Loving God First
One day, a young Christian, wanting to become all that God had for him, visited the home of an elderly Christian man. He had heard that this old man had never lost his first love for Jesus over many years. The elderly man was sitting on the porch with his dog, taking in the sunset.
The young man asked, “Why is it, sir, that many Christians zealously chase after God during the first year or two after coming to faith, but then fall into a complacent mode of church once or twice a week with no continued enthusiasm? Many don’t even look all that much different than their neighbors who aren’t Christian. …
“I heard that you are not like that and have continued to fervently seek after God with the same enthusiasm you had when you first came to an understanding of the faith.”
The old man smiled and replied, “Let me tell you a story: One day, I was sitting here quietly on the porch with my dog, when a white rabbit ran across the yard in front of us. My dog jumped up and took off after it and chased it over the hills with a passion. Soon, other dogs in the neighborhood joined in the hunt, attracted by his barking.
There was my dog, leading about 8 dogs across creeks, up embankments and through thorny thickets. Gradually, the other dogs dropped out of the pursuit, discouraged by the rough course and the fruitless chase, except my dog, who continued to hotly pursue him.”
“In that story lies the answer to your question”
The young man sat in confused silence until he finally said, “Sir, I don’t understand, what does this have to do with loving God?”
The old man replied, “Why didn’t the other dogs continue the chase?
The answer is, … They had not seen the rabbit.
Unless your eyes are on the prize, you’ll find the chase too difficult, and you will lack the passion and determination to keep up the chase.
Our Gospel this week continues the focus of last week’s sermon, which was centered on loving God first, keeping our eyes on Him.
Given that it is the most important thing for us, it is no wonder that there are so many temptations and distractions away from keeping it.
Last week we had the healing of the man with the dropsy/edema, we talked about the Sabbath, and the different ways to keep it. The Pharisees created many laws for the Sabbath as an attempt to show God how hard they were trying to love Him. Jesus said that if your Sabbath regulations keep you from loving your neighbor as yourself, they are worthless, and draw you away from obedience.
Matthew 22 has a great application for us today, because it’s focus is on those who think they are following God, but are really distracted. Because it is so easy for us to lose focus on what is most important, … loving God, if we are not keeping him first and foremost before us.
And how do we get distracted? The chapter began with Jesus sharing the parable of the Wedding Banquet. This same story is told in Luke 14 right after last week’s Gospel Lesson, tying these lessons together.
In each story, those invited by the king to the Great Banquet/Wedding Feast dismiss the invitation. Why? Too busy with everything going on around them.
In both cases, Jesus is telling this parable to the religious leadership. Their intention was to serve God and to prepare the way for the coming of the Christ, and they have ended up failing at both.
Can Christians be too busy with the things of the world to pay attention to God? Obviously. Even pastors can be too busy preparing sermons that they can neglect their own spiritual formation.--- So many things around me that God has put in my life, that I need to care for!
The primary reason the people didn’t come to the feast was because not that they hated the king, but because they had business, the things of the World, which kept them too busy. This is where we take our eyes off of the rabbit, and loose our first love. Distracted or loving the world.
There is a reason that the First and Greatest Commandment has to come first. And while loving God may be the hardest thing to learn, it is the most important.
If I can learn to love God more than I love my family and friends here on earth: if I value the God who loves me and saves me most of all, guess what, I can love my family and friends here on earth even better than if I valued them more than I value God. Why?
Because my interest is not simply to make them happy, but to help them grow in God’s love, and bring them to His throne more and more!
To help them to love God and be all God made them to be. Family and loved ones should never be pulling you away from church. Just the opposite, they should be those who with enthusiasm we bring to God.
So, how do we Love God? There are a couple of things we see in our passage which are important. First, we must come to know Him. Our Gospel lesson is very interesting. With most of the Temple leadership trying to kill Jesus, where do we find him? He is in the temple, lovingly taking the time, through stories/ Parables and examples, to sit with and teach us about himself, about God the Father, and the Holy Spirit.
And thanks be to God, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John thought it was important to write down for us many of these stories, so we could get to know God better. When we read the Scriptures, the Gospels which tell of the life of Jesus, we see a lot about who God is.
But here’s the catch, it is not simply enough to know about him. That’s also a problem we see throughout the chapter. The Pharisees thought they knew who God was. They had studied the Scriptures, memorized the Psalms and the laws. But they didn’t know Him personally. Not that their knowledge was bad, just insufficient.
The chapter is full of confrontations between Jesus and those who are trying to embarrass Him while he teaches those who had no teachers. And each time, those who seek to embarrass Him leave humiliated.
When confronted on what is most important, Jesus answers, quoting from Deuteronomy 6 and the passage known as the Shema.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” By quoting this verse Jesus says, “Whether you are parenting, sacrificing, keeping the Sabbath, or being a good friend, these things are only truly good and worthwhile if you do it to express your love for God.”
I am not meaning to point fingers, but that’s one problem where Evangelicalism today has gone way off track. Our consumer mindset says to give your time and attention where you get the most out of it. But without love of God being the motive for any good work or religious practice, “we are as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals” says St. Paul.
When we come together on Sunday morning, Worship is our primary focus. If we learn something, Great, but that’s not primarily why we’re here. We are here to love and praise the Lord. If we are blessed as we Bless the Lord, Fantastic, but that’s not why we gather. Our Chief End in gathering is to Glorify God, and to show our Love to Him for what he has done.
And I think, in all honesty, that this is what keeps us chasing the rabbit and helps us to keep our first love, when we see our spiritual life not as what I am getting out of it, but what and who I am bringing to the God who loves me and gave His life for me.
***Sermon intro from Jeff Smead's sermon on the same topic.
