Love God Passionately

Key Elements

In these passages, Scripture communicates what it means to love God passionately.

Main idea of the message: As Christ followers and members of Stone Ridge Baptist Church, we are called to love God passionately by loving Him first and loving others like Jesus.

I want the people of Stone Ridge Baptist Church to specifically love God passionately by pursuing these core values in their lives.

Intro

Story about knowing what I’m getting into before I sign up for something or commit to something.

And that’s one of the purposes of this new sermon series that we are currently walking through entitled Discover Stone Ridge. If you are new here at Stone Ridge, we want you to be absolutely clear about what you’re signing up for and getting yourself into. Before you become a member here, we want you to know the vision and the mission that God has called us to as a church. If you’re a member here, then we want to recast the vision and the mission that God has called us to here at Stone Ridge and constantly remind you of the church that God has called us to be. And the reason we are doing this is we want you as a member to be all in here. All in first in your relationship with God and all in helping us accomplish what God has called us too.

So, we are journeying through and exploring what God has called us to as a church using our vision statement as a guide along that journey. And last Sunday, we began this sermon series by talking about our vision statement and we said the it’s so important for us as a church to have a clear vision. For it’s through the clarity of that vision that we will be empowered, as a church, to accomplish that vision. When we look at our vision statement, we see the clear vision and mission that we’ve been called to by God as a church. So, let’s begin by looking at our vision statement together: Stone Ridge Baptist Church exists to make disciples of Jesus who love God passionately, grow in community, and live missionally. That’s our vision. That’s the church we believe God has called us to be. That’s the clearly stated mission God has called us too.

And today, we want to take the next step in our journey and talk about the process of making disciples of Jesus. In this statement, we have a clearly mapped out process of how we specifically accomplish God’s vision and mission for us in the hearts and lives of people. And for the next few weeks, we are going to be spending the rest of our time in this series looking at our process here at Stone Ridge and talking about how that process works for every current member and every future member that God brings our way.

Now, processes are important. If you don’t believe that just ask Coach Nick Saban. In any interview you ever heard with Coach Saban, there was a phrase that was probably going to be mentioned many times, “Trust the process.” Nick Saban was all about the process in his coaching. And I think, even as an Auburn fan, there was no question in his coaching career, that having a process for Nick Saban worked. And the same is true for the church. To have a process gives us a means by which we see the vision God has given us, developed and the mission God has called us to accomplished.

And so, today we are going to explore the first step in our process here at Stone Ridge and that is making disciples of Jesus who LOVE GOD PASSIONATELY.

And here at Stone Ridge, we specifically do this in 4 ways:

Through a lifestyle of gospel-centered worship.

Through dedicated, personal engagement with God’s Word.

Through intimate communion with God in prayer.

Through sacrificial giving of our resources.

And these are the four disciplines we are going to zero in on today. But before we do that, I want us to quickly look at a foundational truth for us found in Matthew 22:37–40 “He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.””

You see for us to love God passionately, we must first love God with all that we are and all that we have because He first loved us and that love of us translates into us “loving our neighbor as our self.” It translates into uncommon action in our lives as individual Christ followers and our church as a whole.

So, today we want to focus in on how we love God passionately here at Stone Ridge Baptist Church. How does loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving our neighbor as our self work itself out?

Looking at some different places in Scripture today, we see the four ways we love God passionately at Stone Ridge:

• So, here’s the main idea for us to center around today: When the church embraces a clear, God-given vision and mission along with a clear process of execution, certain disciplines will be evident.

• And so, today we are going to explore the first step in our process here at Stone Ridge; and that is making disciples of Jesus who LOVE GOD PASSIONATELY.

• And here at Stone Ridge, we specifically do this in 4 ways:

• Through a lifestyle of gospel-centered worship.

• Through dedicated, personal engagement with God’s Word.

• Through intimate communion with God in prayer.

• Through sacrificial giving of our resources.

• And these are the four disciplines we are going to zero in on today. But before we do that, I want us to quickly look at a foundational truth for us found in Matthew 22:37–40 “He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.””

• You see for us to love God passionately; we must first love God with all that we are and all that we have because He first loved us and that love of us translates into us “loving our neighbor as our self.” It translates into uncommon action in our lives as individual Christ followers and our church as a whole.

• So, today we want to focus in on how we love God passionately here at Stone Ridge Baptist Church. How does loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving our neighbor as our self work itself out?

• Looking at some different places in Scripture today, we see four disciplines in our lives that cause us to love God passionately at Stone Ridge:

• 1. We love God passionately through a lifestyle of gospel-centered worship. (Acts 16:22-26)

• Now there are two words I want us to zero in on in this statement that are critical for us to notice and understand: Life style and Gospel-centered.

• And these two words take on transformational meaning for us as followers of Jesus as we shift our thinking about what worship really is. When we think about the word worship, we usually only think about songs or the music itself. We may even go as far as thinking about worship as something we do when we come in this room or on this campus once or twice a week. Worship has really taken on the connotation as something that we do. And while there is an aspect of activity or doing involved in worship, worship is much more than just something we do or an activity on Sundays or a service we attend. It is a Gospel centered lifestyle that God has called us to live.

Author Paul David Tripp says this about worship, “Worship is not primarily your activity; worship is first your identity as a human being. Every person, regardless of religious profession, his a worshipper because that’s what they were created by God to do. For the child of God, life in a fallen world will be one big worship war. Even though we’ve been given the Holy Spirit and the ability to worship the Creator at all times, our sinful nature will fight to worship the created world. It’s important that we recognize two things: life is worship and worship is always being exchanged in your heart.”

I also love Pastor Louie Giglio’s definition of worship he gives in his book The Air I Breathe. He says, “Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God-for who He is and what He has done expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live!”

• Worship for you and I, many times, can be situational. And here’s what I mean by that. Depending on the situation and what life is throwing at us at the time determines whether we choose to worship God or not. Or determines how much of ourselves we give to worshipping God. But when we see worship as a Gospel centered lifestyle that changes everything for us as followers of Jesus. Worship as a Gospel centered lifestyle means that we live a life of worship of God no matter what life brings our way and when we choose to do that we are pointing others to the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is the foundation of our lives. Now, don’t here me saying that we should always be walking around with a smile on our faces pretending everything is ok when it’s not. That’s not what God expects. But it is possible for us to be facing situations that are life altering and for life to be throwing one thing after another at us and not letting up and us still be looking to God and worshipping Him in the midst of all of that knowing that even though the current situation is tough, He is still worthy to be worshipped in the midst of all of it.

• And out of the many examples we have in scripture of a lifestyle of Gospel centered worship, one that stands out is found in Acts 16:22-26...

• Now, if there was anyone who could have found a reason to refuse to worship, it would have been Paul and Silas in this situation. Here they are doing what God has called them to do. They are planting churches in Philippi following the leadership of the Holy Spirit. God is using them to lead people to Him, to transform lives, to set people free. In fact, they have just been used by God to set a slave girl free. People in Philippi are becoming followers of Jesus and now after ruining a financial scheme for the owners of this slave girl by casting a demon out of her, what happens. They find themselves in the unexpected situation of imprisonment after being severely tortured.

• So, let’s pause for a moment before we go any further because I would dare say this is a situation for us that might be somewhat familiar. This is a situation that we, as followers of Jesus, might be able to relate to a little bit. You are doing what God has called you to do. You’re leading a life group, you’re serving on staff, you’re involved in the ministry that God has led you to serving how God has called you to serve. And suffering darkens your doorstep. “God, I’m doing exactly what you told me to do. God, I took the step of faith You called me to take. Why am I suffering?” Or, and this is even a further extreme we might go to. “God, my family and I are serving you, why are we suffering when that family over there doesn’t do anything for you and they don’t seem to be having any trouble at all.” We’ve all been there. And in that moment, our worship gets situational.

• But that’s not what we see in the life of Paul and Silas. They are in the deepest part of the prison, the dungeon is literally what it is called. It was the sewage system of the city. On top of that, they have been beaten with rods, their back are bruised and covered with open lacerations. To the point they are not able to lay down. On top of that, their feet are in stocks. One commentator says, that this was a device that would have “allowed for severe stretching of the torso and thus created excruciating pain.” (Polhill) If anyone had reason to complain it was these two guys. If anyone had reason to be angry or bitter, it was Paul and Silas. But that’s not what we find. Their focus was on Jesus, who had saved them and called them to give their lives to the furtherance of the Gospel and in the midst of their darkest hour with no guarantee of release, they chose to worship.

• It says in vs. 25, they were “singing hymns to God and praying,” literally they were “celebrating.” Why? Worship was a way of life. Their lives were centered on the Gospel that had transformed them.

• And here at Stone Ridge, we want our members to have this perspective on worship. It’s something that Adam and the worship team communicate from the stage every week. It’s something the staff here emphasizes. That worship is a way of life and not just an activity or a service that happens once a week. And not something that is situational but is constant no matter what is happening in our lives.

• And for that to happen, it’s going to take all of us shifting our mindset from “me centered” to “God centered.” It’s going to take us getting on our faces before God and crying out to Him to transform our hearts and minds by removing what we want and replacing it with what He wants. And that’s not easy but that’s necessary and necessary daily. And as we do that, the Gospel will become the focus and the center of our lives. We want care if we get the recognition or not because our focus is on pointing others to God who is the only one who can change and transform lives.

• And that’s what we see happening here in this story. If we look a little further, God responds and moves as a result of Paul and Silas’ worship. He sets them free by shaking things up. And in vs. 33-34, it says that the jailer and his entire household were saved and baptized. Here we are again, just like last week, people becoming followers of Jesus.

• When we love God passionately as a church and as individuals through a lifestyle of Gospel centered worship, lives will be transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

• We love God passionately through a lifestyle of Gospel centered worship. Second…

• 2. We love God passionately through dedicated, personal engagement with God’s Word. (2 Timothy 3:14-17)

• Here at Stone Ridge, the Word of God is central. I hope you have figured that out by now. It is the guiding force for everything we do. From the things we teach in Life Groups, to D-Life groups, from Kids Ministry to Student Ministry to Adult Ministry, even the songs we sing on Sundays, they are all centered on God’s Word.

• We believe God has given us His Word to guide us in our daily lives, that it is one of the ways that He has spoken and speaks to us, that it is the final and inerrant authority for our lives. We believe the Bible is God’s divinely inspired Word to us.

• But for it to really affect our lives, it has to be personal. It must be something that we engage with personally on a daily basis.

• If we are not reading God’s Word daily, we are not fully becoming the disciples He has called us to be.

• In the Apostle Paul’s second letter to his young mentor Timothy, a young pastor he was leading and guiding, he tells him this in 2 Timothy 3:14-17…

• So, how does personal engagement with God’s Word impact our lives?

• a. It exposes our need for a relationship with God. (vs. 15)

• God’s Word shows us that we are powerless without Him in our lives. But that’s not how we think. Is it? Our natural tendency as human beings is to go it on our own. To be self sufficient and self made. We naturally come to the table thinking we now it all and that we can make it on our own, but the reality is that without a relationship with God through Jesus Christ we are powerless.

• And God’s Word exposes that need and that deficit in our lives. It causes us to realize that without a relationship with God, there’s no way we will make it. Without a relationship with God, we will never live life the way we were created to live it because we don’t recognize our need for Him.

• And at Stone Ridge, that’s something we want to help people recognize, their need for a relationship with God. And it may take some of us longer to get there, but that’s ok. Just as God is patient with us, we also must be patient with others as well.

• Kristi and I were watching an interview on Youtube with Christian artist Brandon Lake and country artist Jelly Roll. They have just collaborated on a song called Hard Fought Hallelujah. And Jelly Roll made this statement and to me it was telling. He said, “When Brandon Lake reached out to me about this song, we instantly became friends. And I was a little hesitant at first because I didn’t know how I would be received by a Christian artist. But he said, what I found in my conversations with Brandon was grace. And if the church had said some of the same things Brandon said to me, I might not have gone down the path I’ve gone in my life."

• God’s Word exposes a need in us for a relationship with God and with others and at Stone Ridge, that is what we want people to realize. Next it…

• b. It serves as a guide in our relationship with God. (vs. 16)

• In vs. 16, the Apostle Paul uses the word “inspired” meaning “produced by the Spirit of God.” Some versions use the words “God breathed.”

• The doctrine of divine inspiration is super important when it comes to the Word of God. Theologian Warren Wiersbe explains it this way, “It’s the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit on the Bible’s writers, which guaranteed that what they wrote was accurate and trustworthy. Revelation means the communicating of truth to man by God; inspiration has to do with the recording of this communication in a way that is dependable.”

• You see the Bible is not just some 2000 year old history book that is irrelevant. It is not a last resort that we turn to when nothing else works. It has the answer to every problem we will ever face and every situation we will ever encounter. It is the most powerful resource we have.

• It has life giving power and it alive and applicable to everything we will encounter. And Paul goes on to tell us that it is profitable for us in teaching-imparting knowledge; for rebuking-correction and conviction; for correcting-giving us certain standards to avoid future mistakes; and for training in righteousness-the instruction of a disciple in both heart and mind.

• God’s Word serves as a guide in our relationship with God and others. And…

• c. It reveals our purpose through our relationship with God. (vs. 17)

• And then in vs. 17, the Apostle Paul gives us the goal of all of this. He says…

• God’s ultimate desire for us is to bring Him glory by fulfilling the purpose for which we were created. That we would be “complete, perfectly fitted” for what God has called us too. Prepared for the purpose of making disciples of Jesus and bringing glory to God.

• You see, when we surrender our hearts and lives to Jesus as Savior and Lord, God doesn’t forgive us and say “you’re on your own.” As we continue to spend time in His Word, as we communicate with Him daily, as we grow closer to Him in our relationship with Him, He helps us realize our purpose and empowers us to fully accomplish what He has created us to accomplish. At Stone Ridge Baptist Church we love God passionately through dedicated, personal engagement with God’s Word because we believe it reveals our purpose through our relationship with God.

• Third…

• 3. We love God passionately through intimate communion with God in prayer. (Matthew 6:9-13)

• Communication is a key part of any relationship. Just ask the married couples in the room. And they will tell you that things go much better when both parties are communicating. But when there is a lack of communication, it will have a harming effect on any relationship. In fact, communication is one of the major things that can make or break any relationship.

• And communication is a subject that comes up in our household a lot. Especially with our boys. There’s a running joke in our house that dad can’t hear. And that’s been a joke in our house for a while now. And here’s how it usually goes-we’re all home together and we are sitting around having conversation and someone will say something to me that just makes no sense. And I’ll repeat to them what I heard them say. And then they will say to me now think about what you just said, did that make any sense. And I’ll say no that’s why I’m repeating it to you and then they will say something that is the total opposite of what I heard. And it’s my fault. And then my usual response is if you’ll stop mumbling then I could understand. To which the whole family usually replies “we weren’t mumbling.” Clear communication is so important.

• So, if communication is such an important key in relationships, why is it that it is so neglected when it comes to our relationship with God?

• In a Pew research poll conducted last year, only 46% of Americans who identify as Christians said they pray daily. While 23% said that they seldom or never pray. When asked about their time spent in prayer, the average time revealed among those who pray daily was 10 minutes or less.

• Those are shocking statistics and this is among those who call themselves Christians. This is also shocking considering that the strength of our relationship with God largely depends on the frequency of communication and time spent interacting in that relationship.

• As Christ followers, to become more and more like Jesus we have to spend time getting to know Jesus. To grow stronger in our relationship with God we have to spend time working on our relationship with God. And the main way we do that is through time spent in prayer. And here at Stone Ridge, we put a major emphasis on prayer because we realize that’s how we grow in our relationship with God and that’s where we beg God to move and believe that He will. This is a praying church. If you have a need and you make it known, you’ve got prayer warriors that you can count on will be lifting you up daily. Besides our regular time of prayer during our worship service, there are people weekly who come into this worship center and walk this campus praying for everyone who comes on this campus. There are prayer needs that are put out weekly; any time there is a major event like VBS or camps, we spend specific, focused time praying for those events. The staff is praying together weekly. And something that is in process right now is our prayer team. Which is a group of people that will specifically be serving every week to pray with people before, during, and after the worship service. This is all part of how we stress the importance of prayer here at Stone Ridge.

• You see, God is not some far off being who doesn’t care about our lives. No, He is our Heavenly Father who created us for a purpose, who loves us so much that He sent Jesus to ransom us from death to life, and He cares about everything going on in your life and mine. And although He already knows about all of it, He wants us to bring it to Him in prayer. That’s part of the intimate; active relationship He has created us for.

• Prayer is so important to God and was so primary for Jesus that in the midst of His most famous sermon, He places an emphasis on prayer, we call it The Lord’s Prayer, it’s found in Matthew 6:9-13: Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.,

• Jesus laid out for us not only the emphasis of praying but an example of the way we should do it. Think about it, when we pray, we have the privilege of coming before the God of the universe and we have His undivided attention. He is holy and high and lifted up and we approach Him in awe of who He is. We pray for His will to be done and that He would use us as instruments of His Kingdom work here on earth. We bring our needs before Him voicing it to our Heavenly Father, trusting Him for His provision. We ask for God’s forgiveness that He provides through the shed blood of Jesus and as a result of His forgiveness of us, we are ready to forgive others. And as we walk daily through this life, we recognize our need for God’s guidance so that we will stay in His will and not be led into temptation.

• And as God’s people and God’s church, this is what we need to make it daily through this life. Daily communication with God in our relationship with Him and others coming alongside us lifting us up to our Heavenly Father.

• I want you to think about something and I think this is incredible. The seat that you’re sitting in right now, was prayed over by someone this morning. The room that your child or teenager or college student was or is in right now was prayed over this morning. People who may or may not know you, who definitely didn’t know where you were going to sit, prayed that God would move in your life.

• There’s something extremely powerful about that. Why would I not want to be a part of something that powerful? And why would I not want to personally and intimately engage with a God who loves me and wants to use me for His glory?

• We love God passionately through intimate communion with God in prayer. And…

• 4. We love God passionately through sacrificial giving of our resources. (2 Corinthians 8:1-5)

• And the key word there is sacrificial. Now, I know that when the pastor begins to talk about giving, we tend to get a little nervous or maybe annoyed. But the truth is, as Christ followers God has called us to give back to Him.

• In fact, He expects it and that happens in two ways:

• We give back to Him through tithing 10% of what He has given us. That is part of the sacrifice that God has called us to. And we do it not out of fear or for recognition, we do it because we know we are investing in the Kingdom of God and that God is using it for His glory. Because we give, hearts and lives are transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because we give, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is taken to the nations. Because we give, needs are met.

• We also give by using our gifts and talents to serve God and others. When we talk about giving, our thoughts automatically go to money but giving involves serving as well. God has blessed us with abilities, talents, and as followers of Jesus, spiritual gifts and we are called to use all of it for the furtherance of His Kingdom in this world.

• When I think about giving sacrificially, I always go to 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, where the Apostle Paul brags on the Christians in Macedonia about how they sacrificed to give generously for the cause of Christ. He says, “We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that was given to the churches of Macedonia: 2 During a severe trial brought about by affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 I can testify that, according to their ability and even beyond their ability, of their own accord, 4 they begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints, 5 and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us by God’s will.”

• He says they were in “deep poverty.” But He says that in that state their giving still overflowed. In fact, they begged to be a part of the ministry that was taking place. They gave sacrificially for the cause of Christ and the furtherance of the Kingdom of God. What an incredible testimony of a church! That they were begging to be a part of what God was doing.

• I don’t know about you but that’s the kind of reputation that I want for me and I want for our church. That no matter what state we are in, we are so passionately in love with God that we sacrificially give and serve, in fact we are begging to serve wherever we are needed.

• And here’s why we do it. We give sacrificially because we are overwhelmed with the sacrifice Jesus gave for us. And we serve sacrificially because Jesus sacrificially served us. We follow the example of Jesus and we put it all on the table because the eternity of our neighbors and our family and the people of our community is worth it. We give our all because Jesus gave His all and we realize that our sacrifice is worth it because of that majesty and the glory and the honor of who we serve.

Closing

• So, I want to ask you first, do you love God passionately?

• First, it all starts with the decision to follow Jesus. We cannot love God passionately without realizing that He first loved us and sent His Son for us. If you have never repented of your sin and turned to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord, today is the day for you to do that.

• Second, if you are a member of Stone Ridge or you’re considering joining in on what God is doing realize this is what God is calling us to. Pray about these for things and commit to go all in on what God wants to accomplish in us personally and in us as a church.

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