Last week, we began a sermon series entitled “Crazy Love” with Valentine’s Day coming up, you may be thinking that love is making you crazy - What gift to get, how do I show how much I care… Especially at this time of year, we hear about the importance of love as we mentioned last week, love is the reason for existence, and without it, nothing would make sense
We began the series by focusing on God’s relentless love for us - love that can’t be stopped. Over this past week, I hope that concept has been able to sink in some for you. When we look at the greatest earthly love we can experience - for your spouse or child? It still cannot compare to God’s love for us and we’ll never be able to understand why He loves us, even when we push Him away… That, my friends, is truly a crazy love. This week, we’ll dig a little deeper in our pursuit of crazy love by putting a mirror in front of our hearts and looking at the love we give back to God. Are we loving God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, as Scripture instructs us?
“The biggest test we will ever face is, loving a God whose letters we have read, whose heart we have come to know, but whose face we have never seen.”
~ Victor Knowles
By God’s grace, this morning we’ll push deeper in our pursuit of Him & live out that crazy love He has called us to.
35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
I want us to think for a while about what it means to love God – what Jesus called the most important commandment. Loving God, loving one another, and loving the world. It’s a short description of what God wants His church to do and it all begins with a singular foundation: loving God.
This exchange took place during the last week of Jesus’ life, just before His crucifixion. The Pharisees asked Jesus a question to trap Him with His own words. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? These men were experts in the law of Moses; they were the best lawyers of their day. They must have thought he could out smart this humble carpenter’s son. Instead of being sucked in to their trap, Jesus exposed their lack of spirituality. He answered that it was fine to give others what belonged to them, but for the most important matters of life, those all belonged to God alone. They asked Him what commandment was the greatest. Jesus responded by telling them that there is no other commandment greater than these 2: loving God and loving others.
From this we can see that Scripture clearly defines our purpose in life: To fully engage our hearts in love for God, that we may serve others. The love Christ speaks of is one of absolute devotion. We can’t love someone we don’t take time to simply enjoy. Husbands can’t love our wives well if we never see them – if we’re never home. We can’t love God if life is consumed with activity and stuff – even good stuff.
“The real problem of the Christian life comes…the moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. The first job each morning is simply shoving them all back; AND listening to that other voice—That still small voice.”
~ C.S. Lewis observed and share
~ C.S. Lewis observed and share
Why did Jesus choose this as the greatest commandment? Because it fulfills all of them! What is the basis of our love for God? It’s based on relationship. Loving & serving, not out of obligation, but out of a pure desire to grow closer to God. The difference is: One who loves God says “what is the maximum I can do for my love?” Versus "What’s the least I have to do to make it to heaven?” God doesn’t want us to live for Him merely out of obligation. He wants our commitment to Him to be out of a love response.
How Much Do We Really Love God? Our opening text sheds some light on 3 ways we must love God:
37 Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
I. First of All…We Must Love God With All Our HEARTS
The Greek term is “kardia” (car-dee-uh), and we think of words like cardiac or words which deal with the physical heart. In the Bible the word “heart” or “kardia” refers to: The command center of all of life. The place where we experience all of our emotions: joy, sorrow, anger, and the like; Our will; our desires; our passions. It’s often where decisions are made and plans implemented. The heart is the hub of the wheel of humanity’s existence. The mainspring of all thought, words, and deeds
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
The heart controls our feelings and emotions, our desires and passions. We purpose in our hearts what our commitments will be. The heart is the place where we decide for or against living in relationship with God.
6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “’These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
How do I love Him with all my heart.... By giving Him pure devotion –an undivided focus. Through giving Him first place in everything in my life - just like we spoke on Thursday, Jesus declared that We Must Love God With All our Heart.
II. We Must Love God With All Our SOULS.
II. We Must Love God With All Our SOULS.
In the Greek: psuche [PSOO-KHAY]), it refers to: Breath. The vital, life-giving force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing regarded as a moral being designed for everlasting life the essence not dissolvable by death. The soul is that part that will live on forever, the essence of humanity that is eternal and was created in us so that we may worship God. Our souls were designed to commune with God and are what makes us different from the animals. Through loving God with our souls, we surrender our lives to the purpose for which they were created to love and worship Him, for eternity but it begins here and now.
How do I love God with all my soul? By experiencing his love through prayer and worship. When I pray, God’s Spirit transforms me to become more like Him. When I worship God, I am connecting with Him in a way that binds us together and opens the doors for relationship with Him through eternity. I bring my heart into submission to His will to make His wants and desires mine.
“The man who does not love God is really in love with himself, his position, his success, & his pleasure.”
~ J.B. Phillips
When we surrender our souls to God, we move from the temporary, everyday realm to the eternal - where we will forever be in fellowship with God. Jesus commanded us to Love God With All our Heart & Soul.
III. We Must Love God With All Our MINDS
In the Greek: dianoia [DEE-AN-OY-AH] refers to… Our understanding, feeling, or reasoning; the intellectual component of human beings. It encompasses our thoughts—what we dwell on and what we allow to shape us
How do you love God with all your mind?
… be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Having my thoughts align with His. Not being influenced by the world -- but BEING an influence. The mind is not only center of humanity’s intellectual life but also of our dispositions and attitudes.
The mind is where we battle to implement those things that are in our hearts. It’s often the place where our commitments stand or waver because we’ve focused on things that build up, or dwelled upon things that tear down. We control what we feed ourselves with, & those things effect our reason & understanding. That’s why we need the power of the Holy Spirit to renew our minds daily so we can be prepared to withstand everything we encounter. We live in an all-consuming, fast paced world that pulls on us in so many directions. We have become so concerned about our horizontal relationships we have forgotten what it means to live in the vertical.
When you get vertical you become radical for Jesus; watch out…because there is an impact which happens all around you. People look and take notice. Do you really love God? Do you have a hunger for God?
Jesus says
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
The point of what Jesus was saying was not so much to emphasize the differences between our hearts, soul and mind but rather, to show that we must love God with our whole person, everything within us. He used these 3 overlapping aspects of our being to show us that there was no area of our lives that should not be dedicated to Him. He meant that we should love God with every capacity we possess.
I’ve wondered about the following statement, and shared it with you all before:
If the greatest thing is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind, then the greatest sin in the world must be to not do it.
“It takes intentional commitment. You must want to (love), decide to (love), make an effort to (love) and persist in (loving)”. This is love that involves the will, the mind and the heart.
~ Rick Warren
How many of us have lost that appetite for God because we have gorged ourselves on other things?
Points to Ponder:
How often do I think of God during a typical day? When I make decisions, what role does the Word of God and the will of God play in my choices? How do we put that in action? By entering into relationship with Him, and living out His commandments, even when they are inconvenient or uncomfortable. By surrendering our thoughts and actions to Him each day, and pursuing His desires. Because God first loved us, so we should love Him.
I said this on Thursday evening: It’s easy to live for God hard, but it’s hard to live for God easy.
No comments:
Post a Comment