Loving God Preeminently

Matthew 10:37-39

We are continuing our series on Heart and Head: Loving God with our Mind and Emotions.

Last week we saw that we should Love God Exclusively.

We saw four ways that we can love God: through Giving, Praying, Forgiving and Sacrificing as found in Matthew 6

Today I want to go a little further in this Idea of loving God and see how Jesus tells us we ought to love God preeminently.

Here in Chapter 10 of Matthew Jesus is sending His disciples out to minister.

In verse 1, He calls the twelve together and gives them power against unclean spirits, and power to heal sickness and disease.

Then He sent them to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.

In His challenge to them He indirectly shows us five Loves that can take take the preeminence from Christ.

You see Colossians 1:18 tells us

Colossians 1:18 KJV

18 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.

We need to work to make sure that Christ has the preeminence, the first priority, in our lives.

Let’s look at five loves that can take this preeminence from Christ:

Love of Things

9-11

Jesus told the disciples to not even plan for money or things as they were sent to minister for Him.

That is quite a foreign concept to many of us!

I am a planner!

I want to know how things are going to be taken care of and when and with what money.

When I plan a trip somewhere I want it all laid out and planned each step of the way.

Here on this trip, the disciples were not even to plan for the money for their trip.

That is trust in God! That is Love for God!

The point for the disciples was to go led of the Spirit and trusting in God, The application for us today is be sure that your plans and your putting money back doesn’t come more of a priority than God.

We saw last week how Loving God is Giving to others - Many Spirit filled Christians will find that as soon as money gets saved up the Lord lays upon their heart to give it to someone.

Listen, I’ve gadgets and gizmos a plenty!

Someone said “The only reason a great many American families don’t own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly payments.”

But we can’t get to the place where our things, our gadgets, our treasures are more of a priority than the treasure of our hearts, Jesus!

1 John 2:15–17 KJV

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

So be careful of the Love of Things...

In verses 12-15 Jesus gives them some instruction of what to do when they get to a town, but look with me at verse 16-23

Love of Comfort

16-31

This is quite a pep talk and recruiting speech!

Hey guys, go in as sheep among the wolves

the men are going to turn you into the authorities

Your brothers are going to turn you in even to be killed

Your fathers will too.

The children will go against their own parents, even to death.

Oh, and your going to be hated by all men!

You’ll be persecuted, but don’t worry, just flee to another city!

What the disciples say to this?

“uh, say again?”

After this whole speech in Matthew 11:1

Matthew 11:1 KJV

1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.

It says Jesus left to preach in the cities, I imagine the disciples just standing there speechless!

The truth is we love comfort!

I don’t even like to go to a party where I don’t know anyone!

But because Jesus commands us to go, we go!

So if your aren’t going to Love Comfort, we need to prepare to do a few things:

A. Stand Alone

Stand against the wolves, but harmless as doves

Family may turn against us, we’ll talk more about that in a minute

But be willing to stand alone!

B. Stand ‘Til Death

That’s means two things - keep standing until you die

and that means - keep standing even if you were to die.

Just a cursory read of Foxes Book of Martyrs will put us all to shame in regards to our priorities.

C. Just Keep Going

He said in verse 23, When they persecute you, not if they persecute you.

“I’ve never been persecuted!”

Maybe we are doing enough!

But he says when they persecute you flee into another city and keep going!

So we are to not Love Things more than God

We are to not Love Comfort more than God

Thirdly be careful of the ...

Love of Acceptance

32-33

Jesus talks about denying Him

Why would anyone deny that they know Jesus?

Because they want to be accepted.

It’s a natural desire, everyone wants to be accepted.

But we cannot let the desire for acceptance to supersede our Love and obedience for the Lord.

Remember those are the same thing!

Love and obedience!

John 14:15 KJV

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Who’s acceptance are you going to bow to?

Authorities - Work or Government

Family

Friends

Jesus

I remember my first experience with pressure from friends. Friend and I wanted to start a Bible Club in our Junior High. Talk about pressure! But when it came time to do it, my friend backed out. I was left there by myself for our first meeting. What did I do? I studies the Bible… then got back to inviting people.

We need to love God more than Love of Things, the Love of Comfort, the Love of Acceptance, fourthly We need to be careful of the ...

Love of Family

35-37

Now wait a minute are you saying that we are not supposed to love oru family?

Of course not!

Since that would be a direct violation of multiple of God’s commands, we know that is not the correct interpretation.

In fact it gets even more strongly worded in Luke 14:26

Luke 14:26 KJV

26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Jesus is saying our love for God ought to be so strong that even the closest people to us in this life, in comparison, looks like hatred.

Do we love God like this?

Remember

Mark 12:30 KJV

30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Are you loving God with everything you have?

Does he have absolute first place in your life?

Or do you just serve Him, love Him, obey Him if there is no other conflict?

In fact Jesus goes a step further in the next couple of verses...

Not only are you not to Love Things more than God

Not only are you not to Love Comfort more than God

Not only are you not to Love Acceptance more than God

Not only Are you not to Love Family more than God

But He then speaks of the ultimate love for all of us!

Love of Self

38-39

You say, “I don’t love myself more than others!”

We do by nature!

We are selfish beings because of the sin nature!

We think of our food, our shelter, our apparel before we think of anyone elses, naturally.

Now if we are spirit filled, or allowing God’s love to work through us we may see an exception to this.

But by nature we are selfish creatures.

This is why there are many of verses in the New Testament that command us to not be selfish.

Like...

Philippians 2:3–4 KJV

3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

No, we are to love Christ more than self.

This includes taking up our cross and following Him!

In third John we are given a peak into a church where there was a man, Diotrephes, who loved his standing in the church more than he loved the church.

John wrote to the church saying...

3 John 9 KJV

9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

He rejected the truth that John, through the Holy Spirit, gave the church and began to bring idle accusations against John, he says with malicious words.

When we love ourselves more than Christ, others around us will suffer!

One unyielding Christian can destroy the work of an entire church!

There is a church in our area that is going through some trials, the former pastor and the former assistant pastor were fighting, writing public letters about each other and causing a great division. That ought not happen in the church!

We need to take up our cross, whatever that may be The cross of sacrificing things for Him

Perhaps the cross of discomfort as we focus on obedience rather than safety or even life.

Maybe the cross of rejection as others don’t understand our following Christ.

or the cross of loneliness as family forsakes us

At age 17, Soni, in Napal was sold into slavery by her own aunt. She spent three decades as a prostitute in India before a Nepali Christian helped her escape. This woman shared the gospel with Soni, and Soni joyfully accepted the invitation of salvation through Christ who loves her. But once she returned home, her family did not accept her because she had been a prostitute who then became an “untouchable” by becoming a Christian. “Everybody rejected me; Jesus was the only one who loved me,” Soni said. Her family physically pushed her out of the home, causing Soni to fracture her leg. She is now being cared for by a church. “Please pray that God will provide all my needs and that all my family will come to know Jesus, so that one day they may also come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Soni said. “Because Jesus died not only for me, but also for them as well.” Praise God for Soni’s faith, and pray that her request is fulfilled.

A young woman named Bisnsa was first kicked out of her home and later fired from her job after she became a Christian. 24-year-old Binsa grew up in a Hindu family. One day, she heard a gospel song on the radio, which led her to think about Christianity. She decided to accept Christ as her Lord and Savior. When her family learned about her decision, they kicked her out. Binsa went to Kathmandu, the capital city, in search of work to support herself. She found a job in a coffee shop and rented a small room. On her day off, she attended church. But when the coffee shop owner learned she was a Christian, he fired her. For four months Binsa couldn’t pay her rent and often went hungry until a VOM-supported evangelist found her and provided help. Pray for Binsa and pray for her family to come to know Christ as she did.

A man I personally knew in High School, Mr. Yoder, an Amish Man heard the gospel from a man in his neighborhood and accepted Christ as his Savior. After telling his family he was shunned and had to start a new life in another state. God provided for him and he ended up becoming the Wooodshop teacher at my Christian School. The impact he had on hundreds of teenagers was immeasurable, as building wonderful furniture and projects came only second to the Word of God.

Whatever your cross that you are called to bear, we need to bear it up and follow Christ today!