It was a rainy night in the fall of 2000. There were 30 or 40 of us huddled in a circle all with our heads drooped in disappointment. Some looked blankly into the distance, others stared at the ground. Then there were some whose eyes were closed as tears streamed down their faces. Most of them weren’t even sure why they were having these emotions. It was just a game right? Would our lives really change as a result of losing one football game? Probably not, so why the big deal? Maybe it was a big game and the team had a chance at the playoffs, but that wasn’t the case either. We were not a good team, and this was a regular, mid-season Friday night game. There was absolutely nothing special about the game from the outside but on the inside was a very different story. This truly was a game like I had never experienced in my life. It was a game where my team, and myself, could honestly say that we “Left it all on the field.” We played with a heart that we had never played with before. We played with a passion like I had never seen before. When the game was done, there was nothing left to give. We were spent, physically and emotionally. We literally “Left it all on the field.”
This is the goal of the Christian life. God has given us one life to live, one game to play, and he expects us to “Leave it all on the field.” He expects us to say, along with Paul:

As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.  And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

Paul is a true example of someone who left it all on the field. Are you able to say that? If you were going to die tomorrow, would you be able to say, “I left it all on the field, I gave this everything I have”? Most of us are unable to say that. Why is that?

Let’s turn to our passage of scripture for tonight and dig into this a little more. Our passage is Mark 12:28-34.

28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” 32 The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. 33 And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.” 34 Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

As I read through this passage I couldn’t help but think of a scene from a movie. The scene starts off with Jackie Chan stepping off of an air plane and Cris Tucker walking up to him. Chris is frustrated that he has to pick Jackie up and act as a chauffeur. He is even more frustrated when he thinks that Jackie is unable to speak English. In frustration Chris says those famous words, “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?” As I hear Jesus reciting the greatest commandment to the teacher of religious law, I hear a slight rendition of those words coming from the mouth of God.

When Jesus quotes the greatest commandment, he is quoting a passage from Deuteronomy that is coming from God through Moses. It starts off, “Listen, O Israel!”. It has an exclamation mark behind it because it is a command, not a suggestion. It has certain tone to it. There is another place (Deut 27:9) where this phrase is interpreted as, “O Israel, be quiet and listen!”. It is basically saying, “Shut your mouths and listen to what I am about to say to you!” I can almost hear God saying, “Make sure you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth!” This is important. If you want to know what is required of you have a fulfilled life, then you will listen to what I am about to tell you. If you want to stay miserable, go ahead and ignore it. Tonight I ask you to do the same. Shut your mouths, open your ears and your hearts and hear the word of God.

The next part of our passage is, “The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.” For some of you, you have heard this to the point where you are comfortable with it. It no longer has an effect on you, but lets not miss the power that is in this sentence. The phrase “The Lord” means that there is only one Lord. It doesn’t say “This Lord”, “That Lord”, “A Lord”, or “Some Lord.” It says “The Lord.” He is the “one and only Lord.” There is no other. There are some that pretend to be gods, and there are things that we make into gods, but they are all fakes. There is only ONE true and Holy God.

24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. 27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.   (Acts 17:24-29, Paul preaching in Athens)

This is the God who is speaking to us. This is the God who is asking us to “leave it all on the field.” This is the God who is asking us to shut our mouths and listen to Him.

It gets better. Not only is there one God who is bigger than we can imagine, who has created everything and governs everything, but He is also “Our God.” Can you feel the weight of what was just said there? The passage doesn’t leave it at “The Lord is the one and only God,” which would be powerful enough. It says “The Lord our God is the one and only God.” We have the ability to call Him “Our God!” Isn’t that amazing? He isn’t just a powerful, sovereign God, He is also a personal God. That is what the word “our” does to the sentence. It shows us that not only can God call us His own possession, but we can call Him our God. John Calvin says, ““First, it ought to be a powerful excitement to the worship of God, when we are fully convinced that we worship the actual Creator of heaven and earth…….secondly, because it is a pleasing inducement to love him, when he freely adopts us as his people.” Is it not amazing to you that the Creator of heaven and earth call you His own? How about the fact that you can call Him your own? Martin Luther once said that if he could only understand the words “Our Father,” he would never be the same again.

God is not some high and lofty presence that is removed from humanity. He is a personal God that wants us to call Him “Our God” and “Our Father.” In Jeremiah 3:27 He says, “Come back to me, you wayward people. I want to cure your waywardness.” I want you to “Say, ‘Here we are. We come to you because you are the LORD our God.” God has never been a God that wants us to serve him begrudgingly. Honestly, if we are serving God begrudgingly, we are not truly serving God. A true service for God flows out of a love for God. Honestly we don’t even need to finish the rest of the greatest commandment. We should at this point be ready to fall on our faces and devote our entire lives to God, because of who He is and how much He loves us. How can we not love a God like that? How can we reject a God like that? Why is it so easy for us to walk away from God?

There is a story that many of you have heard throughout your childhood. It starts off with a young lady who is very unhappy. She owned nothing and was a lowly servant girl. She was trapped in a house and treated as a slave by her step-mom. Everyday she would dream of what it would be like to be free from the prison that she found herself in. One day she heard of a ball that was happening at the castle and she longed to go but she knew she couldn’t get there on her own. She was trapped in the house. Then a fairy god-mother came and exchanged the rags that she was wearing for a beautiful gown. It was more beautiful than anything she had ever seen. She rushed to the ball and had the time of her life. The prince ended up falling in love with her but she had to leave. The prince searched and searched for her. He wouldn’t stop until he found her. Then the time came when he found her. He looks into her eyes and tells her, “Come with me. Let’s leave this prison and go to my castle. You will no longer be a lowly slave, but royalty. I will call you mine and you will call me yours”……..Now what happens? We know how the story is going to end don’t we? Why isn’t is so automatic with our lives? Can you imagine if she turned to the prince and said, “I am perfectly fine right where I am. I don’t need or want your love!”

There is a reason that Fairy Tales cause something inside us to burn. There is a reason that almost every movie that has ever been a hit, has had a plot line that is similar to this. We have something that is deep withing us that is crying out for this story to play out in our own lives. We long for the day to be rescued from  the prison that we find ourselves in and every time we watch a movie, or hear a story, where someone is rescued, something inside us is excited and longs for that to happen to us.

We are Cinderella. We find ourselves in a lowly state in a prison that we have created for ourselves. Everything inside of us wants to be freed from that prison but we can’t do it on our own. The harder we try to do it on our own, the more locks we place on the door. This is where we are at in the catechism this week.

Last week we learned that the first step to finding comfort in life and in death, is “to know how great [our] sin and misery are.” This week we ask the question, “How do [we] come to know [our] sin and misery?” The catechism answers, “The law of God tells me.” When we look at the law of God, that is summed up in the greatest commandment, it shows us our sin and misery. It shows us how similar we are to Cinderella at the beginning of the story. Do you “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength?” This is what is required of you.

The catechism asks another good question. It asks, “Can [we] live up to all this perfectly?” and answers it with a “No”. What do you mean by answering that “No”? Is the situation hopeless then? If you are left to your own efforts, then yes. Like Cinderella, you are completely trapped inside your prison with no ability to get out on your own. You need help. In Cinderella, it is a fairy god-mother, but in our story it is Jesus. He comes sweeping in when all things seem hopeless and gives us the ability to reach the Father. And the Father, like the prince, loves us so much that he is searching for us. He is calling our name in the streets. In Jeremiah 3:27 it says, “He is calling, “​​​​​​’Come back to me, you wayward people. I want to cure your waywardness.’” He wants you to “Say, ‘Here we are. We come to you because you are the LORD our God.’” When we turn to God and fall into His arms, He can call us His people and we can call Him our God.

There is one major difference between Cinderella’s story and our story. Take a look at Zechariah 3:1-5:

1 Then the angel showed me Jeshua[a] the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. The Accuser, Satan,[b] was there at the angel’s right hand, making accusations against Jeshua. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire.” 3 Jeshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. 4 So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And turning to Jeshua he said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.” 5 Then I said, “They should also place a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean priestly turban on his head and dressed him in new clothes while the angel of the Lord stood by.

In Cinderella’s story, she had to be beautiful to attend the ball. The fairy god-mother had to change her rags to a beautiful gown, so that she could meet the prince. In our story, we come to the Almighty God, who created heaven and earth, with dirty clothes and He clothes us with “fine new clothes.” We don’t need to be perfect to come before God, it’s actually the opposite. We need to realize that we are broken, that we are dirty, then God will clothe us with His righteousness and call us His child. He will lift us out of our lowly state of slavery and make us heirs to his throne. He will remove our misery and give us ultimate joy. He will give us “comfort in life and in death.”

If you are a follower of Christ, why are you following Him? Is it because He has rescued you from slavery? Is it because you finally realized that the Creator of heaven and earth loves you personally? If not, then take this week to meditate on the passages we talked about today. Spend time memorizing them and understanding who God is and how much He loves you. Make the the motivation that drives your loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Make that the motivation that causes you to “leave it all on the field.”

If you are not a believer, stop resisting the pull within you. There is an urge within you that wants to see freedom, that wants comfort. Stop running from it. Learn from Cinderella and run to the King of Kings. Everyone would call her stupid if she rejected the princes offer, why are you any different? Turn to Christ, accept what he has done for you, and call the One only God, YOUR GOD.