All Of Me For All Of Him

* Review: Where We Began

? We are studying the ways in which we shrink (in our own minds) the person of Jesus, from the robust, loving God that He truly is.

? Last week we learned: That the great "I Am" is calling you and is always with you in the moment (Exo 3:1-15)-I Am Who I Am.

* No one or anything else defines God. He defines himself.

* He defines Himself as The Present One or the One Who Always Is.

* He is not the Was-ing-One or the Will-be-One but the Is-ing-One.

* Fully present to redeem and love in the now.

* Jesus fulfills this in John 8:58 and then redeems us as the great I Am.

* So I Am now walks with me and lives inside me, guiding and providing.

* No thin Jesus.

? The next thing that causes us to have a tiny Jesus in our lives, is our lack of understanding of His great love for us (Exo 34).

* We studied it a couple of weeks ago.

* Moses learned that the glory of God is His love: he gracious, compassionate, abounding with love, slow to get angry, maintaining love for thousands, forgiving ...

* John says, We beheld Jesus’ glory full of love and faithfulness (John 1:14).

* Jesus fulfilled this at the cross. We God’s glory the most.

* What is your need, your hurt, your hidden sin?

* He loves you now and wants to meet your need.

* Rom. 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

? This morning we realize how much we compartmentalize our life with Christ restricting him from the rest of our lives and thus creating a very thin Jesus.

* For most we here the words of the great hymn "just as I am..." but we quickly learn that it is not ok.

* Lobby but no further.

* Like a person who saw the welcome sign in the store window and now gets dirty looks for bringing their dog in the grocery store.

* But if I can’t bring me, I’m the only me I got.

* Love the Lord With All You Are and Have (Mark 12:28-31)

? The scribe’s question:

* The scribe was an interpreter of the law (a religious lawyer). This could have been a Pharisee or Sadducee. They had 613 individual statutes to classify and integrate. The basic distinction was lighter and weightier. Generally the nature of the demand and the propitiation demanded if not honored determined the weight of a command.

* It was generally understood that moral life, especially love was more important than sacrifice.

* Others had attempted to summarize the law: Hillel the Elder (40 BC- 10 AD).

(Lane).

* So the question was, what does God ultimately want?

? Jesus starts as does Deut 6:4-9 with the Shema: Hear, O Israel...

Deut. 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

* The command to love stems from the uniqueness of God-He is One and He is Personal (Our God).

* This was prayed every morning and evening since the 2nd century BC.

* His united integration of being demands our united integration of being.

* Because the whole person is the object of God’s love and because God is whole he demands whole love.

? More obvious than the parts is the obvious repeated all (holes)

* holistic

* To seek God for his own sake, to have pleasure in him and chase after Him.

* This love that dictates the whole direction of our life and places our whole personality into the service of God love.

* Holism is a Christian discussion.

? The ancient Hebrew psychology was one of overlapping constructs.

* Heart: The center of inner life (thinking, feeling and wanting (will).

* Soul: life or vitality or one’s being (I am a living soul).

* Strength: inner (passion, intensity) and physical might.

* Mind: Jesus adds mind, which once again would include thinking and feeling (perhaps distinguishing from the heart being the core of a person’s will).

* It is obvious that these are overlapping constructs that bleed together like a wet watercolor painting. Without great distinction.