“What Kind of Love is God Looking For From Us?”
Deut. 6.4-6
February 9, 2014
Chester FBC, Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker
A If you go to KFC, you have a choice of dark or white meat, it’s what you prefer.
1 My favorite is white meat (Ms. Pam’s is the dark), my favorite part of a steak is the fat, loaf of bread is the heal, Justice league is Green Lantern (Funny Story.)
a The boys & I were watching an animated show with the Justice League this week (on one of their snow days) and told Ridge, “If something ever happened to your mom, I’d try to find a woman like Wonder Woman.” Ridge said, “Kinda aiming a little high there aren’t you Ol’man?”
b The passage I’m going to read you is the choice cut of Scripture to the Jew, the Shema.
a The Shema is divided into three-parts.
aa
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NASB) 4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 11:13-21 (NASB)13 "It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, 14 that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. 15 "He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16 "Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them. 17 "Or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you. 18 "You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 19 "You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.
Numbers 15:37-41 (NASB) 37 The LORD also spoke to Moses, saying, 38 "Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue. 39 "It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot,40 so that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your God. 41 "I am the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the LORD your God."
bb This passage is apart of their morning & evening prayers; inscribe on their phylacteries; inside their Muzzuahs as they enter a room.
b The most important part of this “choice cut” is Deut. 6.4-9.
Deuteronomy 6:4-6 (NASB) 4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
2 As the Jew recites this daily prayer, they do so under the prayer shawl (Tallith.)
a If you would count all the words of the Shema from the Hebraic text you would find 248 words in total.
aa This number represents the amount of positive commandments in the Torah. (Out of a total of 613 commandments.)
bb 248 is also the number of “limbs” that the human body contains in its entirety. (USE CHART IN PP FROM THIS SITE) http://tidbitsoftorah.blogspot.com/2009/11/248-limbs-in-human-body-parallel-248.html
cc 613-248=365 (The number of days in a year!!!) It’s a constant reminder to stay righteous/holy every single day!
b The 248 word prayer constantly reminds the Jew to love God with all that is within them every single day!!!
B There is only ONE God & He is the living, infinite, eternal, self-existent, self-sufficient God of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob (Israel.)
1 His name is not Allah, Buddha, Krishna, Confucius . . . I AM.
a He is the only living, true God.
b The fact in this realization is that it was meant to stop the people of Israel from chasing after idols (other gods.)
aa If He’s “it,” “the ONE” - let us have no desire for another.
bb What choice do we really have?
2 We have only one God to please, to serve, one master to make happy! (But how?)
a v.5, “Love God with all your heart, soul, might.”
aa The more we love Him, the greater our respect, honor, loyalty, veneration we will have for Him.
bb God has not asked that we love Him, He has commanded we love Him (cf.)
Mark 12:28-30 (NASB) 28 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?" 29 Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; 30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'
b God is telling His children, “Give me your heart.”
aa The God King of the Universe has demanded us to Him first, foremost over any and everything in our lives.
bb All the things we do, services we render flow out of the principle of our love for Him.
c It should be life’s greatest joy to think of Him, hear from Him, speak to Him & to serve Him.
C Loving God involves the totality of the inner person.
1 It isn’t necessary to define/distinguish the individual elements as though they represent three different internal functions.
a He does command His people to love Him with everything they got!!
aa Love: strong emotional attachment, desire to posses or be in the presence of the object of love.
bb Heart: totality of a person’s inner or immaterial nature (heart of gold, heart & soul, her “heart” is in the right place) which runs the spectrum of human emotion which is attributed to the heart.
cc Soul: Represents your breath, spirit, personal identity while a person is alive. (We should love Him as long as we have breath in our lungs.)
dd Might: Strength, means to accomplish what we do. (In the Jewish Talmud, a written version of the oral tradition passed down through the generations, inserts “money” for “might.”)
b I don’t think it necessary to individualize each word (heart, soul, might) to grasp the meaning of the kind of love that God desires from His children.
aa In some passages of Scripture only two are listed
Deuteronomy 4:29 (NASB) 29 "But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.
Joshua 22:5 (NASB) 5 "Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul."
bb In other passages there are four words listed
Mark 12:30 (NASB) 30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'
Luke 10:27 (NASB) 27 And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
cc The phrase is essentially saying love God with “all that is within you.”
Psalm 103:1 (NASB) 1 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
2 Years ago, Bonnie Rait sang a song that said, “I can’t make you love me if you don’t.”
a Is it possible to command somebody to love?
aa Isn’t love some mysterious thing that just appears, that is either there or it’s not?
bb Not according to Scripture!
b In the life of a believer, love is an act of the will.
aa We choose to relate to God (and other people) in a loving way irregardless of how we “feel.”
bb Christian love means we treat others the way God treats way.
c Ephesians 4:32 (NASB) 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
aa He is kind/forgiving towards us, so we seek to be kind/forgiving towards others in like manner.
bb God wants the very best for us, so we desire the very best for others—even if it demands sacrifice on our part.
D Love isn’t simply butterflies in our stomach, sweaty palms, racing heartbeat, exotic feeling; love leads us to action.
1 John 3.16, “For God so loved . . . He gave.”
a Real love leads us to do something!
aa 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NASB) 4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
bb This passage describes what love does, not necessarily how love feels.
b Love is not just how we feel about people, it’s also how we treat them.
2 If we love Him like He commands us to love Him, what & whoever we love we must loved through our love for Him.
a I’m going to love my spouse, children, church, Pastor, friends out of the love I have for God.
aa We don’t have to do anything with our whole hearts but love God.
bb When we love Him with every part of who we are, with all of the love we have give away, it is flowing out of this stream of love we have for Him.
b If we are totally surrendered to the Lord, open to His Word as ministered to us by His Spirit, then the “feeling” will follow.
aa However, even if the “feeling” doesn’t come, we must still relate to others (& God) as the LORD relates to us.
bb The trouble many of us encounter is that we come up short when it comes to loving God with ALL our hearts. We’re happy with about $3 worth of God.
c Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. aa I don't want enough of Him to make me love a black man
or pick beets with a migrant.
bb I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth.
cc I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please."
dd If we would be totally honest, the idea of transformation really scares us.
ee That is because we know that such a radical change would be quite uncomfortable. We realize that with transformation comes a major overhaul of our lives and priorities.
3 If we love God the way He has commanded, He not only gets our heart, but He also gets our time, talent, treasure.
a Worship is not a service I attend, it’s an action I engage in.
aa We stop looking at the clock and start looking for the presence.
bb We stop tipping and start tithing.
cc We stop being selfish and start being selfless.
b Two wealthy Christians, a lawyer and a merchant, joined a party that was going around the world. Before they started, their minister earnestly asked them to observe and remember any unusual and interesting things that they might see in the missionary countries through which the party was to travel. The men promised—carelessly, perhaps—to do so.
aa One day in Korea, they saw in a field by the side of the road a boy pulling a crude plow, while an old man held the handles and directed it.
bb The lawyer was amused, and took a snapshot of the scene. “That’s a curious picture! I suppose they are very poor,” he said to the missionary who was interpreter and guide to the party.
cc “Yes,” was the quiet reply. “That is the family of Chi Noui. When the church was being built they were eager to give something to it, but they had no money so they sold their only ox and gave the money to the church. This spring they are pulling the plow themselves.”
dd The lawyer and the businessman by his side were silent for some moments. Then the businessman said, “That must have been a real sacrifice.” “They did not call it that,” said the missionary. “They thought it was fortunate they had an ox to sell.” -From Michael McCartney’s Sermon: “Role-Model Saints” Romans pt. 14
Conclusion:
A He has commanded us to love Him with all our heart, soul, might.
1 It was not for Him we would not have any them (heart, soul, might.)
a Are we giving Him the love He demanded of us?
b How does our worship show it? Check book? Homes? Behavior? Prayers? Ministries?
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My name is Mike Fogerson, and I pastor a Southern Baptist Church in Chester, Illinois. I have been a long-time user of Sermon Central and truly appreciate its content and contributors. Some of the best sermons I’ve ever preached have been reworked material from this website. As you use the material from my sermon bank, understand that it is work that has been done from not just myself, but from hundreds of other pastors as well. If you see part of your message, or a bunch of your message with my name on it and this upsets you, please email me and I will quickly respond and cite you as the main source. My intent is not to claim someone’s work as my own. I am disclaiming up front that I use the resources from Sermon Central and appreciate the tool. I simply want all those who use my work to know that some of these messages were inspired by the Holy Spirit working through other pastors. Because I do use the messages of other pastors I waive all claims of originality or origin of creativity for the messages posted under my messages. I pray God blesses your preaching ministry for the glory of His Kingdom.
Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
