Loving Jesus
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as it is the first Sunday of the New Year and we will be gathering around the Table of our Lord Jesus I want to speak to you about something that has been on my heart and mind for some time
why are we here? why do we serve? why do we worship? why do we give? why do we pray?
what does your spiritual life look like when you are not here?
where is your Lord and Master in the hustle and bustles of everyday life?
is your life about you, your schedule, your goals, your plans, your desires, your wants or is it a life lived with joyful submission under the loving guidance of your gracious Master?
last week I preached on the Lordship of Christ
in the angels announced to the shepherds
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Jesus is Lord
word “lord” repeated 657x in the NT
there are no lords without slaves
the very title lord signifies ownership of slaves who do his bidding
conversely the position of slave signifies a master or lord
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
John 15:
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
Before we became believers and became a slaves of Christ every one of us were slaves of the devil.
Jesus speaking to Jews who believed him but had not yet submitted to him as their Lord and Master
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
though slaves of sin they prided themselves on being sons of Abraham thinking this automatically justified them in the sight of God
they were thinking this automatically justified them in the sight of God
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
John 8:31-
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
We are slaves of whatever controls us and/or whatever overcomes us. &
when they objected Jesus said these shocking words,
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:
God created us to glorify him by serving him
when Adam and Eve rejected God’s word and rebelled against him thinking they would become as God they in fact became the servants of Satan
this is where we all begin
if you are a slave of Christ it is because he went to the slave market of sin and purchased you for himself
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
1 cor 7:
some of you can remember what it was like when Christ purchased you out of your slavery to the devil and his desires
tears of joy, hunger for the word, passion for prayer, willingness to serve anytime in any way, couldn’t stop telling others about your new found joy and happiness in Christ
this is the core of what it is to be a Christian
Being a Christian is a very simple thing to understand. It is a life of passionately loving your Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.
it is a life of loving your Master, Jesus Christ
the Christian life is an ongoing relationship of love
easy to lose this perspective
for too many professing believers the Christian life is about how much God loves them and wants to give them everything they need and want
for them the Christian life is about God lifting me up, fulfilling me, satisfying me, loving me rather than about my loving him
The Christian life is really about my loving Christ and him alone, above all others, willing to surrender everything to follow him, even to die for him and keeping that flame of zeal burning bright and hot!
A Christian is One Who Loves Christ
A Christian is One Who Loves Christ
The great commandment is the sum of all that God requires of us. Mt 22:37
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
this is the key to our relationship with God and with Christ our Lord
being a Christian is about loving Christ so much that you want to know him, serve him, obey him, exalt him, please him, be with him, tell others about him
this is the core of what it means to be a Christian
how much do you love Jesus Christ?
are you growing in your love for him?
do you love him more today than you did yesterday?
do you desire him more now that in the past?
love as the motivating principle in the Christian life
Paul driven to know Christ
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Paul loved Jesus and this was the driving force behind everything he did, all his thoughts, all his accomplishments
14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;
15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
Paul’s relentless zeal to serve Christ arose out of his focus on the fact that Christ had died for him. 2 Cor 5:14-15
he was consumed with Christ
what does Jesus say about loving him?
37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mt 10:
loving Christ to the point of choosing him above those who are most dear to you in this life
the Christian life is about a heart attitude of love to Christ above all others
Paul about believers loving Christ
24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
Eph 6
believers are those who love Christ first, above all others
Peter about loving Christ
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
John about loving Christ
16 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.
19 We love because he first loved us.
Being a Christian is defined by love for the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 16:22
22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
describes every unbeliever!
as we start this new year I want us all to examine ourselves about our love for the Lord Jesus Christ
I am not asking about your doctrine, your theology, your ministry, your service, your bible reading, your prayers, your good life
what is the condition of your love for Christ?
I am concerned about this because the degree to which we love Christ will determine the degree to which we accomplish anything of significance for him
with that on our minds let’s turn to
A Loveless Church
A Loveless Church
a letter from Jesus to one of his churches, the church at Ephesus
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
Rev 2:1
the 7 stars are the 7 pastors - he holds them in his hand (Rev 1:20)
Jesus walks among the 7 golden lampstands - he is moving amongst his churches
The Good
The Good
2 “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.
3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.
Rev 2:2
a strong church, sound theology, faithful doctrine, effective ministries, evangelistic zeal
founded by the Apostle Paul () who taught them for 2 years
there was so much power in Paul’s ministry that people would take hankerchiefs, touch Paul’s skin and then were taken away to heal the sick
people brought out their books of magic and burned them
so great was the ministry that there was a riot when the idol makers started seeing their business decline
a phenomenal movement of God that no one would have forgotten!
can you imagine being a part of a church like that?
such a powerful work of God that the whole city of Ephesus was affected!
after Paul there was a string of faithful godly pastor who continued the work Paul started
“toil” = strenuous labour
- they were working hard for the kingdom
“patient endurance” = ability to keep courageously working under great pressure
“cannot bear with those who are evil” = they were intolerant of those who were unrepentant in their pursuit of sin
v.6: hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans
a group which promoted sexually immoral conduct
they were zealous about holiness and righteousness so that those who wanted to persist in their sin could not remain with them
loved the law of God and held themselves and others up to that truth
practiced church discipline
“tested those who called themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false” = they were aware of the qualifications for apostles ()
they were aware of the qualifications for apostles (Acts 1:21-22)
they knew the teaching of the apostles and were able to compare them to what the false apostles were teaching
they had discernment
something shockingly lacking in the church today
example of Google search about a false teacher and what was said in the comment section
example of those who call themselves apostles today
Ephesus a dream church!
“enduring patiently … bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary” = they were able to press through trials and troubles
this was a church to die for, as close to the perfect church as many could wish for!
this was a church to die for, as close to the perfect church as many could wish for!
The Bad
The Bad
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
after such a glowing commendation our Lord drops a bomb on the church
they have lost their first love, their hearts were growing cold
they hadn’t stopped doing all the right things
they have
the honeymoon was over and they were just living together
passion gone, no great scandal, no false teaching, no loss of financial resources
enthusiasm and thrill and joy of serving Christ was gone
this happens in a church when it happens in individual lives
if zeal and joy and passion for Christ are absent in our personal lives it will be absent in the church
how would you describe your passion for Christ on a scale of 1-10?
are you consumed with his honour, his glory, his teaching, his will?
have you become indifferent to Christ? to true doctrine?
have you become careless about sin? about false teaching?
is sin
has criticism, murmuring and backbiting become your attitude to the others?
warning of v.5:
5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Jesus told the church at Ephesus he would shut them down if they did not rekindle their joy and passion for him! Rev 2:5
didn’t matter what they had accomplished or what they were doing or how big their future plans were!
this in fact happened to Ephesus!
Jesus shut them down, he closed their doors, they no longer exist
doesn’t mean they weren’t Christians!
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’
there were some who listened, a few who maintained their love and passion for Christ
but Jesus shut that church down because enough of them remained cold and indifferent
What Can We Do?
What Can We Do?
there are 3 things we can do:
1 Remember
Remember
Remember where you were in sin and what God did in saving you and what he continues to do as he transforms you.
spiritual coldness comes from forgetting, not holding on to the first things
like a marriage lack of joy and passion comes from forgetting where you started
leads to complacency to criticism to quarrelling and fighting
scriptures constantly remind us of many things
need to recount where we were, what we did
scriptures do this by constantly reminding us
look at your life for anything that has replaced Christ as your chief delight
is there anything you love more than Christ?
anything you refuse to let go of that is hurtful or harmful?
anything you want more than Christ?
anyone you want to serve or honour more than Christ?
anyone you want to talk about more than Christ?
think often of what you were, how God sovereignly came to you and gave you new life
2 Repent
Agree with Jesus that your lack of love is sin and confess it.
confess your coldness
confess how your Christian life has become routine
confess how you have been serving the Lord without joy, without passion, without zeal
confess that you have been serving so that others might see and think better of you
confess that you love theology or doctrine more than you love Christ
commit to walk with your focus on Christ and what he has done for you, what he is doing in you and what he will do for you
3 Do the works you did at first
Remember how your love, joy, passion and zeal for Jesus characterized your service when you were first transformed and serve like that again!
if that’s too far back or you have been a Christian all of your life find someone who has come to the Lord and get them to tell you how the Lord brought them to Christ
Questions for Personal Reflection:
Where would you rank your passion for Christ on a scale of 1-10?
Is there anything in your life you would struggle to let go of if Christ said to you, “it’s me or that”? What are you going to do about it?
If your love for Jesus has grown cold what are you going to do about it?
