Sunday, September 11,
2011 pm
WHAT DO YOU LOVE?
Love is certainly a subject that ought to be dear to every
Christian. It is at the very
pinnacle of our faith (cf. 2 Pet. 1:5-7).
Jesus described love in the Christian’s life as the foundation of
all the commandments. In
Matt. 22:34-40 we read, “But when
the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered
together. When one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus
said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.' On these two
commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
It would do us well to
learn that. When we do, as
John said in 1 John 4:18-19, (“There
is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear
involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We
love Him because He first loved us.”), our service to God will be
pleasant instead of drudgery.
But for many, their service to God IS drudgery.
Why? Could it be because the things they actually love are not
what they ought to be loving?
Could it be that their love is misdirected?
With that in mind, tonight I would like to examine some things
the scriptures show as misdirected love and then we will examine those
things that are properly directed love.
I.
Misdirected love
a.
Men loved darkness
rather than light – John 3:19,20.
i.
This comes at the
conclusion of a conversation Jesus is having with Nicodemus.
He has acknowledged Him as being from God.
Jesus gives what is known as the great text of the Bible (John
3:16) and then notes that there are many who will reject it.
ii.
While on earth, Jesus
presented a message of hope, but one that demanded repentance and
obedience. Rather than
submit to God, His enemies sought to destroy Him.
That is what John records that He warned about.
As we study the life of Christ we see the efforts of His enemies
to suppress His truth. They
despised Him! Why? Because
His message indicted their sinful attitudes and conduct, as well as
their corrupted teachings.
iii.
Is it any different
today? We live in a world
that is increasingly skeptical and cynical.
As things grow worse and worse and the results of that “monster”
rears its head (the monster of worldliness and its consequences), rather
than turning to the Creator, man turns AWAY from Him. He rejects His
existence and/or he rejects His message.
This is no different than what Jesus dealt with during His time
on this earth.
Today, there are far too many who love darkness rather than light.
Truly, it is as we read in 1 John 5:19, “We know that we are of God, and
the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”
iv.
What about us?
Do we truly love the truth?
What do we do when someone comes to us with a concern about our
conduct? When His word
exposes sinful conduct in our lives, how do we react?
Do we learn and repent or do we despise the messenger or the
message? Do we seek to
manipulate His word so that it doesn’t condemn our sinful conduct?
Do we IGNORE His word because we KNOW it will indict us?
Do we ever find ourselves putting our hand to the plow and looking back?
(Luke 9:62)
These are things that even we, as
His children, must honestly think about.
v.
Colossians 1:13 reminds
us that we were “delivered from the power of darkness and conveyed us
into the kingdom of the Son of His love…”
We need to take measures to ensure that we do not love darkness
over light.
b.
The world –
i.
1 John 2:15-17 tells us
not to love the world or the things that are in the world.
He proceeds to describe the three avenues through which
temptations come – the “lust of the flush, the lust of the eye and the
pride of life.” NOTICE how
in this text, all three avenues involve our lustful cravings (pride fits
in this category).
ii.
There are many around us
who are living immoral lives giving in to their lustful desires.
We live in a very self-indulgent world. We see it in
advertisings, and peppered throughout the media.
IT is found in our philosophies, our government, our schools, and
just about everywhere.
It is found in the attempts to
Paul in 2 Timothy 3:4 spoke of those who were, “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
This is a part of the “perilous times” that Paul warned Timothy
were coming in “the last days.”
iii.
As Christians we are
warned, “Friendship with the world is enmity with God.” (Jas. 4:4)
How close are we really to this world?
Do we prefer the things of the world more than we ought to?
What would we be willing to give up if were called to do so?
Would we give up television? Etc.
c.
Money –
i.
1 Tim 6:9-10, “But
those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into
many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and
perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for
which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows.”
ii.
The pursuit of things
has always been a concern.
Paul saw it back as he was writing this letter to Timothy.
The principle is just as true today! The world loves THINGS!
Sometimes we might see a bumper sticker that says, “He who dies
with the most toys wins.” It
is the materialistic attitude that has permeated our society.
iii.
I am fearful that it is
closer to us than we want to admit at times.
WE live in such an affluent society that take for granted the
luxuries we have. It
is seen in the way we order our food at restaurants (it has to be cooked
a certain way), the features we demand in our cars and homes, the labels
on our clothes, the gadgets we have to have, etc.
How many of us are truly satisfied?
iv.
The very text that Paul
wrote to Timothy also says, “Now godliness with contentment is great
gain.” (1 Tim. 6:6). We need
to continually remind ourselves of this.
d.
Praise of men –
i.
John 12:42-43 – toward
the conclusion of the ministry of Jesus, having raised Lazarus from the
dead and angered the Jewish leaders to cause them to act against Him, we
find that His efforts were successful in reaching many.
But as our text here says, “Nevertheless
even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees
they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue;
43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”
ii.
How many today in our
society are driven by ego?
What they crave more than anything else is to be accepted as someone of
importance. They want their
egos stroked and to be told how great they are.
Often times, as our text indicates, they will compromise to
achieve their notoriety.
Why? Because they crave the acceptance of men more than God.
3 John 9 speaks of Diotrephes, “who
loves to have the preeminence among them” where he elevated himself
and was willing to remove anyone that got in his way.
iii.
Again, this is something
for us to think about. How
many of us crave attention?
When we make decisions are based more upon what God accepts or what men
will think of us? Many
churches today have sold out God for popularity in their midst.
They won’t stand up for the whole truth of the message of God.
We need to heed that warnings that call for us to be humble
before Him – Phil. 2:3-5 don’t think more highly of yourself than you
ought to think.
e.
Toward self –
i.
2 Tim. 3:2 – lovers of
self is in the list of things Paul warned Timothy would come in perilous
times. This truly is
the reason behind man rejecting God – he is more interested in
satisfying his own cravings than pleasing God.
I sometimes call these verses, the list of selfishness.
ii.
It is something we need
to constantly be aware of.
EVERY sin we commit, whether it be doing what we shouldn’t do or NOT
doing what we ought to do – involves SELFISHNESS to some degree.
iii.
Matt. 6:33 tells us we
have to seek first the kingdom of God if He is to help us.
How many of us want His blessings, but we don’t want to give Him
the reverence He deserves?
These are some things that man loves that will move him in the wrong
direction. They are popular
and often the easy path that the majority have chosen.
Sadly, Jesus said of those who follow this path that their
destiny is destruction (Matt. 7:13-14).
BUT there is another path that will direct our love TOWARD God
and that is our goal. Let us
consider what we will love on that path.
II.
Properly directed love
a.
Toward God
–
i.
Clearly this is where
this love needs to begin. As
we noted at the outset of this lesson – loving God is the first
commandment. (Matt. 22:37)
ii.
There are many passages
that deal with the love of God – both His love toward us and our love
toward Him. 1 John 4:19
says, “We love Him because He first loved us.”
iii.
1 John 5:3 explains how
we demonstrate this love – by keeping His commandments.
b.
The Word of God
– Psalm 119:119, David said, “You put away all the wicked of the earth
like dross. Therefore I love
Your testimonies.”
Psalm 119:97, “Oh how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.”
If we are to love God we are
going to love His word.
Psalm 1:1-2 describes the one who follows the Lord.
“His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he
meditates day and night.”
c.
The truth –
2 Thess. 2:10-12
i.
Paul speaks of the many
who will be deceived from following the truth by servants of Satan.
The reason it will work is because “they did not receive the love
of the truth.”
ii.
What is truth? It is the
word of God (Jn. 17:17). The
reason we have it listed exclusively is because it demonstrates more
than the writings that comprise scripture.
It is an acknowledgment that we have IS the word of God (1 Pet.
4:11 – oracles of God). It
is an acknowledgment that His word IS ABSOLUTE truth and all things that
contradict it are NOT!
d.
Toward our neighbors –
i.
Matt. 22:39 – secondly
only to loving God, we are commanded to love our neighbors.
ii.
Our neighbor is anyone
we have opportunity to help with (cf. Luke 10:29-37).
Let us be reminded that the command to “love your neighbor as yourself”
is found 7 times in the New Testament.
e.
Toward our companions –
i.
Eph. 5:25 – Husbands are
to love their wives
ii.
Titus 2:4 – Wives are to
love their husbands.
iii.
1 Peter 3:7 speaks of
husbands dwelling with their wives with understanding that prayers be
not hindered.
f.
Toward our brethren –
i.
1 Pet. 2:17 simply says,
“love the brotherhood”
ii.
1 John 3:14 – we demonstrate that
we have passed from death to live when we love the brethren.
iii.
1 John 4:20-21 would go
on to say if you claim to love God and hate your brother you are a liar.
iv.
John 13:34-35 said that
such was a demonstration to others that we are the Disciples of Christ.
g.
Toward our enemies –
i.
Matt. 5:43-47 – contrary
to the ways of the world, Jesus emphasized how we are to act toward our
enemies.
h.
1 Cor 13:1-8
– describes this love.
IN all these things we find
All
of us are directing our love somewhere.
How we learn to love in this life will determine our eternal
destiny. What direction is
your love?