Not Far from the Kingdom (Part 1 of 2)

The stories we read in the Gospels often include real characters whose spiritual struggles are parallel to some of our own. Today on Truth for Life we read about a scribe who met Jesus and posed a few questions, but in doing so this man revealed his spiritual condition and maybe our spiritual condition as well.

Alistair Begg is titled today's message, Not Far from the Kingdom. I invite you to turn with me to the Gospel of Mark and to chapter 12, and read in this section that begins at verse 28 and goes through to verse 34. Mark chapter 12, verse 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? Jesus answered, The most important is, Here, O 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 there is no other besides him. 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. 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. Amen. Well, let's ask God to help us as we look at this section. Make the book live to me, O Lord. Show me yourself within your Word. Show me myself, and show me my Savior. And make the book live to me. For Jesus' sake.

Amen. The Cavaliers had a 100–99 lead against the Bulls with three seconds left. It was Game 5 of the Eastern Conference first round in the Coliseum at Richfield. Jordan was double-teamed by Elo and by Larry Nance. He evaded both of them and hit what has now been known ever since as the shot. And I was one, and you were perhaps one, of the twenty thousand-plus sitting in stunned silence as, once again, the story of Cleveland sports became close, but not close enough. This shot is one of the many dramatic sports moments that have come at the expense of a Cleveland team.

I don't want to dishearten you on such a happy weekend, but to the shot we can add Red Ride 88, The Catch, The Drive, The Fumble, The Move, and, of course, the 1997 World Series. Why would I even mention these things to begin? Well, because there is one phrase that stands out in our reading, isn't there, that is so striking, you are not far from the kingdom of God? And as I was studying that this week, I was thinking about all the ways in which you can get very close to something and yet not experience the something.

It's possible to get the ball on the one-yard line but not in the end zone. It's possible to become very close to an individual and yet for that friendship never to be consummated in marriage. We understand the phraseology, close but not close enough. And at this most significant level, this individual is described by Jesus in this way. We need to discover what it is he means by that, and also, I suggest to you that we need to discover why it would possibly matter to any of us this morning, so long removed and so far away from this particular incident as it took place in the precincts of Jerusalem. But I think some of you have already guessed, you know. Because the phrase struck you. And that is that this phrase is an apt description of some of our lives this morning—that we actually fit this designation inasmuch as, like this man, we are not far from the kingdom of God.

Close, but not close enough. For those of us who have been working our way through Mark, we know that the good news has begun with the establishing of Jesus, telling everybody that the time is fulfilled and that the kingdom of God is near. What he meant by that was not geographical or spatial, but rather, that the kingdom of God was now present in himself—Jesus the King. And on account of that, he asked his listeners to do two things.

One, to repent, to turn away from their own agenda in life and their desire to please themselves and go their own way, and to turn away from that. And secondly, faith—to place their faith unreservedly in the living God in Jesus himself. And the reason that the Gospels—Mark, Matthew, Luke, John—then contain all these events and encounters, all these miracles, is because Jesus is establishing, in the hearts and minds of the people he meets, the reality of the fact that he is actually the King—that he is the Lord of creation. That's why he is able to preside over the winds and the waves. That is why he is able to heal the sick. That he is the Lord over all of the powers of the ages. And that is why he is able to silence the demons.

These things are not just random incidents thrown in there as filler, but each of the Gospel writers is providing us with the evidence of the fact that Jesus is the King, and that he has come to gather people into his kingdom. That's what he's doing. He's calling individuals.

And he's still calling individuals. And he's saying, Hey, I'm the King. Here's my kingdom. I invite you to come and be part of my kingdom. You don't slide in on your own basis.

You don't get in on the strength of religious endeavor. But the entryway, he made clear from the very beginning, repentance and faith. He's like no other king. He's already ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey—very unkinglike. He is about to receive a crown, but this crown will be a crown of thorns.

What king wears a crown of thorns except a king that has now come to suffer and die for people's sins? All of this by way of background to the dialogue that we have here. As we work our way through this brief section, I want us to consider, first of all, the question that this man poses to Jesus, then the affirmation that he makes to the answer provided by Jesus, and then this man's condition as described by Jesus. Now, if you have the text before you, you will see that in verse 28 one of the scribes, presumably part of the group, or at least the fringe group, who has observed the previous dispute with the Sadducees concerning the question of the resurrection, has been impressed with the way in which Jesus had answered these individuals. And so now he comes with a question of his own—his question posed to Jesus. The previous question was convoluted. If you don't remember, you can reread it. This present question is clear.

It's there in a sentence. Which commandment is the most important of all? Now, for the lawyers here, you understand that legal boffins are routinely interested in matters of legal precedent, so that on the basis of legal precedent, then cases may be tried and retried. In the instance of this man, who is a scribe or a lawyer, he has a question concerning the priority of the laws of God, and he wants to know, Is there a big one? Is there a first one? Is there an outstanding one, which is the commandment of all commandments? Which is the one, he says?

And it may well be that he wants to know this so that he can assess himself against that standard. So, unlike the previous question, this one is clear. And also unlike the previous question, this one is sincere. The previous people who had come to Jesus, you will remember, were trying to trap him by his talk. They were trying to trip him up. They came by way of confrontation. This man comes seeking clarification. And you remember that there is such a difference between those two, isn't there?

All the difference in the world between coming to listen to the Bible being taught, because you want to be confrontational, because you want to be argumentative, and coming listening to the Bible being taught, because you want things clarified in your mind. I had a letter this week from somebody who actually said in the letter—it wasn't a letter, it was a card. Or it was a letter written on a card, I suppose.

Anyway, the lady wrote to say that she came initially to Parkside so that she could get fuel for the fire of her animosity and her antagonism. Even as I tell you this, you think, you must make one of these up a week, because last week you told us that you had a letter from a radio listener. You don't think that I would make these things up. I hope you don't.

I did. And this week I had a letter from somebody local, somebody here. Said the very same thing, perhaps because she was listening last week, and she wanted me to know that this was not an unusual occurrence—that individuals will come under the sound of the Bible just so they can find out what it is that is totally bogus, so that they can explain to their friends it was a complete waste of time to come. I love that! If you're here like that, I'm glad you're here.

I'm absolutely thrilled. Because we're beginning to build a track record of people who come just like that and go away radically different. Strange how it happens, isn't it? No, this man's question was clear, his question was sincere, and the answer that Jesus gave was absolutely wonderful. You will notice it there.

We won't spend long on it. It's familiar to us. Jesus answers with great clarity, well, let me tell you what the most important is. And then he begins with Deuteronomy 6, familiar words to every Jewish man, to every Jewish boy and girl. He quotes immediately from the basic and essential Jewish creed, the Shema—"Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one"—and then he goes on to explain from there. This is the material that is taught to every Jewish child even today, and this is the phraseology that begins every orthodox Jewish service right up until today. And Jesus says, Let me answer the question about the commandment by referring you to material that you know. Now, I want you to notice the alls.

Four of them. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. That's pretty demanding, isn't it? It's not, if you have a superficial interest in the things of God, why don't you just come and join me in my kingdom?

No. He says, if you want to know about the commandments of God, the first one is this. William Barclay says that the love that is conveyed in this command is a love which does three things.

You might want to note these Ds down if you take notes. It is a love, says Barclay, which dominates our emotions, which directs our thoughts, and which is the dynamic of all our actions. In other words, it is volitional.

It is not simply a feeling in the tummy. It is not the registering of some kind of spiritual desire or designs. But it actually involves total devotion to God. It isn't possible to say, Well, actually, I just obey the first and greatest commandment, but I don't deal with any of the other eight or nine.

No. For a person to say, I am totally committed to God—body, soul, and mind—means that they are totally committed to what he says about not telling lies, that they are totally committed to what it says about marital fidelity, that they are totally committed to not coveting one another's product, and so on. In other words, that the outworking of this one great commandment and its corollary, as we will see, is not set apart from the commands of God but is worked out in the fulfilling of the commands of God. And Jesus, you will notice, adds the second string to his bow, or the second wing to the plane, as he quotes from Leviticus 19, and he says, And the second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. Well, that's a pretty straight question and a pretty obvious answer, isn't it? What is the greatest commandment?

Here it is. All, all, all, all, all, and your neighbor as well. Not always easy to love your neighbor, is it? There's no substantiation in this phraseology either for self-love.

That's been taught over the last two and a half decades. You see, you're supposed to love yourself, and then if you love yourself, and so on. As if somehow or another, that's the real problem—the absence of self-love.

The biggest problem I have is the presence of self-love. But why would we love our neighbors? Well, we love our neighbors because they're made in God's image, not because they're necessarily the loveliest neighbors.

We're not necessarily the loveliest neighbors either. The image of God is distorted in people's lives. We look at the lives of people, and we see that they're so far removed, it would seem, from the plans and purposes and designs of God.

Well, what are we then to do? Just disregard them? To pass them by? No, the story of the Good Samaritan answers that once and for all, doesn't it?

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. It's challenging, isn't it? Like two wings of a plane, the two commands are both necessary and inseparable.

Well, that's the question. Secondly, the affirmation. The affirmation. And the scribe verse 32, and the scribe said to him, "'You are right, teacher.'" I don't know whether there's a hint of condescension in this or not.

We can't tell, because obviously we can't hear the tone of voice. But it may well be that he's saying, "'Well, I'm glad to let you know that you've answered very, very well. I mean, I'm a scribe, I know all these things, and you're an uncredentialed rabbi from somewhere in the backwaters, and you've given a very good answer, I must say. Here, here. Well done, Jesus.

Excellent work, teacher. You have truly said this.'" Now, you will notice that he restates what Jesus says in large measure. Verse 33, to love him with all the heart—the definite article is in here now—and with all the understanding. It's interesting that there are… It's a different word that he uses there. In Greek, Jesus uses the word for mind, he uses the word for understanding.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't change the meaning at all, but it is translated in that way because of the distinction with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself. But you will notice that he both precedes that, and he follows that by an emphasis that he draws out from the opening phrase of the Shema, which is quoted there at the end of verse 29. So he's not only affirming the universal obligation of devotion to God—one that is undiluted, one that involves placing our entire personality in God's service—as well as affirming that obligation, you will notice that he does two things. One, he affirms the uniqueness of God.

Notice that? You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And what the man is affirming is the fact that God is not like the gods of the idols, he's not like the gods of the heathen, and all the way through the Old Testament—indeed, all the way through the story of life—the reality of the uniqueness of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, revealed as God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, three in one, one in three, mysterious, at best what we have is an extrapolation or a formulation of the truth, not an explanation of the truth, but all the way through history, right up until the present day, that God who has revealed himself in the world that he has made in the conscience of men and women, with a sense of oughtness in the Bible that he has given and preserved for us, and finally and savingly in the person of his Son, this God is the God who then obligates us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, strength, and so on.

The man says, you know, you're right in saying that there is only one God. And notice, secondly, he says, and also it is important, he points out, that we recognize that this undiluted love for God is actually more important than all whole, burned offerings and sacrifices. Now, he's not saying here that the sacrifices are irrelevant.

They're clearly not. They were established by God. But he is acknowledging this—that the routine of the sacrificial system, minus an obedient heart, is irrelevant to God. The process of doing what God has asked us to do, that is divorced from the reality of heart and mind and soul and strength and obedience, is like going through the external routines of a bona fide, orthodox, manageable marriage out of which the love has long since strayed.

All the hellos are there, all the goodbyes are there, all the yes-thank-yous are there, but it is obvious that the love is gone. And so he says, Jesus, obedience actually matters more than that. Well, of course, Jesus might have said to him the same thing.

Here, here, scribe, you have done well. Because what he's doing is he's actually simply quoting from the Old Testament, and he's acknowledging what it said. 1 Samuel 15.

Question. Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Does he have as much delight in the sacrifices as in obedience?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. This is Truth for Life. We're going to pick up right here next time as Alistair Begg presents his third point.

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And perhaps no group of Christians took this command any more seriously than the Puritans. Their story of faithfulness is beautifully portrayed in this impressive film, along with helpful commentary from contemporary theologians and historians. Ask for the documentary called Puritan All of Life to the Glory of God. To give a donation and request the documentary, tap the DVD image you see on the mobile app or visit truthforlife.org slash donate. You can also call us at 888-588-7884. I'm Bob Lapine. Tomorrow, Alistair Begg helps us understand what the scribes question we heard about today from Mark chapter 12 revealed about his spiritual condition and why his story exposes us today. Be sure to join us Friday. This daily program features the Bible teaching of Alistair Begg, and it's furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.