Going All In, In Loving Him – part 2
OKAY – today is week 6 in our message series ‘Getting Better, At What Jesus Said Matters Most.’
UNDERSTAND B/S – there is nothing more important in the church and in our lives then, ‘ Getting Better At’…
• Loving God
• Loving our neighbor, and
• Loving ourselves (then being emotionally healthy and spiritually mature)
NOW – I want you to know that I am totally serious about this concept of emotionally healthy spirituality… BECAUSE – the truth is you cannot be spiritually mature without being emotionally healthy.
That is why in early May I will travel to Queens, in New York city to join with 350 other church leaders from around the country to attend a conference with Peter Scazzero about how Emotionally Healthy Spirituality to our church.
I am really pumped up about it because I am convinced that broken people (in our church and in our community) we be made whole!
AND LISTEN – like I said last week we will NEVER STOP ‘pursuing’ getting better at what Jesus says matters most, because the truth is…
THAT IT’S UPON – these 3 things commandments that all the law and the prophets hinge.
AND BECAUSE – getting better at them is the doorway to living the life God always intended that you live.
OKAY… here’s the deal.
There were dreams, thoughts, and intentions…
There was A LIFE that God had in mind when He breathed life into your body, and as He began forming you in your mother’s womb (1 cell from your mom and 1 cell from your dad),
A LIFE – of freedom, joy, contentment, purpose, satisfaction, meaning and fulfillment.
BUT TRAGICALLY – it is…
A LIFE - that far too many people who claim Jesus and walk through the doors of the church, leave this earth without ever experiencing in all it’s fullness.
AND – the reason why, is because between you and that life is a door…
A closed door, that is a barrier, that is separating you from that life… BUT YET – it is always just beyond that door.
NOW – the good news is that this door has 3 hinges on it that will allow it to swing open freely…
AND B/S…
• Loving God, is the top hinge
• Loving yourself, if the middle hinge
• Loving your neighbor, is the bottom hinge
OKAY – here’s the deal.
AND LISTEN – this deal is for real…
Getting Better at loving God (as you should), loving your neighbor (as He intends) and loving yourself (as He commands)… IS – the doorway to the life you always wanted to live! SO – I said last week, let’s just keep working those hinges…
TURN – right/left, and say… “Let’s work those hinges”
NOW – we spent the first 3 weeks of this series talking about the middle hinge… “the commandment of Jesus for you , to love yourself.” AND – in those 3 weeks you learned that to love yourself, to work that middle hinge, you must…
• Plunge The Depths Of The Father’s Love
• Push Through Insecurity
• Accept That You Loving Yourself Is Essential Not Selfish
• Go Back In Order To Move Forward
• Use 1 Corinthians 13 As A Template For Loving Yourself
• Let God’s Approval Become Your Validation
AND UNDERSTAND – it is my intent to remind you of these 6 things again and again, again… to burn them into your heart and your mind… SO THAT – anytime you find yourself feeling bad about ‘you’, all you need to do is pull one of those bad boys out… and execute it, apply it… GET IT?
AND THEN – in week 4 we begin to talk about that top hinge, getting better at loving God, in a conversation where I tried to make the case that God is worthy of your love because…
God is GREAT and God is GOOD
AND LAST – as we continued working that top hinge…
we began unpacking a conversation called,
“Going All In, In Loving Him”
A conversation about falling for, about falling in love with God.
AND - we said that…
Going All In, In Loving Him
Begins with…
Accepting His Proposal
BEGINS – with saying ‘YES” to the star breathing, ocean holding, universe creating God’s extravagant proposal.
ONE – of the questions we discussed in Life Groups this week was to discuss some of the awesome proposals we heard of or experienced it…
I shared about one I read about in Bob Goff’s (fun to read book, Love Does)… in chapter called “Ryan in Love.”
• Bob and His wife live in a home right on the water, near a path that people often walk on… Well on day a guy named Ryan walks up from the path to where Bob was sitting on his bad porch.
• Hey I am going to propose to my girlfriend could I use your backyard it is such a beautiful setting.
• A few days later, I was wondering if we could have dinner on your back porch before I pop the question.
• A few days later, I was wondering if my friends could serve us dinner on your porch (how many 20)
• A few days later, I was wondering if I could put up some speakers and lights in your yard – and after dinner and all my friends – we could dance in your backyard.
• A few days later… do you have a boat… can we borrow it?
• Okay Ryan the boat is yours! I’ll take you and your girlfriend out on my boat. After dinner at my house, after your 20 friends finishing serving you and you dance together on my porch. You can pop the question to you girl up on the front deck on my boat…
• By this time Bob was getting into this thing as well and contacted a friend of his in the coast guard to hatch a plan of his own.
• Well the big night came… dinner and dancing is over. They are motoring out into the bay. The stars are in full view.
• Then they finally reach the spot where Ryan was going to pop the question. Ryan at 50 friends on the shore with candles spelling out “will you marry me”
• So he pops the question, and when his girlfriend says yes… Bob gives a thumbs up to his Coast Guard buddy who begins to fire off every water cannon on the ship. As Ryan kisses his bride to be, letting the mist of the water cannons settle on them like a thousand small kisses
Wow, Ryan’s love was audacious, it was crazy – it large and it was loud… He went through a lot to be able to give his proposal to the one he loved…
AND - so did Jesus…
• He humbled himself
• He became a servant
• He became obedient to the point of death
YOU SEE – to make His proposal to you, Jesus (God in the flesh) did not get down on one knee, instead He hung from nails against a blood stained cross
B/S - a proposal is on the table and it has been there for 2000 years.
God has offered us an incredible invitation to enter into an intimate relationship with Himself. - Gary Moon
NOW BEFORE – you say “YES” to God’s extravagant proposal it is important for us to understand the nature of this proposal and the kind of relationship that God is looking to have with you.
‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord is your God, He, and He alone!
(He is to be your one and only… you are to have no other gods or idols before Him)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
- Mark 12:29,30
OR – as Jewish Scholar Lois Tverberg would say..
You should love him with every thought that you think, live every hour of every day for him, be willing to sacrifice your life for him. Love him with every penny in your wallet and everything that you’ve got!
NOW - Jesus in Matthew 9 also did some defining of the kind of relationship He desires to have with you…
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. – Matthew 9:37-39
UNDERSTAND – the kind of relationship that God wants to have with you is an exclusive relationship. He wants to marry you, not date you. He and He alone wants to be your one and only.
AND – I get that… back on January 10, 1997 when Laurie and I were married, I wanted to have an exclusive relationship with her. I MEAN – it would sooo NOT be okay for Laurie to marry me, but also love a bunch of other guys.
{IN FACT – once we started dating I wanted it to be exclusive…
I remember being in the kitchen of my house with Laurie and we had been dating for just a few weeks and some guy friend she knew called her on the phone…
And as they were talking I made sure to call for my son in the loudest and deepest voice I could, so the dude on the phone would here, and he did…}
B/S – like I said a proposal is on the table…
AND – the question is will you say “YES!”
AND – let me say that falling in love with Jesus and saying YES to following Him like Matthew did in Matthew chapter 9, is the best thing that you will ever do…
AND – it is also the most radical thing you will ever do…
It will not leave you unchanged!
NOW – said ‘YES’ in 1979 (when I surrendered to Christ in faith and became His disciple was Jesus in Matthew 28 by being baptized in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit) Maybe, you need to say ”YES” in baptism today.
What are you waiting for…?
BUT LISTEN – I am saying “YES” again because I want to take my relationship, my marriage with Jesus deeper than it has ever been before…
Maybe you need to say “YES” to Jesus again. (I know that a lot of people did that last week)
OKAY…
SO – in our time remaining I want to talk about some of what falling in love with God involves…
NOW – what I am about to say is not an exhaustive list.
IT’S – 3 simple steps to falling in love with God in your spare time.
Rather they are principles, keys that are part of every successful relationship with God. Principles that will help you fall deeper and deeper in love with God.
BUT BEFORE – I do that, I want to show you a brief video, of a classic love song by a group called foreigner…
THAT – I hope will help you remember this day and what we talked about it…
I want to know what love is.
I want Jesus to show me.
BECAUSE – when it comes to loving God, loving the Father…
Jesus paints a great picture of what that looks like…
OKAY – let’s do this.
WHO’S - ready to fall more deeply in love with God.
I want to know what love is…
…and Jesus will show me
Going All In, In Loving Him… Involves
I. Enjoying His Presence
QUESTION…
Did Jesus enjoy the Father’s presence?
So much so that I think it was one of the most difficult thing about putting on flesh and living on this planet.
Some of that eternal closeness was lost.
And enjoying – loving the Father’s presence was why it hard so back when the Father had to turn away from Him as Jesus took on the guilt of our sin… ‘My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”
SO YES – Jesus was passionate about the Father’s presence…
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” - Luke 2:49
Seriously where else would I be…
Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. – Luke 5:16
Why? To be with God
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. – John 1:18
The Father knows me and I know the Father – John 10:15
I and the Father are one. – John 10:30
We are united/together
UNDERSTAND – enjoying God’s presence is where our love both begins and where it continues to deepen and grow throughout the course of our relationship with Him…
NOW - as most of you know I am totally in love with my wife Laurie and have been in love with her for 20+ years…
SINCE - The Fall of 1996.
UNDERSTAND – there is no place that I would rather be, and no one I would rather be with then with her.
AND THAT – is how I feel today and how I felt when we first started dating. YEAH – this guy has a crush on his wife.
YEAH – for 20+ years I have been in love with my wife.
HOWEVER – I have not always been in love with her.
YOU SEE – I’ve known Laurie since December of 1991,
BUT – between December 1991 to The Fall of 1996, I was not in love with her.
(which is good because we were not married)
AND LISTEN - the truth is I didn’t even really know her, I just knew some stuff about her…
• She loved God
• She loved the church
• She was a dedicated worker
• And if you asked her to do anything, you could be certain that it would get done.
BUT – The Fall of 1996 as we started hanging out (our first date being September 6th Night Of Joy at Disney… though only I knew it was a date at the time… I didn’t tell her, she thought we were just taking some kids to Night of Joy),
AND – as I started enjoying her presence, I began to found out who this lady ‘really’ was, I got to know her and I quickly (in a about 6-7 weeks fell in love with her)…
QUESTION – do you enjoy being in God’s presence?
UNDERSTAND – being in God’s presence in essential because it is the only way that we will ever get to know Him.
BUT – how can you be in the presence of a God you cannot physically see?
• Talk a walk outside and slow down and take in the wonder of the His creation that surrounds you.
• Listen to a small child laugh or watch them play
• Listen really listen to praise songs or great hymns and the message they are saying
• Read the bible not as a religious to do list but as going on a date night with the one you love – God. Let the Word reveal more of who God is to you.
• Get off somewhere by yourself – slow down and breath… have you hands in your lap palms down “Lord, I release my attachments to everything in life that distracts me from spending time with you.” THEN – with palms open “Lord I receive from you right now, a greater awareness of your presence in my life.”
• Hang out with people who enjoy His presence (like being here today)
• Help someone a picture God beside you as you serve others…
Going All In, In Loving Him… Involves
II. Embracing His Passions
QUESTION – did Jesus embrace the Father’s Passions…
YEAH – I think so…
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. – Mark 4:34
“My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” – John 5:16
He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine…” Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” – Matthew 26:39,42
YOU KNOW - many times when you fall in love with someone, you find yourself embracing their passions, even if those things had never been your passions before…
Case in point the oldest of my three daughters Chelsea…
Here is a picture of her with her 2 daughters, Micaiah and Cana (she has 2 sons as well)…
AND – if you look closely at the picture you will see that she is at the KFC Yum Center in Louisville, Kentucky… home of the Louisville Cardinals…
AND UNDERSTAND – she is there on her own free will watching a college basketball game…
NOW – I don’t want to sound like a bitter dad (but I am)…
BUT – when Chelsea was growing up I could never get her to show any interest in or watch any sporting event with me.
AND LISTEN – I will never forget the day when Chelsea and Justin were at our house for a visit – and we watching a Louisville play, and she came down to watch and she not only watch the game, she enjoyed it and she knew every players name – and what they were doing on the court.
I felt betrayed… lol
AND YES – sadly, I always do find a little pleasure with Louisville losses a game.
NOW – I bring up my sad ‘dadhood story’ to make a very significant and critical point…
BECAUSE – Chelsea had fallen in love with Justin, she embraced His passions…
AND B/S – if you are ever going to go all in, in loving Him, you must do the very same thing…
GET IT?
SO – just what are the passions of God that you will embrace (now at first I used the phrase ‘must embrace’… but changed it… because the word ‘will’ is better and actually truer)…
AGAIN - what are the passions of God that you will embrace if you have fallen in love with HIM?
I MEAN - what is your God’s really passionate about.
WELL – here are a few things that quickly came to my mind.
A) God is passionate about… You and your relationship with Him
Was Jesus passionate about His relationship with God…?
You bet He was…
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
– Mark 1:35
QUESTION…
Are you passionate about you?
That loving yourself thing…
Are you passionate about your relationship with God?
What fruit and evidence are in your life that point to that passion?
Does GOD sense your passionate for this relationship with Him?
B) God is passionate about…The Church
AND B/S – let there be no doubt about it, Jesus was passionate about the church.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. – Ephesians 5:25-27
QUESTION…
Has falling in love with Jesus caused you to become passionate about the church He gave Himself up for…
Passionate, not about some invisible – universal church, but passionate for the church right here where you sit right now.
AND AGAIN – I ask you…
What fruit and evidence are in your life that point to that passion?
I MEAN – when God the Father looks at you and see what you do, how you live your life, what consumes your checkbook and your schedule…
What He say, “Man they are just like my Son Jesus, who gave Himself up for the church…”
AND LISTEN – I am not trying to mean, judgmental, harsh or religious…
I am just saying that when you ‘really’ are in love with God you embrace His passions, even if like (Chelsea with Justin) they were not your before.
C) God is passionate about…The Lost and the Gospel
QUESTION… was Jesus passionate about the lost and the Gospel?
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. – Mark 10:45
As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”
And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. – Matthew 26:26-28
QUESTION – are you passionate about the lost and the Gospel?
Do you still pray for one?
Who is going to be in heaven because of you?
Desmond Doss “Lord just give me one more”
UNDERSTAND…
Before you will ever find your purpose in life you must get lost in His passions.
Going All In, In Loving Him… Involves
III. Engaging Your Personal Quest
Engaging your personal quest to fall in love with God, to be His follower…
Your personal what? Quest.
UNDERSTAND… I choose that word ‘quest’ very intentionally…
BECAUSE - falling in love with God (being in an intimate relationship with Him) is not really an adventure (though there will be much adventure in it)…
INSTEAD – it is more of a quest. (let me explain)
YOU SEE – an Adventure is, a there and back again.
It is an exciting thing that you choose, where you go have your adventure, have your thrills and then you come back home and you pick up your life pretty much where you left off.
On the other hand a quest… is something that you really don’t come back from. YOU SEE – you either die for the sake of the quest… or if you do come back, you are so changed that in a sense you don’t really come back.
UNDERSTAND – when you say YES to God’s proposal you embark on a quest… just like Matthew did in Matthew 9
Just like Peter, James, John and Andrew did when the left their nets…
I MEAN – these guys were never the same again.
NOW – interestingly their personal quest, their personal journeys were not exactly the same.
And neither will ours be… my quest, my relationship and love affair with Jesus will not be exactly the as yours…
HOWEVER – there are certain practices the men and woman have done for hundreds of years that have helped them in their quest of following Christ and falling in love with Him.
Spiritual practices, Spiritual disciplines that are vital
The Life You’ve Always Wanted – John Ortberg
Falling For God – Gary Moon
Celebration Of Discipline – Richard Foster
LIKE…
The Spiritual Practice of
• Prayer
• Fasting
• Reading God’s Word
• Meditation
• Service
• Slowing down and solitude
• Celebration
• Giving of our resources
• Obedience
Which is by the way God’s love language…
If you love me you will obey my commandments – John 14:15
Those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.
– 1 John 2:5
When you love someone you will willingly do things for them…
and it won’t seem like a duty…
(8:32 am Laurie text ‘Babe, could you bring some pink lemonade)
AND LISTEN – when we do those things we will fall in love with Jesus…
Actor Andrew Garfield, who plays a priest in Martin Scorsese's adaption of the movie Silence,
told an interviewer about his religious views. "Films were really my church," Garfield said. "That is where I felt soothed, that is where I felt most myself." But in preparation for the film, Garfield practiced something called the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius.
A spiritual process, it is rich in reading the Bible, especially the four Gospels. We do not know if Garfield actually committed his life to Jesus Christ, but he certainly was moved and changed by what seemed to be at least an introduction to the person of Jesus. Here's what Garfield said:
What was really easy was falling in love with this person, was falling in love with Jesus Christ. That was the most surprising thing … I felt so bad for [Jesus] and angry on his behalf when I finally did meet him, because everyone has given him such a bad name. So many people have given him such a [horrible] name. And he has been used for so many dark things.
And, like many of us, beneath this longing he carried a deep fear, a fear that he wasn't good enough. Garfield continued:
The main thing that I wanted to heal, that I brought to Jesus … was this feeling of not-enough-ness. This feeling of that forever longing for the perfect expression of this thing that is inside each of us. That wound of not-enough-ness. That wound of feeling like what I have to offer is never enough…”
