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ALL or NOTHING Zeroing in on One – Deuteronomy 6:5 If I drink ALL of this glass of water, then how much is leftover? If I eat ALL of my daughter’s candy, then how much is leftover? If I love my wife with all the love possible to love any women, then how much love is leftover for any other woman? (None) Jesus was an ALL or NOTHING kind of guy. We are to be hot or cold but not lukewarm. When God wants something, He wants it ALL. Consider these stunning things required of anyone who wants to follow Jesus: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26) “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33) We like to be involved in many things at one time. We do not choose to limit ourselves to one thing; we are not content with less because we want more. All of our lives have become very busy filled with a variety of things. There are people to love – we love our spouse, we love our children, grandchildren, we love our television shows, we love our sports, we love our morning newspaper, we love the internet. The problem is that God calls us to love Him with ALL; yes with everything we have. But, if we love God with all of our love, then what love do we have leftover for other people? Deuteronomy 6:5 “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” If we love God with our entire being, with all of our love, then how can we obey the #1 commandment to love God? Either our love for other is an expression of the #1 commandment or our love for others is a violation of the #1 commandment. Your love for your spouse, your children, your love for anything is either an expression of the greatest commandment or a violation of it. This is our second week in our series entitled Zeroing in on One, a study of Deuteronomy 6. We are finishing up our year long study on the Pentateuch (first 5 books of the Bible); we have asked you to read those five books before the year end. How many of you have finished the first 5 books during 2007? As we move forward in our series – Zeroing in on One – today we focus our talk on the #1 commandment in the entire Bible. I invite you to turn to Mark chapter 12. Text: In Mark chapter 12, we find Jesus engaging in a debate with the religious authorities. The religious people were trying to get everyone to reject Jesus and his ministry. They were debating him for the singular reason to discount his teaching among the common people. These so-called religious people were experts in the OT, but they had missed the central truth of the Word of God. Apparently, Jesus had already silenced one religious group known as the Sadducees, and now the Pharisees were going to send their top expert in to trick Jesus with a question that had been a controversial question and debated at length. The Pharisees had codified the law into 248 positive commandments and 365 prohibitions. These 613 laws were imposed on the Jews; it was their obligation to obey them. The debate was over which of the 613 was most important. Some claimed it was the positive commands and others said the negative prohibitions. If the Pharisees could get Jesus entangled in the web of current theological, hair-splitting controversy, they would bring Jesus into disrepute. Interesting Point: The Pharisees described the law in terms of light and heavy, small and great. The idea was that if your good deeds outweighed the bad, God would accept you. As a result, they taught the people to keep the weightier commands because with obedience you could earn points with God. This preoccupation revealed shallowness to their religion causing them to miss their sinfulness. As we read Mark 12, you will see that Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6: Mark 12:28-31 “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer [really, God gave a good answer], he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 'There is no commandment greater than these." To answer the OT expert’s question, Jesus reached back to what Moses had been inspired by God to write thousands of years ago. If Jesus were here today and we were asking the question, I don’t think we would ask the same question. We are not struggling to obey 613 religious rules; instead we are busy, our lives are filled with stuff. We are working hard, hardly seeing our families; racing are kids to soccer practice; we are going a million different directions all at once. We would ask the question a different way: If we got to ask Jesus a question it might be – what is the bottom line of the Bible; can you tell me in 1 sentence what is most important; I am too busy for a lesson so can you tell me 2 minutes? Jesus would answer our question the same way he answered the Pharisee’s question – Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the #1 command, this is the greatest thing of the entire Bible. The greatest and most important thing you can do with your life is to love God. First, what kind of Love is Jesus talking about? Certainly, Jesus cannot be talking about romantic love, so what kind of love are we commanded to have for God? In the original Greek language, there were at least 3 kinds of love – eros which intimate love between lovers; phileo love which is romantic and emotional; and agape love. Jesus discussed agape love is the love we are to have for God. Agape love is one of intelligence and purpose, of sacrifice and hard decisions. Contrast this with the Greek phileo which is more of an emotional kind of love, a mere liking or affection, a love which can be nothing more than sentimentality or a rosy glow created by some special environment. But that kind of love does not translate into hard decisions and affections that call for sacrifice. Agape is a willful love, a determined love that generously chooses for the interests of another. This is a love that grows out of knowledge from knowing the true God in all his greatness and grace. Second, we need to know the extent of this love. We are busy people with many relationships, and each relationship takes time and energy. We will choose to end certain relationships that require too much time or effort. So it is critical to appreciate what kind of effort God is calling us to in loving Him. Quantitatively, God answers with the words “with all” they are repeated in front of heart, soul mind and strength. As a lawyer I have been highly trained to catch things like this – the word all needs to be defined. What does all mean? To love God like this requires it to be whole, entire and complete. There can be nothing holding back or incomplete in your devotion and commitment. All means all. It means everything. We are commanded – Jesus said this is the greatest, the #1, commandment. Love God with all your love. If all really means all, and God commands us to take all of our love and use it to love God. Then all of our love is exhausted in loving God. There is no love leftover. If I am to obey the #1 commandment, I must use all my love to love God. How then are we to love our spouse, our children, our significant other, our friends, our pets, and anything else you might love? Either our love for others is an expression of the #1 commandment to love God or it is a violation of what Jesus said is the bottom line, the most important thing of the bible. The only way to love anything or anyone else is to love them in your love for God. If we could love another so that it is also loving God, then our love for our spouse or friend is an expression of the #1 commandment. • Love in Marriage: Can we love a spouse so that it is an expression of loving God? Realize that if we love our spouse outside of God’s love, then we violate the #1 commandment. But, if I loved my wife so that our marriage was a reflection of how Jesus loves his bride the church, then my love for Rachel would be a love for God. • Loving our Pets: Can we love a pet so that it is an expression of loving God? Proverbs 12:10 reads, “A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal,” so, If the love for our pet is tied into our Christian walk to reflect Jesus’ righteousness, then love for pets can be an expression of loving God. • Loving in Work: Can we love a job so that it is an expression of loving God? The Bible says that God created work as a good thing, it was created before sin happened. The Bible also says that God is given all credit for your mind and strength to do your job. So, the love some have for their jobs can find their connection with God. • Love in pre-marital sex or extra-marital sex: Can we love God through these forms of love? To love someone or something in God, we must examine not the act of love but the motivation of our love. Is our love rooted in biblical truth? Does our love find purpose in God’s plans? Or, does what we call love not find a place in loving God? How do we begin to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength? If we are to give God ALL of our love, how do we go from giving him some love to all of our love? I think the strategy can be as simple as listening to your iPod or CD. Plug In: Start plugging God into every part of your life. We plug God in by remembering that God cares about our family, our job, our school, our relationships, He wants to be involved in every aspect of our life. So, begin plugging God into every area by thinking about Him. Play: Once you get God plugged in, then press play. Ask yourself does God like being in this situation, what does God want me to do here, how should I conduct myself, is this ethical, is this moral. Skip: After being plugged in and pressing play, then just as we learn what songs we skip on a disc let God teach you what to skip. Let God direct you to skip that unethical decision; God may direct you to skip late night drinks or dinner with the co-worker so you can be home with your family. Far from God: In Mark 12, Jesus answered the Pharisee’s question of what is the greatest commandment with love God with your entire being. The story concludes with the Pharisee reacting to Jesus’ answer by stating “well said teacher…you are right…” To which Jesus replied, “When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." Jesus told this Pharisee who was a top expert in the OT – the Bible – that his agreement with Jesus meant that he was not far from God. The Pharisees were distracted with all their man-made laws, they had lost focus of the #1 commandment. If you lose focus of the #1 commandment, you will be far from the kingdom. There is a far that means outside of the kingdom and there is a far that means distant from God. This is a lack of intimacy, a lack of closeness. You sense that God is not directing your paths, he is not on your mind, he is not your strength and he is not your soul’s desire. There are many here today who believe with all their heart that they are saved by God’s grace and they are going to heaven, but you also feel far away from God. How is it that a child of God can feel far away from his Heavenly Father? Are you missing that closeness to God that you once enjoyed? Do you desire, long and yearn for that renewed intimacy with God? The answer is to rediscovering this closeness and intimacy with God is right here in the #1 commandment. We like to be involved in many things at one time. We do not choose to limit ourselves to one thing; we are not content with less because we want more. All of our lives have become very busy filled with a variety of things. There are people to love – we love our spouse, we love our children, grandchildren, we love our television shows, we love our sports, we love our morning newspaper, we love the internet. The problem is that God calls us to love Him with ALL; yes with everything we have. But, if we love God with all of our love, then what love do we have leftover for other people? Either our love for others is an expression of the #1 commandment or our love for others is a violation of the #1 commandment. Your love for your spouse, your children, your love for anything is either an expression of the greatest commandment or a violation of it. If you want to recapture your closeness with God, the plug God into every part of your life. Play God in each relationship to see what God has to say. And, learn to skip what God does not want to be involved with anymore. |
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Students
Students are vital to many aspects of Romeo's ministry. We invite middle and high school students to join a small group, get connected, and experience life change.
Students are vital to many aspects of Romeo's ministry. We invite middle and high school students to join a small group, get connected, and experience life change.
