Love the Lord Your God
Deuteronomy 6:5, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
1st) The Meaning of Love for the Lord our God {400wds}
- What does it mean to Love for the Lord our God mean?
- Love (Deut.6:5) Hebrew, ahabta: to desire, to breathe after, to have great affection for, to delight in, to be loyal towards, In love we cleave to
- Love in Hebrew usage: affection, friendship, loyalty, desire
- Love for God (Rom.8:28) Greek, hagapa-ow: a strong affection and love for a person, and their good as understood by God’s moral character; Agape is the willing forfeiture of our rights or privileges in another person’s behalf or benefit
- “For God so loved (agape) the world that He Gave….”
- Love for God in both Heb & Greek. has strong link to Obedienc
- but we must not confuse Obedience with Love
That’s the meaning of the words, (cold!) So, what is Love?
- Love is an Expansion of the Soul, Inflaming of Our Hearts’ Affections, with which we Pant/Thirst after God…..
- as the Supreme, Sublime & All-Satisfying Answer to our soul
- Psalm.42:1–2 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for: living God.
- Last Sunday Pooven spoke beautifully about our contentment in Christ. Contentment & satisfaction are expressions of Love
To Love God is to Value-Treasure God for who He is
- Matt.13:45-46, the man who found a pearl of great price, sold all he had to gain that one priceless pearl
- So, our God is to us the priceless jewel, for which we give up all we have to gain him, and be found in Christ
- Paul, Philippians 3:8 “…I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
- To love God is to regard everything: rubbish compared to God
To Love God is to Delight in God
- Psalm 37:44 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
- To Delight is to take a high degree of pleasure in, to refresh ourselves in the object of our delight: The Lord our God.
- It’s Like a child that stares in wonder/rapturous joy at fav. toy
To Love God is to Desire for God and for His Good
- In Love for God we crave God’s presence, God’s communion & fellowship, God’s voice in our hearts, God’s presence in our troubles, God’s hand in our circumstances,
- We have a desire for God, more of Him, Himself.
- There’s also a desire His glory to increase, we desire His Good!
- To desire the Increase of His Glory to all Mankind & Creatures
- To desire the Increase of His Kingdom rule & reign over all
- To desire the Magnification of His Name
Love for God is a Satisfied, Contented Craving for more of God, who is the Being whom we value most highly, & find our greatest pleasure in.
2nd) There is a Necessity of Loving the Lord our God {400wds}
Notice our text says, (Deut.6:5), in the language of a Command,
- “You shall Love the Lord your God,”
- We live in a culture/world that says Love is what happens to me, Love is out of my control, I fall in love & fall out of love
- So, How can God rightly command us to Love Him?
- We Must Love God, because God is the Most Valuable of Beings
- We Must Love God, becoz 2 not Love God, is 2 commit Idolatry
But, first of all, What makes God the most Valuable of Beings
- Just as Red Diamonds are highly valuable due to their extreme rarity, 30 stone max; 1Mill/Ct, so, in an infinitely greater sense God is infinitely valuable because He is the One, Only
- Deut.6:4, Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is One
- Exodus 15:11 “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
- The answer to Miriam’s song in Ex.15: there is no God like U
- And, Just as a Flawless Red Diamond, is highly valuable due to its Perfections, so again, in an infinitely greater sense,
- God is Infinitely Valuable due to the Absolute Perfection of all His Multiple Attributes
- God’s Self-Existence is Utterly Unique – none like Yahweh
- God’s Tri-Une Being is Utterly Unique – no God like our God
- God’s Holiness of the Epitome of Purity, Beauty, & Otherness
- God’s Power is Greater than any Requirement Placed upon it
- It is God’s ability to perform anything He so desires
- God is not one of many powerful deities – He is only one
- God’s Knowledge is Absolute & Complete
- There is no fact, information, truth God does not know
- God’s Wisdom is infinitely beyond finding out
- God’s Goodness is Beyond measure, His Mercy, His Grace, His Kindness, His Love, all God’s Goodness to Us, beyond estimation
- God’s Perfection is unchangeable,
- It is impossible to improve His perfection
- His Perfection as God cannot suffer decrease
- God’s Size is Immense
- God’s Presence is Always Everywhere, we cannot escape from it
- We are commanded to Love God Becoz He is of Infinite Value
- We Must love God, Becoz To Love, is to treasure, and value most highly, what is most valuable, & God is of infinite value
- To love anything other than God more than we love God, is utterly illogical – Illustrate: it’s like valuing a 1-cent coin more highly than a 1,000$ bank-note,
- It is foolishness to Love anything more than we love God
- So, God is absolutely right… It is His Love toward us to… Command us to Love Him,
- For God to Permit us to not love Him, is for God to tolerate & allow Idolatry in His creatures & God cannot allow that
3rd) The Possibility of Loving the Lord our God {400wds}
- How is it Possible for sinful humanity to Love: Lord our God?
- God is Holy, meaning utterly separate and other than us
- I can love my wife, we are human… (or at lease she is)
- I can love my parents, my brother & in a pinch, even my sisters!
- But How can man love God who is so different to me… to us?
- How can finite sinful man love the Infinite, Sinless, Holy God?
We can Love God because He Freely Loves us
- Paul in Romans 9:14-16 quotes Exodus 33:19, to say that God has mercy and compassion, on whomever he desires
- Paul is Eph.2:4-8, says that God, being great in Mercy, becoz of His great love w/ which He loved us, has made us alive in Christ
- God, under no compulsion whatsoever, set His love upon us.
- God loves us, becoz he loved us, becoz He is Love.
- If we were to sum up all God’s attributes in one word: Free!
- We Love God becoz He first Loved Us.
We can Love God because of His Grace
- God in love for us does Not accept us as we are – He cannot!
- Habakkuk wrote in 1:13 “You (O Lord) are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness”
- Every single time in scripture that we see sinful men in the presence of God, most holy, there’s grace, magnificent grace!
- And God, in order for us to love him, to delight in Him, to treasure Him, has poured out His Super-Spreading-Grace!
- In Grace, He sent Christ to reveal & to expound God to us
- In Grace, He sent Christ to live a sinless, perfect, holy life
- In Grace, He sent Christ to suffer and die, in our place, the sinless for the sinful, the Holy for the unholy, to save us, from His own wrath against us, for our sin, against God.
- In Grace, He brings: Gospel of Salvation to us, thru preaching
- In Grace, he calls us to Repent and Believe in Him
- In Grace, He Makes us Alive, becoz of His great love…
- We respond to the Gospel by Faith in God, & Repentance of Sin
- In Grace, God Fills us w/ His Holy Spirit, so we might Love Him
- Gal.5:22, The Fruit of the Spirit is firstly: Love
- First & Greatest Command: Love the Lord Your God
- God, in Immense Grace, has made it possible for us to Love Him
- My dear friend, watching, listening, hear the gospel call, that God saves sinners, thru Christ’s death, on your behalf, trust Christ to save you, turn away from your sin, and live loving God!
4th) The Practice of Loving the Lord our God {400wds}
- How Do We Love the Lord our God?
We must Love God Entirely with our whole beings
- Notice the text, we are commanded by God to Love God with our heart, soul, mind,
- With all our heart, soul, mind, strength with our Entire Person,
1) We love God w/ our Minds, considering God, thinking deeply about…
- God, striving with whatever level of intellect we’ve been blessed with, to think & contemplate great, God-glorifying truths about God & to express them in heartfelt loving worship
2) We love God with our Hearts: craving, desiring, longing for God as…
- the deer longs for the life-giving water, knowing that nothing but God can satisfy His heart’s desire.
- Love God whole heartedly, not with the half-hearted, lukewarm love of the Laodicean church, Rev.3:16
- We Love God knowing that our love will never be equal to his deserving, but knowing that as surely as a loving father receives his child’s love, so our Heav. Father receives our love
3) We love God with our Strength, committing our bodies & our…
- physical abilities, to work out of Love for God, whether it’s in music, or construction, or art, or administration, or whatever strength, talent, ability that God has blessed u & I with, we display our love God by using our bodies for God’s glory.
- We Love God Actively, 1Thess.1:2–3 Paul gave thanks to God for them, remembering without ceasing their “…work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God…”
- Thomas Watson: ‘Love is no idle grace, Love for God sets the head studying and the hands working for God’
4) We must Love God Sincerely,
- Isaiah 29:13, God thru Isaiah the prophet criticised his people Judah becoz their worship, their love for Him, was insincere
- They said/did the right things, but their heart was far away
- Beloved, in John’s words, 1John.3:18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
- Our Love for God must be sincere, not pretended, not feigned
- Far better to Love God sincerely, based on what we know of God, all the while crying out for an increase in our knowledge & love of Him, than to fake it. God Knows: Hearts
- Far better to love God in sincerity, all the while searching & prayerfully meditating on Scriptures to know God Deeply & Richly to treasure him more highly, and love him more deeply.
- Bros & Sis, Love God! for who He is, not for: gifts He bestows
- Love the Lord your God, for Himself, not for simply the gifts, blessings and graces He gives to us.
- His blessings received move us to love Him
- But we must not let desired blessings move us to Insincere love
5) We must Love God, Distinctly,
- 2Corinthians.11:2, Paul describes the church as a beloved and betrothed to Christ as a pure virgin to a bride-groom
- We are to love God as engaged bride-to-be loves her Groom
- To use that analogy, a young girl is engaged to be married
- She loves her family & friends, but never same as her Groom
- We are to love our families, our friends, our Christian bros & sis, our neighbours, even as Jesus said, to love our enemies
- But, Beloved, we will not, we must not love, as we love Christ
- We must love God above all other, Psalm 73:25–26 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. 26 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- We must love God above all other Persons, Genesis 22:2, Abraham hears those heart stopping words: “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
- We all quickly say this is a test of His Faith and, with respect, I would argue, that just as Abe’s faith was being tested, so also was his first love being shown,
- Abraham would not withhold from God, whatever God asked of Him, He loved and treasured God most highly that he was even willing (early in the morning he rose) to give that to God
- Genesis 22:12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
5th) The Challenge to Love the Lord your God {400wds}
1) Do our minds think much about God, much on God?
- we live in an a-muse-ment age, meaning “without thought”
- the heart-mind of one who loves God, thinks much on God
- just as a sm. child thinks much about his-her beloved fa/mo.
- so also the child of God thinks about God, F-S-HS
- just as surely as a bride, thinks much about her beloved groom,
- so also the bride of Christ, thinks much about Christ
- But the wicked, Psalm 10:4, gives no thought to God,
- Beloved Christian, how much thought do we give to God?
- How can we say we love God, if we have no thoughts of Him?
- My dear bro-sis, love God w/ your mind Think. Consid. Him
2) Do our hearts Desire communion, fellowship, relating with God?
- Love desires relationship: speaking with & listening to.
- The Bride desires to speak to and listen to her beloved’s voice
- The psalmist Psa.27:4, one thing I have desired, that I will seek after, to behold the beauty of the Lord, to inquire, (to ask Him), in His Temple
- But the wicked says to God, “depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways…” Job.21:14
- Beloved Christian, how much do we desire communion, fellowship with God
- How can we say we love God, if we have no desire for communion with Him?
3) Do our hearts Grieve over our sin against God?
- When there is Love for another, we would rather die than cause offence, injury or hurt to them –
- Do we grieve over the things we do, that cause God pain?
- Peter, in genuine love for Christ, after Christ turned and looked at him, went out into the night and wept bitterly!
- He grieved at the sin, his sin, that caused his Lord pain.
- Do we like Peter shed tears of godly sorrow ovr sin we commit?
- Or Are we like the Wicked, in Jer.11:15, who do evil deeds, & grieve not, but rejoice?,
- How can we say we Love God, if we carelessly do what grieves and hurts Him? How can we love God and Love Sin
- Bros’ & Sis, we must love God and hate the evil He hates
4) Do our hearts Love what God Loves?
- Just as Bride learns & loves the things that pleases: beloved…
- Just as child learns & loves the things their father loves…
- So also we as God’s Children, & Christ’s bride, love the things that Christ loves
- Do we love God’s People and Gathering with God’s People
- Do we love God’s Word, God’s Laws
- Do we love the Lost, to see them saved for God’s Glory
- The wicked have no love for God’s People, rather they hate us as they hated Christ
- They have no love for: Church, nor time for gathering with it,
- They have no love for God’s Word or God’s Law, hating and despising it
- Beloved do our hearts love what God loves?
- How can we say we love God, and not love the things He loves
Conclusion:
- My dear Bro-sis in Christ, do you love the Lord your God?
- We can all take comfort in this that none of us has ever loved God, nor will any of us, ever love God, to the degree that He deserves to be loved.
- My Bro-Sis in Christ, take great comfort in this, we have each, and all, been filled and sealed, with the Holy Spirit whose primary evidence of His presence is: (Gal.5:22, fruit of Spirit is Love…
- My Bro-Sis in Christ we have each and all been given the greatest love letter ever written, the Word of the Living God that to an immeasurable amount describes to us the object of our Love: God. The Bible is first & foremost about God
- Read, study, meditate on Script. to raise your own heart’s Affections for God, to love, worship & treasure God above all.
- We have also been given all of creation that sings, shouts, claps its hands to glorify God, it serves us, by pointing to and displaying the wonders of their creator whose perfections can be seen in His creation
- Above all else we have the Cross of Christ
- Meditate, think-on, Contemplate, Consider at great length the Cross of Christ.
- There above all else we see Love demonstrated in its highest and most perfect expression.
- Beloved:
- You shall Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength… for He is the altogether lovely One.
