Legacy: How to Outlive Your Life Mark 12:28-34

Major League Baseball has never lacked for colorful personalities. One such player was the late Tug McGraw. McGraw played on two winning teams – the Mets (1969) and the Phillies (1980). Tug might very well still be in the game today either as a coach or as a television announcer had it not been for an unexpected illness. In March of 2003, Tug McGraw had a seizure and was taken to the hospital. A CAT scan revealed that he had a brain tumor. An operation was performed to remove the tumor – and the doctors were confident the operation was successful - but the cancer returned with a vengeance. The doctors told Tug McGraw that he had only three weeks to live.

Tug McGraw lived nine months. He spent most of his remaining time with his family. He also reconciled with a part of his past that he tried to ignore. Tug McGraw was married and had three children – but he also had a son from a relationship he had several years earlier. The mother of this boy was a woman named Betty D’Agostino. Betty never told her son about his father because she wanted to move on from that time in her life. But Betty’s son, a boy named Tim, found his birth certificate one day and made the most shocking discovery of his life. His birth father was none other than Tug McGraw – who, oddly enough, was also his favorite baseball player.

Tim met his father - they bonded and became very close. Tim changed his name from Tim Trimble to Tim McGraw. When Tug was diagnosed with brain cancer – they became still. In the end, Tug received hospice care in Tim’s home in Brentwood, Tennessee – and died there on January 5, 2004.

Seven months after his father died, Tim McGraw released a song dedicated to his late father. The song is titled “.” This song was named the Country Song of the Year by Billboard magazine. Tim McGraw also won a Grammy Award for this song. The song tells the story of a man who found out he was dying. This man made a decision about how he would live with the little time he had left. He not only did the things he always wanted to do – most importantly, he got right with God and was reconciled to others. 2

If you found out that your days on this earth were short – would it change the way you live? The truth is – we’re all running out of time. When all is said and done – we will leave behind what was most important to us.

In Mark chapter 12, Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem – where He would be crucified in just a matter of days. Mark tells us that the religious leaders asked Jesus a series of questions – trying to draw Him into an argument. But each time, Jesus embarrassed the religious leaders with a stunning command of the Scriptures and godly wisdom.

There was a Scribe who observed what was going on – and he had a question of his own. But this Scribe wasn’t like the other religious leaders. He didn’t try to stump Jesus with a trick question. He wanted to know what it really means to follow God. He asked Jesus: Which commandment is the most important of all?

When you think about it, this wasn’t an easy question to answer – because the Bible is filled with God’s commands. In fact, the rabbis in Jesus’ day counted up these commands – and they found there were 613 commandments in the Torah. Rabbis found there were 365 negative commands and 248 positive commands. Attempts were made by rabbis to differentiate between what they called great commands and those they called light commands. They debated endlessly about which of these 613 commandments was most important. Is it more important not to commit murder than it is to steal? Is it more important to not commit adultery than it is to lie? This Scribe wanted to know: Which commandment is the most important of all?

Jesus answered in verses 29-31: The most important is, ‘Hear, 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. The first thing that strikes me about this passage is that He modeled these commands perfectly – and Jesus’ legacy has had more impact on the world than any other individual in history. Jesus 3 didn’t leave a legacy of material wealth or political power. What kind of legacy did He leave? Jesus left:

1. A legacy of loving God completely. When Jesus was asked about the most important command of all, He quoted the most recognizable passage of Scripture in that day – the Shema which is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5. To this day, the Shema is the first passage of Scripture a Jewish child will memorize. Back in the day, when Jews prayed, they had the Shema written down on small parchment and placed in leather-like wallets that were wrapped around their arm and/or their forehead. They would also have the Shema written down and placed in a little box called a mezuzah that was fastened on the doorpost of their homes. This, by the way, is still the practice of many orthodox Jews today.

How is our love relationship with God to be worked out? Jesus gives us four ways:

First, He tells us that we are to love God with all of our heart. To love the Lord with all your heart means to love Him with pure devotion. Do you remember when you fell in love for the first time? When you love someone with all of your heart – we make them our top priority in our life. We want to be with them all of the time and give them the best of everything we have.

To love God with all your heart is a lot like that. When we first commit our lives to Christ, we experience that kind of devotion. The Scripture calls this our “first love.” We experience His grace and forgiveness. We experience His unconditional love and acceptance. The desire of getting to know Jesus consumes us – and we find it easy to love the One who has done so much for us.

Jesus also says we’re to love God with all our soul. The soul speaks of our emotions. Our love for God ought to be full of passion. Passion is what energizes life. The creative force behind great art, great music, great architecture and great writing is passion. Without passion, life becomes monotonous and boring. Unfortunately, our 4 culture is growing more cynical and apathetic. The word apathy literally means "without passion." There’s a Peanuts cartoon in which Charlie Brown is talking to Lucy. He said, “It’s a tragedy there is so much apathy in the world today.” Lucy responded, “Yeah, it's really sad. But who cares?”

Have you ever noticed in our culture that it’s okay to be passionate about anything except your relationship with God? I can go to a concert or to a hockey game and I can shout and get all excited. Nobody thinks that’s a big deal. But if you’re excited about Jesus people think you’ve lost your mind!

To love God with all our soul means to have a passionate love for God.

Jesus calls us to love God with all of our mind. That may sound slightly bizarre to some of us. In most church circles, we speak more about loving God with our heart. But I believe this - if you spend time in fellowship with Jesus Christ and start reading the Word of God, I promise you this: The Lord will change the way you think. Paul wrote these words in Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. This, by the way, is an essential part of the grow component of our mission statement. We want everyone that worships here at Parkside to have minds that are shaped by the Word of God. This is why the Word of God is at the heart of our Sunday School classes and Grow Groups and what is taught from this pulpit. God’s Word transforms us. It changes the way we see life.

How many of you are familiar with the phrase world view? I ran across this phrase for the first time 35 years ago when I began reading the works of Dr. Frances Schaeffer. Frances Schaeffer was the one who introduced this term into our Christian parlance. A world view is a comprehensive philosophy of life. It’s the way we look at life. It’s the grid through which we look at everything that happens around us. It impacts how we make ethical judgments about what is right and wrong. Everyone has a world view whether they know it or not. Dr. Schaeffer’s point was basically this: There are only two world views. 5

There is the secular world view and there is a Christian world view. The secular world view is shaped by the values of this world – and the Christian world view is shaped by the Word of God.

Hebrews 3:1 says: “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus….” That’s great advice, don’t you think? There’s an old prayer which says: “Lord, saturate my thoughts with truth, and let your Word in me abide; then thinking on the pure and good, may my whole life be edified.”

Jesus tells us that we’re to love God with all of our strength. To love God with all our strength means to love God in all that we do. Colossians 3:17 says: And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Devotion to God not only involves our head and our heart – it’s a faith that God wants us to live out. James exhorts us to be “...doers of the word.”

Now – there’s both good news and bad news that comes with the command we see in verse 30. The good news is that loving God is something everyone can do – no matter how much education you have – no matter how much money you have – no matter what you’ve been through in life – loving God is something everyone can do. The bad news is – it’s really hard to love God with the totality of our heart, soul, mind and strength. We hold back in certain areas.

Let me give you an example: Many believers struggle to give God control of their finances. Perhaps you’ve seen this I cartoon entitled “The Baptism”? The person being baptized is completely immersed except for one hand, which is still sticking up out of the water – and clutched in that person’s hand is the his wallet. We chuckle – only because we know it’s true. It’s hard to love God with all of our wallet!

What is the point I’m making under this first heading? What is being said here in verse 30? God calls us to give our all in loving Him!

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Now – the second thing that strikes me about what Jesus said to the Scribe that day is that He didn’t cite just one command as the Scribe asked. Jesus gave Him two commands – two commands that cannot be separated: Love God and love people! And this is the second legacy that Jesus left:

2. A legacy of loving others. Jesus said in verse 31: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. This command was originally found in Leviticus 19:18. In the time of Christ, there was a huge debate over what it meant to keep the commandments of God. The Pharisees argued that to love God properly, you must keep His commands - even if a person was in need. For instance, if the person was in need on the Sabbath, and it would require work to help him, rabbis said that it was more important to keep the Sabbath than to help someone in need. We see this very thing played out earlier in this gospel. In Mark chapter 3, Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. In doing so – Jesus prioritized love over the religious leaders’ fussy interpretation of the law. And this made the religious leaders furious!

In Luke chapter 10, the story is told of when another Scribe stopped Jesus and asked, “What should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said, “You’re an expert in the law. What does the law say?” The man said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” But then the Scribe, wanting to justify himself, asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Here’s what was going on. The lawyer believed that love for God and love for neighbor was merely theoretical - but Jesus proceeded to teach him that love for God and love for neighbor is something that must be expressed in tangible ways – regardless of who that person is! And Jesus proceeded to tell the unforgettable story of the Good Samaritan. We’re commanded to love others as we love ourselves.

Historians tell us that two plagues swept through the Roman Empire during a time when Christians were being horribly persecuted. The Antonine Plague was the first plague. The Antonine Plague started in 165 A.D.. The Plague of Cyprian came along 85 years after that – in 7

250 A.D.. Scholars believe these were plagues of smallpox or measles. Historians tell us that in the time of the Antonine Plague – 2,000 Roman citizens died each day. But in the Cyprian Plague - 5,000 people died each day. Bodies were piled on the streets and were either incinerated or left to decompose - adding to the environment of filth and disease. People were terrified when these plagues struck – so much so that when the first symptoms appeared, most people evacuated the cities and left the sick behind to die.

But Christians didn't . They stayed and brought food and water to the sick. They prayed for the sick. They loved and encouraged them. Many believers became ill in the process. There's no telling how many people were saved because Christians served - and there's no telling how many Christians lost their lives because they stayed behind and ministered to people in need. But the world is different today because in the midst of this catastrophe - those who followed Christ seized upon the opportunity to shine. This, by the way, is one of the reasons why the Roman Empire changed so dramatically. People couldn’t ignore the actions of people who loved God so passionately that they would be willing to give up their lives to love and serve others.

How can we grow in our ability to love God and others? If you want to love God with your whole heart and love your neighbor as yourself – start saying yes to God when He speaks to you. Now – I realize it’s sometimes hard to hear God speak. That doesn't come easy for many of us. We live busy lives. If not that - we’re easily distracted – and this makes it hard to hear God.

But here's what happens when we slow down and listen to God. One of the first things you're going to hear God say is, “I love you.” But you say, “When I get quiet, I don't hear 'I love you.' The voice I hear says, 'You’re a failure!’” Maybe that's what you heard from your parents or from other people. Maybe that’s what you tell yourself - but that's not God speaking. When God speaks to you, He does so in love. Even when God corrects you—which He will—He does it in love.

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But when you hear God say, “I love you” - here's what you say back to God: “Yes, Lord, I hear you – thank you.”

Why is this important? It’s important because when you say “yes” to God's love for you, you'll find it a lot easier to: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” God fills your heart with love – and you’ll start passing that love on to others. Something amazing will happen. We’ll find ourselves loving people in a way we never could before. We’ll start loving the kind of people we used to ignore and/or dislike. This is the surest sign that the Spirit of God is working in our lives.

In the year 1205, 24-year-old man was riding his horse one day. All of a sudden, he saw something in the distance that scared him to death: he saw a man with leprosy. The face of the leper was disfigured – the fingers on his hands were missing - and the smell was so noxious that the rider on horseback wanted to turn his horse around and ride away. But instead of doing that, he remembered what God had recently said to him in a prayer. God said: “The things that once made you shudder will bring you great sweetness and delight.” That man got off his horse, took out his purse and gave the leper a few coins. He then embraced the leper and kissed him on the cheek. That man was Francis of Assisi.

What am I saying today? All of us will leave a legacy – whether good, bad or indifferent. There's one sure way to leave a Christ-like legacy: Love God and love the people God puts around you.

Loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength will always lead us beyond ourselves into a world of need. It all starts by saying “yes” to God. If you never have – say “yes” to Christ's offer of love and forgiveness. Commit your life to Him and hold nothing back. Let Him fill you with the power of His Spirit – and let Him guide your steps.

You’ll soon find yourself loving others – as He has loved you. Amen.