INTRO.- ILL.- There was a not-too-bright fellow who decided to become a counterfeiter. He hired an engraver of equal intelligence, and they proceeded to produce some counterfeit money. By some mix-up, the money turned out to be $11 bills.
Not wanting to waste the effort, the crook decided to head to an isolated small town where he figured he could cash the bogus bills. He went into a small country store and asked the clerk if he had change for an $11 bill. "Sure do," the clerk said. "Would an $8 and a $3 be okay?"
That fellow was not too bright. Sometimes “not-too-bright” fits us all. It depends on what we’re talking about. However, when it comes to worldly decisions we are sometimes pretty good.
ILL.- I’ve never been the best when it comes to dealing on cars. But at least one time, I did pretty good and prided myself on it. I traded a 1998 Ford Taurus for the 2002 Ford Taurus that I now drive. I checked out the value of my car with Kelly’s bluebook before going to trade. My car had a lot of miles on it (over 100,000) and was worth only about $2500. I figured if I got that out of my car it would be a good deal. I tried out that 2002 Ford and the dealer tried out my 1998 Ford and then I waited for his offer. To my surprise he offered to give me $3500 for my car or a thousand dollars more than I figured it was worth. I said, “SOLD!” I drove away with that 2002 Ford that day.
Occasionally, when it comes to worldly matters we do pretty good, but when it comes to spiritual matters all of us fail at times and sometimes, miserably.
John 18:25-27 “As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, ‘You are not one of his disciples, are you?’ He denied it, saying, ‘I am not.’ One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, ‘Didn’t I see you with him in the olive grove?’ Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.”
We all recall the fact the apostle Peter denied Jesus. Some say that Peter stood warming himself at the devil’s fire. The Scripture doesn’t call it that, but it’s a pretty good thought. And whether we want to admit it or not, we’ve all warmed ourselves at the devil’s fire and denied Jesus at times. We’ve denied Him in one way or another. It may have been by committing some sin or it may have been by the sin of omission, failing to do something good.
Unlike Glenn Campbell who said he “wasn’t really that drunk,” but was “just over-served,” we need to admit that we have failed at times.
WHAT’S YOUR GREATEST SPIRITUAL BOO-BOO? I’d rather talk about yours than mine. We really don’t want to go there, do we? However, in secret and before the Lord, we should go there and own up to our spiritual failures. THE WAY UP IS DOWN.
James 4:8-10 “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
I Peter 5:5-6 “’God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
ILL.- A man was stopped by a police officer, who asked him why he was driving 66 miles per hour when the speed limit was 35. The man replied, "But, officer, I saw a sign that read 66." The officer patiently explained, "Mister, that’s the route number, not the speed limit."
"Oh, goodness, officer!" the man exclaimed. "It’s a good thing you didn’t see me on Route 109."
Brothers and sisters, we’ve all been on route 66 or 109 whether we admit it or not. But admit it, we must. The way up is down. We’ve all failed spiritually.
In Matthew 22:37-40 we have the question put to Jesus. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
People are either good or bad about questioning things. We are good if we are truly interested in discovering God’s will. We are bad if we are only interested in picking apart God’s Word. Hopefully, we all want to learn and grow and become more in tune with God in all ways.
Jesus boiled down God’s commandments for us in life: Love God and love people. If we get these right, most things will fall into place. But if we get these wrong, most other things will go wrong as well.
PROP.- Let’s examine the words of Jesus about loving God and loving people to see what He is trying to teach us.
I. LOVING GOD
Matt. 22:37-38 “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”
ILL.- Four-year-old Martha, hugging a doll in each of her pudgy little arms, looked wistfully up at her mother and said, “Mamma, I love them and love them and love them, but they never love me back.”
Could this be our problem? He loves us and loves us but we never love Him back? Or perhaps we never love Him back the way He deserves to be loved!
ILL.- I will turn 60 years old in December and I think my two children should do something special for me, don’t you? Like maybe throw me a big party. I mean, after all, how often does your father turn 60 years of age? Better yet, they could send me on a trip to Hawaii. And then there’s this car I was thinking about. After all, don’t I deserve it? I can just hear them say, “NO WAY, DAD! You might get a birthday card if you’re lucky!”
Brothers and sisters, don’t you think our Father deserves far more than we give Him? He deserves more love than we show Him.
Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.” Sounds like a bunch to me. More than we now do.
ILL.- A little boy declared that he loved his mother “with all his strength.” He was asked to explain what he meant by “with all his strength.” He said: “Well, I’ll tell you. You see, we live on the fourth floor of this apartment building; and there’s no elevator, and the coal is kept down in the basement. Mother is busy all the time, and she isn’t very strong; so I see to it that the coal bin is never empty. I lug the coal up four flights of stairs all by myself. And it’s a pretty big bin. It takes all my strength to get it up here. Now, isn’t that loving my mother with all my strength?” I would say so.
What does it mean to love God with all our heart, soul and mind? It certainly means putting our all into our worship, surrender, and service.
ILL.- One writer said, “One of the major struggles of religion at that time was legalism. The problem with legalism is that the focus is on following laws instead of imitating God. They had taken the 10 commandments and the first 5 books of the Bible and came up with over 600 rules and regulations that they determined had to be followed in order to please God. The thing that made it even more confusing, other than having over 600 laws to follow, was the religious teachers couldn’t even determine which of the laws were the most important to follow.”
We have fallen into the same trap today. Many people look at the church and God as being solely concerned with keeping rules and certain regulations. And when this happens the rules and regulations become the focal point of our faith instead of God Himself.
OUR FOCUS NEEDS TO BE ON THE CHARACTER OF GOD! We need to love Him, not rules and regulations! It’s not that we don’t love His Word, we do, but we love the author more than the words.
How do we love God with all our heart, soul and mind? Anyway we can. Every way we can. By going to Sunday School and Church. By worshipping Him in song, prayer, giving, communion, and study. By putting ourselves into our worship. By making it as meaningful as possible.
ILL.- Perhaps you have been to some churches or services where many people raise their hands during the song service. How did you feel about that? Uncomfortable? Or perhaps that these people were putting on a show? Or that it was a very genuine expression of loving God? GUESS WHAT? It is scriptural!
I Tim. 2:8 “I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.”
We need to realize that genuine worship is an expression of love to God, no matter what form it may take. The raised hands, the bowed head, the clasped hands, or the bent knees. The important thing is that the heart is bent toward God in love and adoration!
We are to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, anywhere, any time. At church, at home, while driving, while working, while playing, etc. We love Him by honoring Him as best we can and by talking to Him every chance we get.
I Thess. 5:17-18 “Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Praying continually and/or giving thanks continually is a very good form of loving God! It can never be done too much.
ILL.- A lady noticed a little girl leaving church one Sunday morning. She asked, “What were you doing in there?” The little girl said, “praying.” Thinking that the little girl had a problem of some sort, she asked, “And what were you praying about?” The little girl replied, “NOTHING. I WAS JUST LOVING JESUS.” We, too, must spend time loving Jesus in prayer.
ILL.- A little boy entered the family room after dinner. His dad was weary from a hard day on the job. He had the recliner kicked back and was reading the paper. The little boy inched up beside his Dad and said, "Daddy, I love you."
"I love you too, son," the father replied, and he continued reading the paper. But this didn’t satisfy the boy, so he went around the other side of the chair and began rubbing his daddy’s arm. "Daddy, I love you," he said.
And with the slightest amount of impatience in his voice, the father again said, "I love you, too, son." But still the little one was not satisfied. Suddenly the little boy came crashing through the newspaper onto the father’s chest, reaching his arms as far around his dad as he could, and he said, "Daddy, I love you and I’ve just got to do something about it."
YES, IF WE LOVE OUR HEAVENLY FATHER WE MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. We must show at all times and in all ways how much we love Him.
II. LOVING PEOPLE
Matthew 22:39 “And the second is like it: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
We must love both God and people. It is my opinion that we will never properly love people until we learn to love God. People do love other people, but not as much as when they first love God. Why? Because God is the author of true love! We have to be in touch with Him to be in touch with them.
ILL.- Although George Whitefield disagreed with John Wesley on some theological matters, he was careful not to create problems in public that could be used to hinder the preaching of the gospel. When someone asked Whitefield if he thought he would see Wesley in heaven, Whitefield replied, "I fear not, for he will be so near the eternal throne and we at such a distance, we shall hardly get sight of him."
What a gracious and humble attitude George Whitefield had toward John Wesley even though the two disagreed about certain Biblical matters. That is what love does. Love is humble toward others. Love is patient toward others. Love is not self-centered. Love does not seek to control others or police others. Love does not require perfection in others.
ILL.- Someone said, “It is no chore for me to love the whole world. My only real problem is my neighbor next door.”
Sometimes loving those closest to us is the hardest thing to do. We can give money to feed starving people on the other side of the world, but to deal kindly with someone at work or our next door neighbor may be a different matter entirely.
ILL.- I have read that Charles Schwab (President of the largest steel company in the early 1900’s) made the following statement in a court of law after he’d just won a nuisance suit. He said, “I’d like to say here in a court of law, and speaking as an old man, that 9/10ths of my troubles are traceable to my being kind to others.
“Look you young people, if you want to steer away from trouble, be hard-boiled. Be quick with a good loud ‘no’ to anyone and everyone. If you follow this rule, you will seldom be bothered as you tread life’s pathway. Except you’ll have no friends, you’ll be lonely, and you won’t have any fun!”
I don’t know if Charles Schwab said these words or not, if so, there is some truth in what Schwab said. However, it doesn’t sound like good advice to me. If you steer clear of people, you won’t have any friends and you will be very lonely!
All our lives we are mingled and/or involved with people. You can’t avoid people. There are few true hermits. Even though dealing with people may be somewhat problematic, they are a must.
WHAT IF GOD HAD DECIDED AFTER HE CREATED MAN TO NEVER DEAL WITH HIM AGAIN? Just leave him alone, let him go his own way and see what happens? We probably wouldn’t be here today.
God has always involved Himself in the affairs of man, because God loves His creation and He loves people most of all. And we, too, are to love people most of all.
John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
I John 3:11 “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”
I John 4:7 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
ILL.- A Nevada, MO, boy’s death was a wake-up call for the family. (Joplin Globe, 7/20/04) A Jerico Springs, MO, woman said the death last Sunday of her 8-year-old nephew in a traffic accident soon after his birthday party has brought her extended family much closer.
The westbound car, driven by the boy’s father, Teddy J. Blevins, 40, ran off the north side of the road and struck a concrete bridge support, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The boy was pronounced dead at 6:04 p.m. Sunday at Nevada Regional Medical Center, the state patrol said.
"Our family was divided, a lot of bickering,” said Monnette Claney, 42, of Jerico Springs. "To my knowledge, that’s 90 percent of American families. This was something that woke us up and made us come together as a family."
The family will support especially her brother, Teddy Blevins, Claney said. She said her brother is "going to live with this the rest of his life."
She said, "An innocent child had to die for us to realize that we need to stick together and love each other and not take each other for granted.”
Yes, an innocent child died to make us realize that we need to love one another. Christ, the innocent son, died to make us realize that we need to love one another. God put us here to love one another.
CONCLUSION-----------------------------------------
ILL.- When Carl J. Printz, for many years the Swedish consul in Toronto, appeared on TV on his 99th birthday, an interviewer asked: “Give us the rule you have followed during your long and useful life.”
Printz replied: “I would mention one definite rule—one must be temperate in all things.” Then he added quickly, “Perhaps I should say: ‘Except one—to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind and your neighbor as yourself. These are the only things we can rightly do to excess!’ ”
Yes, it’s true. We can never love God too much or people. And the more we love Him, the more we will love people. The two go hand-in-hand. To love the Father means we must all love His children. All people whether they claim to be related or not.
Please make a commitment to love God more and love people more.
