Loving God Like God Loves Me

Loving God Like God Loves Me

Deuteronomy 6:4-6

A church member complimented the minister after a sermon, saying, "Preacher, your words today were akin to the peace and love of God."

"Thank you," responded the preacher, "Why do you say that?"

The church member explained, "Because the peace of God passes all understanding, and the love of God endures forever."

Welcome to the first Sunday of this new year. As we begin 2024, we begin a new theme of messages, that is called, “loving God like God loves me.”

Can you say that? Do you love God as much as he loves you?

Well, lets be honest, I don’t think we can ever love God as much as he loves us. But we can try.

And the best way to learn about love, is not by television, not by a therapist, and it isn’t by dating sites. No, the best way to learn about loving God is by reading the Holy Bible.

You may not know it, but the Bible is the authority on Love, and if you want to know how to love God more, to love people more, to love yourself more, then all you need to do is read and believe this great book.

Now there is a foundation verse related to our theme, and it is found here in Deuteronomy.

(Read Scripture)

Love demands Attention

· What is it that you love? Do you love your family? Do you love your job? Do you love your car? Do you love your clothes? Do you love your church? Do you love God?

· Love demands attention. And if we love something, we will give it our attention.

· And we may say that we love many of these things, but friend if you are not giving it your attention then friend do you really love them?

· Think about it. A man may say I love my family, but he devotes all of his attention to his job. Friend that family is not going to feel the love of that man.

· Or, a woman may say I love my church, but instead of attending the services, she goes out shopping.

· And a person may say that they love God, but everyday they get up they focus on everything but him.

· Friends, love demands attention. But Love also demands…

Love demands Action

· Do you realize, to love someone or something, means you got to show it. It is more than just saying words.

· Think about it, if I were to tell my wife I love her, but I never held her hand, never kissed her, never hugged her. She is going to think I don’t love her.

· Or think about your kids, you tell your kids you love them. But then you never spend anytime with them. You never pick them up. You never help them learn. Then friend do you really love them?

· You see, if we say we love someone or something, it demands action on our part.

Now let me ask you this question; do you want to love your spouse more? Do you want to love your children more? Do you want to love your job, school, or church more? Then friends you must love God first.

For when you love God first, then you will be able to love others more. Now this doesn’t work with anything else first.

If you put something other than God first in your life, then everything else suffers. God is the proper channel of love.

Now why do I say this, because the Bible says 1 John 4:8 “God is love”. Do you realize, you can never fully love someone or something without Jesus in your life.

Now this passage speaks to us about loving God, and if you want to love God like he loves you friend there are three areas that you need to show that love in.

Love God with ALL your Heart

· Now when the book of Deuteronomy was written, it was written by Moses when the children of Israel were out there in the wilderness.

· They had come out of Egypt, and they had been walking in that desert for 40 years.

· And while they are out there, their hearts begin to long for Egypt. They had missed some of the foods that they were used too.

· And in reality it wasn’t their heart that was longing for Egypt, but their stomachs.

· Now I can tell how much you love God, it is by how long you stay once the clock hits 12.

· Understand, the Bible didn’t say to love God with all of your stomach, but to love God with all your heart.

· So what does he mean when he says, love God with all your heart. Well, he is talking about sincerity.

· When you say you love God, are you sincere about it? Or are you just saying words.

· Have you ever had someone say to you, that I love you, and then the next day they dump you, walk out on you, and leave you?

· What does that tell you about that person, that they weren’t sincere in what they said.

· A sincere love is a love that says, I am going to be there in the good times and the bad times.

· So, when you are to love God with all of your heart, friend you need to be sincere.

· You also need to be passionate about it.

· Do you enjoy loving God? I have seen some couples over the years, some of them have been married for a long time, and they say they love one another, but it doesn’t look like they enjoy it.

· And then I have seen others, that seem inseparable. They just love one another and are passionate about the other.

· They are so in love with one another, that they can’t make it without the other.

· Well, that is how God wants you to love him. He wants you to love him and enjoy it.

· Let me ask you, how did you feel about coming to church this morning? Were you excited about coming, or were you more like, well I better go to church with a sigh?

· Friend, we should have a passion about coming and knowing our Lord and Savior.

· We are to love him with all of our heart.

Love God with ALL your Soul

· We are to love him with all of our soul as well!

· Now what does it mean to love God with all of our soul? Well simply put, it means to love him selflessly.

· It means, I would rather give up myself, than put myself before God.

· We live in a world of selfish people. How do I know? Well, all we have to do is look back to when everyone bought up all the toilet paper during COVID.

· I mean, there were some pretty selfish people then.

· But God wants us to love him with all of our soul, meaning I am willing to give up myself.

· Give up my wants and my desires, for God.

· Have you ever seen a parent, who loves their children, and that child and that parent is hungry. They don’t have much money. And when they have something to eat, that parent gives that child their helping of food.

· That is selfless love.

· And when you love God with that selfless love, you are showing God, that you matter more than my interests and my likes, you matter more than my wants and my desires.

· Now this is a real struggle among many, because a person may say they love God, but doesn’t want to give them selves to Him.

· For instance, when the altar call is given, a person would rather keep their soul for themselves rather than giving it to God.

· And so, they will just remain right where they are at.

· And one of the big reasons a person doesn’t love God with all of their soul, is because of a little five letter word – PRIDE.

· Pride keeps you from loving God with all of your soul.

· Let me ask you men, do you love your wives? Would you show her that love in public? Would you kiss her, hold her, and let the world see you love her? Women, do you love your husbands in public? Would you tell all of your friends how blessed you are by having him? Would you give him affirmation of your love when you are out and about?

· A person would say, yes I would do that.

· Then why don’t you do that for God? You see, God wants to see that public display of affection for him.

· If you truly love him, you are not going to care what others think about you when it comes to Christ.

· We are to love God with all of our soul, and we are to love God with all of our…

Love God with ALL your Might

· Now what does he mean here? Well, when it comes to God you are to love him with all of your strengths.

· What strengths do you have? Do you have physical strength? Do you have financial strength? Do you have intellectual strength? Do you have emotional strength?

· When it comes to strength, it can be more than just muscle.

· How can I love God with my physical strength though? By using your hands and feet to be a blessing to others. I think about all the care and maintenance that this building needs, we need people to show their love for the Lord by doing the heavy lifting.

· A person can show their love for God with their financial strength. Some of you know how to invest and you have been blessed with great wealth. Let me ask you, are you using that money that God has given you to bless God back?

· Some can love God with the strength of your intellect. For instance, you may have a great understanding of the scripture, are you showing that love by sharing that knowledge with others?

· And friend, you can love God with emotional strength. That your love for God is what gets you out of the bed each and every day.

· Now here is the issue for many, they give him some of their strengths but they don’t give all of their strength.

· Listen this verse didn’t say give some, it said to give all.

· Have you ever been in a competition, say a tug of war? You are going up against, an opponent, what does your team captain tell you? Give it your all!

· Meaning, whatever you have, put forth.

· Now think about it like this, say that you are in that Tug of War contest, and the grand prize is 10 million dollars.

· Are you going to take that rope and hold it like a limp noodle? No! I bet if $10mill was on the line, you would have been working out, lifting weights, investing in equipment to help you be a better athlete. Whatever it took, that when it came time to compete you could give it your all.

· Well, listen, there is something better than 10 million dollars as the reward for you. Right now, you are being presented with Heaven as the reward.

· What do you need to do? Give it your all. Give all of your might.

· If you have strengths that you can give to God, give it to him. That is what all means!

Now we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, and might. And the reason we are to love him like this is because that is how he loves us. God loved us with all of his heart, soul, and might.

He loved us with all of his heart, by giving us his Son, named Jesus Christ. He loved us with his soul by giving himself as the sacrifice for sin, by dying on the cross. He loved us with all of his might by conquering death, hell, and the grave and making a way for us to have eternal life.

God loves us, and we should love him. But here is the question I want you to consider. What would it be like if God loved us like we loved him?

Friend, can we love God better, yes. Each day we should love him more. Do you love God like he loves you? Then come and give yourself to him by coming to the altar.