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UNDERSTANDING
THE LOVE OF GOD SERIES
THE
FIRST COMMANDMENT
I John 4: 20-21 If
someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who
does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not
seen? And this commandment we have from
Him; that he who loves God must love his brother also.
We talked about this passage on love. This morning we are going to look more into this area but as we touched on this series we mentioned that our vertical relationship is measured by and is proportional to our horizontal relationship with one another. It may leave you the impression that we develop our horizontal relationship first, and then we develop our vertical relationship with God. But that is not what the bible says, although the vertical relationship with God is proportional to our horizontal relationship. Yet the horizontal relationship comes forth from our vertical relationship. What this verse is saying is not that the horizontal relationship that is our love for one another comes first but this verse is saying that the truth or the reality of our love for God is expressed in our horizontal relationship.
In the words, if we really have love for
God then that love will show out in our love for each other. That’s all that it is saying. It’s not saying that by loving one another we
will develop our love for God. In verse
21 clarifies that. It says, And this commandment we have from Him that he who
loves God must love his brother also.
Notice that the emphasis is on loving God first because if you don’t
love God, it’s very hard to love your brethren.
On the other hand if you love God you will love your brethren. But if your love for God is a religious fear
that has nothing to do with true love, then it will come out in
self-righteousness and it will not come out in love for brethren. That is the meaning of this verse. So we do not want to leave the impression
that developing the love of God comes from developing our love with each
other. We must love God first. Every time you have a revelation of God, that
revelation of God will produce a revelation of man. You began to see other people around you in a
different light because you have seen God in a greater light.
Jesus tells us in
Matthew 22, in answering the question of the Pharisees. Verse 34 “But when the Pharisees heard that
He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, (this was a
religious lawyer, one who is expert in the law.
When you see the word lawyer in the New Testament, it does not talk
about today’s type of lawyer. It speaks
about those experts’ scribes in religious laws.
So one of the lawyers) asked Him a question,
testing Him, and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? He was asking for one commandment. Jesus answered in verse 37, “You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Notice what He says next, “This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like
it: You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.” Jesus puts the word first
and second in priority. That means to
develop love for the brethren you need to develop a tremendous love for
God. That is the first commandment. Loving God with all your
being. Have you noticed that is
like sometime when you have spent some time with God, when you have God’s
presence it makes you more loving. Makes you more patient,
makes you more longsuffering, makes you more meek and humble. Are not all these the attributes of
love? The bible tells us love suffers
long, seek not its own. I Cor.13 all the attributes of love come
forth from a relationship with God.
In I John 4: 20-21 What John was dealing
with was a group of people who don’t really love God, who has become religious,
who don’t spend time in the presence of the Almighty, in the one who is their
Savior who died for their sins, who don’t spend time at His throne to know Him
and to love Him. And He is saying, how
can you say you love God when you don’t show in your relationship? The positive part about it is, when we do
spend time loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, strength and body, that
the love of God consumes us and we come out of the presence of God with a
greater love for the world and a greater compassion, a greater meekness, a
greater patience.
If you have not notice it, that if you do
not have enough time spend with God and you rush about throughout the day, you
tend to be more irritable, you tend to react to the circumstances of life and
react to people. When you missed your
devotional time with God, when you do not meditate on the Word of God, when you
did not spend some time worshipping God, you become bad-tempered, irritable
because you have missed your time with God.
On the other hand, if you have spent sufficient time with God everyday,
notice the difference your day made.
Your family will know. Do you
know that your family members will know whether you have spent time with
God? If you come with a long face we
know you couldn’t have come with the presence of God because in the presence of
God there is fullness of joy. And when
we see your long face is very hard to live with people who don’t love God. But it’s very easy to live with people who
love God. The reason is when we love
God; we are transformed into His same glory. The bible says in I John 4: 16 “God
is Love.” Now if God is love and
you spend some time in the presence of God who is love, who is the
personification of love, who is the substance of love, who energizes love, who
radiates love, surely when you come out of His presence you become a loving
person. You come out of His presence as
a person filled with His love.
The first commandment
is to love God. We are not talking about
religious activities. Do you know
religious activities can be out of duty than out of love? There is a difference between the two. There is a difference between an obedient son
and a dutiful son. I Cor.
13: 3 tell us something about that. “And
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,” now that is the horizontal
relationship. That is a concern for the
poor. To the poor who are receiving,
they say you really like us. You really
care for us. You really love us. Paul says though I bestow all my goods to
feed the poor. He is not saying about
giving a little bit. Notice he says all. He is not even saying about giving from the
surplus and if that doesn’t satisfy and though I gave my body to be burned, but
have not love. It was mentioned by the
love of God. It profits me nothing. You can give without loving. It is a religious act. It was an establishment of a horizontal
relationship for other purposes except love.
And Paul said it profits me nothing. He did not say
it profit nothing. If you give away one
hundred dollars the person profit but Paul said it profits me nothing. Did you know that every time you do a good
work, every time you give something out of the love of God, there is some sort
of profit to you? In the world we know
that the receiving end profits. But in
the spiritual realm, your act of giving causes you to profit in some
manner. You receive a spiritual
inclination. Your nature becomes more
like the nature of God because God is the giver. Take this example; if you live a selfish life
and all your concern is yourself, something in your nature began to be twisted
to that form until that kind of selfishness becomes a part of your nature. On the other hand, if you are a generous
person and are a giver, every act you do builds something into you. You do profit. When you it out of the love of God, there is
something that is built into you until you are formed, molded and baked into
the nature of God. Every act you do
after sometime doing regularly becomes a part of your character. And your character when it is synchronized
with God will allow God’s presence to flow through your life. So Paul did not say it profit nothing, he
just say it profits me nothing. Every
act of giving draws something from God.
Remember how
Jesus spoke to the rich man who came to Him?
Jesus said, give all you have to the poor and come and follow Me. But He did not
put a full stop there. And you shall
have reward in heaven. We must
understand this life that God has created.
These are the ABC of life. Not
the worldly ABC. The worldly ABC teaches
you grab the best, get all you can. But
the principle of the ABC of life in this world is that this life is just a
temporary life. It’s preparing us for
eternal life to come. So all that you do
in this life, all that you possess in this life, all the talents that have been
granted to you are in order to train you and prepare you for heaven. How you use the possession in this life, how
you use your time in this life, how you use your talents in this life will
prepare you for your work in heaven.
It’s a basic fact of where we are today.
See this life is not a permanent life.
All the possessions we have are not ours. They are loaned to us, to use and develop
ourselves in God. I like the song that I
heard once when I was in the seminary and a seminarian that was a former drug
addict sang a song. And that song really
touched me and I have never forgotten the wordings. It was that song that reminds me dear
Lord. It says the things that I hold
dear to my life are not mine; they are just borrowed. So remind me, remind me dear Lord. All the things of this life are not
mine. They are only borrowed. It goes, “the things that I love and hold
dear to my heart are just borrowed. They
are not mine at all. So roll back the
curtains of memory now and then. Show me
where you bought me from and where I might have been.”
Remind
me; remind me dear Lord. Everything you
have is given to you is under lease. It
is not yours. The Almighty God gives you
time, talent, and possessions for you to learn how to be like God in giving
them away. And when you are born again, and receive spiritual gifts, it just
gives you an opportunity to be like Jesus.
Think about it, the power to heal the sick. What is it for? It is not for yourself. It gives you an opportunity to be part of
Jesus’ love. Think about the teaching
and the preaching ministry. What is
it? It is nothing but you just to be
part of Jesus to people. Romans 8 says until we all be conformed to His image. Every time we have an act of giving born out
of love something is received in your spirit man. Something is working in your spirit man. If you have ever learned about giving, you
will know it rubs against the human nature to give. We have to train ourselves to be givers. You want to know how original sin works? All you have
to do is to look at the kids. If you
have two kids and you bring two apples.
One is big and the other is small.
You know the first thing that they go for is the big one. They will fight over the big one. See original sin is ego nature that places emphasis
on the I. It is
the selfish nature that has corrupted all of mankind. But selfishness was not in man when God
created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
That is why when Jesus came what is the thing that strikes us most,
selfishness. Paul says in I Cor. 13 love seeks not its own. We have to think in terms of our life as not
our own but as a commodity that we have to be faithful to and answerable to
Him. We have to account to God for
everything in this life. Isn’t it
wonderful when this life is over and we all sit together on the shore of
paradise and recounting all those times on this earth? You say wasn’t it nice we if I obeyed God
here, we obeyed God there? And you think
about all those things you sacrificed for God then you will have all your
rewards in heaven.
You can give without loving. That is you can give for other reasons but
when you love you can’t love without giving.
And Jesus said, the first commandment is to
love Him first. It’s to love Him, pour
your heart out to Him. When you love
someone, what do you do? You spend time
with the person. Not just ordinary time
but special time. When you love God,
what did you do? You have special time
with Him. This is what Jesus spoke to
me. Maybe it’s of help to you. Jesus said, “If my people with treat Me as if
I am physically there with them and walk and talk and live as if I am
physically there with them by faith, I will manifest Myself to them and be real
to them.” See if you treat as if Jesus
is real then Jesus becomes real to you.
He will respond to you. So you
have to treat God as a real person. Spending time with Him.
Sit down with Him and say, “Lord here am
I. I just want to love You. Tell me what to
sing to you. How shall I express my love
to You, O Lord?” And if you will love
God in that manner, you cannot help but keep the second commandment after that
naturally. You will love others as
yourself easily.
Rev.2: 4 was
written to Christians. It says, “Nevertheless
I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” Now if you understand the word ‘first love’
by the context of what Jesus said in Matthew 22, then you will understand that
Jesus is saying, you may still have love for each other, you may still have
love for your neighbor but you have neglected the first love, which is to love
the Lord thy God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul
and with all your strength. God wants us
to love Him first. You may be busy
serving others but God wants you to serve Him first. My first ministry is not to you but my first
ministry is to Him. My priority is
always that way. First,
to Him in the closet then secondly the ministry to others. There is no way you could minister to others
with the love of God unless you get your love in God right. Notice what He says to them in verse 3, “You
have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My
name’s sake and have not become weary.”
They have worked hard, stood persecutions, stood hard times but their love have lost its freshness. The first love that they had for God has been
lost. One of the most precious and
closest things that you must hold to your heart all the time is your love for
God. Don’t let times steal it, don’t let another person steal it. Don’t even let another human being steal
it. That love for God is a very precious
thing to God and God will pass through every high mountain, every large valley,
every wide ocean to reach to you when He knows you
love Him. Rev. 2 was written to
Christians because as Christians we can be involved in activities that are
good, proper, beneficial to others but the love of God is missing and it
becomes a duty, a task and it doesn’t become a joy anymore.
How many of you have a problem doing what you like? I mean you have to struggle with yourself doing something you like to do. You don’t, whatever it is difficult in the natural to others but when you really love to do it, it is the easiest thing for you in the world if you have a great love for God. There is nothing too difficult for you because you love Him. Do you know why not many people are willing to die for Him, because they don’t love Him. To them it’s difficult. If you love Him you will be able to say, “Lord I love you so much, I will do anything for you. You want me to live for you, you want me to die for you, whatever you want Lord I will do, I love you so much.” All these become so easy when you really love Him.
I want you to examine yourself, because
Jesus says in Matthew “My yoke is easy and My
burden is light.” Whenever your walk
in Christian life becomes hard and difficult, please go back to square one,
your first love. There is a song that
this denomination people use to sing. I
don’t like to sing because it is true in the natural but it should not be
expressed in that way. It says, “It’s a
long, long road and hard road.” That’s a
song from the flesh. What the flesh is
feeling is not an easy road we are traveling.
Maybe when they sing the song half way, they die off. It’s a song from the flesh. The flesh is feeling all the
difficulties. But let me tell you, that
song is not in line with Matthew 11, it says, My
yoke is easy, My burden is light.
They should be singing, your yoke is easy and your burden is light. If your love is right,
where it should be at square one, first love. There is nothing in this Christian walk that
will be difficult and hard to you. Even
if God tells you to go to
The Bible says, My
yoke is easy and My burden is light.
It depends on your heart. If your
heart loves Him and it’s fresh, it is easy.
So examine first whether it’s somebody’s yoke or the yoke of your own
making. Second, it may be the Lord’s
yoke for you but you have lost your love for Him. So you feel the way hard and the burden
heavy. You may be in the will of God but
if you lose the love of God it is difficult and it is heavy. It all depends whether you love Him. Lets close your eyes for a moment and say,
“Father God, I love You, teach me to love you with all my heart, with all my
mind, with all my soul and with all my strength. And Holy Spirit I love You. I appreciate You. I love You with all my heart, with all my
mind, with all my soul and with all my strength.”
Do you know you need to tell God that. Do you know that God loves to hear you say it
with your lips, “I love You.” Have you
ever told God that? Have you ever
written love notes to God? Or has your
walk with God grown as stale as your own relationship with your husband or your
wife? Do you still tell God you love Him or do you come to God and say ‘yes
Sir’, or is your relationship with God like a father and a child? Is your yoke difficult? Is your yolk heavy? Examine your heart. Love brings a supernatural strength
especially the love of God. The love of
God has caused men and women to give their lives to Him. The love of God has brought forth many
Christian martyrs. The love of God has
brought the gospel to areas of darkness, where no man wants to go but because
of God people have gone. The love of God
has caused people to make great sacrifices, giving all they have. Why is it that to these people could do it
and it is not difficult? Why is it that
the yoke is easy and the burden is light?
It’s because of the love of God.
Because of their love for God they could love others greatly. Unless you keep that first commandment, you
have not strength to keep the second. If
Jesus says something is first then first comes first. The first commandment is to love Him then you
will be able to love others.
Lets look at I John
4: 16 “And we have known and believed
the love that God has for us. God is
love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
You know what the presence of God is like? Those of you who have been in the overnight prayer, you know His presence is just love. The way I describe His presence is this: You know what is like to have compassion for someone who is sick or who has a need? You know that compassion that dwells up in you? Sometimes you look at those who have needs or those who are sick and they need God’s healing power, that’s the compassion that comes. You multiply that by a million times then you will know that is the presence of God. That is why many times the presence of God manifest we cannot stand it. We just want to cry. Why, because we have never been loved that much. The world has not been able to give that kind of love nor any human beings. We can’t stand that kind of love, so intense and we weep because we are happy that we are loved. We are touched that we are loved and we have been made to be the objects of love. And now we are fulfilling the object by allowing God to love us. The bible says that when you know God loves you and you love God and you will love Him. We will love Him because He first loves us. When you love Him then it comes to you loving others. First thing’s first.
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