Sunday, July 19, 2015 am
GOING ON TO PERFECTION 2015 (25)
Letting God Work in Our Lives (3)
Loving God
a.
What is love? The Bible
translates 2 Greek words “love” in English. The
lesser used word is φιλέω, (phileō) and addresses having affection for
someone as a friend or brother (cf. Matt. 10:37, John 15:19).
It would similar to the feelings of love we have for our family.
The more often used word in the New Testament is the word,
ἀγάπη (agape). It
is a word that is defined as, “to have warm regard and interest in
another, cherish,…; high esteem” (BDAG)
It is a word that demonstrates that we care enough to sacrifice for
what is best.
The application of that word can be seen in every relationship we
are involved in as Christians (God/Jesus toward us, us toward God/Jesus,
brethren, neighbors, world, enemies, etc.)
b.
In Matt. 22:37-38 –
Jesus tells us that love is the greatest commandment, first toward God,
then toward one another.
c.
1 Corinthians 13:13
tells us that while faith, hope and love abide – the greatest of these
is love.
d.
Our motives toward God
and others need to be pure.
They need to be rooted in love.
a.
1 John 4:8 tells us that
God is love. The best way to
understand love is to consider God – how He has responded to the needs
of man. Love is His very nature.
He created man with the capacity to love.
b.
God has demonstrated His
love – Romans 5:8 – He sent Jesus to die for our sins.
In Rom. 5:5 he said that the love of God has been poured out in
our hearts.
1 John 4:9-10 – He manifested His love toward us in sending His Son so
that we might live.
c.
At best, we can attempt
to only explain or understand His love.
Its fullness is beyond our comprehension.
Ephesians 3:17-19 says, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able
to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth
and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you
may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Nevertheless we try to comprehend it as best we can.
d.
WE are commanded to love
God.
NOTE: Being a command means
that it is more than just feelings or emotions.
You cannot command an emotion.
i.
Matt. 22:37 – it is the
greatest commandment – and it is to be with our all.
ii.
1 Corinthians 8:3 says,
“But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.”
iii.
1 John 4:16, “And we
have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and
he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
iv.
Even under the Old Law,
Israel was commanded to love God.
In the book of Deuteronomy, some 11 times they were told to love
God.
Deut. 7:9, ““Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the
faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations
with those who love Him and keep His commandments;”
Deuteronomy 10:12, “And now,
Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD
your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD
your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”
(Deut. 6:5, 7:9, 10:12, 11:1, 12, 22, 13:3. 19:9, 23:5; 30:6, 16, 20 )
e.
We love Him because He
first loved us! 1 John 4:19.
In a context where John notes that we seek to reach a point where
our service to God is not driven by fear of His wrath but motivated by
His love for us. When we
truly appreciate what God has done for us, it ought to move us to love
Him! It is when we have this
type of love, that our service to Him is not a chore, but a pleasure.
To only serve God because you are afraid of Him will lead to a life of
mystery, and you will NOT be devoted to Him.
a.
As we can see, we are
commanded to love God. But how
do we do that?
b.
We tell God that we love
Him.
We sing songs and perhaps in our prayers we tell Him that we love
Him. That is a good thing
and should NOT be neglected.
NOTE: Many churches today emotionally emphasize this to the neglect of
obedience. They seek to make
God an “experience”, which might inwardly move one, but often such is
superficial. Our love for
God needs to be deeper than just repeatedly singing about loving Him.
c.
Love Him with all your heart – Matthew 22:37 - (cf. Matt. 15:8
- they honored God with their
lips, but their heart was far away from Him).
The heart of the Christian is what makes us who we are – our soul, mind,
emotions, will, thoughts and attitudes.
All of the qualities are governed by the directions He gives us
(Prov. 4:23 – out of it springs the issues of life).
To love God you have to
make Him your master. Jesus
taught in Matt. 6:24 – you cannot serve 2 masters.
There are many who seek to serve God and the world at the same
time! God demands our all.
If we love God He will be first in your life – Matthew 10:37-39 –
He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…take up
his cross, etc.
Luke 14:33 says, “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that
he has cannot be My disciple.”
d.
By keeping His
commandments
–
One way that we tell someone we love that we do, is by doing what we can
for them. We show it.
When you love your family, you do whatever you need to do – you
care about them, even to the point of sacrifice.
The greater the love, the more you are willing to do.
There are many who profess to love in word, but their actions betray
them. When a man says he
loves his wife but he abuses her, he doesn’t love her.
Many passages emphasize that this is how we show God that we love Him.
Simply stated, we obey Him.
Obedience is a demonstration of love.
1 John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
1 John 2:5, “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is
perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.” (NKJV)
2 John 6, “This is
love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the
commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk
in it.”
John 14:15, Jesus said,
“If you love me, keep My commandments
NOTE: To keep His
commandments we have to know them - that means learning what He tells us
to do! Cf. Deut. 13:3,
“you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of
dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
e. By loving our brethren – we HAVE to love each. God demands it.
4:7-8, we love each
other because “love is of God.”
4:11-12, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God
abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.”
4:20-21, “If someone
says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does
not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has
not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God
must love his brother also.”
1 John 5:2, “By this
we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His
commandments.”
1 Thess. 4:9
“But
concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you,
for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;”
f.
By giving – God
has given us so much, we need to give back to Him and to others.
His giving was a demonstration of His love.
And we love Him because He first loved us – therefore we ought to
be giving and sharing with others.
God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Cor. 9:7 – a passage addressing the contribution calls for us to give
generously. If we love God
this will not be a problem.
And while we apply this to the contribution –our giving ought to go
further than that! We give
ourselves (cf. 2 Cor. 8:5).
1 John 3:17, “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his
brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of
God abide in him?”
g.
Keep yourselves in the love of God - Jude 21. The final point we notice is that if we love God
we will stay faithful to Him. Heb. 10:38, if anyone draws back, My soul
has no pleasure in Him.
Luke 9:62, “No one having put his
hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
God
works in our lives, because we let Him work in various ways.
But how do we demonstrate our
gratitude to Him for that?
We learn from Him what genuine Christian love is about and we love Him
in return. Not just in our
words, but in our deeds. Hebrews
6:10, “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love
which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the
saints, and do minister.”
Do you love God as you ought to?