Sunday 04:15:12

When we sat down 10 years ago to give our church some direction, we worked on core values, things that we think are important, things that we want people who come here to pick up on, things that we want to be true of the culture of our church. These are things that we want to shape our teaching, the content of our ministries and even our conversations. The first of these core values is a “great love for God.” I pray this for you. I pray this for me. May we grow in greater love and affection for God. Matthew 22:34-40 v. 37 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.” The Pharisees had added rules and regulations on top of the Laws of Moses. They thought what God wanted people to do could be attained by regulating behavior. But there was never any hope in that. Jesus gave an answer that reveals how we attain righteousness, become better, how we change. It is not a matter of behavior; it’s a matter of the heart. This is what God wanted all along, not for people to behave like robots, but God longed for a people to love him. He wants our love. He wants our affections. He wants to be central in our lives. He wants to be your Savior, your Healer, your Redeemer, your Rock, your Father. But we always tend to look in other places for significance. We tend to look to our jobs for importance. We tend to look to people for acceptance. We tend to look to money for security. We tend to look to the opposite sex to know that we’re lovable. Romans 1:21-25 v. 23 “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” v. 25 “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” People, we, refused to acknowledge God for Who He is – glorious. Despite knowing God, people trade in God for something else. We exchange the Creator for the creation. Our love for God is never going to be perfect. It will always be tainted by our sinful hearts. We will always struggle in this life to for our hearts to be fully his. John 16:25-28 v. 27 “the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” Did the disciples love him? They misunderstood him; mistook his mission; while he tried to model service for them, they argued about who was the greatest; when he anguished in Gethsemane, they slept; when he was accused and abused, they left him alone. None of them stood up for him. Their love for him was far from perfect. It was tainted by their own self-interest. But Jesus said, “you love me, so my Father loves you.” Even though it was imperfect, even though it was polluted by their selfishness, God accepted it. God loved them for it. Even though their love for Jesus was imperfect, it was precious to God. Their love was mixed with confusion and selfishness. God sifted through the mess and found small gems of their love for Jesus. They were precious to him. He loved them for it. Your love for God isn’t perfect. It’s mixed with impure motives. You have a tendency to wander in your affections. But what is there, those times that the Holy Spirit has produced in you a love for God in worship, a dependence on God for needs, a steadfast trust in God in pain and suffering, a quiet time of really wanting to know God better. God gathers those up like gold, like a fragrant offering when it is mixed with our union with Christ, and says, “I love you for loving my Son.” How do we grow in love for Jesus? Jesus prayed for us about this. John 17:20-26 v. 26 “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” We need to pray what Jesus did. “Father, put your love for Jesus in my heart.”