So what does it mean to love God? First and foremost, it means acknowledging God’s existence. Exodus 20:2-3 (NIV) says,"I am theLORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me."
A little while back I saw an article on the web about Francis Collins. Collins was the scientist who led the team that cracked the human genome. At age twenty-seven as a young doctor, he was an atheist. But he was impressed with how his critical care patients found strength through their faith in God.
"They had terrible diseases from which they were probably not going to escape and yet instead of railing at God, they seemed to lean on their faith as a source of great comfort and reassurance.That was interesting, puzzling, and unsettling."
Collinsvisited a Methodist minister who gave him a copy of C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity which made faith in God a rational possibility. But his epiphany came while hiking through the Cascade Mountains."It was a beautiful afternoon and suddenly the remarkable beauty of creation around me was so overwhelming I felt, 'I cannot resist this another moment.' "
But his work on the Human Genome project had an even greater impact. For Collins, it was like taking a glimpse at the workings of God. "When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1 billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can’t survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe. I can’t help but look at those pages and have a vague sense that this is giving me a glimpse into God’s mind.This most beautiful system could only proceed from the dominion of an intelligent and powerful being."
Collins has written a book called the Language of God. If you want a copy of this article, send me an e-mail. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article673663.ece
Keys to loving God.
Loving God first means acknowledging his existence. It's overcoming your doubts and fears concerning his existence.
But a second key to loving God is this:acknowledging God’s will in every area of your life. Exodus 20:4-6 (NIV) says, "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."
There are so many things clamoring for our allegiance. We're going to talk about some of those things this morning. The very essence of loving God is putting his will before your own. We all have fleshly desires, thoughts, and temptations. We all have the same opportunity to resist the flesh and obey God. Loving God means pleasing God andbowing down to him as Lord of our lives. When you love someone you bringhim joy and pleasure.
A third key to loving God is this making God famous in everything we do. Exodus 20:7 (NIV) says, "You shall not misuse the name of theLORD your God, for theLORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."
It is never appropriate to use the Lord’s name in vain. I used to do this frequently in my younger years. The Bible says that God will not hold anyone guiltlesswho misuses his name. I think this verse goes a lot farther than just words. As children of God we ought not do anything that dishonors God’s name either. Here is a thought. You represent God in everything you do.
The way you speak. What you say. Your attitude. Your decisions. Your priorities. Your values. How you spend your time. How you spend your money. Whether you aregenerous or greedy. Whether you show grace or act ruthlessly. The way you conduct yourself at work. What image is on your screensaver. The posters you have pinned up on your garage wall. Is the first thought people have of you, "He really loves God"or "She really loves God?"Do you want to make him larger than life in all your relationships?
Do you spend time with God?
It’s worth the extra time to keep parading these first three commandments before our minds. This morning however, we zero in on the fourth commandment which is afourth key to loving God.Do you spend time with God?
Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV) says, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to theLORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days theLORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore theLORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
This is an intriguing commandment, don’t you agree? Remember the Sabbath by keeping it, "holy". The Sabbath rhythm God commands is that you work six days and you rest on the seventh. On the Sabbath you are not to do any work nor require others to work for you.
What does it mean to keep the Sabbath holy? How do you treat a day as holy anyway? Allow me to help you out! Take notice of what a holy day really is. It is a holi-day. We have few true holidays anymore. But think about what you do on Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.
You work extra hard leading up to a holiday so that you can spend time with your children, your wife, and your husband. You set aside household chores. You turn off the cell phone. You get off the internet. You turn off thetelevision.You share a spectacular meal with your family. I know this sounds strange, but you stop rushing past each other and actuallytalk with family and friends. You trade entertainment for interaction. You tell stories. You laugh. You cry. You read scripture together. You pray together. If it’s Christmas, you celebrate the birth of Christ. If Easter, you celebrate the resurrection. If it's Thanksgiving, you celebrate the goodness and generosity of God. You decorate the house to heighten to mood.
The fourth commandment is that we are to remember the Sabbath by keeping it a holy day. One day in seven, you are to step off the treadmill and rest. This isn’t optional. It’s commanded. In six days God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them,but on the seventh day he rested. On the seventh day he enjoyed relationship with Adam and Eve. He enjoyed the fruit of his labors.
God intends for us to rest in him.
The image of God consists of creating and working and producing, but friends, it also includes resting! Mr. Workaholic, there shouldn’t be guilt for failing to keep pace with the world. Resting makes you more of a man, not less of one. Resting makes you more fullythe image of God, not less.
The treadmill doesn’t foster much godliness. What is the treadmill? The treadmill is the work-and-spend cycle we live by. The treadmill is more work, less sleep, two jobs, three jobs, overtime, nights, weekends, coming home to a second shift of housework, stress, deadlines, ingratitude, business, over-commitment, exhaustion, rushing to have it all, burn-out, families falling apart, absent workaholic dads who don’t know their kids, stressed-out moms who rush past their kids, children coming home to an empty home and microwave dinners at night, families never sitting down together, no family conversation about Jesus, no time for prayer or reflection, no churchexcept when it fits into the schedule, sports, school activities, bills, shopping, and to-do lists. Whew!
Congratulations on all your busy-ness! Because of being busy, you don’t know your children. Your children don’t know you. And none of you know God intimately. You're just too busy. Do you feel far from God? Do you doubt his existence? Are you indifferent to his will? Are you too self-absorbed to care about God’s glory? Our busy-ness takes an enormous toll on our lives and families.
I am not trying to give anyone a guilt-trip. But what I am saying is that you cannot claim to love anyone but refuse to spend quality time getting to know him. That is true for your wife, your husband, your kids, and your family. It is true of your relationship with God.
The Sabbath was made for man.
In Mark 2:27 Jesus tells us that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Exodus 16 teaches us how the Israelites learned to trust God to provide manna (and daily sustenance) in double portions on Friday in order to to rest on the SabbathSaturday. On the Sabbaththe Israelites contemplated God, they remembered their purpose in life, and they set the day aside to reflect and gain perspective on life’s activities. They celebrated God’s deliverance of their nation from slavery.
For the Israelistes the Sabbath was a divine appointment. It was a planned checkup with God in which they would tune up their conscience, stretch their spiritual muscles, and have their beliefs andassumptions and values challenged. It was a time in which they would submit their hearts and wills to God.
In John 5:17 Jesus teaches us that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of ministry and service to others. Six days of the week we are often self-centered and wrapped up in our work. The Sabbath is a day in which we train ourselves to put others first and to be "other-centered."
In Deuteronomy 5:14 we see how the Sabbath is a day in which we free others to worship God as well. We ought not to deprive others a day of rest or a weekly holiday. Stores are open 24/7. Schools and sports activities encroach on Sundays. Banks are now opening their drive-throughs on Sundays. On a holiday, commerce should stop.
"In our culture, work has become a god. It is the pre-eminent factor in organizing human life and establishing personal identities. It so dominates people’s lives that there is little time for themselves or their families. The Sabbath is God’s answer. It serves as a counterbalance, establishing the inalienable human right to rest. It is designed to protect us from the dangers of physical exhaustion, psychological stress and the interpersonal alienation which result from idolization and over-identification with work."—Richard Exley, The Rhythm of Life (Tulsa. Okla.: Honor Books, 1987), p.73.
The Sabbath is to be a day of enjoyment and contentment as stated inIsaiah 58:13-14 and a day of prayeras commanded in Isaiah 56:2 and Isaiah 56:6-7.