As we focus on the topic of love through the month of February we?re considering God?s love for us and our response.? This week we?ll look at loving God in return; reciprocating God?s love.? Next week we?ll explore loving those with whom we share beliefs and relationships and, finally, we?ll see what the scriptures teach about loving those who we don?t know or who have enmity toward us.
So love God
You may recall that last week we briefly analyzed that tiny word ?so? in the context of the phrase, ?God so loved the world.?? So has a variety of meanings: Therefore, accordingly, thus, as a result, in such a manner, subsequently, consequently, and, in the context of our discussion, to such a great extent.? On the surface you may misread the intent of the title to this sermon.? My intention isn?t to follow last week?s title ?God So Loved? with ?So Love God,? as in, ??therefore, love God.?? Rather, we?ll keep the same focus as last week, meaning that today we?ll be talking about loving God to a great extent.
First, however, I want us to think about this:? WHY should I love God?? After all, it?s one thing to believe that God exists and that He loves us, but why should you or I love God in return?? Why shouldn?t we just be comforted in the assurance of God?s love and leave it at that?
What we discover in the scripture and know from our own experience is that God created mankind with the unique capacity for love.? Much as we might like to believe our pets love us and that other animals exhibit behaviors we might associate with love ? such as protection and nurturing ? only man has this extraordinary capability.
Whether we?ve taken time to specifically identify it as such, we all also know that we are spiritual beings.? That is, there is a component of each of us which transcends the physiological.? All of us are flesh and blood and bone.? We have brains which, in part, control our autonomic systems and keep our physical bodies functioning and in balance.? But we are also MORE than physical beings.? In fact, we would rarely, if ever, identify and define ourselves solely on the basis of physiology.? We don?t see ourselves merely as our physical machinery.? The essence of who we are is difficult, maybe impossible, to link to our physiology, except for the fact that our essence depends on our physical well being for its mortal existence.? And it is our essence, that part of us we call the soul, which is our spiritual dimension.? Simply put, we are spiritual beings clothed in physical bodies.
It is our spirit which is endowed with the capacity to love.? Love often elicits physical responses including emotional expression, but I doubt any of us would claim that love derives from our physiology.? Love resides in a totally different place within us and for most normal, reasonably well adjusted people, love snuggles right up alongside who we see ourselves to be.? You see, our capacity to love and who we see ourselves to be don?t just live in the same neighborhood; they live in the same house and sleep in the same bed.? Think about it.? The first person you fall in love with is?.YOURSELF.
Why is all this important?? Because it?s crucial to understand that God created us with the capacity to love for a very specific purpose ? to love Him.? I know you thought it was so that you could one day find that ?special? someone; the person of your dreams.? You thought it was so that you could have these strong family connections which are so powerful you?d be willing to die to protect your children.? You thought we were given the capacity to love so we could enjoy deep relationships with friends which endure and grow stronger through the years.
But the truth is that God infected us with the love bug so we could connect with Him in a loving relationship.? Every other expression of love simply gives us a glimpse of the amazing and profound love God has for us.? Do we need and were we created to enjoy earthly love?? Absolutely!? But in the final analysis earthly love, properly understood and expressed, helps us comprehend, at least in some measure, God?s love for us.
In the Old Testament scriptures, God taught His nation Israel about love through His provision, protection and blessings.? They, in turn, demonstrated their love and devotion to Him through obedience.? God gave Moses specific instructions to convey to the Israelites which illustrate this relationship.? These verses may sound familiar to you.
Exodus 20:1-6
1 And God spoke all these words:
2 ?I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 ?You shall have no other gods before me.
4 ?You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
God gave Israel laws and commands to guide their behavior and for their good, physically and emotionally.? He had chosen them to be unique among all nations and the standards He established for them not only set them apart behaviorally, but provided Israel with protections resulting in better physical health.? Keeping God?s commands benefitted them physically, emotionally and socially which, in turn, provided the basis for them to trust and love God.? The Israelites could see in very tangible ways how God?s love, expressed through His laws and commands, made their lives better.
It?s difficult for us to understand how commanding the Israelites to love Him could possibly work.? Isn?t love best when offered voluntarily?? Probably so, but God needed to emphasize to them that singular devotion to Him was the only way for them to sustain and flourish as a nation.? Divided loyalty with the accompanying dilution of values would have been, and oftentimes was, catastrophic for them.? Every time they chose to adopt the ways of the nations around them it was to their detriment.? While loving, trusting and devoting themselves to the true and living God was always the path back to healing and restoration.
But God always desired to have a personal relationship with His people.? He wants us to experience His love in a more personal way.? So God sent His Son, Jesus, to the world to testify of His love and to help us realize how personal a relationship with God could be.? What better way to show His love than for God to come to the world in the flesh and develop real, loving relationships with people?? In the person of Jesus, God demonstrated His great love for us.
This brings us back to the question posed earlier.? Why should you or I love God in return?? Just because God loves me does that mean that I must love God?
The simple answer is, No.
Maybe you believe there is a God.? Maybe you even believe that this God loves you.? But that may be as far as it goes.? You don?t see the need to be a follower of Jesus.? You don?t believe that you need to be reconciled to God through Jesus, His Son.
In that case, it would be very difficult, indeed, to love God in return because there is no relationship there.? If you don?t talk to God, if you don?t listen to God, if you don?t read the Bible to learn about God, there is no basis for a relationship.
In addition, God never coerces us into a relationship with Him.? He has initiated the relational transaction through Jesus and He has freely offered His love and grace to us, but we?re under no obligation to receive the gift.? You?re off the hook on this loving God deal.
But for those who have concluded that a relationship with God is the path to the best possible present and future and have acknowledged that trusting Jesus with their whole life is the gateway to that relationship, another set of criteria applies.
Here?s what Jesus taught the God followers ? the religious people ? of His day was the greatest command.
Matthew 22:37
37 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
God commanded only the Israelites to love Him and Him alone.? The command, so far as I can tell, didn?t apply to the other nations and peoples of the earth.? If an outsider became a naturalized Israelite, then the command applied to him as well.? Jesus reiterated this instruction thousands of years later but detached it from nationalism and connected it with the acknowledgment that He was the Son of God.
Faith in Jesus introduces us to a relationship with God and in the context of that relationship loving God becomes, not only possible, but inevitable.? But God doesn?t want us to casually love Him like we love our car or our house or our dog (I know, some people don?t just casually love their dog).? He wants us to ?so? love Him.? What did Jesus say?? ?Love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.?? That?s what it means to ?so? love God.
If you?re not in a relationship with God, you?re under no obligation to love Him.? However, I?d encourage you to investigate the claims of the Bible and decide if living in relationship with God might be worthwhile.? I certainly believe it is.? If, on the other hand, you have placed your trust in Jesus as your Savior, have accepted God?s forgiveness for your sins, and are living in relationship with Him, you should be discovering every day what it means to ?so? love God.
Source: http://lifepointfairbanks.com/sermons/so-love-god-part-2/
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