The first in our series on LOVE starts with our call to love God. The primary text from the sermon is Mark 12:28-34, though there are several other texts that are drawn from. Imagine if Churches in Milwaukee took seriously the call to Love God and Love Each other.
Mark records a conversation between Jesus and a scribe, whereby the question is posed to Jesus, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" Jesus' response is a quotation from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which reads, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." This reflects the teaching of the first commandment to have no other gods before the LORD God (Exod. 20:3; Deut. 5:7).
The challenge of this command, whether reading it from Exodus, Deuteronomy, Mark, or Matthew is that we're not able to obey this fully and perfectly in a way that preserves our souls. Why, then, is this the greatest, most important commandment? Has God set us up for failure? By no means.
Apart from understanding the gospel, we will not be able to truly love God— at least not with all our heart, soul, and might (another way of saying "with all of yourself"). To think or act as though we can truly love God apart from Christ is folly. In Christ, we truly see the extent of God's love for us: God the Son was sent to us, perfectly obeying God's commands throughout his life, and sacrificially laying his life down to pay for our perfect disobedience. Jesus' perfect love for the Father enables us to love God. How? By believing that Christ's death can pay for our sin, we can be brought to new life in him. It is now in that new life that we are made able to really love God.
So, a love for God must be grounded in the gospel. Despite all that the world has to offer us, we must grow in the knowledge that God is sufficient for all our needs and wants. As David declared, when the Lord is our shepherd, we shall lack nothing (Ps. 23:1, NIV)! We hope and pray that Christians in Milwaukee churches Love God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.
It is clear that a love of God is evidenced through obedience to God's word. However, we cannot divorce that from Christ's perfect obedience in which we rest before the Father and his call for us to believe in him and his work on the cross for us. May our love for God be grounded in the cross. Christ's perfect love for us is demonstrated by his willingness to lay down his life for us— while we were yet sinners (Rom 5:8; John 15:12-14). This is the gospel and from here is where our love for God will come. So Hey churches in Milwaukee this is your call to Love God.
Mark records a conversation between Jesus and a scribe, whereby the question is posed to Jesus, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" Jesus' response is a quotation from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which reads, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." This reflects the teaching of the first commandment to have no other gods before the LORD God (Exod. 20:3; Deut. 5:7).
The challenge of this command, whether reading it from Exodus, Deuteronomy, Mark, or Matthew is that we're not able to obey this fully and perfectly in a way that preserves our souls. Why, then, is this the greatest, most important commandment? Has God set us up for failure? By no means.
Apart from understanding the gospel, we will not be able to truly love God— at least not with all our heart, soul, and might (another way of saying "with all of yourself"). To think or act as though we can truly love God apart from Christ is folly. In Christ, we truly see the extent of God's love for us: God the Son was sent to us, perfectly obeying God's commands throughout his life, and sacrificially laying his life down to pay for our perfect disobedience. Jesus' perfect love for the Father enables us to love God. How? By believing that Christ's death can pay for our sin, we can be brought to new life in him. It is now in that new life that we are made able to really love God. So, a love for God must be grounded in the gospel. Despite all that the world has to offer us, we must grow in the knowledge that God is sufficient for all our needs and wants. As David declared, when the Lord is our shepherd, we shall lack nothing (Ps. 23:1, NIV)! We hope and pray that Christians in Milwaukee churches Love God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.
From there, what does it look like to love God? Consider the following:
Exodus 20:5-6 (cf. Deut. 5:9-10) — I the Lord your God am a jealous God... showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Proverbs 4:4 — Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.
John 14:15 — [Jesus speaking] If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
John 14:21 — Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is wholoves me.
John 15:10 — If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
1 John 2:3 — And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
1 John 5:3 — For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.
It is clear that a love of God is evidenced through obedience to God's word. However, we cannot divorce that from Christ's perfect obedience in which we rest before the Father and his call for us to believe in him and his work on the cross for us. May our love for God be grounded in the cross. Christ's perfect love for us is demonstrated by his willingness to lay down his life for us— while we were yet sinners (Rom 5:8; John 15:12-14). This is the gospel and from here is where our love for God will come. So Hey churches in Milwaukee this is your call to Love God.
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