Pastor Cal Lord's Recent Sermons
Speaking God’s Language
Mark 12:28-34 November 5, 2006
There is scene in the movie “The Dead Poet’s Society” where Robin Williams, an eccentric
English teacher, has his boys come out in the courtyard and march in a circle. One boy really
wants to get it right, but he doesn’t know if he is right. He asks “am I doing it right?” “I think I’m
doing it right,” “no wait I might be wrong,” “No, I must be right,” “am I doing it right?”
When I saw that scene I was immediately struck by the sense that so many of us want to enjoy a
great relationship with God, yet we are not quite sure how to do it. We fumble along, looking at
others, trying to decipher the scriptures, sometimes even making it up as we go along. It is
almost as if we are strangers in a foreign land trying to learn the native tongue.
Well the truth is that if you want to have a great relationship with God, you need to learn how to
speak God’s language. You need to know what is important to God and how he relates to you and
me and the rest of the world.
If you love someone, you need to know what really touches their soul. Dr. Gary Chapman, a
renown Christian counselor and author, tells us that in human relationships there are five ways to
give and receive love. So if you wanted to improve your relationship with your spouse, the first
step would be in learning their love language. The five ways we express love are through words
of affirmation, acts of caring, spending quality time, sharing gifts, and sensual and physical touch.
Couples often have difficulty in their relationships because they go about expressing their love in a
language that doesn’t compute. For example if a man is looking for sensual and physical touch
and his spouse reaches out with words of affirmation, telling him he is a good man and how much
he makes her feel safe and secure, they will be communicating, but no matter what she says, he
will feel as if she doesn’t care. Or better yet, if a woman needs to have her husband spend quality
time with her, in front of a fire sipping champagne, and he is intent on working long hours to
provide the money to buy her everything she wants, that couple is going to have trouble. They
aren’t speaking the same language.
I think sometimes we do the same thing with God. We try to do things that we think God wants.
We pick and choose certain moral behaviors that we think will please God. We go to church and
we give money to charitable causes (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). But for many of
us, we still feel a bit of a disconnect. Like the boy in the movie, we aren’t sure if it’s enough to
get it right.
Well here in our text today, Jesus sets the record straight. He says if you want to honor God and
walk with him, in other words, if you want to speak God’s language and express your love for
him, then you need to do two things.
It is as simple as this: Love God, Love your Neighbor. Forget about the laundry list of “thou shalt
nots!” Forget about trying to do things to earn his approval. Simply love God and your neighbor.
In the Rotary Club we have the four way test. Four questions that guide and direct our relations
with others.
Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? Will it build good
will and better friendship? This motto is to guide all our dealings in business and with one
another. It can’t be any simpler than that when it comes to fair business practices.
So it is with God. If you have decisions to make in your life and you aren’t sure about the will of
God, these are the first filters that you can put the decision through: does this plan help me to love
God with my whole being? Does this plan show love to my neighbor? If you can answer yes then
you are speaking God’s language.
Let’s look at the two commands in more detail. The first is to Love God. Jesus doesn’t leave any
doubt in what he means. He impels us to love God with every part of our being. We are to love
him with our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength. We are to love him lock, stock and
barrel. We cannot have areas of our life that we say, that is for me and for me only. God you are
not allowed to come in here to this area. We cannot say, I’ll love you on Sundays, and in the
evenings, but not while I’m at work and not on Saturdays. We can’t say I’ll love you all the time
except when I’m at parties, which is my time. God wants all of you, 24 hours a day.
Why does God expect this from us? Because he did the same for us before we even knew him.
In Romans 5:8 it says this: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.” Gods didn’t hold anything back. He gave us his best gift even before
he knew whether we would respond or not. He made a commitment to love us with all his heart
and soul and he calls on us to do the same.
And when we do, he promises to bless us. 1 John 3:21-24 says“…we have confidence before
God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases
him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one
another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.”
You have probably heard this story before. It has made the rounds.
It is about a rich art collector who had one of the greatest collections of art in the world. It was
full of such beauty. You would think he would have been one of the happiest people in the world.
But in fact that wasn’t the case. His only son had been killed in a car accident at a young age and
the father had never really gotten over it. You see, he had loved his son so much. He had great
plans for the boy to follow in the family business. When the son died the father was devastated.
So he put all his energy into compiling the best art collection he could mange in memory of his
son. Finally the man died without an heir and when the will was read it was announced that his art
collection would be auctioned off. On the day of the great sale, art dealers came from far and
wide hoping for a bargain and desiring to own part of this fabulous collection.
The first item for auction was a painting by an unknown artist, it was a portrait of a young man
and it wasn’t a particularly good portrait. None of the dealers was interested in it. They were
waiting for the real art to come up for sale. The auctioneer called for bids…and there was silence.
Not a hand moved. He lowered his suggested amount. Eventually an old man in the back bid a
small amount for it. He was the art collector’s butler. He realized that the portrait was that of the
man’s son, whom he too had loved. It had been painted just before the young man died. He valued
the painting, not for its great artistic value but for its sentimental value. The art dealers all breathed
a sigh of relief.
That was out of the way, now they could get on with the real sale. But the auctioneer
announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am required to read the following clause of the will. It reads
‘whoever buys the portrait of my son gets everything else as well.’ The auction is now over.”
Whoever has the Son has everything!
To love the Son is to Love the Father. So God says when we honor and love Jesus with our lives
and with our whole being, we speak his language. Do you love Jesus? Do we walk and talk with
him every day? Do we ask him to be a part of everything we do? If you do then you can be sure
you are speaking God’s language and that God loves you.
But wait. There is a second part to this command. He says love God and Love your neighbor.
Now the truth is that it is a lot easier to love God than our neighbor. If you have in laws you can
understand this. You may really love your spouse with all your heart and soul and mind and
strength, but not be too keen on your brother in law.
Do you know the Vacation movies starring Chevy Chase? The character I love the best is Clark
Griswold’s brother in law, Eddie. He is a goof. I laugh every time I see him because he is the bane
of Clark’s existence. Well guess what?
We are the Eddies of this world. I know you don’t want to hear it, but God calls on us to even
love each other. There’s the catch. This is the hard part for many of us. We can love god. We
can even love the people who are a lot like us, people we share so much in common with. But
don’t ask us to love our neighbors.
Years ago Lori and I had a neighbor who was a real busy body. She would always come over
and make comments about our yard, our house, the hours we were on the run, the way our
children behaved and dressed. It got so bad we didn’t want to go outside. Was she the neighbor
Jesus was talking about?
Yes. Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan. Do you remember that story?
Jesus said: A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of
robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A
priest happened to be going by but he saw him and passed by on the other side. Then a Levite
came by and he too crossed to the other side. But then Jesus said a Samaritan came by and when
he saw him he took care of him.
Jesus then asked, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor?” The answer was "The one
who had mercy on him" and Jesus told them, "Go and do likewise."
Jesus didn’t really answer the question “who is my neighbor, he instead said, “be a good
neighbor” The funny thing is that here Jesus extends the notion of neighbor to include the hated
Samaritans. That was an impossible demand.
Rev. Ray Steadman says there is only one way to love this kind of neighbor. We have to start with
God’s love. We have to turn our neighbor over to God first and then let the same process that
touched us, work in them. We can show them the same love that we ourselves have received.
He says if we start with our neighbor, we get so wrapped up with all the hurts, difficulties, and
friction that we start responding in the same way they treat us. But when we start with God and
we have experienced his love and responded to it with love, then we can pass it along to our
neighbor.”
So who is your Eddie? Who is that person you have a difficult time loving? Give them to God
and then forgive them and move on. You will be blessed. Because love and forgiveness are God’
s language and no one knows that better than us, right?
A final note before we leave this passage. Did you hear what was said to the man who asked the
question about the greatest commandment? When the man agrees with Jesus, Jesus says “you are
not far from the Kingdom of God.”
I love that statement. Jesus says it to many different people. As his disciples, we need to make a
change in the way we approach people. We need to seek out people who are close to the
Kingdom and point it out, rather than discovering those who are far from the Kingdom and
pointing it out. We like to do the latter, but Jesus calls us to do the former. That is love. That is
God’s way. He calls us to into relationship so that we can enjoy his love.
When we do that we are speaking his language and he is glorified. Praise God. Now let’s keep
talking. Amen.
This is the 100 proof stuff – this is all the commands of God distilled down to two. Love God
with all that you got, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Mark 12:28-34 November 5, 2006
There is scene in the movie “The Dead Poet’s Society” where Robin Williams, an eccentric
English teacher, has his boys come out in the courtyard and march in a circle. One boy really
wants to get it right, but he doesn’t know if he is right. He asks “am I doing it right?” “I think I’m
doing it right,” “no wait I might be wrong,” “No, I must be right,” “am I doing it right?”
When I saw that scene I was immediately struck by the sense that so many of us want to enjoy a
great relationship with God, yet we are not quite sure how to do it. We fumble along, looking at
others, trying to decipher the scriptures, sometimes even making it up as we go along. It is
almost as if we are strangers in a foreign land trying to learn the native tongue.
Well the truth is that if you want to have a great relationship with God, you need to learn how to
speak God’s language. You need to know what is important to God and how he relates to you and
me and the rest of the world.
If you love someone, you need to know what really touches their soul. Dr. Gary Chapman, a
renown Christian counselor and author, tells us that in human relationships there are five ways to
give and receive love. So if you wanted to improve your relationship with your spouse, the first
step would be in learning their love language. The five ways we express love are through words
of affirmation, acts of caring, spending quality time, sharing gifts, and sensual and physical touch.
Couples often have difficulty in their relationships because they go about expressing their love in a
language that doesn’t compute. For example if a man is looking for sensual and physical touch
and his spouse reaches out with words of affirmation, telling him he is a good man and how much
he makes her feel safe and secure, they will be communicating, but no matter what she says, he
will feel as if she doesn’t care. Or better yet, if a woman needs to have her husband spend quality
time with her, in front of a fire sipping champagne, and he is intent on working long hours to
provide the money to buy her everything she wants, that couple is going to have trouble. They
aren’t speaking the same language.
I think sometimes we do the same thing with God. We try to do things that we think God wants.
We pick and choose certain moral behaviors that we think will please God. We go to church and
we give money to charitable causes (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). But for many of
us, we still feel a bit of a disconnect. Like the boy in the movie, we aren’t sure if it’s enough to
get it right.
Well here in our text today, Jesus sets the record straight. He says if you want to honor God and
walk with him, in other words, if you want to speak God’s language and express your love for
him, then you need to do two things.
It is as simple as this: Love God, Love your Neighbor. Forget about the laundry list of “thou shalt
nots!” Forget about trying to do things to earn his approval. Simply love God and your neighbor.
In the Rotary Club we have the four way test. Four questions that guide and direct our relations
with others.
Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? Will it build good
will and better friendship? This motto is to guide all our dealings in business and with one
another. It can’t be any simpler than that when it comes to fair business practices.
So it is with God. If you have decisions to make in your life and you aren’t sure about the will of
God, these are the first filters that you can put the decision through: does this plan help me to love
God with my whole being? Does this plan show love to my neighbor? If you can answer yes then
you are speaking God’s language.
Let’s look at the two commands in more detail. The first is to Love God. Jesus doesn’t leave any
doubt in what he means. He impels us to love God with every part of our being. We are to love
him with our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength. We are to love him lock, stock and
barrel. We cannot have areas of our life that we say, that is for me and for me only. God you are
not allowed to come in here to this area. We cannot say, I’ll love you on Sundays, and in the
evenings, but not while I’m at work and not on Saturdays. We can’t say I’ll love you all the time
except when I’m at parties, which is my time. God wants all of you, 24 hours a day.
Why does God expect this from us? Because he did the same for us before we even knew him.
In Romans 5:8 it says this: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.” Gods didn’t hold anything back. He gave us his best gift even before
he knew whether we would respond or not. He made a commitment to love us with all his heart
and soul and he calls on us to do the same.
And when we do, he promises to bless us. 1 John 3:21-24 says“…we have confidence before
God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases
him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one
another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.”
You have probably heard this story before. It has made the rounds.
It is about a rich art collector who had one of the greatest collections of art in the world. It was
full of such beauty. You would think he would have been one of the happiest people in the world.
But in fact that wasn’t the case. His only son had been killed in a car accident at a young age and
the father had never really gotten over it. You see, he had loved his son so much. He had great
plans for the boy to follow in the family business. When the son died the father was devastated.
So he put all his energy into compiling the best art collection he could mange in memory of his
son. Finally the man died without an heir and when the will was read it was announced that his art
collection would be auctioned off. On the day of the great sale, art dealers came from far and
wide hoping for a bargain and desiring to own part of this fabulous collection.
The first item for auction was a painting by an unknown artist, it was a portrait of a young man
and it wasn’t a particularly good portrait. None of the dealers was interested in it. They were
waiting for the real art to come up for sale. The auctioneer called for bids…and there was silence.
Not a hand moved. He lowered his suggested amount. Eventually an old man in the back bid a
small amount for it. He was the art collector’s butler. He realized that the portrait was that of the
man’s son, whom he too had loved. It had been painted just before the young man died. He valued
the painting, not for its great artistic value but for its sentimental value. The art dealers all breathed
a sigh of relief.
That was out of the way, now they could get on with the real sale. But the auctioneer
announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am required to read the following clause of the will. It reads
‘whoever buys the portrait of my son gets everything else as well.’ The auction is now over.”
Whoever has the Son has everything!
To love the Son is to Love the Father. So God says when we honor and love Jesus with our lives
and with our whole being, we speak his language. Do you love Jesus? Do we walk and talk with
him every day? Do we ask him to be a part of everything we do? If you do then you can be sure
you are speaking God’s language and that God loves you.
But wait. There is a second part to this command. He says love God and Love your neighbor.
Now the truth is that it is a lot easier to love God than our neighbor. If you have in laws you can
understand this. You may really love your spouse with all your heart and soul and mind and
strength, but not be too keen on your brother in law.
Do you know the Vacation movies starring Chevy Chase? The character I love the best is Clark
Griswold’s brother in law, Eddie. He is a goof. I laugh every time I see him because he is the bane
of Clark’s existence. Well guess what?
We are the Eddies of this world. I know you don’t want to hear it, but God calls on us to even
love each other. There’s the catch. This is the hard part for many of us. We can love god. We
can even love the people who are a lot like us, people we share so much in common with. But
don’t ask us to love our neighbors.
Years ago Lori and I had a neighbor who was a real busy body. She would always come over
and make comments about our yard, our house, the hours we were on the run, the way our
children behaved and dressed. It got so bad we didn’t want to go outside. Was she the neighbor
Jesus was talking about?
Yes. Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan. Do you remember that story?
Jesus said: A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of
robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A
priest happened to be going by but he saw him and passed by on the other side. Then a Levite
came by and he too crossed to the other side. But then Jesus said a Samaritan came by and when
he saw him he took care of him.
Jesus then asked, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor?” The answer was "The one
who had mercy on him" and Jesus told them, "Go and do likewise."
Jesus didn’t really answer the question “who is my neighbor, he instead said, “be a good
neighbor” The funny thing is that here Jesus extends the notion of neighbor to include the hated
Samaritans. That was an impossible demand.
Rev. Ray Steadman says there is only one way to love this kind of neighbor. We have to start with
God’s love. We have to turn our neighbor over to God first and then let the same process that
touched us, work in them. We can show them the same love that we ourselves have received.
He says if we start with our neighbor, we get so wrapped up with all the hurts, difficulties, and
friction that we start responding in the same way they treat us. But when we start with God and
we have experienced his love and responded to it with love, then we can pass it along to our
neighbor.”
So who is your Eddie? Who is that person you have a difficult time loving? Give them to God
and then forgive them and move on. You will be blessed. Because love and forgiveness are God’
s language and no one knows that better than us, right?
A final note before we leave this passage. Did you hear what was said to the man who asked the
question about the greatest commandment? When the man agrees with Jesus, Jesus says “you are
not far from the Kingdom of God.”
I love that statement. Jesus says it to many different people. As his disciples, we need to make a
change in the way we approach people. We need to seek out people who are close to the
Kingdom and point it out, rather than discovering those who are far from the Kingdom and
pointing it out. We like to do the latter, but Jesus calls us to do the former. That is love. That is
God’s way. He calls us to into relationship so that we can enjoy his love.
When we do that we are speaking his language and he is glorified. Praise God. Now let’s keep
talking. Amen.
This is the 100 proof stuff – this is all the commands of God distilled down to two. Love God
with all that you got, and love your neighbor as yourself.
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