Loving God with All Your Heart and Soul
Mark 12:30
January 10, 2010
Introduction
Folks, you just need to know that this message is going to be a little longer today, okay?
But let me clue you in on something: you get better service and they put out fresh food on the buffet after the main rush, okay?
And the parking’s better anyway.
Last week we started on the journey that we’re calling, “The Year the Family,” and we’re going to spend our time this year looking at how to strengthen the family of God and individual families.
And one of the reasons we’re doing this is because I feel that God wants us to take some time and really work on the bonds of fellowship that should exist in the family of God and individual families.
So we started last week and looked at 1 John 4:7-12, and 19-21, and the main point I wanted to make last week was that our love for each other reflects the love of God in us.
And that’s what I want us to keep in mind as we work through this over 2010.
But I also feel that for us to properly love each other as we should, we need to love God like we should.
So for the next three Sundays we’re going to look at how we can do that, on a real-life, practical level.
God: Our basis for the next three weeks is Mark 12:30 –
“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’”
A powerful piece of Scripture that I think is easy to just kind of gloss over, because I don’t think we take the time to really examine what Jesus is saying here.
Remember the context of this verse is someone asking Him which is the most important commandment, out of all the commandments in Scripture.
And Jesus says, “Here it is: Love God. With everything in you, with everything you’ve got, love God.”
Listen to this from the Expositor’s Bible Commentary:
God is to be loved completely and totally because He, and He alone, is God and because He has made a covenant of love with His people. In the covenant God gives Himself totally in love to His people; therefore He expects His people to give themselves totally in love to Him. (EBC)
Listen to this from The Message translation:
“’…so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’”
God wants us to love Him PASSIONATELY.
Rick Warren:
“Here’s the amazing thing. In America it’s ok to be passionate about anything except God. That is not politically correct -- to be passionate about God. I can be passionate about movies. I can be passionate about sports. I can be passionate about politics. I can be passionate about fashions and clothes. I can be passionate about restaurants (and some of us really are). But I cannot be passionate about God. That’s a no-no.”
(Reigniting Your Passion for God, Sermoncentral.com)
All of us can relate to the kind of passion Rick Warren talks about. I’m passionate about my Minnesota Twins and the fact that it’s only 87 days until Opening Day, and only seven more days until their first game in their new stadium, Target Field.
That’s the kind of passion we need to love God with.
I think some people look at this idea of loving God and think we’re talking about loving God like you love your boyfriend or girlfriend, and that’s not it at all.
We’re saying that we need to be excited about God even more than we get excited about all that other stuff.
And we need to show that excitement and passion by loving God.
So how do we do that? Let’s look at some ways to do that.
And you have to remember something here, and that is that love isn’t primarily an emotion, but what? An action, according to Scripture.
So let’s look at some ways to love God.
Some of you are looking at your note-taking guide and going, “Hey this looks a bit familiar. Seems like I’ve come across something like this, but didn’t have to do with having a good marriage?”
And you might recognize this list, because it’s one that we see when we talk about human relationships, especially in a husband and wife relationship.
As I was working on the message, I got to thinking, “Hey – if we were to apply some of what we know about loving people to how we can love God, what would that look like?”
And I thought of the five love languages made popular by Dr. Gary Chapman.
Now, I understand that God isn’t human, but I think that as we go through this list, you’ll find that this is at least one good way to look at how we can love God with all our heart and soul.
So today, I’m borrowing these five love languages from Dr. Chapman and using them to talk about our relationship with God.
1. Words of Affirmation.
What do I mean by that?
You talk to Him and about Him in ways that are good.
Let me ask you something: How do you talk to God?
Do you spend all your time complaining to Him? Do you make use of your prayer time to just let God know of all the misery you’re going through?
I’m not saying we shouldn’t pray about the bad stuff and hard stuff we go through. In fact, the Bible says we should pray about that stuff.
But some people only pray about that stuff. Their purpose in prayer is to simply complain to God. And you know what? In some ways they’re blaming God for their problems.
Let me suggest that you spend time talking to Him about how awesome and loving He is, and maybe thanking Him for the good stuff, even when you’re going through the rough stuff.
Let me give you an example from the Psalms.
You know what I love about the Psalms – especially the ones by David?
They reveal the frustrations of someone who loves God, doesn’t always understand Him, and yet trusts Him, even in the midst of some really horrible stuff going on in his life.
Just listen to Psalm 3:
A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.
Stop. David wrote this psalm when he was on the run from his own son. Absalom was taking over the kingdom, and his advisors told him that as long as his dad was alive, he’d never really be the king.
And he said, “Wow. You’re right. Get it done.”
Some of you are facing some really tough stuff right now. It’s different for different folks, but some of you are really up against it right now.
But let me ask you: are any of you running for your life from your own child?
Can you imagine the pain and heartache David must have been going through? I can’t. Let’s read the psalm.
1 O Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! 2 Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him."
3 But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. 4 To the Lord I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill.
5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. 6 I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side.
7 Arise, O Lord! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. 8 From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.
When you talk to God, you can be completely honest with Him about what you’re going through.
He knows it all anyway, so you might as well be upfront about it.
Notice what David does here: he’s like, “God, I’m running for my life FROM MY SON!”
But look at this stuff: But You are a shield around me. You hear me when I pray. The Lord sustains me, so I don’t have to be afraid. From the Lord comes deliverance.
Yeah, he spent some time complaining here. But the bottom line is that God is there, no matter the circumstance.
Folks, we all go through hard times. Sometimes we go through things like the apostle Paul that made them despair to the point of death.
But let me ask you something. If all you do is complain, how many friends are you going to have?
People don’t tend to flock to people who just complain all the time, even if their complaint is legitimate. No one likes to just hear complaining all the time.
And you know what? God doesn’t like to hear it all the time, either.
God wants to hear you thank Him for what He’s done in your life (and He’s done more than you know, by the way).
He wants you to tell Him how great and awesome and holy He is. That’s what praise is.
He wants to hear that you acknowledge who He is, and that you appreciate what He’s done for you.
And he deserves it.
Tell Him these things. Give God some words of affirmation on a regular basis.
2. Quality Time.
This means giving God your full, undivided attention for an amount of time. How much time you spend is between you and God.
This means taking some time away from the distractions of life and spending time with God in the Bible and prayer.
You listen to Him speak to you through the Scriptures and you speak to Him about what you’re reading and thinking about in the Scriptures and about what you’re going through.
Now here’s the thing you’ve got to learn and understand: you have to make time for this.
You have to make a conscious decision to make time to spend quality time with God. You may have to actually write it in your planner every day in order to make it happen.
I have to do that. Every day in my planner I have to write “QT” for “Quiet Time,” and I make that my A1 priority every day.
But you know what? I don’t always spend that time, even if it’s in my planner. It’s hard for me to make that time, even though I’m a pastor and pastors are supposed to have this phenomenally awesome supernatural relationship with Jesus that nothing or nobody can touch.
Folks, I get distracted by stuff. I have people calling me for one reason or another. I have tasks to perform, phone calls to return, meetings to plan, following up on the decisions made in those meetings, counseling people in person and on the phone, visiting people, playing computer games, and all sorts of stuff.
Just kidding – I don’t have time for computer games. So I just watch re-runs of reality TV…
Folks, I am paid to study God’s Word and bring you a message every week. But that’s not the kind of time in God’s Word and prayer that I’m talking about.
I’m talking about the fact that I need time with God – to refresh my own soul, to re-connect with the God who loves me and wants only the best for me.
Even Jesus had to make time to be with His Father away from the work of ministry.
Luke 5:16 –
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
I need that. I need time with God that has nothing to do with the sermon that week. And so do you. You need that time with God away from the distractions and hassles of life.
It will benefit you, and it will honor God. It’s a great way to show your love for Him.
But let me give you another motivation for spending time with God. It’s because He wants to spend time with you.
God loves you more than you’ll ever know. He wants to spend time with you, talking to you, giving you wisdom, giving you comfort, giving you power to live for Him, and all sorts of stuff.
Make time to have Quality Time with God.
3. Receiving Gifts.
Some people just love to give gifts, and the rest of us like to receive gifts.
God loves to give gifts to His children.
Jesus talks about this a bit in a passage that I quote a lot here:
John 10:10 –
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Jesus says, “Look – the thief of your life and soul wants to hurt you. On the other hand, I want to give you something: I want to give you an awesome life filled with meaning, significance, security, and purpose, and I want to give you everything you need to make that happen. If you’ll follow Me, I’ll make sure you get that full life.”
What are some of the gifts God gives? I’m just going to read some of these things off. This isn’t all of them, but here’s a few:
* Eternal life.
* Wisdom in trials
* Ways out of temptation.
* Blessings.
* Answered prayer.
* Strength and abilities to provide for yourselves and your family.
* Peace in the midst of trial.
* His Word.
* His Spirit.
* His Family.
The funny thing about gifts, though. And if you’ve been here for any length of time you know what I’m going to say.
You need to receive the gift. God’s offering these things to you, but it’s not really yours until you reach out in faith and take them for yourself.
You know what? I believe it hurts God when we reject His gifts.
Have any of you ever offered someone a gift and had it rejected? Especially if it’s from one of your children? Man, that’s got to hurt.
My kids have never rejected a gift from me, because they know I’d spank them for it…
When that happens, we don’t look at it as if they’re rejecting the gift, we look at it as if they’re rejecting us, don’t we?
Well I think the Father feels the same way when one of His children reject the gifts He has for them because they think that a) they don’t need it, or b) they think God doesn’t really know what they need.
Take the gifts He has for you.
4. Acts of Service.
This one and the next were the hardest for me to work with in the context of loving God with all our heart and soul, but I think you’ll find something here you can use.
Two ways to do this:
* Obey Him (do what He says to do or don’t do what He says not to do).
John 14:23-24 –
“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”
Folks, you have no idea how often I come across the idea that it’s okay to love Jesus emotionally but not obey Him.
They might even come to church, read their Bibles, or whatever, but they choose a lifestyle that they know is contrary to what Jesus wants for them.
The problem is that Jesus says that’s wrong. Jesus just lays it out here: “If you love Me, you’ll obey Me. You don’t really love Me if you don’t obey Me.”
Remember – love is not primarily an emotion, it’s primarily an action, and that’s especially true when it comes to loving God.
I have a passionate and emotional love for God. But I show that love by obeying Him. Otherwise it’s just lip-service, and Jesus is quite clear what He thinks about that.
Obey Him, and then at the same time…
* Do good works in His name.
Matthew 5:16 –
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
Just do good things for folks, especially to those who are part of the family of God.
But really, for just anybody you can, when you can.
Maybe it’s shoveling someone’s sidewalk for them during the winter or mowing their lawn in the spring and summer.
Maybe it’s baking a pie or cake for someone simply because you think they’d like it.
Volunteer in the community, like at the Salvation Army or Safe Harbor, or the hospital, or something.
One of the things I really hope to get going here in the next couple of months that I hope will be a permanent part of the ministries of this church is Bible study groups meeting in homes that adopt some sort of service project that they can do together as a group.
Visit some of our shut-ins from the church. Pray with and for the Church family.
All sorts of possibilities exist for doing acts of kindness for God for the sake of helping members of His family praise His name and helping those outside of His family see Him better.
5. Physical touch.
Now, obviously, we can’t touch God physically. Jesus says that God is spirit, and that we’re supposed to worship Him in spirit and truth.
So how can we do the physical touch thing?
We can touch His Body – the Church.
That’s one of the names that the Bible has for the Church of God. The Body of Christ.
When we reach out and touch the Body of Christ – through smiles, hugs, and kind acts, and all sorts of things, we’re touching the Body of Christ.
When we’re kind to the members of the Church, we are, in a sense, giving a loving physical touch to Christ.
You: Okay, now here’s the part where I say, “Pick one of these things and work on them.”
But I’m not going to do that. Instead I’m going to say you should work on all these five areas. Not just one of them. All of them.
God wants you to love Him in all these ways. Some of these things are going to be a major stretch for some of you.
You’re going to have to work on some of these things, because you’ve never done them before.
So let me give you a suggestion: just start, and stumble along as best you can for the time being.
God will be pleased by your heart-felt effort, and you’ll learn how to do it better as you go. So just start.
And let me give you another idea: buy the book, The Five Love Languages, and practice on other people as you learn to love God in those ways.
It’ll be a blessing to them, a blessing to you, and a blessing to God.
We: Folks, the world is filled with people who claim to love God but don’t back it up with their lifestyle.
And you know what else? The world is sick of people who claim to love God but don’t back it up with their lifestyle.
I want them to see something different when they see you.
I want them to see people who actually work to love God with their lives, and are seeing the fruit of joy that comes with that, even when times are tough.
Folks, let’s start today. Let’s ask God to help us love Him as we should so we can love His family as we should.
Let’s be people who love God passionately.
Invitation
Before we go, I need to talk about something that’s eternally important.
Earlier I talked about how one way to love God is to receiving the gifts He offers you.
Some of you need to start with the receiving gifts and the gift you need to receive is the gift of eternal life in Jesus.
You need to become a child of God. “But I thought everyone was a child of God.” Not so.
John 1:12-13 –
Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
You’re not born a Christian, you become a Christian. And if you’ve never received Christ for your very own, then that’s where you need to start.
You need to establish that relationship with the God who wants to be your heavenly Father.
As we end today, you’re going to have an opportunity to do that.
I’m going to say a prayer in just a moment that you can pray along with me in your heart, and if you want to walk out of here today knowing that your sins are forgiven and you have a home in heaven, then you pray along with me.
Because you see, if you don’t have Christ for yourself, then you run the danger of leaving this world and having to pay for your sins on your own by spending eternity in hell.
I don’t want that for any of you. And more than that, God doesn’t want that for any of you.
So Jesus came and died on a cross, shedding His blood so you could have your sins forgiven and you could spend eternity in heaven instead of hell.
He loved you so much that He said He’d rather die than spend eternity without you.
So today, take the gift of eternal life and walk out of here today having eternity squared away, and having the promise of God working in your present.
Let’s pray.
