Love God
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Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
Introduction
Introduction
We find many commands in the Word of God. Some are repeated often. One of the most often found is the command to Love God. This seems like such an easy thing to do. All we have to do is just wait until we feel like it.
Instead of a feeling, Biblical love is a choice in response to what Christ has done for us. The Bible tells us that Christ was willing to come and die for us. God was willing to make the plan and send His Son. Our love is commanded in response to the Love of God!
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 3222 “We Too Love Him”
3222 “We Too Love Him”
An aged countryman visited London for the first time. In a great art gallery, he looked at different paintings. He was especially impressed with a picture of Christ dying on the cross. As he gazed fixedly upon it, a deeper love for the Saviour flooded his heart. With great feeling, he exclaimed, “Bless Him! I love Him! I love Him!”
Those standing nearby heard him. They saw tears glistening on his careworn face as he stood completely oblivious of the presence of others. Four of them came close to him and said, “We, too, love Him, brother.” Though strangers to each other, they were drawn together in love and adoration for the Saviour.
—Walter B. Knight
The first step in the discipleship process of Revival Baptist Church is to Love God.
Loving God begins with salvation
Loving God begins with salvation
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Realize God loves you. You must realize that there is someone who created you and cares for you. God created the world in six days. He sustains everything with His hand. He love you enough to send His Son to earth.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
All people are sinners. Everyone has the same problem. That problem is sin. Because Adam and Eve chose to eat of the forbidden fruit, all of mankind is lost in sin. This sin will not allow us to do anything to change our condition. We cannot remove the problem that we all have.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Sin must be paid for. Because of the nature of our problem, we are unable to pay the debt that we owe. This debt will bring us into an eternal debtors prison, hell. Hell is a place of eternal fire that will punish us for our sinful condition. But there is good news!
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Good News is that Christ paid for our sin. The Bible word for the good news is the Gospel. The salvation by Christ’s payment is a free gift. A gift is something that only requires you to take what is offered. We cannot earn salvation, we cannot reject the wages of sin.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
There is only one thing that we need to do to receive this free gift. We must pray and accept Christ as our personal Saviour. This is something that each of us must do on our own. Christ chose to come to die for you on your own. We must choose to accept Him for salvation on our own as well.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Loving God Continues through our Worship
Loving God Continues through our Worship
Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.
We worship God through several different avenues:
First, We worship by giving our praises - We praise God for who He is, what He has done and what He will do. Praise is something that we can give to God at any time and in any place. God wants us to praise Him for what He has done for us.
By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Second, We worship through giving our time - We spend time with Him and we focus on being in His presence. Someone recently said that the spelling of Love has changed. The spelling used to be T-I-M-E. Today, it seems to have changed to F-O-C-U-S. This is because in today’s culture we cannot seem to be present with anyone for any length of time without being distracted by something else. God wants us to focus on Him. God wants our attention. This attention is seen in how we interact with others at church.
But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Third, We worship by giving our finances - We give our tithes and offerings to God. We send support to missions around the world. Giving is a choice that is we make in response to the grace of God. God chose to give to us when He allowed us to have a way of salvation. When we give, we are using that grace to offer something ill-deserved to someone else. For mankind, we received ill-deserved favour from God that we ought to show thanksgiving for and offer forward to other people.
But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.
Fourth, We worship by giving our lives - We are living sacrifices who are committed to doing the will of God. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians that our lives are not our own. Instead, we are bought with a price. Neither you nor I should be choosing what we are going to do with our lives. God has a plan and we must be seeking His will. A person seeking the will of God will be busy about the matters of obedience that are clearly found in the Bible.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Loving God Results in Differences
Loving God Results in Differences
There are many places of “worship” that exist in the world today. They will tell you this reason or that reason for what they do and how they live or act. Loving God means obeying the commands of God in Scripture. If we listen to someone else or we follow a different way that is found in the Bible, we are not showing Love for God.
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
As a church that Loves God, we practice these distinctives.
B Bible is the final authority of faith and practice
B Bible is the final authority of faith and practice
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
A Autonomy of the local church
A Autonomy of the local church
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
P Priesthood of the believer
P Priesthood of the believer
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
T Two ordinances - Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
T Two ordinances - Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
I Individual soul liberty
I Individual soul liberty
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
S Saved church membership
S Saved church membership
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
T Two officers - Pastor and Deacon
T Two officers - Pastor and Deacon
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.
S Separation of Church and State
S Separation of Church and State
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
It is our job at Revival Baptist Church to be obedient to the Bible. The heart of the New Testament is a constant reliance on the Word of God alone. When we are unsure of the path forward, when the way seems to split into different directions, we need to choose the next step through the truth of the Bible!
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
Loving God Accomplishes Specific Goals
Loving God Accomplishes Specific Goals
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
Why do you go to church? Why do we show Love to God? What are the goals that we can judge a successful church service against?
Glorify God - We seek to bring Glory to God with our worship. Only He deserves to be honored for all that He has done for us.
If we can identify someone else who received glory in a service, if we can point to something that has received more attention than God, if there is an unclear distinction between what God does through us and what we do on our own, we have not glorified God.
If we can say that God would be pleased with the praise that we have given Him in our words and songs, if we can say that we have learned more about God and the great things that He has done for and in us, if we can see only what He has done through the changed lives of His people, we have glorified God
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Reach the lost - We seek to make the Gospel plain to those who have not yet trusted in the finished work of Christ on the cross. Only a clear presentation of the Gospel will reach those who are lost in sin.
If we cannot say that the clear Gospel was given in the service, if there was not an opportunity for someone to respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, if there was confusion about the purpose of Christ and His Death, Burial and Resurrection, we have not accomplished the goal of reaching the lost.
If we can say that the truth of the Gospel was made clear to each person, if we can say that the invitation was made to the people to come and receive salvation, if we are sure that the truth of the offering of Christ for sin has been given to all people present, we have the ability to say we have reached the lost.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Encourage and challenge the saved - We seek to move people from their current spiritual state closer in their relationship with God. Only by constantly looking at what Christ has done for us and what He offers to the lost world will we truly reflect the image of Christ.
If we cannot say that people were shown what their next spiritual step is each service, if we cannot see that people are coming to the altar of sacrifice to make the adjustments that are needed in their lives, if the church does not have a Biblical vision of the need to obey the clear teaching of Scripture and the importance of giving the Gospel, we have not encouraged and challenged the saved.
If we can observe the movement of people to their next commanded step, if we are able to follow the people as they lay their lives on the altar and their lives change to be more like Christ, if we see more and more people living godly lives and the outreach of the church becomes a constantly increasing portion of the lives of its people, we can say with confidence that we have encouraged and challenged the saved.
Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
Conclusion
Conclusion
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 3220 Loving Him Better
3220 Loving Him Better
As Gustave Dore was putting the finishing touches on the face of Christ in one of his paintings, an admiring friend stepped quietly into the studio. She looked with bated breath upon the painting.
Dore sensed her presence and said graciously, “Pardon, madam, I did not know you were here.”
She answered, “Monsieur Dore, you must love Him very much to be able to paint Him thus!”
“Love Him, madam?” exclaimed Dore, “I do love Him, but if I loved Him better I would paint Him better!”
If we loved Christ better, we would indeed serve Him better.
—Selected
Loving God is something that we are not going to ever be finished doing. In truth, the goal of our eternity in heaven is to return the love to God that He showed to us.
How is your love for God? Are you faithful to show that love to Him in a local church and in your daily lives? Do you love God more each day?
At Revival Baptist Church, the first step in our discipleship process is to Love God.
