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Sermon Summary
A scribe asks Jesus which command matters most among all God’s commands. Jesus answers with the Shema: the Lord is one, and He must be loved with the whole person—heart, soul, mind, and strength. He immediately joins this command to love for neighbor, showing that real devotion to God always takes visible shape in the way we treat others. Yet the passage carries a sobering tension: the scribe agrees with Jesus and is “not far from the kingdom,” but he is not yet said to be in it. Knowledge, agreement, and religious devotion cannot save. Only Christ can bring us into the kingdom. Because Jesus loved the Father perfectly and gave Himself for sinners, His love becomes the fuel for our wholehearted obedience.
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Why Isn’t Knowing About God Enough?
Nate Roten / Mark 12:28–34 / September 13, 2026
Core Message
Knowing God directs us, but loving God moves us.
During World War II, Desmond Doss enlisted in the United States Army as a combat medic. He was willing to serve his country, but because of his Christian convictions, he refused to carry a weapon or take another person’s life. His decision confused and angered other soldiers. Some mocked him, and some called him a coward. His commanders tried to remove him from the Army because they could not imagine how a man who refused to carry a rifle could be useful on the battlefield.
Then came the Battle of Okinawa. Doss’s unit climbed the Maeda Escarpment, later known as Hacksaw Ridge, and came under devastating enemy fire. When the American soldiers were forced to retreat, dozens of wounded men were left scattered across the battlefield. Doss could have climbed down with everyone else. Instead, he stayed behind.
Alone and under enemy fire, Doss moved from one wounded soldier to another. He treated their injuries, dragged them to the ridge’s edge, tied them to a rope, and lowered them to safety. Then he went back for another. As exhaustion set in and the danger persisted, he reportedly prayed, “Lord, please help me get one more.” By the end of the night, Doss had been credited with rescuing approximately seventy-five men, including some of the soldiers who had previously ridiculed him.
What keeps someone on a battlefield when everyone else is retreating? What enables a person to keep giving when his strength is nearly gone and the people he serves once treated him with contempt? For Doss, devotion to God was not merely something he professed. It shaped his convictions, guided his choices, drew on his strength, and determined how he treated those around him. His love for God expressed itself in costly love for his neighbor.
In Mark 12, a scribe asks Jesus to identify the greatest commandment. Jesus responds by describing this kind of complete devotion: love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. He then immediately connects that devotion to loving your neighbor as yourself. The two cannot be separated. Knowing God can direct us, but loving God will move us.
Passage
Mark 12:28–34 CSB
28 One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which command is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. 31 The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.” 32 Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, teacher. You have correctly said that he is one, and there is no one else except him. 33 And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question him any longer.
I – Genuine Question (v. 28)
Scribe. Scribes are experts in the law. A modern-day example would be a biblical scholar. Matthew tells us he was a Pharisee, as they typically were, and that they sent him in to question Jesus further. The question was meant to test Jesus, but it seems genuine. This is also the first time an individual steps forward instead of a group, and the interaction is different as a result. Let that sit in the back of your mind. We’ll come back to it later.
His approach. He had been listening to Jesus’ discussion with the Sadducees, perhaps even to earlier conversations with his fellow Pharisees. He was quite satisfied with how Jesus handled the Sadducees. At odds with that theology, he was no doubt grateful to see it corrected. Therefore, since Jesus handled that theological point well, he brings up another issue to test Jesus’ scriptural knowledge and application. He may have had ill motives behind the question as the rest of his co-workers did, but given the exchange, it seems to come from genuine interest. As a Rabbi, Jesus should have a sufficient answer to this question: “Which command is the most important of all?”
Rabbis and scribes have identified 613 laws and commandments to obey in the Old Testament scriptures… 365 negative precepts and 248 positive ones. That is a very large pool of instruction to draw from, and since they were all from God, it would be interesting to know which one stands above the rest. It could potentially entrap Jesus or emphasize His wisdom. But note what is absent from this question: a gotcha moment… no false dilemma and no leading question. Returning to the political debate stage from a few weeks ago, there were no underhanded debate tactics built in. It is a simple, straightforward question.
I believe this scribe came to Jesus, much like Nicodemus did. He didn’t want to appear to defy the party line, but he came to Jesus in good faith to learn from Him. Similarly, this scribe approached Jesus one-on-one to ask a fundamental question because he was pleased with an earlier exposition. As a scribe, he loved the Jewish traditions and scriptures. Like Doss, I believe his love for and devotion to the scriptures compelled him to approach Jesus, even though his co-workers were technically pushing him forward. Remember that. It will be important later on.
Because this man came with a legitimate question, Jesus doesn’t offer a counter-question… He meets a genuine question with a genuine answer.
II – Genuine Response (vv. 29-31)
As we all should, Jesus answers a biblical question with Scripture. That gives us an immediate application: know what you believe, make sure it is grounded in Scripture, and make sure you are reading Scripture in its proper context. Knowledge matters because love for God cannot be separated from the truth about God. We cannot genuinely love a God we do not know.
But knowledge alone cannot produce the Christian life. Knowledge can show us what is true, but love moves truth from the mind into the heart and drives meaningful action. The scribe asked which command stood head and shoulders above all the others, and Jesus answered by showing him what must fuel every command: wholehearted love for God that flows outward in love for others.
Love for God. This comes from Deut. 6:4, known as the Shema. This one verse was at the center of daily Jewish life. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” There is only one God. They prayed this monotheistic proclamation every morning and every evening. Knowing God rightly is the foundation for everything else. There is not a single serious Jew in the entire crowd who would not have said ‘yes and amen’ to this verse. In fact, they would literally bind this verse around their forehead and place it in a small capsule, called a mezuzah, attached to the doorpost of their home, so they could see it and touch it every day as an act of obedience and a reminder of how they should live. These were like ancient sticky notes placed in high-traffic areas, reminding them to keep their focus on loving God. Nothing else can share God’s throne. For Israel, that meant the gods of the surrounding nations could not claim their worship, and an empire such as Rome could not claim their ultimate allegiance.
So, we see Jesus begins with the truth about who God is because love must be grounded in knowledge. We must know the one true God before we can love Him rightly. But Jesus does not stop with what Israel knows. He moves immediately from knowledge to devotion: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Knowledge provides the foundation, but love supplies the fuel. It is possible to know the right verses, affirm the right doctrine, and still remain unmoved. God does not merely want people who can correctly describe Him. He desires people whose knowledge of Him ignites their hearts, directs their choices, and produces wholehearted obedience.
If I truly love my wife, I’m not going to give her half of my attention and then another woman the other half. That wouldn’t be faithfulness at all. In fact, that would be a betrayal. So when God commands that we love Him, He commands that we love Him fully… with all of our love, affection, obedience, and faithfulness. These are not four isolated compartments of human existence. The heart includes our desires, decisions, and inner life. The soul refers to our spirit and whole self. The mind includes our understanding and thoughts. Our strength includes our abilities, energy, possessions, and every resource available to us. Together, they communicate one sweeping command: love God with everything you are and everything you have.
Among all the commands found in Scripture, this one stands above the rest. But Jesus does not allow it to stand alone. Complete love for God must move outward into love for the people God has placed around us. That leads Jesus immediately to the second command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love for neighbor. Jesus then joins the command from Deuteronomy with Leviticus 19:18: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We naturally focus on our own needs. We protect ourselves, provide for ourselves, excuse our weaknesses, and seek our own good. Jesus commands us to bring that same intentional concern to the people around us. Loving my neighbor means that I do not treat another person’s needs, burdens, and well-being as less important simply because they are not mine.
That kind of love is profoundly sacrificial and, humanly speaking, practically impossible through our own willpower. Love for our neighbor must flow from our relationship with God. As we come to know His character, receive His love, and surrender ourselves more fully to Him, He enlarges our capacity to love people who are difficult, inconvenient, or unable to repay us. Our love for others does not earn us a relationship with God, but it does provide visible evidence that His love is shaping us.
Jesus therefore takes Scripture’s many commands and brings their central purpose into focus. It is a consolidated mirror image of the 10 commandments. The commands concerning our relationship with God are gathered beneath wholehearted love for God. The commands concerning our treatment of others are gathered beneath sacrificial love for our neighbor. This does not make obedience simple or easy, but it makes its direction clear: love God completely and let that love flow outward toward others.
Knowing God directs us, but loving God moves us. These commands cannot be separated, because together, they describe the completeness of how we love. Love for God becomes visible in the way I treat my neighbor, and genuine love for my neighbor grows from the love I have received from God.
And unlike his counterparts, this scribe likes what he hears, and he is not ashamed to show it.
III – Genuine Affirmation by the Scribe (vv. 32-33)
Grateful affirmation. The scribe replies in the affirmative. In modern-day terms, he would say something like, “Well said, Pastor! You’re exactly right in how you unpacked that theology. I just might come back next Sunday to hear you again.” He affirms both the substance of their daily prayers, namely that there is only one God and He is high above every other power and authority, and that we are to love Him with the fullness of who we are. He uses slightly different language. He mentions the heart and strength, but then combines the other two with the word “understanding.” And to combine that with love for your neighbor is indeed the command that stands taller than the rest. He knew that loyal devotion to God is not just about our works, but it’s about our heart… our level of heartfelt devotion to Him. And the natural implication of fully devoting all of your faculties to the love of God and to the love of your neighbor is that you will keep the rest of the commandments. He was 100% in agreement with what Jesus said.
But then he goes above and beyond by agreeing with certain Old Testament prophets and saying that that level of devotion, a complete love for God that affects your relationship with Him and with those around you, is more important than what they are about to celebrate in just a few days’ time… Passover… the burning of offerings and sacrifices. God has already made that known: He desires the heart of His people and their faithfulness far more than a burnt bull or a goat or a sheep on the altar. This is actually a pretty stunning admission of agreement with Jesus in the face of multiple altercations that tried to entrap Jesus so they could murder Him. This guy was truly cutting against the grain of his constituents. This would be the equivalent of a hardline politician walking across the aisle and standing with the opposition.
Something crucial is happening in this man’s heart. His knowledge of Scripture led him to ask Jesus a sincere question, and that knowledge allowed him to recognize the truth of Jesus’ answer. But he is now beginning to see that knowledge is not the destination. Love is the crucial connector between knowing what God has said and living in faithful obedience to Him.
The scribe knows the truth, agrees with the truth, and is drawing closer to the One who is the Truth. But agreeing with Jesus is not the same as belonging to Jesus. In his mind, knowledge has brought him near to the kingdom, but his heart must still receive the King.
That is why Jesus says these next remarkable words…
IV – Genuine Affirmation by Jesus (vv. 32-33)
I say ‘remarkable’ because this is something that hasn’t happened in any interaction with any of the Pharisees or religious leaders we’ve seen so far. Jesus looks directly into this man’s eyes and says, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
The other Pharisees alienated Jesus. They hated Him. They wanted Him dead. The Sadducees wanted to mock Him. They wanted to belittle Him. They wanted to discredit Him. These men were at odds with and far from the kingdom of God, but not the scribe. Those people came as a united front to attack Jesus. But he came as an individual, trying to understand whether what Jesus was saying was true. Again, he was like Nicodemus, genuinely seeking truth and understanding. And usually in Scripture, except for the rich young ruler, the individuals who approach Jesus in this way end up finding Him. Now we don’t know the outcome. We don’t know if this man received Jesus and became a follower. But the way this played out shut the mouths of everybody else. After this, no one dared approach Jesus to entrap Him again.
Now here’s the reality we need to see and understand: knowledge only brought this man so far. He knew the scriptures well, and he knew them well enough to agree with what Jesus was saying. And yet, he was not in the kingdom of God. And that’s important for us to grasp because he was part of God’s covenant people. Yet the kingdom Jesus was bringing was even more uniquely exclusive. Knowledge is like a car that can drive you all the way to the front steps, but it cannot open the door for you. Only Christ can do that. He was a scholar. He was trained in the knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures. And yet, when Jesus said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God,” He was making a truth statement: this man was still on the other side of the threshold. He is not yet a part of the kingdom of God, but he’s so close! The only way in, however, is through Christ. He is the door into the kingdom, and you can only enter in by drawing near and believing.
As Kent Hughes so powerfully states, “This was also a warning. Though he was close, he was decisively separated. It is possible to be within an inch of Heaven, yet go to Hell!”
That is why we must see the truth of today’s passage.
Application: Embrace the ‘all’ of the call
Like Doss, our love for God and devotion to Him must shape our actions. His story exemplifies commitment to the cause with his heart, soul, mind, and strength, touching all four dimensions.
• His heart belonged to God.
• His soul was anchored in faith.
• His mind was settled in conviction.
• His strength was spent rescuing his neighbors.
Today, Jesus calls us to embrace the “all” of this command: love God with everything we are, and let that love shape everything we do. Knowledge can tell us what obedience requires, but knowledge alone cannot fuel a life of joyful sacrifice.
Love must fuel the engine.
So do not leave today merely asking, “What do I need to know?” Ask, “How should what I know about God deepen my love for Him, and what would that love move me to do?”
This call will confront each of us differently. Some of you may be like the scribe: you know the truth, respect Jesus, and may even agree with everything He said, but you are still near the kingdom rather than in it. What is keeping you from turning to Christ, trusting Him, and receiving Him as your King? Others may genuinely belong to Christ, but your devotion has become shallow or compartmentalized. You give God a few hours on Sunday and a few hurried moments throughout the week, while keeping the rest of your life for yourself. Is that loving Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength?
And for those who are steadily growing, where is Christ calling you to love Him more deeply and express that love more sacrificially toward someone else? Wherever you are, the invitation is the same: do not settle for knowing the truth about God. Let His love awaken wholehearted love for Him and move you into meaningful, active obedience.
However, before you begin looking for another habit to change, let’s remember why this love is possible. You are not clawing your way up the ridge, trying to manufacture greater devotion through your own strength. Jesus loved the Father perfectly with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then He laid down His life for neighbors who rejected and mocked Him. We love because He first loved us.
That means love is not the finish line we struggle to reach. His love is the fuel from which our obedience begins.
Here is one action step for this week: Take twenty minutes and ask God to reveal one area in which your knowledge of Him has not yet become loving obedience. Then ask the Spirit to deepen your love for Christ and show you one meaningful action that should flow from it.
FAQs
1. What does it mean to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength?
It means offering God your whole self. Jesus is not dividing life into four neat compartments; He is calling for complete devotion—your desires, thoughts, decisions, abilities, energy, and resources.
2. Why does Jesus connect love for God and love for neighbor?
Because they belong together. Love for God is not invisible sentiment. It becomes visible in the way we treat people made in His image, especially those who are difficult, inconvenient, or unable to repay us.
3. Can someone know the Bible and still be outside the kingdom of God?
Yes. The scribe knew Scripture, recognized Jesus’ wisdom, and affirmed the truth, yet Jesus said he was not far from the kingdom—not that he was in it. Biblical knowledge is good, but knowledge alone cannot save.
4. Is Jesus saying sacrifices and religious practices do not matter?
No. Jesus is not dismissing God’s commands for worship. He is exposing empty religion. God does not accept outward activity as a substitute for a heart that loves Him and obeys Him.
5. Is loving God with “all” of myself possible in this life?
Not perfectly by our own strength. Sin leaves every part of us divided and disordered. But Christ loved the Father perfectly, died for sinners, and by His Spirit grows His people in genuine, whole-hearted obedience.
6. Does loving my neighbor mean approving of everything they do?
No. Biblical love seeks another person’s true good before God. It is compassionate, patient, sacrificial, and truthful. Love does not celebrate sin; it points people toward the grace and lordship of Christ.
7. What does it mean to be “not far from the kingdom of God”?
It means a person may understand much truth and even recognize Jesus’ authority while still needing to repent and believe. Nearness is not entrance. Christ Himself is the only way into the kingdom.
8. What is one practical response to this passage?
Set aside twenty minutes this week to ask God where your knowledge of Him has not become loving obedience. Ask the Spirit to deepen your love for Christ and identify one concrete action that should flow from it.