Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Martyn Lloyd-Jones said...

Love does not look at itself—it is absorbed in the object of its love.

The Love of God, 77

That is so true!

And that is the kind of love that God calls us to give Him

A love that is “absorbed in” Him

It is clear in Scripture that we are to love God

That is without question

But how are we to do this?

Is there any kind of visual display that we can show Him?

Does the Bible tell us how God wants to be loved?

The answer to both of those questions is a resounding “yes”!

But before we can answer those questions, we first have to say that “loving God requires knowing Him, and that knowledge begins with His Word…to know Him is to love Him” (https://www.gotquestions.org/love-God.html)

If you do not love Him, you do not know Him

So let’s start by asking, “Are you a follower of Jesus Christ?”

Have you “received Him?” (John 1:12)

Have you confessed Him as Lord? (Romans 10:9)

Have you believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead?

(Romans 10:9-10)

Have you called upon Him? (Romans 10:13)

If all this is true, then there are 4 ways that you are to prove your love for God

First...

LESSON

I. To Love God is to Worship and Praise Him

Jesus reaffirmed it

When Jesus was in the wilderness forty days and forty nights, He was tempted by the devil who said to Him in Luke 4:6-8, “6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this dominion and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

7 “Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”

8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’””

This is a quotation from Deuteronomy 6:13, “You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name”

Jesus reaffirmed what the Scriptures taught—that we are to “fear only the LORD…worship Him and swear by His name” and no one else

Deuteronomy was written by Moses.

We can say with certainty that...

Moses called for it from Israel

The Hebrew word for “worship” means to “serve”

To “serve” is to “surrender all” to the object that one is serving

It cannot be anything less because...

John Gill says we are to...

Serve him through fear; not through slavish fear, a fear of hell and damnation; but through filial fear, a reverential affection for that God that had brought them out of a state of bondage into great and glorious liberty, out of Egypt into Canaan’s land, out of a place of misery into a land of plenty; and therefore should fear the Lord and his goodness, and from such a fear of him serve him, in every part of worship, public and private, enjoined;

This is the theme of the Psalms

Psalm 5:7, “But as for me, in the abundance of Your lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will worship in fear of You.”

Psalm 22:27, “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to Yahweh, And all the families of the nations will worship before You.”

Psalm 29:2, “Ascribe to Yahweh the glory of His name; Worship Yahweh in the splendor of holiness.”

Psalm 66:4, “All the earth will worship You, And will sing praises to You; They will sing praises to Your name.”

Selah.”

Psalm 86:9, “All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And they shall glorify Your name.”

Psalm 95:6, “Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before Yahweh our Maker.”

Psalm 99:5, “Exalt Yahweh our God And worship at the footstool of His feet; Holy is He.”

Psalm 99:9, “Exalt Yahweh our God And worship at His holy mountain, For holy is Yahweh our God.”

Psalm 132:7, “Let us come into His dwelling place; Let us worship at the footstool of His feet.”

Psalm 138:2, “I will worship toward Your holy temple And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word according to all Your name.”

This is a way of Life

John 4:24, “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.””

The word that Jesus uses for “worship” (proskuneo) occurs 60 times in the NT

In the OT it meant “to do reverence or bow down”

When the three visitors came and visited Abraham, Genesis 18:2, “And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing nearby; he saw, and he ran from the tent door to meet them, and he bowed himself to the earth,”

In NT it also meant “to do reverence or homage by prostration” (Mounce)

Matthew 8:2, “And behold, a leper came to Him and was bowing down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.””

This carries the idea of giving “honor and adoration” to God (MacArthur)

God wants us to give ourselves to Him, honor and adore Him and express it by bowing down in humility before Him

So to love God is to worship and praise Him.

Second...

II.

To Love God is to Put Him First

This is called chief or primary Love

Is God your chief love?

Do you love Him more than the things of the world?

Do you love Him more than those who are dear to you?

Your spouse?

Your children?

Your friends?

Before you say “yes,” keep in mind the believers at Ephesus also said yes but in Revelation 2:4 they were guilty of leaving their “first love”

The idea of “first” is exactly what it sounds like

The Greek word is protos and is translated “first,” referring to being before all else, in Matthew 19:30.

It is also translated “foremost” in Mark 12:29 referring to the most important

Loving God is the most important thing you can do

Jesus said...

This is to be done with your entire being

Jesus said in Matthew 22:37, “...“‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’”

This is a quotation of Deuteronomy 6:5, which says, “You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

God wants you to love Him with your whole being and in every possible way

He also wants you to love Him exclusively above all other things and beings

Lukewarm, half-hearted, or apathetic fondness for God won’t do.

He wants our total devotion

King David had this kind of devotion to God - Acts 13:22, “...‘I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.’”

The Hebrew word that Moses uses for “love” in Deuteronomy 6:5 is Aheb and refers “primarily to an act of mind and will...It might well include strong emotion, but its distinguishing characteristics were the dedication and commitment of choice.

It is the love that recognizes and chooses to follow that which is righteous, noble, and true, regardless of what one’s feelings in a matter might be.

It is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek agapaō in the New Testament, the verb of intelligent, purposeful, and committed love that is an act of the will” (MacArthur)

To love God with “all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” is referring to “comprehensiveness.”

We are to love God with every part of our being.

“heart” referred to the core of one’s personal being - Proverbs 4:23, “Guard your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.”

“soul” is closest to what we would call emotion and is the word Jesus used when He cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane the night He was arrested: “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death” (Matt.

26:38) (MacArthur)

“mind” is used here in the sense of intellectual, willful vigor and determination, carrying both the meaning of mental endeavor and of strength (MacArthur)

Genuine love of the Lord is intelligent, feeling, willing and serving.

It involves thought, sensitivity, intent, and even action where that is possible and appropriate (MacArthur)

In the words of the psalmist in Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in heaven but You?

And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.”

Not only is our love to God be comprehensive but...

III.