I am Third
Matthew 22:37
Deuteronomy 6:5
Prayer-
Deuteronomy 6:1-9- Read from Bible
Introduction-
These are the words of Moses recorded to the people of Israel as they left slavery from Egypt and heading to the promised land of God.
The Ten Commandments of God are laid down.
They are told to keep God’s commands, decrees.
They are told to observe and remember the things that God has done for them.
They are told to pass it on to their children that they would reverence the Lord so they would enjoy long life.
A good Jew today would still recite Deuteronomy 6:4-5 first thing as he gets up in the morning and the last thing he says before he would sleep-
“Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
Everyday on the news we are bombarded with vicious attacks (Morally or spiritually).
We wake each day to chaos while one side fights the other.
New evidence, new dirt.
Right against left, conservative against liberal-
Republican against Democrat
Each claiming to be right- destroying each other!
Many sitting right here right now, ready to bark why they are right and someone else is wrong.
You have to listen to that everyday just to get the weather! To find out if it is going to rain today or be sunny.
Every Sunday, before anyone else gets here, I am sitting in my office praying that God’s house would be full and the people of God would be able to come together and hear His voice in the midst of the voices that pollute our thinking and pollute our relationship with God.
I am not taking a side on any issue pressing right now! I am saying to the church of Jesus Christ that we need to hear the voice of God and not be distracted by the trumpets that distract.
I am saying that we (universal church) are not doing a good job of loving our Lord God with all our heart, with all our soul, and all our strength.
We already know that the world does not love the Lord, but what about God’s people?
We know if we are to love God with all of our hearts, that there cannot be other gods before Him.
Yahweh was unique- He was the one that brought them out of bondage and taking them to the promise land.
He is the one that cannot be one of many gods, He was to be the only true God.
He is to be loved and obeyed.
Illustration-
When I am driving through town to fast and the police stop me, it is not because they love me they pull me over, it is because I disobeyed the law and they will give me a ticket. I do not go the speed limit because I love them, I do not speed through town because I do not want a speeding ticket. I do not want to get in trouble.
That is not love- that is fear and consequence.
Loving God is to not do anything that would displease God because you desire to be obedient to Him.
It is to please God that you do what He has asked us to do. He does not bring consequences because He enjoys it, but consequences come because He loves us and desires to bring us back into a right relationship with Him.
God has to be first in our lives! Heart, mind, soul, and our strength.
Everything that makes us us is to love God.
We were created to worship God.
We were created to love God with everything we are and can be.
The void in our life where God is or is not cannot be filled with anything outside of God. Go ahead and try it!
We will have a void that will leave us empty and unsatisfied.
One of the biggest lies of today is that you can do without God!
You cannot do without God. I do not believe that there is an atheist alive that doesn’t have a void in their life.
They will never admit it, they try to fill it with religion- wait a minute, they are atheist, no, believing the lie of no God is a religion and it smells like smoke.
Love God with all your heart!
Your heart is the seat of emotions- it is where decisions are made.
It is a place where you let people in and keep some people out.
It is the place where you make your decision for God- He tugs on your hearts and you make the decision if you will let Him in or not.
Soul is saved when they surrender their being, their heart to God. A person soul is their life line- the word in the Greek is Nepes. Vitality and mortality- Where will you spend eternity is determined by who owns your heart. You will live forever, but your love of God or lack of love for God will determine where you spend eternity.
Love God with all your strength!
Here is where it becomes a God thing!
In our strength, we are limited to our strength, our talents, and our resources.
In God’s strength, we have the unlimited resources of God, we have the strength God gave us and the strength of His Holy Spirit working in our lives.
Heaven and all it resources are opened up to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
Humans want to compartmentalize, God wants it all- heart, mind, soul, body, strength. Everything!
We want to believe we are good people doing bad things, but we are bad people who occasional do good things. It does not change our nature and the sin that we were born into.
Pastor, you are talking Old Testament, I am a New Testament believer. Okay-
Matthew 22:36
“Teacher, what is the greatest Commandment in the law? Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.”
We are to love God with everything we got- and love others as yourself!
God is First, others are second. How we are to love others is how we would treat ourselves.
We have needs, we try to meet those needs.
We have hurts, we try to bring healing.
We want to be loved, we need to love others.
When we are loving God the way that we should, it will flow down to those that we come into contact with.
613 laws the Pharisees created when if they would have lived the Ten Commandments would not have been needed.
Matthew 5:20-
“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of God”
The essence of the law shows us that we need God and we cannot save ourselves.
We cannot clean ourselves up enough to please God.
We cannot love God or others with a lukewarm dried up love that doesn’t change anyone or put God on the throne of our hearts.
He is first and we will see other things fall into place in our lives.
We don’t put God first and we see chaos and turmoil in our lives.
The starting point is putting God first!
Nothing and I mean nothing can take that spot if we are to see God’s best in your life. No person, no thing, no stuff.
Religion doesn’t cut it- We saw in the parable of the Good Samaritan that it was not the priest, not the devout Jew who took time to help a hurting person, it was a Samaritan, the one others despised that came to the aid of the man in need.
“Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of God.”
We don’t like that God demands to be first and we certainly struggle with putting others second and before ourselves.
“Thy shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
The greatest showing of love is in Jesus Christ and what He did for us.
Love for others covers a multitude of sins.
Religion never did anything for anyone- relationship and love can change a world and a community by a few living it out.
Churches use to have JOY clubs- Jesus, others, you- the purpose was to get people connected to each other and less about themselves.
The greatest example of serving others is found in Jesus Christ- We are to be Christ-like.
The greatest person to serve others is Apostle Paul- We have seen it in Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, and many others. The ones that you remember best are the ones that opened themselves up and served you and helped you get to where you are in your journey with the Lord.
Our relationship with the Lord will draw us to be a blessing and mentor to others.
In heaven one day we will stand before God and answer the simple question of who we influenced in this life and it won’t matter how many widgets we made, how much data we use and collected, how many toys and pleasures we experienced.
We will stand before him and our life with others will be revealed. I want to stand before him and have some standing in the cloud of witnesses waiting for me.
We cannot give what we do not have and we cannot force people to make right decisions.
We can however persuade people to faith and encourage and help them on their journey.
I want to be that cloud of witness for some when they come home to the Lord. I cannot wait to see and talk with those who have gone on before me. It is not about getting everything for ourselves- it is about what part others played in our life and what part we play in others lives that will matter.
Hebrews 12
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
Here the writer to the Hebrews exhorts all who profess faith in Jesus Christ, the “author and perfecter of our faith, to do two things.
We are to remove or put off any burden that keeps us from Christ-likeness, especially sin because sin ensnares us and keeps us in bondage to itself.
Second, we are to persevere, patiently enduring all things until we grow and mature in the faith.
James reminds us that trials serve to strengthen our faith and bring us to maturity.
Part of maturity is knowing our purpose and knowing this is not all there is and not believing the lie of the devil that this is it, live it to the fullest now. I would want eternity to be blessed because we made an impact of people’s lives. That I choose to put the things of God before all my pleasures so that there will be people in heaven because I invested in them.
God first
People second
I am third-
That is not a bad thing- you are important! To God, and to each of us- we just have to be careful not to put ourselves before God.
We have to be careful that we are not asking what can the church do for me, but instead asking what can I do for the church and God’s kingdom.
God brings order to chaos when we put God first in every area of our lives-
Time?
Thoughts?
Money?
Body?
Relationships?
As we close,
Which one of these things is God tugging on you for this morning?
Time- redeem it
Selfishness- confess it to him
Habits- kill them today with God’s help
Bitterness- talk to him about it this morning.
Overwhelmed-
Frustrated-
Confused
Feel dead inside
Last nerve
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. And you will see God do more than you could ever imagine- make Him first and the rest will fall into place.
God says, “you shall have no other gods before me.”
When He asks us, like He did Peter, “Do you love me” He will already know the answer to the question, will it be the right one?
Prayer,
Amen.
