This message is based on Matthew 22:37-38 in which Jesus defines the "Greatest Commandment." The sermon attempts to describe what all is involved in truly loving God and the remedy for any obstacles that hinder such love.
Written Excerpts:
Matthew 22:37-38 (NKJV) Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment.
Introduction:
If
I asked you to think of a phrase that people use all the time but you get the
impression that it has really lost its true meaning for them. You can pretty
much tell that they’re just saying it because everyone says it. What would you
give as an example?
How
about:
“Come
and see me sometime.” Or “We need to get together more often.”
“You’re
looking good.”
“It’s
good to see you!”
“That
was a good sermon!”
I’m
sure we can think of many other phrases that people frequently use because
they’re so common, but they have really lost their meaning. I
hope I don’t offend anyone, because I’m really not thinking of anyone in
particular and I don’t even remember if anyone here typically says this, but
how about this phrase… “I
love the Lord with all my heart.” I’m
sure that many people say this phrase with a great deal of sincerity, but I’m
also quite sure there are people who may not truly mean it, or even understand
its true meaning.
It
seems that some people simply learn how to repeat phrases they hear in church
without truly having a personal experience of what they say. I
have often come to the conclusion that there are many people in our churches
these days who have never truly had a genuine conversion through the Holy
Spirit, but they’ve learned a fairly sizeable religious vocabulary that allows
them to say the “right things” without really experiencing the transforming
grace of God in their hearts and lives.
This
is why I believe there are those who say they love God with all their hearts,
but really do not understand what that means.
There
are two basic questions I want us to ponder this morning:
1. What does it mean to say, “I love God with
all my heart, soul, and mind”?
2. What are the primary things that prevent us
from loving God so supremely?
So
let us consider what the Bible has to offer as answers to these questions.
1.
What does it mean to say, “I love God with all my heart, soul and mind”?
Many
people have tried to dissect this statement made by Jesus and they emphasize
the difference between loving God with the heart vs. the soul or vs. the mind. Some
theologians and Bible scholars do not believe that such distinctions are
necessary for properly understanding this verse. Rather,
it is a common way for referring to the “whole person.” They are not exclusive
of each other. For
example, the mind might refer more to the intellectual commitment, but the
heart also is viewed as having this capacity – “as a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he.”
In
his commentary, D.A. Carson says these are overlapping categories that together
emphasize our love for God with our “whole person, our every faculty, and
capacity.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Revised)
To
love God in this way can mean nothing less than what we mean when we profess to
love our spouse or our children with our whole being. It
is to passionately desire their greatest good and pleasure, to be totally
committed to their joy and happiness, and to be undivided in loyalty and
devotion. It
includes the keeping of God’s commands (1 Jn. 5:3-This is the love of God that we keep His commandments. And His
commandments are not burdensome.)
But
it is much, much more than mere performance of a lawful duty.
“whole”
– the repetition of the word “whole” is purposely used to show great emphasis. “God will have no mere part, allow no
division or subtraction.” (Lenski)
Some
people believe and preach that it is not possible to love God in this way,
because we are flawed human beings. I
know as well as anyone how flawed I am and how flawed all of us are. But,
how cruel would it be for the Lord to lay this out as our main duty and
priority if it isn’t possible?
As
I have said in previous sermons, it may not be possible to be perfect in our
performance, but it certainly is possible to be filled with a heart of love for
God. The
problem we face is the fact that there are too many other obstacles that tend
to obstruct our love from being what it ought to be.
2. What are the primary obstacles to
loving God in such a manner?
Self – self-will; self-centeredness; self-interest…
Our
main problem is that “Self” wants to be on the throne and in control. “Self”
wants to be pampered and catered to. We want what we want and when we want it.
It
is impossible to serve two masters, Jesus said. It is impossible to love God
with all there is in us if self-will and self-centeredness has not been dealt
with.
(D.A. Carson, Expositor's
Bible Commentary, Revised) – Love in the truest sense demands abandonment
of self to God, and God alone is the adequate incentive for such abandonment.
In
other words, “we can’t truly, genuinely love God the way we should unless we
abandon ourselves to God, and the good news is, God alone is worthy of that
kind of surrender.”
The world
1
John 2:15 (NKJV) Do not love the world or the things in the world. If
anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
World
– κόσμος, kósmos, properly
"order," with the suggestion of beauty; thence the material universe,
as the great example of such order; then the moral universe, the total system
of intelligent creatures, perhaps sometimes including angels (1 Cor. 4:9), but
as a rule human beings only; then, in view of the fact of universal human
failure, humanity in its sinful aspect, the spirit and forces of fallen
humanity regarded as antagonistic to God and to good, "all around us
which does not love God." (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
Kosmos
is frequently used by John. Paul
often uses the word, “aion,” “age” “indefinite time” “with frequent
connotations of the content of time, its influences and powers…” Cf.
Romans 12:2 – “Be not conformed to this world…”
In
John’s context it seems to be emphasizing the placing of affections on all that
is material and temporal. In
Paul’s usage, it seems to be emphasizing a philosophical way of looking at
life. That is, the value system of this age without God or salvation. In
either case, it is placing value on things that man values vs. the things that
God values. It
is allowing our affections and our devotion to be divided and directed toward
something other than God.
To
view this in light of the Old Testament message, it is truly nothing else but
idolatry.
Notice
that John says if we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us. He is
not allowing for the possibility that we can love God a lot and we can still
reserve some love for the world. No,
he is saying that when we allow our affections to be attached to this world,
then the true love of God is not even in us.
Conclusion:
What
is the remedy for the heart, soul and mind that is not truly loving God?
It
is the cleansing of the Holy Spirit.
It
is the filling of the Holy Spirit.
It
is the hot pursuit of the Lord and a complete surrender of self.
God
is deserving of all our love. He deserves nothing less.
Let
us give ourselves completely and totally to Him.
Stand
and sing with me the closing hymn: Something for Thee
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