With All Your Strength
Be Zealous • Sermon • Submitted
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With All Your Strength
With All Your Strength
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
“Love the Lord your God … with all your might.”
Last week I challenged you with an important question.
“How do you love God with all of your soul.”
We found out that the word interpreted soul had a much deeper meaning than what was on the surface.
This week we are be doing the same thing by asking the question....
How do you love God with all of your might?
proper Biblical Theology dictate that we start in the OT and move forward
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Key word here is “Might”
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
ME’OD
The Hebrew word is: “ME’OD”
It also has several uses in the OT.
Here are a few...
ME’OD = “Very”
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
It wasn’t just good...
It was “ME’OD” good.
ME’OD is used 300 times in 287 verses in the OT.
But it’s used more like an Adverb. (interesting)
Let see some other OT uses.
ME’OD = “Greatly”
This time we have a close contrast.
Genesis 7:17–19 (ESV)
17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.
Got my Sea-legs.
When I was in the Navy, (USS Enterprise - Aircraft carrier)
carriers are MASSIVE ships. (over 6,000 people)
Called a floating city.
It is nothing compared to the Ocean in a storm.
Hit a wave that shook the entire ship.
Everything just flew forward.
Can you imagine the force of the waters that rose up to cover the entire planet?
How would you describe such a thing?
Moses got help from the word “ME’OD”
to describe both:
The water rose both GREATLY & MIGHTILY
ME’OD can have some POWERFUL meaning connotations!
also interpreted:
Exceedingly, utterly, badly
Definition states ME’OD this way.
Muchness, force, abundance.
I love that it used the word “MUCHNESS”
Not because it is like “the best definition ever”
But at least I can start to put my mind around what God is saying in the Shema.
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Love the Lord your God with all your “muchness”
"Is the pastor calling us extra” (No, I would never say that…from the pulpit.)
By design we have been given a quality of “muchness”
God who is limitless in power & authority.
Chose to give us the ABILITY to love
He also gave us the the CAPACITY to love.
There are two areas in my life where I have been amazed at the capacity God has given me to love.
When I looked at my bride walking down the isle towards me.
I knew it was here
But she looked like she was floating
She was radiant.
When I look at my children.
I’ve told my children, “You have no idea how much your mom and I love you.”
We had a reminder of that yesterday (Randall and Candra)
It’s not our first grandchild but it is their first child.
For the first time, they got to hold their little baby and know what I meant!
I had no idea I could love so deeply until I had a family.
And this greatest of all commands...
It is God saying to us
I have given you this tremendous capacity to love. Deeper than you can ever imagine. And I want you to dig down and explore the depth of the love I have placed in your heart!!!!!
Love the Lord your God with all of your MUCHNESS!
Think about how this changes the scope of this commandment.
Love God all our heart and soul
Our relationship becomes limitless, unconfined, unrestrained.
There is nothing surface level when it comes to our relationship with God.
Loving God with your Soul = all of our existence
Then MIGHT challenges us to do so to the very depths of our ability.
No wonder this is the most important command!
(consider) Sin has consequences
That is just a reality
It is not supposed to be the motivation to avoid sinning
Our motivation is our love for God
I don’t avoid upsetting Melissa because I afraid of her wrath!
I genuinely love seeing her happy. Because I love her)
I love pleasing God because of the love I have for HIM!!!
Using the word ME’OD completely changes every aspect of the relationship God desires to have with you!!!!
Mark recorded Jesus using another word when reciting the Shema...
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
“mind”
Thinking in terms of our “muchness”
As if Jesus was giving us an example of how we are to leverage this capacity to do things greatly.
How do you approach your love for God
How do you approach your knowledge of God?
11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.