Sermon Series Blog: All In

What Matters Most?

Living all in by loving God and loving others

More Than a Motto

In Mark 12:28–31, a teacher asks Jesus which commandment matters most. Jesus answers without hesitation: love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength—and love your neighbour as yourself.

Those words are simple enough to place on a wall, but Jesus never intended them to become branding. They are a way of life.

There is no halfway language in His answer. Jesus does not ask for one day of our week or the spiritual compartment of our lives. He asks for all of us.

Give God the Whole Jar

John 12 gives us a picture of wholehearted love. While Jesus is eating in Bethany, Mary enters carrying expensive perfume worth approximately a year’s wages.

She opens the jar and pours it over Jesus. She does not stop halfway. Soon the jar is empty, and the fragrance fills the entire house.

Judas sees what it cost. Mary sees what Jesus is worth.

There will be moments when devotion to Jesus looks wasteful to others. Why give so generously? Why forgive? Why serve? Why obey Scripture when culture says something different?

Because Jesus is worth the whole jar.

What are you still holding that Jesus is asking you to surrender? Your ambitions, relationships, thinking, time, strength, and resources all belong to Him. No compartment survives the word “all.”

Move Toward the Person in Front of You

Loving God changes how we see people.

In Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan, a wounded man lies beside the road. A priest sees him and passes by. A Levite sees him and keeps walking. Then a Samaritan—the person no one expected to help—stops.

He gets close enough to touch the wounds, bandages the man, carries him to safety, and pays for his care.

The others noticed the need. The Samaritan moved toward it.

We will disagree with people about real and important matters. Loving someone does not require abandoning biblical truth. But we can disagree with a person’s position without withdrawing love from the person.

Being right is not the highest Christian virtue. We can win an argument and still fail to represent Jesus.

Who has God placed in front of you that you have been tempted to walk past?

Carry Truth With Grace

At a well in Samaria, Jesus meets a woman whose story He already knows completely. He does not ignore the truth about her life, but He also does not push her away.

Jesus offers her living water.

He shows us that conviction and compassion are not enemies. He never compromised truth to connect with people, and He never used truth as an excuse to remain distant.

If we have received an ocean of grace from Jesus, how can we offer only a teaspoon to others?

Love God. Stand firmly in truth.

Love others. Move toward people with grace.

Then point them to Jesus.

This is more than a motto. This is who Jesus has called us to be.