HAVING A LOVE AFFAIR…WITH THE FATHER
A Love Affair – 1
Deuteronomy 6
SERIES INTRODUCTION:
What is the greatest force or power on earth known to mankind? Some dreaded military weapon? The latest technology? The authority of key world leaders? Economics? These may all be powerful forces indeed, but none of them is the greatest power on earth. The greatest force on earth is arguably love. The power of love drives people to do all kinds of things they wouldn’t otherwise do. It even has the power to motivate someone to make the ultimate sacrifice of laying down their live for another.
When we come to the Bible we find that love is the key to the Christian life. When Jesus was asked one day what the greatest commandment was he said that it was to love God with all of your heart and with all of your mind and with all of your soul and with all of your strength. Then he voluntarily went on to say that the second greatest commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said that all of the laws in the Old Testament and all of the teachings of the prophets were fulfilled in those two commandments.
I think that makes love the most important and most powerful force in the world today. John Wesley said, “If you look for anything but more love, you are looking wide of the mark, you are getting out of the royal way… You can go no higher than this, till you are carried into Abraham’s bosom.” In other words he was saying that this side of heaven there is nothing greater than the pursuit of more love.
So today we are going to begin a study of this very subject of love and I think that is fitting since this is the month of Valentines Day. Today we are beginning a series of messages I am titling “A Love Affair.” Over the next three weeks we will be looking at how to have a love affair with the Father – our Heavenly Father, with the Faithful – the body of believers – and with the Family.
SERMON INTRODUCTION:
We are going to begin this series today by looking at a passage of Scripture from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment he replied by quoting from Deuteronomy 6. But before we get into Deuteronomy I want to look at how love for God is defined according to Jesus. John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commands.” Wow! We usually don’t think of love and commands as going together, but Jesus says that is what it means to love God. So love for God – far from being a mere emotional feeling – is expressed in obedience to his commands. This is a key theme for John because he makes this connection between love for God and obedience 7 times in his writings.
And so we see that the central element of the Christian life is love and that the central element of love for God is obedience. You can tell who is carrying on a love affair with God very easily. Who is living a life of obedience to his commands?
All of this talk about law and rules and commands and obedience might not sound very pleasant, but obedience to God is the most pleasant thing of all. We can easily see this by looking at…
1. THE RESULTS OF OBEDIENCE.
We are going to get started with some incentives as we look at the results or the blessing of living a life of obedience to God. As we have seen in our previous sermon series, God is the Creator and Author of life. Therefore, God knows exactly how life should be lived. The reason he gave us his commands and instructions wasn’t to limit us, but to keep us living in such a way that we could enjoy life without harming ourselves or those around us. God has our best interests at heart like any good Father would. He doesn’t want to see his children get hurt and so he has laid down some ground rules for us to follow and when we do we are all much better off.
Deuteronomy 6:1-3, “These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.”
There are several significant blessing that are promised to those who live lives of loving obedience toward God. The first is…
a) You Learn To Fear The Lord.
Now I will admit right up front that this doesn’t sound like much of a blessing – be afraid? It really sounds more like a problem or even a curse. But in the Bible we learn that it is a very good thing to have a healthy fear of the Lord. The word “fear” means to honor or to reverence God. Basically it means to respect God. And the measure of our respect for God is our obedience to God.
But this leads me to a chicken-or-the-egg kind of question. Do we respect God because we obey Him? Or do we obey God because we respect Him? My first thought would be that we respect God and therefore we obey Him. However, if you look closely at verse 2 you will see that the fear of the Lord comes as a result of obedience to God’s commands and instructions.
But I still think that if you have no fear of the Lord you won’t obey him in the first place. Here is what I have come to conclude about this. It is not an either or answer. It is not a matter of fearing God and then obeying or of obeying and then fearing. While the fear of the Lord is about respecting God it also includes the obvious concept of fright. In other words, God is big and powerful and we are, frankly, scared of what He might do to us if we disobeyed him. It is as Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” So at least initially we may find ourselves obeying out of simple fear and yet as we obey something happens. We begin to recognize the wisdom of God and that the commands are really beneficial and helpful and protective of us. We begin to realize how much God loves us and cares for us and that this is the real motive behind all of the commands. And so, as we realize this, our fear of the Lord is transformed into respect and admiration and honor and loyalty and, yes, love for the Lord.
b) Your Life Will Be Prolonged.
The obvious objection to this would be: “What about all the faithful Christians who die young?” And I guess my response would be: Think how much younger they might have died had they not been Christians. The same could be said about those who are not Christians and yet live to a good, old age. Just think how much longer they might have lived had they been Christians and been living under the blessing of Almighty God.
Proverbs 10:27, “The fear of the Lord adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.”
God has established the laws of the universe – both the physical laws and the spiritual laws – and the two are far more connected than we sometimes realize. A person who lives a life of habitual obedience to God will experience far less guilt and pressure and tension – far less remorse and shame and apprehension. These are the very things that modern science tells us are eating away at our lives. They are causing not only emotional problems, but also all kinds of physical problems as well – problems such as ulcers and hypertension leading to heart disease. These things not only reduce the quality of one’s life, but they also reduce the length of one’s life as well.
And I haven’t even mentioned yet the benefits of so-called “clean living.” That God’s people generally avoid certain kinds of behavior that are know to be detrimental to one’s health such as promiscuous sex, drug abuse, drunkenness and tobacco. The avoidance of these things serves to prolong one’s life. Again God created life and he knows how it is best lived so it should come as no surprise to us that to follow his commands would prolong one’s life.
c) Things Will Go Well For You.
When you live in obedience to God and under his blessing things go well for you. That last point showed that we have a longer life and this shows that we have a higher quality of life. Breaking God’s commands causes all kinds of problems in life. Lying and cheating and stealing and marital unfaithfulness and violence are all detrimental to the quality of life you will experience on this earth. They not only ruin your life they also ruin the lives of those around you. Break the law and you could be looking at serious fines and penalties, incarceration and a criminal record hanging over your head for the rest of your life. Cheat on your spouse and you could lose your wife, your children, your home, up to have of your savings and business interests and many of your friends. Cheat on your taxes or tell lies and you have to live with the constant worry of being found out – of being caught. Is it really worth it? I don’t think so.
And this is not to say that if you will just become a Christian everything will be peachy. Those of us who have been Christians for any length of time know better. In fact Jesus guaranteed us that we would have problems in this life. John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Yes, we will still have problems, but even in the midst of those problems Christ gives us the power to overcome and that overcoming power is something that no unbeliever can access and so even in the midst of our severest trials life still goes better for us!
d) You Will Increase.
What does this mean? Well, for the ancient Israelites it mean that by obeying the commandments their long life and high quality of life would naturally lead to a rapidly increasing population that would fill the land which they had been promised.
But more than that it means that the longer we walk with the Lord the more his promises and blessings will be increased in our lives. As we continue to live in obedience to God we will grow in faith and confidence and assurance and satisfaction and fulfillment. We will grow deeper in love with God and people. We will experience a fullness of joy and peace and satisfaction that the rest of the world can only dream about.
So why should we obey God? We should obey God because if we do we will learn to fear the Lord, our lives will be prolonged, things will go well for us and we will increase in the blessing and favor of God.
However before we go on I want to share with you….
A WORD OF WARNING:
When we are living under the blessings and favor of God there is always the danger that we will get too comfortable, too satisfied and, therefore, grow spiritually lax. It is kind of ironic that living under the blessing of God could actually be spiritually detrimental, but that can become the case if we aren’t diligent. There are three things that we are warned about in Deuteronomy 6.
i) About Forgetting God.
Deuteronomy 6:10-12, “When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you – a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant – then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
When we are no longer in need and all of our enemies have been defeated and all of our needs are met it is all too easy for us to forget about the God who made it all possible. When we are too comfortable we get complacent. When we are too satisfied we grow insensitive. And we begin to forget that every good and perfect gift (James 1:17) comes to us via our Heavenly Father and therefore without him we would have nothing and we would be nothing.
Those of us gathered here this morning may never have been in slavery in Egypt like the Israelites were, but Egypt should also be understood as a symbol for the world. And we have all been enslaved by the world and sin. And it was God who delivered us from our slavery to sin and brought us out into a new life through faith in the Lord Jesus. Never forget that if it weren’t for Jesus you would still be without hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).
The solution to forgetting God is fearing God. Deuteronomy 6:13, “Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.” When you live every day of your life with a healthy fear of and respect for God you will never forget what he has done for you in the past – forgive and erase your sin debt, how much he is doing for you in the present – enabling you to live the Christian life, and where only he can take you in the future – home to heaven for all of eternity in paradise.
ii) About Compromising with False gods.
The second thing that God warned them about was compromising with the false religions of the new land they would enter. The people who lived among them and around them would always be inviting them to join with them in worshiping their false gods and idols. And as we see from the history of the Jews this was a temptation that they often times found impossible to resist.
Like the Jews we live in a world that is always calling to us to join with them. We are always being invited to the party as long as we are willing to compromise.
The solution is to remember that the God we serve is admittedly a jealous God and that he will not allow his people to cheat on him and get away with it. Deuteronomy 6:14-15, “Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.”
iii) About Testing God.
Testing God can mean several different things. It can mean testing God’s patience as the children of Israel did over and over again in the wilderness when they didn’t believe God and complained about God and against Moses. Deuteronomy 6:16, “Do not put the LORD your God to the test as you did at Massah.”
It can mean being too demanding of God as Satan tried to tempt Jesus when he took Jesus to the top of the temple and told him to jump off. Satan quoted Scripture in which God had promised to have his angels bear Jesus up so that his foot wouldn’t even be dashed against a rock. So Satan argued that Jesus should jump off because if God’s promises were really good then he would be okay. But Jesus quoted this Scripture that says you aren’t supposed to put God to the test. In other words just because the Bible says in Mark that if Jesus’ followers drink something deadly it won’t kill them, it doesn’t follow that we should all go to church and drink communion wine tainted with arsenic. Here’s the point: We trust God, but we don’t test God.
Testing God also means to presume upon God’s grace. In other words, to sin and think that you can get away with it. I’m afraid that some people think that they can go ahead and sin because they think they will just ask for forgiveness afterwards. This is a very dangerous game that Paul told us we should “by no means” play (Romans 6:2).
The solution to testing God is to keep God’s commands. Deuteronomy 6:17, “Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you.”
2. THE REQUIREMENTS OF OBEDIENCE.
After the first three verses we get into the heart of the chapter – what it is really all about. And here in verse 4 and 5 we find that there are some requirements when it comes to this thing of loving obedience. The first is that
a) We Must Love The Correct God.
Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” I would like to make three observations about this verse.
i) He is “the LORD”.
Note that the word “LORD” is in small caps – at least in most translations. This signifies that in the original Hebrew this is the actual name for God that is written here – Yahweh or Jehovah. Our God is none other that the great I AM who is the sovereign creator not only of our world, but also of the entire universe. He is almighty in power, unlimited in knowledge, and unrestricted by space or time. He is the one and only – He is the Lord.
ii) He is “our God”.
He is not merely God, but more specifically his is “our” God. This denotes a personal relationship. We are related to him. We are his people – the sheep of his hand. He is related to us. He is our Heavenly Father. God is not an abstract concept, but a real, personal being with whom we can have a genuine relationship.
iii) He is “one”.
There is only one God which is the doctrine of monotheism. There are not many gods for every different culture or region or people group. There is not a sun god and a rain god. There is not a fertility god and a health god and a finance god. There is only one God.
In summary, the One we are called to obey is sovereign, personal and unique.
b) We Must Love God Correctly.
How are we supposed to love this sovereign, personal and unique God of ours? Deuteronomy 6:5 answers this question well: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
That is we are to love God with our whole being. To love God correctly is to love God completely. The whole being with which we are to love God is broken down into three parts here.
i) We are to love God purely.
We are to love God with a whole heart – with an undivided heart. The heart is understood to be the seat of our affection and will. The heart focuses our will and causes us to either do good things or bad things – either to say good things or bad things. In Matthew 12:35 Jesus teaches us that good people do good things because they have good inside of them – in their heart. And the opposite is also true. Wicked people do evil things because they have evil in their hearts.
To love God with a pure heart means that we don’t love God just for all of the benefits that we talked about earlier as great as they may be. We don’t love God just because of what’s in it for us. No. We love God purely when we love God simply because he deserves to be loved.
ii) We are to love God passionately.
The next thing we are told is that we are to love God with all of our souls. The soul is the life or breath or essence of a person. This is what separates us from inanimate life forms like plants. We have consciousness. We have self-awareness. So when we love God with all of our souls we are taking all of the life that we have and loving God with it. To me that speaks of passion.
iii) We are to love God powerfully.
Finally, we are told that we are to love God with all of our strength. The Hebrew word for “strength” (meod) carries the idea of using your full strength to the point of exhaustion. In other words you love God with everything you have. You expend all that you are in loving God. You love God fully and thoroughly with nothing held back in reserve.
We are to love God purely, passionately and powerfully.
3. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF OBEDIENCE.
When it comes to lovingly obeying God we have several responsibilities to discharge.
a) Hide God’s Word In Your Heart.
My first responsibility is to myself. This is not at all selfish, but rather a simple recognition of the fact that I can’t help others if I, myself, am not right with God first. Deuteronomy 6:6, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.” God’s word and his instructions should be held near and dear to the heart of every believer. This also shows the importance of not having a merely intellectual understanding of God’s law. We are rather to internalize God’s word and incorporate into the very fabric of our lives.
b) Impress God’s Word On Your Children.
My second responsibility is to my family and specifically to my children. Deuteronomy 6:7, “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.” First, you incorporate the word of God into the fabric of your life and then you incorporate it into your family life. But I think it is worth noting here that the Bible says, “Impress them on your children,” not, “Impose them on your children.” There is a tremendous difference between the two and a tremendous amount of damage has been done by well meaning parents who did not recognize this or understand it. Paul said in Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” I think you exasperate your children when you impose God’s word on them without making a proper personal impression on them.
The best way to impress them is – as implied by our text – to live out the word yourself in your everyday life so that your children can see it. That will impress them more than all of the rules you set and all of the lectures you give and all of the standards you hold them to.
c) Provide A Public Witness.
My next responsibility is to my community and to my neighbors. And remember that Jesus basically defined your neighbor as anybody outside of your family who needs your help – who needs what you have to offer. That means that every person who doesn’t have the gospel is your neighbor because they need what you have – the Good News. Deuteronomy 6:8-9, “Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on you foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” In other words your religion is not to be just a private work, but also a public witness. You don’t just hide God’s word in your heart, but you also tie it to your hands and forehead for all to see. The Jews took this very literally and wrote Scriptures on papers and put them in pouches called phylacteries which they tied to their hands and foreheads. They also put Scriptures into cases called Mezuzahs which they nailed to the doorposts of every entrance to their homes. However, I think the main point is not that we should wear phylacteries, but that God’s word should influence both your hands and your head – both your behavior and your brain – both your actions and your attitudes. You should be influenced by God’s word inside and out for all to see. Your religion is not merely a private matter, but also a public ministry.
CONCLUSION:
As we have seen over the course of this message and throughout this scripture passage, the requirement of obedience carries great responsibility, but also offers great reward. If you want to live a blessed life, then you must first live an obedient life. And obedience is nothing more and nothing less than the manifestation of love for the Father.
