You Shall Love the Lord Thy God

As I mentioned earlier in the earlier comments of the announcements that we've got a pre-teen campus starting tomorrow. It'll go on for four days. And our theme is loving God and loving neighbor. And those are two commands that are found in the law of God. So that theme of loving God and loving neighbor has been on my mind now for actually quite a few months. And it's something that we're going to be teaching in the Christian living classes.

We're going to be covering that. And we're going to try to tie it in, of course, with all of the activities that we have during the camp. A couple of years ago, the theme that we had was the Ten Commandments. And we talked about how the first four kind of help us to understand how to love God and the last six of how to love our neighbor.

So we tried to create that concept with them with the Ten Commandments. And now we're going to try to narrow it down to the two great commandments that Jesus Christ talks about. Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 22. Matthew chapter 22, Jesus was asked a question. And I think it's a great question.

I think it's one of the greatest questions of all time. If you ever think about it, I wonder what would be a great question or what question would I ask, beyond if I had a chance to ask him. It's a great question here. And Jesus was confronted. I mean, in a sense, he was being tested. We're going to look at it here in verse 34. He's being tested, so we know a little bit about what's going on here.

He just didn't necessarily want to know, or maybe he thought he knew. But it's an interesting concept that this was something that was actually debated among the Pharisees and the scribes of which laws were the most important. And we're going to see here that Jesus addresses this question. Verse 34, it says, when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees. So in the context here, what had just happened was that Jesus Christ had been talking to the Sadducees.

And you know, in a sense, you've got these two religious bodies. You've got the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and they were both religious, but they did not always share the same understandings. The Sadducees didn't believe in a resurrection. The Pharisees did. Sadducees did not. And in the context here, the Sadducees had tried to trip up Jesus Christ with a question about the resurrection. And so Jesus answered it. And he stumped the Sadducees, and so now the Pharisees had heard this, and that he had silenced the Sadducees.

They didn't have a comeback for what Christ had said. So he'd silenced them, and they gathered together. Verse 35, then one of them, so one of the Pharisees, in this particular case, a lawyer, so he had a knowledge of law, he asked him a question, testing him. So we see a possible motivation here. And he said, teacher, what is the great commandment in the law?

Now, there's a lot of laws in Scripture. In fact, by some accounts, there's over 600 different laws and commandments, things that we should do, things that we should not do. And so there's quite a few. Interestingly here, Jesus doesn't hesitate. If you think about it, boy, if you had to know all 600, which one did you know? Jesus doesn't hesitate. Immediately, he responds in verse 37, he says, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind.

This is the first in great commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets. It's kind of like these two pegs here. You know, they both have the underlying commandment here. Both of them have to do with love, don't they? Loving God or loving neighbor. And on these two, like these two pegs, everything else hangs on these two. I've mentioned this before for those of you that are here. It's interesting that Jesus Christ, he could have stopped as the great teacher, he's asked this question, what's the greatest command?

He goes on to say immediately it's to love the Lord your God with all of your heart. Tells us how with all of your strength, with all of your soul, with all of your mind. But then he answers a question that was not asked. And there's a second one. That's like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So they're very, very much the same. Not exactly, but they're very much the same.

And they both have to do with love. And every other commandment shows us, begins to show us that there's a love, there's a love theme here in a sense. They all hang on those two. The title of the message today, we're going to just focus in the message, this first message here, the sermon on the first commandment. And then the Bible study will address the second commandment. The title of the message today is, you shall love the Lord your God.

That's the title of the message. And specifically what I hope to address, here's a few questions. Why is it the greatest? Why is it the greatest? And secondly, and if it is the greatest, if it is so important, then how do we do it? How do we do it? So we'll look at the greatest commandment in loving God. As we look at scriptures, and as we look at the context here of this section of Scripture, we see from Jesus Christ Himself, who sits at the Father's right hand at the present moment, that the Father's primary desire is for us to love Him.

You shall love the Lord your God. Now He's not saying here, you shall worship the Lord your God. Now He does say that in other places, doesn't He? But He doesn't say that here. And He's not saying here, you shall study your Bible. Mr. Nelson touched on the sermonette, you know, study to show yourself. There's other scriptures that talk about that. It doesn't say that here. It doesn't say here that you and I should live a moral life. Now it does say that in other places in Scripture, don't get me wrong.

So I'm going to try to pull all these things together here. What I'm trying to do is make a point. He's saying all those other things are important. Don't get me wrong. They are important. They're part of the law and commandments of God.

But what He's saying here is God's desire, God's primary desire, the greatest commandment of all, is that mankind loves Him. But what does that mean? What does that mean? How do we do that? How do you and I do that? You know, some people think it's a list of things that we have to do. Others think of it as a feeling. Others think, well, you just skip the next verse, and loving God means we love our neighbor. And we love our neighbor as ourselves. And that's how we show love to God.

That's all part of it. But that's not all of it. And as we focus on that word, love, today, we're going to spend a little time with that. And what God meant by that, hopefully we'll begin to see that there is a little bit more. What does it mean to love God? You know, in Matthew 22, in this context that we're in, right here, verse number 37, the Greek word for love is agapeo.

Interesting that the root word agape is in that word agapeo. And maybe some of you have heard the series of sermons that's been given by Gary Petty on agape. It's excellent. If you haven't had the chance to listen to those, I really encourage you to do that. So it's interesting that this Greek word here is agapeo, which has the Greek word agape in it. And agapeo, you know, we talk about agape, for those of you that have heard that series, you know, we're talking about an unconditional love. It's God's unconditional love. And that word agape is always used in a positive sense. It's always considering, always, what is best for the other person. But now the Greek word that's used here is agapeo. It's not agape. It's agapeo. And it most of the time is used in a positive sense, but not always. Okay, agapeo means love. It can also mean commitment. It can also mean commitment that you are something that you are committed to, something that you have a strong commitment for. Now, most of the time, as I mentioned, agapeo is used in a positive sense, but there's a few times when it's not. So let's look at a few of those scriptures. I'll refer to them. You can write them down, or you can look them up if you can. 2 Timothy 4 and verse 10. 2 Timothy 4 and verse 10.

Paul is writing to Timothy, and he's talking about someone by the name of Demas. He says, For Demas has forsaken me, having agapeo'd this present world. It's translated in English, loved. He said, Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world and has departed for Thessalonica. So Demas became committed to something else. He started down that road, apparently, but then he forsook that way of life. He forsook Paul, and as it says, he's loved this present world. In John chapter 3 verse 19, that's the second time that the word agapeo is used in a sense in a negative way, something that they love or committed to. John chapter 3 verse 19 says this, Men love darkness rather than light. Men agapeo'd darkness rather than light. You know, the interesting thing about this word agapeo is that when Jesus is quoting this, he's actually quoting the Old Testament. He's quoting Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5. He's quoting an Old Testament scripture. And Jesus Christ probably wasn't speaking Greek. I mean, that's how it was recorded for us and then translated in English. He most likely was speaking Aramaic. So let's go back for a moment to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5, and let's look at the Hebrew word of what Jesus Christ is quoting from. That's Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5. So let's go back there, and we're going to see the same command. He should love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul here in this verse. Interestingly, this commandment is listed several times in the book of Deuteronomy, but let's look at it here in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse number 5.

This is what Jesus Christ quoted when he responded to the Pharisaical lawyer. He says, And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your might. So when Jesus Christ quoted this Old Testament scripture, which is translated Love in English, both in the New and the Old Testament, what was the Hebrew word for love? What was the Hebrew word that's used here? What is the essence? What is the mean of this command when God said this to Moses and to the children of Israel thousands of years ago? When he said, You shall love the Lord your God here in Deuteronomy chapter 6. Well, the Hebrew word is only four letters. It's Ahab. A-H-A-B. Ahab. Now, I suppose some could translate it Ahab, but actually the correct pronunciation is Ahab. Now, there's certain times in the scripture when it uses the feminine form Ahaba, but it means exactly the same thing, whether it's a masculine or feminine form. Ahab. The Hebrew word here is Ahab. What does it mean? It means to have affection for strong affection, intimate friendship. This word has to do with a closeness, an intimate friendship. It's an interesting word because there are several places in scripture where individuals would Ahab another. They would Ahab. They would love one another. For example, 2 Samuel chapter 1, verse 26. 2 Samuel chapter 1, verse 26. Now, in the context here, it's talking about David and it's talking about Jonathan. And it says that David loved Jonathan. We're talking about this Hebrew word here. In the text, it says that the love that he had for Jonathan was greater than the love of women. You know, it's an interesting thing about this. It's the sharing, the close sharing of somebody's soulmates. There's a closeness there. It's not a distant type of thing. There's a closeness. I'll refer you to 1 Samuel chapter 20, verse 17. 1 Samuel chapter 20, and verse 17. It says, on the other hand, it says, Jonathan Ahabd David. So, in one context, we see that David loved Jonathan. In the other context, we say that Jonathan did the same for David. They loved each other. They had an intimate friendship. 1 Kings chapter 5, verse 1. Just another reference. 1 Kings chapter 5 and verse 1. Talks about David again. And it talks about a king by the name of Hiram. H-I-R-A-M. That's in 1 Kings chapter 5 and verse 1. They were loyal friends.

There was a love there. There was an Ahab there that it just mentions in that context. So, when we talk about loving God, Jesus was saying, you shall love the Lord your God. He's referring to something like, for instance, David loving Jonathan. Not in a weird way, not in a sexual way, but as a close friend. As an individual that he began to share his heart with.

Let's turn over to the New Testament. John chapter 15 and verse 12. John chapter 15 and verse 12. We're going to read a few scriptures here. That to me, there's a lot more here in this section of scripture than maybe what I had thought. John chapter 15 and verse 12.

We talk about Ahab, meaning this close personal relationship, as friends. And Jesus calls his disciples friends here in this context. This is what he says to them as he's beginning to teach them about godly love. And I think this is what the Father has in mind. I think Jesus Christ had the heart and the mind of the Father. They were like this. They were one together. I think Christ had the heart and mind of the Father when he's sharing this information with his disciples. This view that he shares with his disciples, I think he's sharing the Father's view. Let's see what it says in verse number 12. He says, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Now that took it to a new step in a way, because prior to that, you loved your neighbor as yourself, but now Jesus Christ is saying, I want you to love one another as I, God in the flesh, have loved you. He's starting to tie in that second commandment a little bit, isn't it? God says, I have this love for you, and I want you to have this same type of love for one another. Verse number 13, Greater love has no one than this, and someone lay down one's life for his friends.

And I don't think he has a grade school attitude. He says, you can't be my friends unless you do what I say. You know, I don't think that's what Christ is saying here. I don't think that's what he's saying here at all. And what he's saying here is something very, very different. We'll touch on that in a moment. But notice what he's saying here. He's teaching them about godly love and that to love is to be in them. It's expressed to others as it says in verse 12. Godly love is to be in them and expressed to others. So he says in verse 12, we'll go back there for a moment, he says, this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. So again, he's referring to the second of the two great commandments, but remember the second is like the first. So there's some commonality there. Jesus Christ then begins to teach here how to have godly love for others. He talks about laying down your life. And then in verse 14, he says, you are my friends if you do everything that I command you. Again, not a elementary grade school level here that you can't be my friends if you don't do what I say or you don't do what I command you to do. No, what he's saying is that you demonstrate that you are my friends when you trust me enough to do what I tell you to do. You demonstrate to me that you are my friends when you trust me enough to do what I command you to do. Jesus was no different. He trusted the Father, didn't he? Didn't he say I did the things that my Father has asked me to do?

Jesus Christ did the same thing with his Father. So Jesus is saying, when you follow me, when you respond to me, when you obey me, that's a demonstration that you are my friends and that you love me. Verse 15, no longer comes a time, and I hope that we'll hear this too, no longer do I call you servants, for a servant doesn't know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all the things that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. Brethren, there comes a time when there's a change in the relationship. No longer do I call you servants, but I call you friends. There's a lot here in these verses 12 through 15.

Brethren, do you see what he's saying in verse 12? Let's go back. I don't want us to miss this. He's saying, I've been showing you godly love. I've been loving you with godly love, and I want you to love others in the same way. Others, whether it be man, whether it be our Father, whether it be Jesus Christ, others love others in the same way. In verse 13, godly love involves laying down your life. It involves laying down your life. Of course, Jesus Christ did that literally, didn't He, with the sacrifice for all of us so that your penalty and mine could be forgiven so that we could be in the family of God. But I think that means more than just literally laying down our life. I think the Scriptures talk about a living sacrifice too, don't they? Keep your finger here, but let's go to 1 John 3 and verse 16. 1 John 3 and verse 16. I think it ties in here with being a sacrifice, loving God, and obeying Him because we love Him and trust Him and have faith in Him. 1 John 3 and verse 16. By this we know love. By this we're going to know that we're loving God because He laid down His life for us. By this we know love, rather, because He laid down His life for us. That has to do with godly love, doesn't it? He's laying down your life for others. 2 John 15. Hopefully you didn't... You left some marker there and it won't take long to go back.

In verse 14, did you notice what Jesus is saying in verse 14? Again, He's saying that you demonstrate that you are my friends when you trust me enough to do as I command you, just as I did with my Father. Let's notice that in verse number 10. John chapter, same chapter, but verse number 10, what Jesus Christ Himself says in John chapter 10. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments, and we are abiding in this love together. So it's the same. It's the same.

I'll refer to 1 John 5, verse 3, that says this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not grievous.

It's an amazing thing when you have a leader of a family, when you have a Father, when you have someone who's very caring and very loving and very experienced in life, in what works and what doesn't, and He wants to share that way of life, and He knows there are certain rules. It seems like every parent, every father, every mom, they've got rules for their kids. It's for their good. And when those kids begin to respond to that, when they trust their parent, they begin to respond to those rules. That shows love from the children to the Father. It shows love and respect. That's what I think He's trying to help us to begin to understand. Did I read 1 John 5, verse 3, or did I only refer to it? Did I read it? I'll read it just in case I didn't. It says, For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. It's like when this relationship begins to come together, that we love God with everything that's in us, these commandments aren't grievous to us. They're a joy. The Sabbath is a joy, because it's a joy to God. We begin to take on the characteristics of our heavenly Father. We begin to become like Him. We begin to be whole, we begin to be refined, and we begin to rejoice in the things that He rejoices in. They're not grievous. They're not hard. They're not hard for Him.

This is the concept, I think, that God is trying to begin to help us to understand. And this essence of the relationship that God is looking for in us, this is where godly love begins to take us. This concept, I think, is wrapped up in Deuteronomy 6, verse 5, where He says, You shall ahab the Lord your God with all of your heart and your mind and your soul and your strength, this loyal affection. It's interesting, in Genesis, chapter 29, verse 20, Genesis, chapter 29, verse 20, talks about the story of Jacob. Remember that story of Jacob, where he was in love with Lavin's daughter, the younger one. It wasn't Leah that she was the older one, it was Rachel. But Lavin wanted to marry his first daughter off first, so he kind of tricked Jacob. Jacob loved the second daughter. But the father-in-law tricked Jacob, and so Jacob worked seven years for what he thought was Rachel, and he ended up with Leah. And then after that, it says, His love was so great for Rachel that he was willing to work another seven years.

He ahabbed Rachel. That's the word that's used, and it's the one that God uses for Himself. Love the Lord your God, this fiercely loyal affection, if you're willing to go the extra mile like Jacob did because of His love for Rachel. But when it comes to ahab, when it comes to this love, it should flow both ways, shouldn't it? If you're in a family relationship, it should flow both ways, shouldn't it? God created people to have a loving relationship with Him, and God reveals Himself to us as our Heavenly Father. And then He calls us His sons and His daughters. So we're talking about a family here that were His very children. And He desires, as every parent does, to have a close family relationship with the members of the family, with Him showing love to us, and us showing love to Him. God's in the process of bringing many sons to glory, so we can be in the same family. Well, let's notice God's... the love works both ways, and let's look at God's love for us for a moment. Romans chapter 5 and verse number 8. Romans chapter 5 and verse number 8.

We know that God first loved us. He's trying to teach us that love. He wants us to love Him as well. Romans chapter 5 and verse 8, but let's understand He has this love for us. It says, but God demonstrates His own love towards us. How does He demonstrate it? And that while we were still sinners, and there are other scriptures that say we were dead in our sins, but that while we were still sinners, Christ died, not for Himself, but for other people. He sacrificed Himself for us. He paid the ultimate sacrifice because of God's love for us, long before we were capable of returning that love to Him.

Let's look at another scripture in the Old Testament. Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 3. Again, we're talking about God's love for us. Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse number 3. The love that God has for us, His deep love for mankind, is talked about here in this context. Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 3. It says, The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have ahabbed you with an everlasting ahab. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you. He's drawing us to Him. God's always had a plan here for human beings to have a loving relationship within the family. And He describes it as an everlasting love. That's going to go on for eternity. It's an everlasting love. Let's drop down to verse number 33. He says in this loving family relationship, He says, I will put My law into their inward parts. He's talking about those two great commandments, too. That's part of the law. In fact, they're the greatest commandments in the law. I will put My law into their inward parts, and I will write it in their hearts. We know the heart is the seat of the emotion and of who we are, the essence of what we're becoming. God is love. And that's where He's taking us, brethren. That's where He's taking us, slowly but surely. And I'm going to put it in their hearts. I'm going to write it in their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. His law is going to be permanently planted in our hearts and in our minds. And part of the purpose of this law is to show love for Him.

He obeys that law already, showing love to us. Let's go over to Hosea 11. These maybe are some scriptures we haven't thought about in this context before. Hosea 11. We're going to see here God's heart, I think is captured here in this scripture here in Hosea. Hosea 11 and verse 1.

We're going to see here God's hobbling for His people that He has, and He has for us. And He's looking for us to have it with Him. Hosea 11 and verse 1. He says, when Israel was a child, I loved Him. Now those of you that are parents, think about your own children here as we read some of the context here. He says in verse 1, When Israel was a child, I Ahabed Him. And out of Egypt, out of slavery, I called my son.

And as they called them, so they went from them.

And then they turned from God. They sacrificed the bales, it says. They burned incense to carved images. So instead of sacrificing to God, they began to sacrifice to bales, and they began to sacrifice to carved images.

Verse 3. Yet it was I, God says, it was I who taught little Ephraim to walk.

I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I think a maybe a more modern translation may help here. I'm going to quote in verse 3, the Good News Bible translation. It says, Yet I was the one who taught Israel to walk, taking them up by their arms. You can imagine a father doing that with their children. Taking them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.

Verse 4. I drew them towards me with gentle cords. God has rules. You know, He's got standards. I drew them with gentle cords, and notice with cords or bands of aha, with love.

And I was to them, as those who take the yoke from off their neck, I stooped and fed them. The New Living Translation says, I led Israel along with my ropes of kindness and love. I lifted the yoke off of their neck, and I myself stooped down.

And then I fed them. I a-habbed them. That's what He's saying here, brethren. It's pretty moving. I think as parents, we can maybe understand this a little bit more perfectly. That's the word He's using. It's the word He's using in Deuteronomy 6, verse 5. God says, my first and greatest command is, I want you to a-hab the Lord your God.

Let's look at some Old Testament models of a-hab for God and God's love for us. They're quite remarkable. Let's notice Abraham. Isaiah 41. Abraham. There's some quite unique things that are said about Abraham. He had a close relationship with God.

It says three different times in Scripture that Abraham was the friend of God. That's in 2 Chronicles 20, verse 7. James 2, verse 23 of the other two references. But we're going to look at the one in Isaiah. Isaiah 41, verse 8.

God says through Isaiah, He says, But you, Israel, are my servant, and Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend. You know that word that's translated friend? In Hebrew, it's a-hab. Abraham. My close, intimate friend.

Like the friendship that Jonathan had for David. David for Jonathan.

Same thing is said about Moses. Very similar. I'll refer to Exodus 33, verse 11.

The Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.

But let's notice Deuteronomy 34, verse 10. I know I'm covering a lot of Scriptures here today. Deuteronomy 34, verse 10. I'll be having a hard time keeping up if you're a good note taker. Deuteronomy 34, verse 10.

God would talk to Moses as a man talks to his friend. And this is God's commentary about Moses' life here in Deuteronomy 34, verse 10. It's quite a commentary. But since then, there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses. And at the time this was written, there wasn't anyone like him. Why? Whom the Lord knew face to face. They had a relationship, didn't they?

Verse 11. In all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt and before Pharaoh and before all of the servants of Pharaoh for all of the servants and in all of that land. And verse 12. And by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel. Now it's interesting, most of these verses have to do with power. Mighty things, great things, some things that have never been duplicated since. Powerful things because God knew Moses.

God knew he could trust Moses and Moses knew he could trust God. There was a trust that they had for each other. And God spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. That's the idea, brethren. In Deuteronomy 6, the Scripture that Jesus Christ quoted, to come into this intimate friendship to ahab God.

And to have God in a sense ahab us. A love that works both ways in a family relationship. It's a loyal affection.

A loyal affection that can dominate our life is basically what God thinks about it and how he thinks about it for us. And by the way, what's the dominant theme in a sense that runs through, that God uses as a picture to help us to understand and portray His attitude towards the church? There's a couple of things. Number one is the body of Christ. What's the other one? The bride.

The bride. The bride. You know, we're talking about marriage. We're talking about a relationship of husband and wife. Many of you know Ephesians 5 where it talks about the things that we quote during a wedding ceremony, about this relationship between a man and a woman. You know, where the husband is ahead of the wife and as Christ is ahead of the church. But we need to submit to one another we have this relationship. But then at the end of that chapter, in Ephesians 5 and verse 32, he says this is a great mystery, but I'm really talking about Christ and the church.

I mean, all those other things apply to marriage between a husband and a wife, but what I'm really talking about is between the Son of God and the people. We're talking about a family. We're talking about a relationship. And you don't marry somebody unless you love them.

And your relationship is based on love. Godly love.

A relationship. An intimate relationship. That's the love of God. That's what he's talking about. You know Jesus' first miracle, remember that? Is that a wedding? One of the last things he talks about in the book of Revelation is what? The marriage supper, the marriage fest feast. We're talking about a family. We're talking about a close relationship.

It's the heart of God.

It's not necessarily a religious thing where we hold God at a distance. Yes, we are to honor Him. Yes, we are to respect Him. Yes, we do serve Him.

But eventually, that relationship begins to change.

You know, all those things are important. But that's not all there is to a hob, God. It goes further.

God's primary desire is for mankind to love Him. That's the greatest commandment.

It's the greatest commandment.

Love and obedience are closely tied together. Let's turn over to John 14, verse 15. John 14, verse 15.

Jesus says something pretty familiar. This is probably something that we've read before over the years, many of us. John 14, verse 15. He says, if you love Me, keep My commandments. If you love Me, He says, keep My commandments. He doesn't say, if you keep My commandments, then you'll love Me.

You know, obedience does not lead to love. But love does always lead to obedience. Without question. Without question. You know, we can't say we love God and we don't keep the Sabbath. We can't do that. We can't do that.

We can't say we love God and steal.

We can't say we love God and we don't love our fellow man.

Tell you a story about our daughter.

Kelly. It's a long time ago. She was in first grade.

We just read, Jillian and I just recently got married, and I uprooted those poor folk up from the warm climate of Texas to the cold, freezing, tepid weather of Minnesota.

So they had some adjustments to make.

She started school her first year in Minnesota.

She had a first grade teacher. Her name was Mrs. Koppelman.

Kelly loved that teacher. For some reason, I don't know why, she loved Mrs. Koppelman. And she would do anything for Mrs. Koppelman. She would follow all of the rules. She would always follow the rules. Now, Kelly, she's not here to listen to this. She says, Kelly was a little rascal when she was young. She was a little rascal. And so was I. So we've got that in common.

But it was towards the end of the school year she made this comment to Jelinda.

She said, I am so tired of being good.

It's been taking her some work.

But she did it. She did it. Because she loved her. She kept all of her rules. There was an outfit that Jelinda got for Kelly. I don't know, some kind of outfit. It had a popping on it, kind of almost a three-dimensional thing. Really, really cute, right? You, Jelinda, really liked it. Mrs. Koppelman really liked it. Kelly would wear that outfit several times. Because Mrs. Koppelman liked it.

Jelinda didn't find out till later. And she told me, Kelly didn't like that outfit.

She didn't like it. But she wore it because Mrs. Koppelman liked it.

And that's interesting how that can take you a certain place. Let's notice 1 John 5 and verse 3. 1 John 5. I think I've already quoted the Scripture. If I have, we'll just gloss over here. 1 John 5, verse 3. I think we've already talked about it.

But the more we get into relationship with God, the more we begin to love Him, we obey Him. It becomes a delight for us. It becomes a delight to serve Him and to do His will.

We truly love God. We'll keep these commandments. 1 John 5, verse 3.

I think I've quoted it. Yeah, for this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and they aren't a burden. And some translations say they're not grievous.

2 John 5, verse 4. Brethren, the Ahab love is always expressed by obedience. Now, we're not going to be perfect. Don't get me wrong. Trust me. You know that too in your own life, don't you? We're not going to be perfect. But because we love God, we're going to make steps to try to change. Because we trust Him. We have faith in Him. We respect Him. We honor Him. But we can't disobey Him, perpetually, and say we love Him. It doesn't work that way.

We talked earlier about Jesus saying in John 15, verse 14, that you are my friends if you do what I command you to do.

He's saying something so much different. He was willing to follow His Father's commandments. He wants us to follow His Father's commandments as well. And His, because He knows what's best. When you trust Me enough, it has to be based on trust, doesn't it? We want to come right down to it. And of course, faith is tied into that as well. We don't always see everything perfectly. Sometimes we have to have faith in God, the evidence of things not seen. Trusting God is a part of this love, and faith is a part of it as well. It's part of this aha. That no matter what He puts us through, that we trust Him, that it will ultimately change us for the better. That's a lot of faith, isn't it? That no matter what He puts us through, that it will ultimately, if we respond correctly, it will change us for the better.

Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? For those of you that were at camp, we talked about courage and faith last year, and that one of the commandments was that you have to put God first.

You have to put God first no matter what. And then Nebuchadnezzar makes this big golden image, and then he tells everybody that when you hear the sound of the music, that you have to bow down and worship that thing.

And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew the first commandment.

You shall worship the Lord your God, Him only.

So they had to have faith, didn't they? And I suppose it takes courage to a-hab God. They had to have courage to say, you know what, Nebuchadnezzar, that God, our God, that you're talking about, He can save us.

But if He chooses not to, it's His choice. If He chooses not to, let it be known to you that we will not bow down nor worship that image.

I think most of us know the story. In this case, God intervened. He intervened. They went into the fire. God took it that far. But not a hair on their head was singed, it says. There wasn't the smell of smoke, even on their clothing. And Nebuchadnezzar said, how many did we throw in there to His servants? His powerful soul. Three. But there's four figures that I see in the furnace. Well, that God never could Nebuchadnezzar's attention. He got off the throne. He got off his chair. He said, how many were there? And He went right up to as close as He could get, because several of them lost their lives. The ones that... Because He heated it seven times hotter than it was supposed to be. Many of them that took Shadrach, bound them in ropes, took them in. They lost their lives. They were burned to death from the heat. They didn't even get into the furnace, but the heat of it took their lives.

Trusting God is a part of a-hoving Him. Having faith is a part of a-hoving Him.

It's part of the meaning of love. Loving God.

You know, if you want to look at a relationship built on trust and faith, boy, all you have to do is look at the example of David and read through the Psalms. Who? How many times was he in trouble? And he said, yet I will trust in you. No matter what, I'm going to continue to obey you. I believe in you, and I believe that you can save me. I'm putting my faith, my trust. You're my shield. You're my buckler. You're my deliverer. There's no other God to turn to that can do what you do, so I'm turning to you.

Wasn't always easy, though. If you read through the Psalms, boy, David said, God, a couple of times, God, are you there? Are you listening to me? Of course, God says, I'll never leave you or forsake you. But sometimes we feel like He has. But He says, I have not.

Job said, in the midst of his trial, many of you remember this, he said to the friends that were counseling him, though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him. He didn't even met God. He didn't have face to face, but He trusted God. And that was His way of trying to love Him.

You know, David never met God face to face, as far as we know. Doesn't say that in the Scriptures, I don't believe.

Nothing that comes to mind. But He loved God. So you can love God without seeing Him face to face. You can have this relationship.

Sometimes it's hard, though.

And you know, many of you know.

Think of Jelinda's father, my father-in-law, Jim Jenkins, and he acquired skin cancer on his face, his aggressive carcinoma, something. Anyhow, stage four type skin cancer. Anyhow, stage four type stuff that they don't think they can do much for. And that mass grew to about half, cut a grapefruit in half and slap it on the face. It was on one side. Started to weigh it down, drooping his eye, drooping his mouth so he couldn't eat. Then the mass started on the other side. Got to the point where he couldn't eat. He could slurp through a straw. And then, even then, it was tough. It had the straw to be just the right height from the glass, and only the straw was too deep, he couldn't have the suction, so it was not easy.

He told Jelinda she was down there to visit him, and he said to her, he said, God must really love me.

Because He's putting me through lessons right now, that I don't even know how they're going to help me.

They're going to change me.

He was in the valley of the shadow of death.

And I will never, ever forget those words that he said to her.

And I hope I can have that type of trust. When I'm in those shoes, I'm going to be in those shoes. What about Abraham? Do you remember some of the promises that God made to Abraham? The God who cannot lie? He said, Abraham, it's not going to be this person who's going to be your heir. Abraham, it's going to be your son that's not yet been born. Isaac. That's going to be, I'm going to fulfill my promises through him as your heir. All the descendants of yours that are going to go through Isaac, they are going to be your heirs. They're going to be your descendants. They're going to have incredible blessings. Even my son Jesus Christ is going to come through your lineage, through Isaac.

Then, remember the story? God said, oh, when Isaac got to a certain period of age, he said, I want you to go and I want you to sacrifice your son.

I want you to kill him. You know what sacrificed? You know, he hadn't done many animal sacrifices that took the life of the animal. You know what captures Christ coming?

So he said, I want you to sacrifice your son.

Now Abraham loved God. They were friends. They had a relationship, an intimate close relationship. And Abraham, as it says in the book of Hebrews, he trusted God. He believed still in the promise. He trusted that even if God would have me slay my son, that my God can raise my son from the dead so my heirs can still go through the seed of Isaac.

That's faith.

That's faith.

You know, this loyal affection is what God is looking for. He tested Abraham, didn't he? That was a test. The test. Do you really trust me? Do you really love me? Do you really? Are we, you know, are we really like this?

That affection that God is looking for, that Ahav, and it enters us. We begin to try to show God that we care for Him by the way we live our lives, by the things we talk about when we're talking to Him. We begin to obey His commandments because He tells us that's what He wants us to do and we trust Him and He knows what He's doing. We don't do this perfectly. I still disobey God.

And there's consequences, and I think, this is stupid. This is just so stupid. I know where this road leads.

You know, it's not good for me. I'm grieving my Heavenly Father, because we do.

Human fathers grieve too, and their children start to walk down a wrong path.

Now, I know when things aren't going well for me. I know when I'm disobeyed. I've had 58 years to experience where that leads.

We have to get back up. Don't stop. Ask for forgiveness and go forward again. I need to change.

I need to restore the relationship with my Father.

You know, the more that starts to take place in our lives, I think then our love for God grows. I think it grows.

God said of David in Acts 13, verse 21, Acts 13, verse 21, and he said, I have found David, a man after my own heart, who will do all of my will.

He'll follow my commands.

He'll do my will. And guess what? And it's good for him. Okay. It's going to change him. And of course, he's going to have quite a responsibility for eternity in the King of God, because he responded to God. And trusted him. He loved him. He a-habbed God.

He obeyed that commandment, the greatest.

You know, Moses' relationship began with God, kind of in awe. The burning bush. You know, at that time, Moses really didn't have a... You know, he had kind of a distant relationship with God. Started with awe, began with the burning bush.

A voice.

You know, take off your shoes, because where you are standing is holy ground. And he's probably scared to death.

But he obeyed. Boy, if you look at the example of Moses, what a prophet! He obeyed, almost without exception, everything that God commanded. You know, he had one slip up.

You know, where he struck the rock and the water came out and he didn't acknowledge God. God wasn't happy with him for that. Other than that, boy, he was a wonderful prophet of God, an example of obedience to God.

His relationship with God changed.

Changed over time to a place of face-to-face conversation with God, as a man speaks to his friend. I think God uses the family unit to try to help us to understand him, as he created the family, so that we can begin to understand him. True story. Something that happened about 20 years ago.

Man was giving a seminar.

His son was in the audience.

And when the seminar was over, his son handed him a picture. And the picture was of himself, the son, and it was of his father, the one who was giving the seminar. If you can imagine the picture, there's two figures that are in the picture. One of them is the shorter figure, which is the boy who's drawing the picture. And the second figure is a little bit taller, because that's referring to his dad. And his dad has his arm around his son. And there's a caption above the picture. A very simple picture. A caption above the picture that says, I love you.

The father, 20 years later, still has that picture.

And it still brings tears to his eyes when he thinks about it.

Brother, we're made in the image of God. I think sometimes we don't understand that we grieve God, and there are other times when he feels like that father did with his physical son.

That meant more to him than words could express.

What God is asking for here, I think as parents we can understand this maybe a little more perfectly than maybe our children that are listening right now.

But I'm sure it affects God the same way it affects us parents. And I'll bet every one of you parents have got a story out there of your own when something struck you from your children and how you felt about it.

Question is, this is an important question, and I really wish I could do this justice. I'm going to try, brother. How do we do it? How do we do this? Let's go back. The question is, how do we go about loving God in this way?

How do we do it? Let's go back to Matthew 22, verse 37. Matthew 22, verse 37.

Jesus said to him, and he's responding to this question. What's the greatest commandment of the law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with...

Notice he uses that word, with. You shall love the Lord your God with... So now he's beginning to give us a little bit of a clue here. The word with is very important, because the with takes it out of the abstract and begins to put it into more of the concrete. It takes it out of phraseology, begins to put it into the real stuff here, so that we can have an intimate relationship with. How do we do this? How do we a-hob God? We do it with something. It says here, With your heart. All of your heart. The Greek word for heart is cardia. What does it mean? The thoughts. The feelings. The heart. And the deep-seated affection. The emotions. Now, Jesus is being concrete, and yet these words sometimes are hard for us to grasp. In a sense, they're hard for us to define. Scripture says, With all of your heart.

These deep-seated emotions that we have. The essence of what we're thinking about. Our being.

It goes on to say, With not only your heart, but with all of your soul.

What are we talking about here? When we talk about soul? Well, our naphish, our physical life. You know, the word comes from Hebrew. It means to breathe. In Hebrew and in Greek, to breathe. So, we're talking about, you know, we're breathing physical human beings. We have the breath of life in us. To love God with all of our life as a human being.

With all of our soul.

Your life as a human being. Your life as a begotten child of God. Our conscious thoughts.

The realm. A feeling. Our thoughts are who we are.

Love God. It goes on to say, With all of your might. Or all of your strength. I think that's how it's phrased in Deuteronomy 6. I think in Matthew 22, he says, With your mind. In Deuteronomy, it talks about with all your might or all your strength. So, let's take a look at that in a moment. All of your strength. It means with all of your forcefulness, your power, your ability, your might, your strength. You know, the ability to act with what we have. What strength do we have? You know, we have bodily power. But it's not just physical, because we have the ability to have strength of mind, determination, things that we think about, things that we say.

Our ability to set our direction in life. The resources that we have to do that. You know, this is all the strength of a person. If you have a bank account with X number of dollars in it, I suppose that's part of our strength. If we own a home, that's part of our strength. If we're strong physically, that's part of our strength. If we're strong minded, that's part of our strength.

So God says to love Him, to ahab Him with all of our strength.

In Matthew 22, He says, and to love Him with all of our mind. All of our mind.

The Greek word dionoia means deep thought.

Our mind, our understanding. You know, our ability to sort through how we're going to make a choice. Our ability to see right from wrong and choose the power of choice. The concept of these things that are happening in our mind.

By the way, what does it seem like in our life that Satan seems to attack the most? It's our mind. God says we have to have a renewal of our mind.

The mind controls things. How we think. We have the ability to control the way that we think. The Scriptures talk about bringing every thought into captivity. That we have the ability to control our mind and what we think about and what we allow to stay there.

Our minds have probably more power than what we realize.

And so Jesus says, to love your God and mind with all of these things, with all of your mind.

If you're a note-taker and trying to keep up with all this, you're probably not able to do so. But I think when it comes down to this, it's pretty simple. Christ acts word upon word upon word upon word. All of our heart, all of our strength, all of our soul, all of our mind. I think what He's trying to do is He's trying to make it very, very clear that we love God with everything that we are.

We a-hob Him, and we don't hold anything back.

Our physical, our spiritual, our emotional, our intellect, your will, my will, your dreams, my dreams, our goals, affections, friends, habits, how we use our time, our money, everything that we have, that there aren't any compartments that we hold back.

Well, I believe all these commandments, with that type of thing, you know what I mean.

Most of us have a long way to go, and I include myself in that. Don't you worry about that. We've got a long way to go, and I haven't arrived, and you probably haven't either. But God has given us a map.

He's given us Scripture.

When you know you have a map, that's the beginning to be able to find your way to your final destination. 1. The Great Commandment Almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus was asked a question. Teacher, what is the Great Commandment in the law?

Jesus responded without hesitation, You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength. This is the First and the Great Commandment.