite. They are the phony religionists of the day. They are the religious overlords, if you will. And they are filled with religious hypocrisy. Picture the scene there. You're in the temple that day, and it's very filled, very crowded. It's just before Passover. A lot of people in there. And here are the scribes, the scribes of the sect of the Pharisees. And here they are in their long robes, walking around. And if you were there, you'd say, ah, there are the favorites. This is what religious spirituality looks like. There goes another one. Boy, there is another one. And you could see them as if they were the picture of spirituality. And so they were looked up to as the spiritual epitome or the spiritual desire of who you should be like. But they were filled with both pride and hypocrisy. And Jesus is saying, no, don't look up to these. Don't look up to these.

20:31And there are five characteristics of these religious hypocrites that Jesus lays out. And you need to be careful that you are not looking up to one of these. First of all, they love the appearance of greatness. Look at that. They love, they like to walk around in long robes. Look at the way they dressed. They love to dress. They love to appear as great people by the way they dress. So you could spot them out in a crowd. Second thing, they. Love the approval of man. Look at that. They loved to be admired and complimented by people. They liked the respectful greetings in the marketplace. They loved to kind of roam around in that marketplace and hear the word, greetings, rabbi. Greetings, rabbi. They love the approval of men. They also love to advance themselves. They love to advance themselves. And this is seen in their desire to have the chief seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. These were the esteemed places. And so they saw religion as a means to garner or to gain these chief seats and places of honor at the banquets. Now, the places of honor at banquets, you shouldn't be thinking of just like a table setting at a nice end of a table. I think that's where our mind typically goes. And the banquets would, or these feasts would go on for days. And so there were these nice rooms, the chief places, the lodgings, you know, that would certainly also be in view here, too. They liked to come to the banquets, and they liked the chief places, the best rooms, the best seats at the table. They loved to advance themselves. This is a characteristic of a religious hypocrite. But fourth, they love wealth. And this is seen in the way they devoured widows' houses. Their love for wealth trumped their love for those in need. I mean, they had no problem getting. Rich off the many widows' pennies. And no problem with that. And this is why Jesus calls them a den of robbers. And it's specifically this widow and woman, this poor widow is going to come in view that is in contrast. They loved wealth to such a degree that they would even pray on just a few pennies of a widow. But fifth characteristic is they loved to appear to be devoted to God. And look at this. Notice how they love to put on a show for appearance's sake. They love to offer long prayers. These are the characteristic of religious hypocrites. They love to look like they're devoted to God. They love to appear great. They love the approval of man. They love to advance themselves. They love wealth. And they love to appear to be devoted to God. And what Jesus is saying is, beware of these. Don't look up to people like this. What I am surprised in our day is just the number of people who will follow men and women such as these.

23:38Seems like they are so carelessly taken in by those who embody these. Turn on the TV. Where there is an emphasis of wealth, religious hypocrite ought to go up in your mind. Where there is a desire to appear to be great, or where there is a love for the greatest. The approval of man, let the little religious hypocrite signal go off in your mind. That's what Jesus is saying to his disciples here. Do not look up to people like this because they are not at all what you think they are. And there are three reasons why you need to be aware, beware of people like this. First of all, you need to beware of them because you will become like them. If you look up to these, you are going to be like them. So it's very important that you have the right model because what you look up to, you become. And that is what Jesus is saying to his disciples. Beware of them. And to the crowds. He's saying this to the crowds. Now, why are you to be aware? Well, because they oppose God's Son. This is the religious elite who, according to the parable of vineyard owner, is going to take the Son, crucify him, and throw him out of the vineyard. These are God's enemies. That's the second reason. So you need to be aware because you will become like him. Second reason you need to be aware of people like this is because they oppose God's Son. The third reason you need to be aware is because this is exactly what God hates. He hates religious hypocrisy. Look at verse 40 at the end of it. These will receive greater condemnation. You feel the heat and the anger rising out of the heart of Christ. These will receive greater condemnation. Listen, God hates religious hypocrites. And he doesn't want you patterning your life after religious hypocrites.

25:40So to love God supremely, it's necessary to recognize who Jesus is. It's necessary to be careful of who you look up to. And third, it is necessary to imitate those who give their all to Christ. Third thing, imitate those who give their all to Christ. Look at verse 41. And he sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury. And many rich people were putting in large sums. So the treasury was these line of offering boxes. And they had like these trumpet shapes on them so you could throw money into this trumpet-shaped thing, and it could catch it and probably make a good noise as it goes down into the box. And during the week preceding Passover, this would have been a very, very busy place. They were all lined up at one part of the temple. And what Jesus does is he gets up, after talking to the crowd, he gets up and he goes over to a place opposite the treasury and he sat down and just started watching how people were putting in. Not that people were putting in, but he's watching how these people were putting money into the treasury. And among the crowd, there were many rich people, and they were putting money. In large sums. So here would come the large, or the rich people, they would come, put in all this money, large sums. And then verse 42 comes a poor widow. And she came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. One poor woman, two very thin copper coins. Simple action, just put. Just put. Hardly anything at all. Hardly anything worth mentioning. Yet it was this simple action that caught the very essence of what loving God with all your heart looks like. Jesus calls his disciples. He literally summons them. That is the word. In verse 43, he calls them. That is, he summons them to come because it sums up everything Jesus wants from his disciples. This is it. And so he summons his disciples. He doesn't summon the crowd. He doesn't summon his opponents. But here and through the rest of the book, he's going to talk to his disciples. And it's as if he's saying, okay, in light of all that you've been hearing, in light of all that you've been witnessing, I want you to see something and I want you to get this in your head and I want you to understand it. And so verse 43, calling his disciples to him, he said to them, Truly I say to you, this poor woman, poor widow, put in more than all the contributors to the treasury. For they all put in out of their surplus, but she out of her Poverty, put in all she owned and all she had to live on. You see, Jesus wanted to impress upon his disciples that day and impress upon us today what giving one's all to God looks like. And he wants us to imitate this kind of person. He doesn't want us imitating the scribes. He wants us to imitate the example of this woman. This is the supreme sample that we should be imitating, not the scribes. And there are two specific aspects about the giving of this widow that I want to bring to your attention. First of all, he wants us to imitate those who give to God generously, like this widow. He wants us to imitate those who give to God generously. The truth is, and the scripture says she put in more than the rest. Truly, amen. That's the word for amen here. Amen. She put in more than the rest.

29:28Really? I mean, how is it that she put in more? He's not just patronizing her or making this some kind of patronizing statement. He is stating an eternal reality. She put in more, and you need to know that she put in more. Obviously, his evaluation system is completely different from ours because two pennies isn't worth near what those others were putting in. Yet, how is it different? Well, he tells us in verse 44: look, for, and that's causal, for because, in other words, because. Because they gave out of their surplus. Now, the word for surplus is a very interesting, it's a verb, it's an overflowing abundance. It's the same word that's used to describe all the fragments of fish and bread that were picked up after the miracle of the loaves and the fish on two occasions. You remember, they had a few fish, he blessed them, fed the multitude, and then there's all this left over. That's overflowing abundance. That's the language here. They gave out of their overflowing abundance. You see, those that were coming in were giving out of their surplus, which doesn't necessitate a change in lifestyle at all. I mean, you could give all this, give all this stuff, but it doesn't change their lifestyle. And this is not the kind of giving that Jesus is admiring here. It's important to understand that. That's what he wants his disciples. This is not the kind of giving that Jesus is admiring. And it brings us to ask ourselves: are you a surplus giver? Do you give out of the overflowing abundance, or do you give that which necessitates a change in your life? Well, let me tell you what Jesus admires. He admires the kind of giving that one gives everything to God. Everything one has given to God. That's what he admires. And this is the giving that's represented by the poor widow. How much did she give? Look at verse 44. It's right there. She put in all that she owned, literally all that she had, and all that she had to live on. Now, the interesting word for live there is bios, where we get biology from. She put in her whole bios, her whole life. That is what she put in.

31:49She put her whole life into God. See, the question still is, how is this more than the others? Well, the bottom line is clear. The principle is clear. It was not what was given, but what was held back that is at issue. The one who gives the most is the one who holds back the least. She put more of herself into the treasury than these others put of themselves into the treasury. That's the point. Is that you are to be a person who puts all that you have into God, into your relationship with God. You are to love Him supremely with your total bios.

32:30You see, love isn't really measured by what you put in, but what you hold back. And this is the prime example. This sums up what Jesus said. The first scribe came asking about taxes. And what was the answer? Render to God the things that are God. This is what rendering to God the things to God looks like. And what loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is what this looks like. Here's the example.

32:59It kind of hurts, doesn't it? It's a bright light. But that's the point. It's like, we're not there yet. But I pray that as we look at Scripture, we become like this and we set our purpose to love God supremely. And it starts by recognizing that, God, I don't love you like I should, but I'm willing to take the steps so that you will become supreme in my life. But this is the kind of giving that Jesus esteems. So we are to imitate those who give generously, like this widow. But the second thing is, we are to also, Jesus wants his followers to imitate those who give to God humbly. Humbly. There's another dimension to this giving. Not only did she give generously, but she gave in humility. You see, there's a danger in thinking too highly of your gift, right? And it can become a point of pride, as it did with many of these that day. You can imagine the, let's suppose, let's take our offering box, put over here, and put a nice big round metal trumpet right on here and just, you know, and just start making noise as you give. And you can imagine that's exactly what was going on in the temple, at least with the ones that Jesus is singling out here. You know, they're coming through the temple and they are making it known. Look at this. And there's a certain air about the way they give, as if God really needed their resources and that they have come to really help God out.

34:30See, there's a danger about thinking more highly of your gift than you ought. See, look at how the widow gave. This is what Jesus sat down to look at how they gave. Look at verse 44. She gave out of her poverty. She gave out of, not out of her excess, but she gave out of her poverty, out of her need, out of her lack, out of her insignificance. And you could picture this scene. She probably made her way up to the gift box very inconspicuously. She put in her gift very quietly. But she probably made her way to the gift box very inconspicuously, dropped her money in quietly, and slipped away. But the reality is, no matter who we are or how much we have to give, our gifts are so much less than God deserves. And you must be able to start seeing yourself in the light of eternity and in the light of God's greatness. Who can give anything to God? He has given all to us. So who are we to boast even in our giving? But like that widow, even if you're the wealthiest person in the world, you are poor before God if you have a proper view of God.

35:49So give God your all and do not be proud about it. And we're not just talking about money here. So money is certainly the issue, but we're talking time, energy, love, affection, love of God. Other people. All that. Give all of yourself. That's the measure of loving God supremely is giving all. Christ wants his followers to not only imitate those who give to God generously, but he also wants those to give humbly. The exhortation is to imitate those who do this. History is full of examples of people who gave their all to Christ. They're the stars in history. If you look around, there are many of those, even in here. Look around. There are those who give generously of themselves and give humbly of themselves and be like them. That's what Jesus is saying. Be like those. Imitate those because that's who you're going to become like.

36:52You see, the goal of life, when all is said and done, is to love God supremely. It's not all about all the territory you take in life. It's not about the number of days you have. It's about loving Him supremely and going through life, progressively setting aside everything that competes and just having your love for God grow. So how does one begin to love God supremely? First of all, recognize who Jesus is. Second, be careful of who you look up to. And third, imitate those who give their all for Christ. It's an interesting account, this widow. You see, the placement of the widow's gift sums up all that has gone on before in the Gospel of Mark. It's like everything to date says this. This is how we are to respond to God. We are to give Him our whole bios, our whole life. We are to give all of ourselves. That is the only thing that we can give. That's everything we have.

37:59But the placement of this widow is also the perfect transition to what Jesus does for his people. It's a good pivotal point of everything that's gone on before in Mark and everything that's going to come on afterwards, because this is exactly what Jesus does for his people. He gives up everything. He will be the supreme example of loving God with all of one's heart, soul, mind, and strength. Jesus gives his whole bios for his people. He does so in his death. He gives his whole life from the cradle to the cross. It was all about his people.

38:39And then he was raised from the dead. And then he ascended into heaven where he hasn't changed at all. And he continues to pour himself as our great high priest before the throne of God day and night. He is our advocate before the throne, continually giving himself for us. This is who he is. Isn't he glorious? You see, ultimately, giving all to each other is the nature of the relationship between Christ and His people. This is what He does for us, and this is what we are to do for Him. And by His grace and His Holy Spirit, this is what we are becoming. You see, the union between Christ and His people is a beautiful thing.

39:26So, my question to you today: Will you purpose today to love God supremely? I hope that you will. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for your great, great grace, your great sacrifice, your great love for us, how beautiful you are, Lord, and how deserving you are of our love in return. And Lord, we confess that we are a selfish people, God, and without the work of your grace, a major work of your grace, we are not going to love you supremely. And God, we just pray now that we would be able to yield ourselves by your grace and by the power of your spirits to submit to your spirit. God, we just pray that you would come and have your way among us and that you would truly be exalted and supreme in our lives. In Jesus' name.