Don’t Give God the Leftovers
Matthew 22:34-40
September 14, 2008
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT USED IN MY MESSAGES IS BORROWED FROM ANDY STANLEY’S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Introduction
I hope you don’t mind if the sermon is a bit shorter today.
The topic we’re looking at today, the issue of loving God with everything in us, could actually fill a lot of time. Years, in fact.
But I felt that there was one specific thing that God wanted me to communicate today, and while I’ve added some commentary to it, and your note-taking guide has a bunch of blanks in it, there is one thing in particular that I want to make sure you leave with.
And if that’s all you get out of this message, I’ll be fine with that.
This issue of loving God literally shapes how you live out your Christian life. Whether it’s a life of substance, meaning, purpose, and effectiveness for God, or whether it’s just another life of someone who had priorities that don’t include God or else put Him at the bottom.
How we love God makes all the difference in our enjoyment of God and all His benefits.
My hope is that by the end of our time today you’ll want that kind of love to be what defines your relationship with God.
God: As we look at our passage for today, I just want to remind you of the context of what we’re looking at today.
The conversation in today’s Scripture passage is just one of a number of debates and teachings that take place on this day, which is just three days before He was crucified.
Just prior to this conversation, He had silenced two different groups of people who had tried to trap Him in His words.
And then the Pharisees came up to Jesus for one more crack at Him, and they ask Him a question that was actually a frequent topic of discussion and debate among the religious leaders themselves.
Matthew 22:34-40 (p. 699) –
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 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."
There are some really great sermons that discuss what it means to love God with your heart, with your soul, and with your mind, as well as how to love God with your strength, which we find in Mark’s account of this conversation, and I’ve even preached a couple of those sermons.
But I think that while that’s a worthwhile thing to examine on occasion, I can’t help but feel in my heart that God wants us to simply focus on what I think is the main lesson of this passage, and that is that we are to love God with everything in us and love those around us as we’d want to be loved.
From a biblical viewpoint, these three things aren’t separate categories of our life, but overlapping categories, and so the idea here is that our love for God needs to come from our whole person, our every ability and capacity. (EBC)
So often we tend to compartmentalize our lives. This is our work part, this is our play part, this is my family part, this is my money part, this is my political part, this is my God part.
We try to fool ourselves into thinking that we can just separate these different parts of our lives and they won’t impact any other part.
And the area that folks really try to do that in is the “God” part. Most folks are fine thinking, “Okay God, I’ll let you have Sundays. But that’s it. That’s my ‘God Day,’ and that oughtta be enough. I don’t want you getting into my work part, my family part, and I especially don’t want you getting into my money part.”
But according to Jesus, that’s not the way God want it. He wants the whole enchilada. He doesn’t want just the “God” part, whatever that is in your life.
I would venture to guess that most folks don’t even carve out enough to have a “God” part. They think about God rarely, if at all, and if they do think of Him, they’re likely to just give Him the scraps of their lives.
But you need to listen to this:
God wants all of your life, not just the leftovers!
God created you. He created you for a purpose. He created you to love you and bless you and to partner with you for His kingdom.
He doesn’t want the scraps. He wants all of you. And He deserves all of you, whether you feel like He does or not.
He wants you to love Him with everything in you. Everything you’ve got.
But we need to talk a bit about what it means to love God with everything in us.
This is important in our day and age, for a few reasons:
* Most people in our society today view love as just a kind of emotional attachment, and when that emotional aspect is gone, then their commitment is gone as well.
* A lot of times, “having a relationship with God” is presented as something along the lines of the relationships that we see on TV or in romantic comedies.
And for guys especially, that’s just not something they want, and who could blame them.
* I think that a lot of times people think of loving God like they love their favorite baseball team, their dog, or their truck.
And that’s not what it’s all about, either.
So it’s important that we look at what the word “love” here really means.
You have to first understand that the New Testament was written in Greek, not English.
And in Greek, there are actually five different words for the English word, “love.” Three of these are found in the New Testament.
The word for “love” in this passage is agapao, which is a totally unselfish love, a love that human beings are capable only with the help of God Himself through the Holy Spirit.
It’s the kind of love that God has for us and that drove Jesus to the cross on our behalf.
This kind of love is more than an emotion – it’s a commitment. It’s what kicks in when the emotion kinda ebbs from time to time or when the going gets really tough.
It’s the love we talk about in a wedding ceremony where we say, “for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.”
It’s a love that says, “I’m in this thing even when it looks like I’m getting nothing in return for it.”
That’s way more than an emotion, wouldn’t you agree? It’s a decision – it’s a commitment.
I love my family very much. This last week my daughter Dani and I went to the Cities to look at a college she’s interested in and while we were there, we forced ourselves to watch some Twins games.
It’s during times like that when I really appreciate the love I have for my family and that my family has for me.
It’s a wonderful thing. I love them. I love them passionately.
I like to say to my kids that I can’t tell them how much I love them because they don’t make words that big. If you’re a parent, you know what I’m talking about.
Well, the fact is that God loves us infinitely even more than that. His love is indescribable in terms of “how much” He loves us.
But He loves us dearly. He loves us passionately.
And He wants us to love Him the same way.
So when the Scriptures talk about loving God, it means that you’re committing your life to Him, to serve Him with joy and gladness.
In a sense you’re saying, “I’m giving my life to You – every part of it – because You’re worth it to me.”
And like other relationships, it’s not one-sided at all. God promises some benefits to those who sell out to Him like this.
1. You will begin to understand that God’s will for your life is revealed in the Scriptures.
2. You will desire to obey God’s will for your life because you understand that this is the key to living life the way God designed it to be lived.
3. Your entire being – heart, soul, mind – is transformed to be more like what God intended for you to be like in the first place.
4. This helps you love your neighbor as you should – which helps them live as God designed as well.
(NIVAC)
Folks, even if there was none of this – and believe me, it’s way more than this – even if there was none of this, it would be worth it, if only because God deserves it for sending Jesus to bleed and die for us.
What I’m trying to communicate here is that loving God benefits us. Loving God is good for us.
You: There is really only one main application from this passage, although there are many, many ways to make it happen:
Make a conscious decision to let God run the show. Then let Him do it.
This doesn’t happen by default. It’s something that you have to make a real, courageous decision about.
It’s courageous because this kind of thing takes guts. Letting God have your complete love and devotion is tough. We like to have control over our lives.
Examine your life, asking God to show you if there is anything in your life that you’ve been holding back.
And chances are that you’ll find something. Maybe a lot of somethings.
And you know what? This is something all of us need to do from time to time. I have to ask God to help me with this a lot.
But I’ve found that when I turn those parts of my life back to God and rededicate myself to loving Him with everything in me, my life regains focus, meaning, and purpose.
Folks, loving God like this isn’t always easy. But as I’ve said numerous times since coming here, it’s worth it.
But you have to prove that for yourself. I hope you’ll go for it.
We: Can you imagine what would happen in each of our lives if we really got serious about loving God with everything in us – heart, soul, mind, and strength?
Can you imagine would happen in this church if we, as individuals, really got serious about loving God with everything in us – heart, soul, mind, and strength?
Can you imagine what would happen in Aberdeen and the surrounding area if the people in this church really got serious about loving God with everything in us – heart, soul, mind, and strength?
Let me tell you what I imagine:
We would see many of our friends and neighbors who don’t yet know Jesus find out that there is something life-changing about believing in and following Jesus.
And they’d come to Christ for themselves – because of what they see in you.
Invitation
Before we finish up here, I’d like you to put your pens and pencils down, and not worry about getting your stuff together to leave, and just listen for a couple minutes.
I’m going to change up the order here in a bit and we’re going to sing our closing chorus, “Majesty,” then I’ll close in prayer
But as we’re singing, I want you to wrestle with a couple questions. I want you to wrestle with them now, and I want you to wrestle with them all this week, and I want you to wrestle with them from time to time for the rest of your life.
Actually, there are three questions, but depending on where you are in your relationship with God, you’ll ask at least two of these, and maybe even all three.
And these are questions you need to ask God.
Question #1: “Am I holding anything back from You?”
Question #2: “What am I holding back from You?”
Question #3: “What should I do about it?”
As we sing, I’m going to open the altar, and if you feel that God would have you come down here to make that conscious decision to let God run the show, or to ask those questions, then I invite you to come.
And after we sing, I’ll close in prayer for those at the altar and for our whole family as we dismiss.
