Steering in the Right Direction
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28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
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And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Steering in the Right Direction An All Age Service St Peters Stanley 6/8/00
[Introduction] One exercise which works well in school when I am doing classes and assemblies is to tell kids they are rulers of a new island and they have to draw up a list of rules to make the Island a safe place and a better place. They come up with No Smoking, no swearing, no fighting, no bedtime, don’t harm trees, save the rainforest. Then we look at the verses we have read today Mark 12: 30 ‘Love Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength and love your neighbour as yourself.’ We notice that this starts by focussing on God.
Jesus said this in response to the question, what is the most important Commandment?
[Move 1] I take the example of a Remote Control car. The driver with the joysitch or buttons chooses which way the car should go, right or left, fwd, back or, straight ahead. We may be able to steer a car but how good are we at steering our lives? How do we know what is right Direction?
In our Bible reading, Jesus is helping us to steer our lives in the right direction, direction of loving “God totally, loving each other and our neighbours unconditionally”.
Jesus is showing us how to steer our lives properly, getting our attitude to God right.
Jesus says Mark 12: 30 ‘Love Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength & love your neighbour as yourself.’
We can only steer our lives in God’s way if we begin by turning to God (begins by making peace with God) and loving God. In Baptism services we ask parents and Godparents ‘Do you turn to Christ,’ that’s the starting point for loving God and for steering our lives in God’s way. This can also be a time of you making your peace with God, maybe your faith is dormant, maybe you never thought it important, maybe you thought you didn’t believe but being here today and speaking with believers it is making you think – so you can echo these words in your heart and say ‘I turn to Christ,’ make your peace with God.
[Move 2] Many chose to drive our own lives our own way, perhaps because we want control, maybe we don’t think there is a God who wants to lovingly guide and direct us. So we make other things ‘gods’ and they are things which can take us over, take us off in directions which cannot fulfil us completely.
One of my hobbies is to grow tomatoes and the main plant is constantly trying to send up side shoots which want to take over from the main stem. What are the side shoots in your life or the gods which can take us away from loving God with heart soul mind and strength?
Many of these ‘gods’ are not bad in themselves, and we need some of these for balance in our lives, but I believe if our attitude to God is not right then these other things can become gods (small ‘g’) and they will try and possess us rather than free us.
god of home
god of materialism
god of leisure
god of body
In Mark’s Gospel Jesus sums up the 10 Commandments by saying ‘Love Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength and love your neighbour as yourself’ If we want to steer our lives in God’s way we need to start with loving God and in Baptism declare that you turn to Christ.
Whenever we are steering our lives in God’s direction we’ll be a peace with our Lord God who we love as well as ourselves and our neighbour.
