Loving Lavishly Part 2

Loving God More

Loving God with a Mature Love

Pastor Marvin R. Barham, D. Min

In this church everything we do and teach is geared towards your spiritual growth and you’re learning to walk closer to the Lord.  It is for you to learn to be more God minded and moving in the doctrine of Godliness from glory unto glory.  We are not just looking for deep Revelations.  There are people everywhere dying and going to hell in shallow water while God’s people are looking for a deep Revelations. Revelation without application and demonstration is worthless in the Kingdom. It is called vanity.

There are three types of doctrines in the earth and in the church. There are the doctrines of man, the doctrines of devil’s, and the doctrines of God. The doctrines of man are self centered religious legalisms.  They are rules without relationship and rituals without righteousness.  The doctrines of devil’s are anything contradictory to the Word and heart of Father God, the message of His Kingdom, its precepts and principles.  Many doctrines of man can become doctrines of devil’s. For example, submission to righteous and Biblical authority is a Kingdom principle until a man tells you and your children to drink funny cool aid and wait for the space ship that’s coming to pick you up. The doctrines of God are the sure foundational tenants of Christ’s teaching and the words of the apostles and prophets in the divinely inspired Word of God in agreement with the Spirit of the Word. As Kingdom people we want revelation knowledge. However, we want revelation through the Spirit of the word of God that is soundly based in scripture and not in the doctrines of man.

1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

Now turn with me Matthew 22:36 

Matthew 22:36 ESV

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

The word of God tells us that we can walk in the perfection of Christ.  What we want to look at is the prerequisite to walking in the love of Christ.  There are two things that you are going to have to do in order to walk in the fullness of the love of Christ:

The first thing we find here beginning in verse 36 someone asked Jesus, Master which is the greatest commandment in the law? And Jesus replied, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all the heart, with all thy soul, and with all the mind, and with all the strength. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love the neighbor as thyself.”

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. All of them are hinged to these two commandments meaning, that they are directly connected and pivot upon these two precepts and principles. Everything Jesus taught, all the promises of God, every prophetic utterance are held up by these.

So, all of the revelation knowledge, teachings, understandings, prophetic words, gifts and talent are useless if first you do not have the deepest love for the Father. If you have not grown deeper in love with him; If you have not learned to treasure your time with him; If you have not learned to commune and be intimate with him above all else. Many of us have never known what it means to love. We have never been shown how to love. As a child our greatest love is for ourselves. But if we grow to a mature love we learn to deny self and love others first and greater than ourselves. It does not mean we hate ourselves. But we do not esteem ourselves greater than others in our speech, attitudes, and deeds.

Mature (Webster’s Dictionary) 1 : based on careful consideration <a mature judgment> 2 : having completed growth and development : having attained a desired state <mature fruit> : having achieved a low but stable growth rate <mature productivity> 3: of or relating to a condition of full development : characteristic of or suitable to a mature individual <mature outlook>

This definition points out three characteristics of true discipleship in relation to God’s love. First, carefully consider the love of God He has bestowed upon us and the responsibility that comes with it. The second is tied to the first in that with the love of God given you there is a responsibility to both bear the fruit of that love evident in you life to others and bring increase to the Kingdom through that love in demonstration to others. And third, develop that love through this very process of discipleship to where it changes your entire demeanor, outlook, perceptions, and worldview. This is a mature love. To love as Christ loved.

The first thing that must happen in our walk with Christ, even to the last, is to grow deep in our souls a passion for the Master. As the psalmist David expressed in

Psalm 42:1 (ESV)

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.

You need to get to that place where your mind, will, and emotions are thirsty for the presence of God, for the knowledge of God, and for the love of God. You can do this by simply making this your top priority in all that you are and do. You have to determine to let nothing change this priority, stand in the way, or take precedence over Jesus Christ in your life.

Let us look at the second of the precepts Jesus laid before us as a prerequisite to the things of God in his Kingdom.  He said we must love others as we love ourselves.

Some of you I would not want you to love me as you love yourself.  Some of you are not too happy with yourself. Some of you do not live with a pure conscience.  Some of you need to learn to love yourself.  I am not speaking of selfishness.  I am talking about seeing yourself, having a vision of who you are in Jesus Christ as the Father sees you.  I am talking about being conscious of you’re righteousness in Christ as sons and daughters of the King.  Father does not want you to love me or others the way some of you love yourselves.  Selfish love is pride centered. But self acceptance and respect is humility based.

If the image you have of yourself is worthless, hopeless, useless, or anything short of the image of God in which you were created then you probably would have the same image of me or others if you were to become disillusioned, angry with, or offended by me. If the image of your self is pride centered with haughtiness, arrogance, and defensiveness then relationship dysfunction is inevitable.

So, learn to love the Lord and learn to love you as does the Lord. You are a new creature in Christ, you are precious to him and he loves you.  Therefore, you can love yourself.  Father wants you to love yourself but not above Him or others.  The scripture says we should not think more highly of ourselves than we all ought.  But it does not say that you should hate yourself.  Instead, avoid selfish pride and haughtiness. Just As you should not think of yourself higher than others do not think of yourselves more than God thinks of you. The scriptures say’s that all the righteousness of Christ is in you but it is because of Christ not because of you for your righteousness without Christ, without the love of Christ, is as filthy rags. Everything that God is He invested in Christ and Christ invested in you.

Jeremiah 31:3 (ESV)

the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

You see this is how Christ sees you.  As a new creature in Christ you are made spotless, pure, white, sinless, blameless, and holy as a virgin. When you came to Christ you were washed in His blood and restored to the virginity of innocence in His glory and image. Keep, guard, cherish, protect, and bring increase to this treasure Christ has placed in you. Be virtuous in all you are. Think and pursue purity, holiness, and righteousness in every area of your life. Seek and desire to know the ways of God and apply them to your life.

Isaiah 38:17–20 (ESV)

Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back. For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness. The Lord will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the Lord.

Psalm 31:23–24 (ESV)

Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!

Nehemiah 1:5 ESV

And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

1 John 3:1–10 (ESV)

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Matthew 6:24 ESV

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

1 John 4:16–21 (ESV)

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

This is how your love is perfected in Agape love by dwelling in His love. If you are dwelling in the love of God you can love others. If you are not you cannot love anyone. You cannot love your brother, your children, you spouse, no one. You may a conceptual love but not true love defined by the originator of love. You need to understand His love towards you and how much He loves you so you can love others in the truth of love. More importantly, that you may have a true image of the heart of Father shaped by His love for you. Too many today have an image of Father based on the poor example of love defined by their earthly parents love for them or each other, or as defined by the world’s Hollywood definition. And thus have a misconceived image of the love of Father.

You also, need to understand that because He loves you and as He loves you so you can love yourself. Most people I have found who cannot love others cannot love themselves. Many who cannot develop healthy relationships do not have a healthy image of themselves in Christ or of Christ Himself. Many cannot see how they can be important to God or loved by God with all their flaws. And therefore, seek to point out the faults of others and live a condemning life and a life of condemnation.

You have to believe and understand the depths, breadth, and height of God’s love for you that you may grow beyond a conceptual or superficial love to a resolved love for relationship with Him.

As you grow in His love you become so much like Him that there is no place for bitterness, no place for back biting, condemning, fear, offense, and no room for compromise in you life in Christ. When you grow to this place to a mature love in Christ that offenses may come but they do not offend, temptations may come but you do not waiver, trials may come but you are not shaken, when you grow to this mature love in Christ then there is no fear because you know who you are and whose you are in Father. There is no fear that Father will not take care of you, there is no fear of missing the mark, and there is no fear of judgment because you are abiding in the love of His law because you are abiding in His love period.

1 John 3:13–21 ESV

Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;

If we do not love one another we do not love God and the seed of eternal life is not in us. For the seed of eternal life is the love of Christ dwelling in us. By loving one another as Christ love we may then perceive or come to the greater revelation of the depths of Christ’s love for us. It is in laying down your life for others that you come to a mature knowledge and understanding of Christ’s laying down His life for you. This is the truth of love, death to self. This is mature love, life to others. This is the assurance, confidence, and freedom in a life abiding in Christ, love. This is a pure conscience and the heart of a disciple, to embrace the depths of Christ’s love. To love each other, love the sinner, love the unlovable, love His commandments, love His ways, love His hand molding and shaping you, this is to truly love Him with a mature love.