LOVING GOD
1 John 5:1-5
INTRODUCTION
Truett Cathy is an extraordinarily successful businessman who has done some very unusual things. Truett is the founder of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain. Even though it has cost him millions and millions of dollars, all of his 1,000 restaurants are closed on Sundays. It is that important to him to honor the Lord’s Day. When he first started his restaurant chain during the days of segregation, he took a very unpopular stand as he made it a point to hire people irrespective of race. That decision cost him a lot of business but he didn’t care. He wanted to do the right thing no matter what the cost. He also took the unusual step of setting aside some of his profits to develop a successful foster home system for orphaned children. Truett Cathy did these things and many other things for one reason and one reason alone. He wanted to obey the greatest of all commandments.
GREATEST COMMANDMENT
Deuteronomy 6:5 commands us to "LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH." Lest we underestimate the importance of this command, Jesus repeated it in Matthew 22:37: "LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND." He then added that this was the first and greatest commandment. No wonder it is repeated over and over again throughout the Scriptures. Loving God is our greatest responsibility and privilege. "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 promises himself totally in love to his people, so he expects his people to give themselves totally (soul, mind and strength) in love to him." (737/Vol.8/Exp. Com.) Loving God should be an absolute priority in our lives just like it is in Truett Cathy’s life.
"From the viewpoint of biblical anthropology, ’heart,’ ’soul,’ and ’mind’ are not mutually exclusive but overlapping categories, together demanding our love for God to come from our whole person, our every faculty and capacity." (464/Vol.8/Exp.) The "heart" and "soul" and "mind" are references to our emotions, wills and intellect. Such represents the Hebrew way of saying that we are to love God with our whole being. With all of our might and strength. Admittedly, this whole concept of loving a God we cannot see or physically touch seems so perplexing.How does one express or demonstrate love to a God we cannot embrace or audibly hear His voice? What is involved in loving God The Hebrew verb that is translated ’to love’ in this setting communicates not so much an emotional idea as one of covenant commitment." Our text for this morning helps us better understand just what it means to love God It tells us what we must do if we would keep this great commandment.
TEXT
Loving God has more to do with obeying Him than anything else. Our text (1 John 5:3) says, "THIS IS LOVE FOR GOD: TO OBEY HIS COMMANDS." Obedience is the sign of our love for God. Jesus made this truth very clear when in John 14:15 He said to His disciples, "IF YOU LOVE ME, YOU WILL OBEY WHAT I COMMAND." It is very clear, our love for God is expressed through obedience. This truth is also evident in 1 Samuel 15:22 where God says , "…TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE…" Many people in Samuel’s time erroneously thought that the ultimate expression of their love for God occurred when they brought their sacrifices to the altar. Not so, said the Lord God. Obedience is what God is looking for from us. Loving God has more to do with obeying Him than anything else. This obedience is exhibited in three areas of our lives and they are our concern this morning.
BELIEVING
We love God when we take Him at His Word, believing it and acting upon it. "When He says we are forgiven, we believe Him and unload the guilt. (111/795/Lucado) When He says we’re valuable, we believe Him. When He says we have eternal life, we believe Him and bury our fear. When He says He will meet our needs, we believe Him and stop worrying. In believing God we love Him. The story is told of a lowly private in the army of Alexander the Great. who ran after and caught Alexander’s runaway horse. When he brought the horse back, Alexander thanked him by saying, "Thank you, captain. With one word the private was promoted.When Alexander said it, the private believed it. He immediately selected a new uniform and moved to the officer’s quarters. Because Alexander said it, he believed it. Would that we could do the same with God
We express genuine love to God when we believe Him and act on His Word. God has made it abundantly clear in His Word that we are all lost sinners in desperate need of forgiveness and reconciliation. He has said that our sin is an enormous problem that separates us from Him. He also emphatically tells us that He has done something about our sin. He has paid the just penalty of our sin. Romans 5:8 declares, "… GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS OWN LOVE FOR US IN THIS: WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS CHRIST DIED FOR US." We, however, must receive this forgiveness by repenting of our sin and receiving Christ as our personal Savior. When we honestly believe God we repent of our sin and we receive Christ. If we really don’t believe, we fail to repent and receive the Lord as Savior When we believe God and obey Him by repenting and receiving Christ, we demonstrate love for God.
HOLY LIVING.
Holy living is another way we profess love to God. Verse 3 of our text says, "THIS IS LOVE FOR GOD: TO OBEY HIS COMMANDS." "This leads us to one place: the Word of God. We must know His commandments and then obey them." This is the secret to loving God on a daily basis. "Our love of God is expressed by living the way He commands. Living the way God commands is what the Scriptures mean by holiness. Holy living is loving God." (122/493/Colson) We are commanded in 1 Peter 1:16, "BE HOLY BECAUSE I AM HOLY." We are expected to live according to God’s ways and standards. In Romans 12:2 God says, "DO NOT CONFORM ANY LONGER TO THE PATTERN OF THIS WORLD, BUT BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND. We must not live by the sinful ways and standards that the world finds acceptable. We are to please God by living in the light of His ways. Living the way God commands is a matter of obedience and obedience is better than sacrifice.
Author Richard Foster reminds us that , “Holiness is not perfectionism. We do not by some act of divine fiat become sinless creatures incapable of doing wrong.” As those who pursue holiness “we can still make mistakes and we do, with sorrowful regularity. We fail. Even so holiness is progress in purity and sanctity.” (84/951) In the Old Testament, “holy” means “set apart for God’s use.” As Foster says, “We are set apart for divine purposes. Holy habits deepen into fixed patterns of life. We experience an ongoing preponderance of right actions flowing from a heart that is right with God. We are ever in the process of becoming holy.” (84/951)
Holiness really is Christ-likeness. As such it is every believer’s calling; it is not an option. Romans 8:29 calls us to be “CONFORMED TO THE LIKENESS OF CHRIST.” As we mature in the faith we are to become more and more like Christ. “It is an ever-expanding openness to God. It is a growing, maturing, freely given conformity to the will of God.” It is obedience and it enables us to become the people we were created to be. Jesus said to the woman at the well, “GO NOW AND LEAVE YOUR LIFE OF SIN” (John 8:11) In Ephesians 4:22 we are told to “…PUT OFF OUR OLD SELVES WHICH ARE CORRUPTED BY EVIL DESIRES…AND PUT ON THE NEW SELF, CREATED TO BE LIKE GOD IN TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS.” That is how we love God.
“In the excavations of Pompeii, great care was taken not to damage the discoveries which would enable archaeologists to reconstruct the life of those ancient days. When a workman, digging in the ruins, felt his pick go easily into the soil, he would call the superintendent to see if anything of value had been discovered. If, after inspection, it was believed to have been the burial place of another Pompeiin who had been engulfed by hot lava, they would follow a special procedure. Into the small hole made by the pick, plaster of paris would be poured. After it had set, they would dig away the dirt and then underneath an exact likeness, in cast form, of the soldier or civilian who had been entombed centuries ago.
Such casts appear in museums today. We are but molds. God by the agency of the Holy Spirit would, as it were, pour Christ into our hearts and lives until we become “LIKE UNTO THE SON OF GOD.” God’s ultimate desire for us is that we “CONFORM TO THE LIKENESS OF CHRIST,.” Holiness is our calling In striving for holiness we love God.
SERVING
We also love God by serving Him. Love serves. In Luke 7 we read about a dinner party to which Jesus was invited. It was customary to wash the dusty feet of the guests upon their arrival. Simon, the host, failed to do this; it was a breach of etiquette. He also neglected to offer the traditional kiss of greeting. Furthermore he didn’t offer to anoint his guest with oil, a special amenity of the day. If you and I were living then and found ourselves in such a situation we would have concluded, and rightly so, that we were really not welcome guests. But what Simon failed to provide someone else did in a most unusual and unexpected manner. An unnamed woman, hearing Jesus was there, entered, came to the table where Jesus was eating and showed her love for the Lord. She was weeping and with her tears she washed the Lord’s feet. And when she had finished washing she wiped his feet with her hair. Then, as Luke records, she began to kiss his feet and she anointed the feet of Jesus with an expensive ointment. What an example of love.
Jesus used this incident to teach an important biblical truth. He said that two debtors each owed the same creditor. One debtor owed 500 pence; almost ½ a year’s wages. Other debtor owed 50 pence. Neither were able to pay so the creditor graciously forgave both debts. Jesus then asked Simon, the host, a question: “Which of them will love him most?”
Easy question, Simon answered immediately: “I suppose that he who was forgiven the most.” “You’re right,” said Jesus. Jesus then turned to the woman and said “What she did she did because she loves me very much.”(7:47) The one who has been forgiven much loves much
Jesus was saying that if we love God we will do what He asks, willingly, joyously and freely. We will obey the command to serve Him. If no love exists then there will be little or no service or it will be rendered grudgingly, complainingly and unwillingly. Simon had little or no love for the Lord so he didn’t serve; he didn’t wash Jesus’ feet or anoint him with oil. The fact of the matter is that love serves. Those who love God demonstrate their love through acts and deeds of service. It is first and foremost a matter of love. If we love God we will serve Him.
Jesus said, "IF YOU LOVE ME, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS." One of the most often repeated commands in Scripture is the command to serve Him. 1 Corinthians 3:9 declares that we are “LABORERS TOGETHER WITH GOD.” In John 20:21 Jesus says, “AS THE FATHER HAS SENT ME, SO SEND I YOU.” How do we obey these commands? There are many, many was in which we can serve and minister. In John 21:15 Jesus said to one of his disciples, "IF YOU LOVE ME….FEED MY SHEEP." This is a reference to using our influence and talents to nourish others spiritually. It involves preaching the Gospel formally or informally, witnessing, teaching, and sharing Jesus with others. Serving also involves “BINDING UP THE BROKENHEARTED” by ministering to hurting, needy folk What it really comes down to is this: The Lord is saying “If you love me you will serve me.” If you love me you will reach out, in some way, to the sick, the hurting, the confused, the lost, the hungry and the imprisoned.You will help out in the nursery, minister through Junior church, teach in the Sunday School, serve on a committee or sing in the choir.You will serve on some committee, you will give of your time, talents and finances to support the Lord’s work. You will tell others about Jesus and you will use your influence to further the Kingdom of God. You will pray for the ministry of Christ’s church. Wherever God calls you to serve, you will do it willingly, joyously and freely.
CONCLUSION
Loving God is our greatest responsibility and privilege. We must, however, always remember that our love for God is the consequence of His great, unconditional love for us. 1 John 4:19 says, "WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US. Loving us He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross to pay the just penalty of our sins. Through His love for us in Christ, we are offered forgiveness and reconciliation. We can live our lives of a higher, more fulfilling and satisfying plane. We become, as Scripture says, “A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST”,
On March 10, 1974, Lt. Hiroo Onada was the last WW II Japanese soldier to surrender. He had been left on a island in the Philippines in 1944 with the command to “carry on the mission even if Japan surrenders.” All efforts to convince him to surrender or to capture him failed. He ignored messages from loudspeakers announcing Japan’s surrender and that Japan was now an ally of the United States. Leaflets were dropped over the jungle begging him to surrender so he could return to Japan. He refused to believe or surrender and during his time on the island he killed 30 nationals during his personal war. 13,000 men and almost a half million dollars was spent trying to locate and convince him to surrender.
Finally, on March 10, 1974, almost 30 years after the war ended, Onada surrendered his rusty sword after receiving a personal command from his former superior officer, who read the terms of the cease-fire order. Onada handed his sword to president Marcos, who pardoned him. The war was over. Onada was 22-years-old when left on the island. He returned a prematurely aged man of 52. Onada stated, “Nothing pleasant happened in the 29 years in the jungle.”
Like Onada, many people are fighting a lonely battle against the God who is offering forgiveness, reconciliation,and peace. (Newsweek- 1974)
They need to receive God’s love in Christ…and then love Him in return. Gratitude for God’s sacrificial love should move us to love Him more and more and in so doing we will believe more and more, serve more and more and pursue holiness. If thankfulness does not move us to do these things then we do not love God as we should.
