.The First and Great Commandment. Introduction: The Foundation for Genuine Christianity. A. Many people turned off by hypocrisy in religion have longed for genuine Christianity. Connecticut Congress Henry C. Deming asked Abraham Lincoln why he never joined a church to which he replied: .I never joined a church because the churches of my day required you to subscribe to a particular doctrine or creed. I told a minister who was trying to recruit me that if I ever found a church that would inscribe over its altar only two requirements, I would join that church with all my heart: The first requirement would be, .Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.. The second requirement would be, .Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.. 1. Too often, the traditions of men have replaced genuine love for God as the motivation for service to God (Mat. 15:1-9). Matt 15:8b "These people... honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.. 2. As a result, there are many superficial, hypocritical churches that do not represent true Christianity. B. Genuine Christianity will only be found in people who truly love the Lord with all their heart, mind, and soul! (Mat. 22:34-40; cf. Deut. 6:5). 1. This strong love for the Lord is .the first and great commandment. - the first and foremost requirement, essential to genuine Christianity. 2. In the pursuit for genuine Christianity, we must answer this higher calling of love for God and examine our hearts and lives for such love. 3. Love for God is not a mere feeling or emotion that we wait for to swell inside our hearts. Loving God is a commandment we choose to obey! 4. In the search for genuine Christianity in the church, we need to unite with those who hold the same standard of love for God in all that they do. I. Total and Complete Love for God. A. To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Luke 10:27). 1. Love for God requires total devotion with every fiber of our being. a. To love God with all the heart, central to what a person stands for, is to love God with all your intellect, affection, emotion, and will. b. To love God with all your soul or life, is to love God with the whole person and personality, your entire life is dedicated to God. c. To love God with all your strength is to love God with all your power or might; all energy and strength is used in service to God. d. To love God with all your mind (closely associated w/ the heart) is to love God by the thoughts we think as shaped by His word. 2. God will not be treated as second best to anyone: You love God with all our heart / love neighbor as yourself. . Only God deserves such love. B. Our love for God is to exceed our love for all others including .self.. 1. Your love for God is to be greater than your love for family (Mt 10:37). 2. Your love for God.s approval is to surpass your love for the approval of all others (e.g. friends, community, government) (John 12:42-43). 3. Your love for God most certainly is to be much greater than the love you have for yourself (Luke 14:26). II. How is it Possible to Love God This Much? A. .Circumcision of the heart. must first take place (Deut. 30:6). 1. If, after Israel was enslaved as punishment for their sins, they returned to the Lord in obedience, the promise is given by God that they could fully be restored as His people (Deut. 30:1-6). 2. .Circumcision of the heart. is necessary so we can love the Lord God with all the heart and all the soul. 3. .Circumcision of the heart. is the cutting away of sin, the removal of sin from the heart which implies the forgiveness of sins as given in Christ. 4. Physical circumcision was a sign that one belonged to the Old Covenant (Gen. 17:11; Lev. 12:3); Today, .circumcision of the heart. is the sign that one belongs to Christ (Rom. 2:29). 5. .Circumcision of the heart. takes place when a person is baptized into Christ, a circumcision made without hands by Christ (Col. 2:11-13). 6. Christ circumcises our hearts or takes away the sin, creating within us a new and clean heart to love and obey God! (Ezekiel 36:26). B. God.s love, demonstrated by His grace in Christ, enables us to love Him with all our hearts! (Eph. 2:4-5; cf. Titus 3:4-7). 1. The reason we can love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind is .because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19). 2. God demonstrated His love for us by giving up His Son as a sacrifice for our sins upon the cross (1 John 4:9-10; Rom. 5:8; John 3:16). 3. To obey the command to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, and mind can only be achieved as we come to understand God.s love for us. a. Come to know His love for you! 4. Daily meditation upon the love of God (Christ) will enable us to love Him in return and compel us to live the life of a Christian (2 Cor 5:14-15). III. Why Loving God is the First and Great Commandment. A. Our love for God is the foundation to everything we do as Christians. 1. Loving God is the first and great commandment (Mat. 22:38) because everything else we do depends on it! 2. To love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself is in fact more important than .all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. (Mark 12:32-34; cf. Luke 11:42). a. Worship according to the letter of the law without love is worthless and profits us nothing (cf. 1 Cor. 13:1-3). b. No amount of good works or sacrificial giving compensates for a failure to love God with all your heart. 3. Obedience is to flow from our love for God! (Deut 11:1; John 14:15, 21, 24; 1 John 5:3). Deuteronomy 11:1 "You shall therefore love the LORD your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments. John 14:15 .If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.. John 14:24a "He who does not love Me does not keep My words.. B. Loving God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind changes everything! 1. Love for God is the most powerful motivation there is for obeying God! (Deut. 10:12; 11:13, 22; 30:16, 20; Josh. 22:5). 2. Your love for God will cause you: a. To .pray without ceasing. (1 Thes. 5:17). b. To .study to show thyself approved unto God. (2 Tim. 2:15). c. To .worship Him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24). d. To not forsake the assembly of the church (Heb. 10:25). e. To love your neighbor as yourself (Mat. 22:39) including your enemies (Mat. 5:44). f. To love your brethren in Christ: 1 Jn 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. g. To love your husband (Titus 2:4) or wife (Eph. 5:23) and your children (Titus 2:4; Eph. 6:4) as yourself. h. Not to sin: .Hate evil, you who love the Lord.. (Ps. 97:10a). j. To do good works, a .labor of love. toward His name (Heb 6:10) Conclusion: Faith that saves is .faith working through love. (Gal. 5:6). To be saved, let us obey the first and great commandment: .Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind..
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 06:29:59 +0000