When Andy John King, pastor of Lindsay Lane Baptist Church in Athens, delivered the sermon at the Alabama Baptist State Convention annual meeting on Nov. 12, he spoke out of Mark 12:28–34 and posed the question, “Of all of God’s commandments, which one is the most important?”
“That’s a great question; isn’t it?” King noted. “Assuming you believe God is almighty, and you believe that God is involved, and you believe we are accountable to this almighty, one and only God, this is one of life’s most basic questions: ‘What does God expect of me?'”
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“This is the kind of question that targets the aim of our existence. In this setting, this question is not one that is uncommon,” he added. “It was asked by a teacher of religious law, who knew then what we now know that there were 365 you shall not and 248 you shall. The religious leaders debated which of these laws should be declared major or minor, and some debated if this should be a discussion at all because they are all important. What did Jesus say was the most important, the greatest?”
Before beginning this message, King paused to pray and asked God to guard his mind and his mouth, profitable for the good of others in Jesus’ name.
“Jesus answered this common question summarizing the law of God in its essence,” King said. “But did you notice that the first word in His response was the word, ‘Listen?’ I think my wife finds it funny that I’m speaking up here and encouraging people to listen, because that hasn’t been my strength in our marriage over the past 18 years. But I find that conviction is better in a shared experience, so I hope that you will join me in this. The first part of Jesus’ response as part of the Shema, the Jewish statement of faith from Deuteronomy 6, was ‘Listen, listen people of God. The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.'”
Challenge to Alabama Baptists
King reminded the audience that our love is a response to God’s love toward us and His sacrifice for us as he posed the question, “Would it be too simple of a reminder for the Alabama State Convention for us to love God with all we’ve got and to love Him alone?”
“Is that too simple of a theme to preach?” King asked. “Too simple of a pledge of allegiance to make that out of love for God, there will be unity in our body?
“There will be continued ministry. There will be fulfilled mission. There will be respect for one another. There will be a tight grip on His commands because we love God. We are to love God more than ourselves. We are to love God above all, but Jesus is not done.”
Helping the broken
King continued, “Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself,” he noted. “Who is my neighbor? This question was asked in Luke 10 by an expert of religious law when Jesus answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Church, we learned that our neighbor is anyone who is broken. Our neighbor is anyone who is in need.
“Of all people, followers of Jesus cannot ignore when people are hurting. Do you know when people are hurting they are actually seeking the help of a God that most of them do not know? Of all people in our neighborhoods, we should be known as the light. We have to know our neighbors to know that our neighbors are hurting. We are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, citizens of heaven. If I read and acknowledge this commandment with the understanding that to love God, that also means I’m going to love my neighbor. … That’s how change happens.”
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