Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got!

One of the religion scholars came up. Hearing the lively exchanges of question and answer and seeing how sharp Jesus was in his answers, he put in his question: "Which is most important of all the commandments?"

Jesus said, "The first in importance is, 'Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.' And here is the second: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment that ranks with these."


Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got!

The Extent of our Love for God

God commands us to love Him with ALL, not part, of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This means will all of each component of our being, all the time.

Let’s look at these four aspects of our being one by one.
Love God with all your mind

In today’s text, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:4-5. But if you look at that passage in any English version, you won’t see the word “mind”. That verse tells us to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength.

Did Jesus misquote the verse?

For the Israelites, the concept of “mind” was included in the Hebrew words we’ve translated “heart” and “soul.” But for the Greeks – and for us! – mind is considered a separate aspect of our being. If we were told to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength, we might very well think that we weren’t commanded to love Him with our mind. So in Mark’s gospel – written particularly for Greek culture – “mind” is included, to show that the command is to love God with our entire being.

Thus, I think it makes sense to begin with mind, and then move to the other three.

What does loving God with our mind mean? We are to learn about God. We are to discipline ourselves and organize our time in such a way that minds so that will be diligent in learning more about God. This includes setting aside time to read God’s Word, and to listen to solid preaching. This includes discussing the things of God with others, both believers and unbelievers. Indeed, consider the verses in Deuteronomy that immediately follow the Great Commandment:

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Thus, we are to fill our minds with the Word of God, always. We must not let other thoughts push God out.

We try to help you do that:

* This January, we’ll begin our churchwide Scripture memory program, encouraging everyone, kids and adults, to memorize the same verse every week, and then asking someone to say that verse prior to each Sunday service.
* We encourage you to read solid Christian literature. So we have the book table near the entrance, from which you can borrow books any time you wish. So prior to the election I emailed you some thoughts on the major issues facing Christian voters, and included links to insightful articles on some of the political issues facing us. I hope you took advantage of those.
* We encourage you to listen to solid Bible teaching. The audio for each sermon preached here is available on the web page within a week. Next week Damion Pirolli will have available CD’s with all 30 sermons from the series on Genesis. The Desiring God Ministries site, www.desiringGOd.org, has links not only to John Piper’s sermons but also conference audio. On our recent trip to Massachusetts, Beth and I listened to almost all the talks from Sex and Supremacy of God conference held in Minneapolis in September, and were greatly blessed by them. .

If we are to love God with all our minds, we must fill those minds with the things of God. Talk and think about them when you are in your house, when you walk, when you lie down, and when you rise. Make use of these resources to do that.

We must love God with all our minds.
Love God with all your Heart

The knowledge we get through filling our minds with the things of God must translate into love. We are to love God with all our minds, not just think about the things of God. Charles Spurgeon: speaks of those who know Christian doctrine and enjoy arguing about correct doctrine, but “their religion is like a dead fish, cold and stiff, and when you take it into your hand, you say there is no life in it; their souls were never stirred with it; their hearts were never thrown into it.” Thus, loving God with all our minds is intimately related to loving God with all our heart.

Jonathan Edwards says:

Although to true religion there must indeed be something else besides affection; yet true religion consists so much in the affections, that there can be no true religion without them. He who has no religious affection, is in a state of spiritual death. . . . If the great things of religion are rightly understood, they will affect the heart. The reason why men are not affected by such infinitely great, important, glorious, and wonderful things, as they often hear and read of, in the Word of God, is undoubtedly because they are blind; if they were not so, it would be impossible, and utterly inconsistent with human nature, that their hearts should be otherwise than strongly impressed, and greatly moved by such things.

We are spiritually blind if the knowledge of God does not move us to love of God. Thus as important as knowing God is, we don’t call ourselves “Knowing God Community Church”, but “Desiring God Community Church.” Our mission statement is not “to spread a knowledge of the supremacy of God in all things” but “to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things.“

Knowledge is important. Knowledge is vital. But knowledge must translate into affections. We must love God with all our heart.
Love God with all your Soul

The soul is the inner being, what makes you you. This includes all your special quirks and preferences.

Think of the things you love – particular things that distinguish you from most other people. For me:

* I love running.
* I love track and field.
* I love being in roomful of Africans telling stories.
* I love watching my children do the things they love: sing, act, play football, play the cello, play soccer, play baseball.
* I love reading Charles Dickens.

But if I love God with ALL my SOUL, I must love God more than these.

Now, if I love good, healthy things, I may not have to make a choice between loving God and loving these other activities. But following God may mean giving up these things. If I love Him with all my soul, I will do so joyfully, not reluctantly.

We must love God with all our soul.
Love God with all your Strength

The command to love God with all our strength shows that genuine love for God shows itself in our lives – it is not just an inner attitude. Consider: How does strength manifest itself? When do you say someone is strong? Do you look at someone lounging on the couch watching the Panthers game and say, “Wow! He’s really strong!”

No. Strength shows itself when the strong person completes a difficult task – a task a weak person could never accomplish: Running a fast race, lifting heavy weights, climbing steep, tall mountains. Strength manifests itself in actions.

Thus our love for God concerns what we do, not only what we think. Love for God concerns not only what takes place in our study, but what takes place every minute of every day: what you do, how you respond to those around you. We must love God with all our strength – meaning we must step out and do difficult things because of our love for God.

This leads to directly to two implications of our love for God:
Two Implications of our Love for God

Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength means we will obey Him. Jesus makes this clear in John 14:

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (v14)

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. (v21)

Why does love for God imply obedience? There is much we could say, but this morning I want to emphasize only two brief points:
To Know God is to trust Him

God tells Abraham to leave all he knows, all his family, all his career. He promises to show him the land, and promises him blessings. Abraham knew God, and so trusted Him. He stepped out in faith.

William Carey saw God’s promise to “enlarge the place of your tent,” and rightly understood that passage to refer to God’s bringing all the nations to Himself. He knew God through his diligent study of Scriptures, and so believed God, trusted God, loved God – and stepped out in faith.

Just so with us. To love God, we must know Him. To really know Him is to trust Him. Trusting God, we will obey Him. If we are disobedient, fundamentally we do not know and love Him.
To Love God is to want to become like Him

Paul writes:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. 2 Corinthians 3:18

To see Jesus Christ – to really see Him - is to become like Him. We look to Him, learn of Him, love Him – and He transforms us into His image. Seeing is becoming.

But also – obedience is becoming. In several sermons I’ve used the phrase, “Obedience is its own reward.” When we love Jesus Christ, we want to be like him. And when we obey, we are becoming like Him:

* Jesus Christ had intimate fellowship with the Father; when we organize our time, our day, our lives so that can have intimate fellowship with God, we are becoming like Him.
* Jesus Christ loved men and women in practical ways; when we set aside time for acts of mercy, we are becoming like Him.
* Jesus Christ loved the unlovable, and gave Himself for them; when we love others in obedience to Him - even when they hurt us and belittle us – we are becoming like Him.

Obedience makes us like Jesus Christ. And that indeed is a great reward. Thus we love God with all our strength.

So we’ve seen some of the extent and implications of the Great Commandment.

How are you doing?: Can you put “fulfilling the Great Commandment” on your to-do list, and then check it off for today?

You might be able to fool yourself into thinking you can check off the Ten Commandments: If you don’t understand all their implications, you might say, “Nope, didn’t make any graven images today. Didn’t murder anyone. Oh, and I didn’t steal. Didn’t commit adultery. Didn’t bear false witness. Hey, I’m doing pretty well!”

But how about, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength”? No one can check that off. This command shows us that we sin every day, every hour.

Thus, in response, we should throw ourselves on the mercy of Jesus Christ. We should see clearly that we don’t deserve His love, His patience, His persistent calling of us. And thus this commandment must humble us before Him.
Conclusion

In conclusion, I want to address three groups of people here this morning:
Those who are not Christians, and know it

We’re so glad you’re here: Stay with us. Ask questions. Indeed, ask the hardest questions you can think of. Come back. See what the Bible says about God. Learn who Jesus claimed to be. Study His life.

Our goal is not to get you to join our club. Our goal is to present Jesus Christ to you, in all His beauty and glory. The most important decision you will ever make, the most important topic you will ever study is: Who is Jesus? So don’t be distracted from that topic! Investigate the Christ of Christmas. And as you see Him for Who He is, as you see yourself for who you are before Him, we pray that you, by God’s grace, will come to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Those of you who thought you were Christians when you walked in, but don’t see this kind of love for God in your heart.

Some of you may be wondering: Am I really Christian at all?

If that’s the case, then say with Paul, “I want to know Christ!” Don’t wait for my sermons on prayer, or on the Word - Pray to see Him! Fill your mind not with Christmas TV specials, but with the special Christ of Christmas! Meditate on God’s Word. Submit yourself to Him. Confess your lack of love. Confess your unbelief – and pray that God would use His Word, both read and preached, to open up your heart to know Him and love him with all your being.
Finally, Christians – Especially members of Desiring God Community Church

Do you understand the great privilege you have? The privilege of being adopted into the family of the King of the Universe? You, too, say with Paul: “I want to know Christ!” You too discipline yourselves to set your mind on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

And as you know him – step out! Dream! Dream about what God might do in and through Desiring God Church.

What might He do? Plant another church within 18 months? Have a major impact on a particular unreached people group? Bring about a major movement to Himself in the neighborhoods surrounding this campus?

Loving God with all our being has implications even for tonight’s business meeting. We’ve proposed a large budgetary increase for next year. It is tempting for us to ask: Is this increase too big? My question is: Is this too small? Are we expecting great things from God? Are we attempting great things for God?

I share with John Piper the fear he stated in last week’s sermon: At the end of my life, when I appear before God, His looking at me and saying, “Your ambitions were too small. You didn’t ask for enough. You didn’t expect great things from me. You thus didn’t attempt great things for me.”

Small ambitions, not asking enough, come from not loving God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength.

So what is God calling you to? I encourage you: Take the Perspectives class, or, if you’ve already taken it, attend several of the lectures again. Take to heart this biblical, God-entranced vision of all things.

Don’t be satisfied with creaturely comforts. Love God above all.