Loving God His Way

1 John 5:1-5

We have been going through this sermon series Heart and Head: Loving God with our Mind and Emotions.

We’ve talked about Loving God Exclusively in our lives and this shows forth in our giving, prayer, forgiveness, etc.

Last week we talked about Loving God Preeminently, or as our first priority.

Loving Him more than Things, or comfort, or anything else that can pull His preeminence.

Jesus told us the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all of our soul, all of our might.

Not only are we not able to do this on our own,

but we cannot do it our way.

God has revealed himself to us, we do not get to create a god of our liking.

We have to take Him as He has revealed Himself to be.

So we have to Love God His Way!

In the first few verses of 1 John 5 I believe we see three keys to loving God His way!

First of all,

I. If We Love God, We Love the Son

verse 1

Many people in the world today think they can love a general God but reject the message of Jesus.

Or they accept Jesus as a good man, or great teacher, but reject Him as the Son of God.

You can’t partially accept God or His Son.

It is everything He has revealed or it’s nothing!

A. Only One Way

All roads do not lead to God!

Oprah is famous for saying there are many roads to God,

but Oprah is not God!

She does not get to tell us who He is or how to get to Him.

Neither is anyone else, including myself!

God reveals the way to Himself.

In fact the Bible describes two ways an easy/broad way and a difficult/narrow way.

Matthew 7:13–14 KJV

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

This kind of truth doesn’t line up with this “All roads lead to God” philosophy.

The majority of the people are wrong!

Normally when everyone around us is going the wrong way, we might ought to rethink the direct we are going.

Turning the wrong way on the street when I first started driving

But in this instance, we don’t follow the crowd, we follow the God who is the author and finisher of this race we are running!

We don’t get to choose our own way

B. Only One Truth

You can’t say you love God and yet call Him a liar by your beliefs and actions.

You can’t say that God is Who He says He is and not say Jesus Is Who God says He is.

Like Romans 3:4 says, Let God be true, but every man a liar!

Romans 3:4

God’s truth is the only truth!

There is no your truth, and my truth

There is only God’s truth!

and the truth is...

1 John 4:19 KJV

19 We love him, because he first loved us.

1 John 5:11–12 KJV

11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

II. If We Love God, We Love Each Other

verse 2

1 John 4:20 KJV

20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

But this love, isn’t just a love in word only, no it’s a love that...

A. Looks Like Christ’s Love

We don’t have the ability to love each other like this on our own!

It has to be God’s love flowing through us!

1. Enduring

John 13:1 KJV

1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

Romans 8:35 KJV

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Is your love for others around you enduring?

Does it have an end, or can it be separated?

Is it conditional?

2. Sacrificial

John 15:13 KJV

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Is your love sacrificial?

Are you willing to sacrifice what you want for those around you?

Selfish love is not godly love.

3. Enabling

Galatians 2:20 KJV

20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

B. Looks Like Biblical Love

1 Corinthians 13:4–8 KJV

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

So if we love God, we will love His Son!

If we love God, We will love each other!

Thirdly, here in 1 John...

III. If We Love God, We Obey Him

verse 3

I’ve always heard, if the Bible says it, Pay attention to it

If the Bible says it twice, you really better pay attention!

John 14:15 KJV

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

1 John 5:3 KJV

3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

John 14:23 KJV

23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Over and over again we are told If we truly love God, we will obey what he tells us.

Again, we cannot do this on our own.

It can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit!

But, if we are yielded to the Holy Spirit...

A. Obedience Is Not Hard

His commandments are not grievous

Grievous means heavy, weighty, burdensome

When talking to unsaved friends growing up I would hear things like, “I couldn’t do that all out Christian thing…All those rules, and restrictions.”

But the truth is, I’ve never felt restricted, I see the pain that is caused by sin all around me.

I have seen the pain that sin has caused in my own life, when I wasn’t yielded to the Holy Spirit in my life.

Galatians 5:16 KJV

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Obedience is not hard, as long as it is done in His power not my own.

If I am trying, trying, trying, I’m not yielding!

If in the flesh I am trying to obey rules, instead of trying to keep my relationship clear I suffer under the weight.

The more I focus on the rules, the more I want to do whatever it is I’m trying not to do.

But if I just focus on Him, I will not yield to the flesh.

Galatians 5:18 KJV

18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

I’m not under the rules, if I’m just focusing on following!

So obedience is not hard, it is not grievous, but we also see that...

B. Obedience Brings Victory

verses 4-5

For Whatsoever - not whosoever -

What is born of God?

Our Faith!

It’s not our effort,

it’s not our rules

It’s not our trying

It’s our faith - Our whole hearted dependence on Him

Who is he that overcometh the world?

he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.

Believeth - pisteuo - to be committed to the trust of

This is who will have the victory!

Go all in!

Love the Lord with All your heart, with All your soul, with All your mind!

Go all in!

Love Him His Way!