New Years Message

LOVE THE LORD OUR GOD

Deuteronomy 6:1-13 Shp Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF
Key Verse: 6:5 1/11/09
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
I thank God for the opportunity to reflect on God’s work in the previous year and find some clear direction for the new year. This is not just your average New Year’s resolutions. Most, almost all people, do not carry through with their yearly resolutions. These are spiritual resolutions, they are prayers and vows to the Almighty God and we can keep them because, God, the Creator and the Sustainer of the whole universe, sustains and upholds us and leads us according to our key verses. This Sunday we will hear about the wonderful grace of Jesus in peoples’ lives in 2008 and the hope and vision they have for themselves, in Christ, for 2009. We can pray for each other according to these key verses. We will also learn our ministry key verse, and the direction or our ministry in the coming year. As you probably guessed the NIU UBF ministry key verse is Deuteronomy 6:5, ““Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Let’s learn what that means for us in the coming year. May God help us to love him with all our heart and with all our souls and with all our strength in 2009.
What is God asking of his people? Let’s read verse 5 together, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." First, this verse is an imperative command. The word “Love” in this verse comes from the Greek word “agape.” This means the love of God. “Love the Lord…” It is not an option. Nor is it a nice suggestion. It is not a hobby that we do if we have time or if is convenient. How can someone command someone else to love you? It is like saying, “Hey. You...You have to love me.” That is not going to fly with a lot of people. But God can make such demands on us. Why? Because we were made by God in his image. We are the creatures and God is the Creator. It is our duty to love our Creator God with all our heart. As children must love their parents and obey them, we must love the Creator God. God’s “love language” is obedience. God is moved by obedience and he acknowledges those who obey him as those who love him. Jesus said in John 14:23, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

Second, don’t wait for the right feeling. How can we love God whom we do not see? It is easy to love Uma, our mini Pomeranian. It is easy to love our family members and friends, (most of the time). We can see them. We have recognizable feelings of love. But God is invisible. How can we love him when we don’t have feelings of love for him in our hearts? This love is not primarily a feeling, but a decision to put God first in our thoughts, words and deeds. It begins by not waiting for a feeling but deciding to love God from our hearts.

To what degree or what intensity does God want us to love him? Look at verse 5 again, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." What God wants is not a partial outpouring our love to Jesus. Expressing our love to Jesus should be a wholehearted expression. It involves giving our all and our “everything” to him, without holding back, in loving devotion.

Where does this love for God emanate from? It comes from our heart and our soul. The heart is the center of our emotion and the seat of our love. It is the source of our passion. We must maintain our hearts as a place that generates a pure love God. So Proverbs 4:30 warns, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” God gave us one heart. He could have given us many hearts like he did to earthworms. If we had more than one heart, then we could surmise that it would be alright to give one heart to him and one heart to someone or something else. But we have only one heart to give and we must give it undividedly, with passion. If we love the world, or harbor sin in our hearts, or yield to the devil’s temptation, our hearts become as cold as ice and we cannot love God from our hearts.

Loving God with all our soul is kind of abstract. But think of it this way. Our soul is our life. And so we must love God with all our life. Our souls are made in the image of God. Our soul is the very essence of who we are. Our soul is the part of us which communes with God. Our souls long to dwell with Jesus in his kingdom forever. When we love God with all of our souls it means that you love God with all of your life and yearn to be with God and dwell in his presence, taking the necessary means to do so.

How is this love expressed? We must love our God with all our strength. Here, strength includes our spiritual and physical strength. It is not easy to love God with all of our strength. This goes beyond the “touchy/feely” things of the heart and the soul. It starts dealing with the practical. It deals with the concrete. It is where the tire hits the road. However we are called to express our love to God, it must be done with all of our strength. If you are musician practice music and singing to the point of memorizing. If you are a student, study until you feel you can not study any longer. If you are called to prepare the word of God, do it with your whole heart knowing that souls depend on it, even yours. If you have to support yourself, then work with your whole heart. When we love the Lord with all of our strength there is no room for a “that’s good enough” attitude or a “I’ll wing it” attitude. It involves self denial and faithfully offering up your very best to Jesus…very practically.

How can we love God like this? (1Jn4:10,19; 3:1; Eph3:17b-19) It is all because of the grace of Jesus. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19) 1 John 4:10 reads, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for[a] our sins.” Because of our sins, we were destined stand before the judgment seat of Christ. (Heb 11:27) On our own we would surely have to taste eternal condemnation. But God loves us so much that he sent his One and Only Son, Jesus Christ in order to save us from our sins. Jesus gave his all…born in a manger, living a sacrificial life as a shepherd throughout his whole lifetime, suffering and dying on the cross, to bring us the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Jesus did it because he loved his Father in heaven with all his heart and soul and strength. He did it because he loved us with all his heart, soul and strength. And so, we must love him with all our also. Deuteronomy 6:5 may sound burdensome to some. We may feel convicted of falling far short and we do. The Bible says that by our own effort, we will all fall short of God’s standard. So how should we respond to this fact? We should never give up trying to love God. We can only repent and ask God’s mercy. Then he cleanses us by the blood of Jesus and helps us grow by his grace. However, God still wants us to accept his standard, accept his grace and to grow in the image of his Son, Jesus. This is in fact, the way to complete happiness. (Deut 6:10-12) Wherever we are, whatever we do, when we love God completely, we are offering spiritual worship to God. Our expression of love to him has absolute meaning and gives us real satisfaction.

In setting our resolutions for 2009, it is important to involve expressing our love to God. We must do it with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Love God with a heart felt passion. Love God with all of your life and come near to God to love him and be loved by him. And find ways to practically show love for God in the way he has called you. When you show love to God, do it with all of your heart. When we strive for excellence in our expression of our love for Jesus, Jesus is pleased.

NIU Ministry Prayer topics: 1) Acts and Jonah messages 2) 30 1:1 Bible studies 3) 20 regular Sunday attendants 4) two 1 Samuel Bible Schools 5) 12 disciples of Jesus in 2009 6) Double our ministry by 2010. 7) Participate in world mission. 8) Tim and Andrew to grow as shepherds 9) Jay and Carrie to grow as housechurch. 10) Be a club on campus. 11) All students to get A’s for God’s glory 12) A new Bible house 13) Web site development. 14) “each one to teach one”