Sermon Tone Analysis

*Inscription: Writing God’s Words on Our Hearts & Minds*

*/Part 20: Love the LORD Your God/*

*Deuteronomy 6:4-15*

*/May 23, 2010/*

 

* *

*Prep: *

·         Worship¸ rebellion, and Joy sermons

·         Listen to “Back at One” and “Live like you were dying”

 

*Scripture reading: *Deut.

6:4-15

 

Prayer

 

Last words

 

Q   What would you do if your doctor told you that you had less than *five* *weeks* to *live*?

Would you go sky diving?

Maybe Rocky Mountain climbing?

Imagine that you are the *pastor* of a very large church and that in 10 weeks your church was going to be starting some major *new* *phase*.

What would you do to prepare them to *succeed* *without* you?

 

That’s the position Moses is in at the *beginning* of *Deut*.

So what does he do?

He starts *preaching*, a series of 3 sermons.

Perhaps you noticed the different *tone* of Deut: More *passion*, less ritual, a *desperation* to get this stuff across.

The core

 

And at the center of it, one *central* *theme* pulling it together:

 

NIV *Deuteronomy 6:4* ¶ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

In Judaism, this is called “The *Great* *Shema*,” because shema is the Hebrew word for “Hear.”

They pray it *twice* each *day*.

“S/hema yisrael adonai eloheinu adonai echad/.”

·         This is the *central* *creed* of Judaism – it is their *John* *3:16*.

Q   Does this passage sound *familiar* from the *NT*?

*Matthew 22:34-40 *  34 ¶ Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.

35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:  36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  37 Jesus replied: “‘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.

39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Think about that for a moment: On these two things hang on the entire OT.

*600,000 words* can summed up in *25*.

We had better get these 25 words right – we cannot *afford* to get them *wrong*.

·         How can that be?

Because all *sins* are ultimately *failure* to *love* *properly*.

Even *sins* of *love*?

Sleeping with your boyfriend?

Yes, even these ultimately either love *ourselves* *more* than the other or the other *less* than they *need* (even if it is what they want).

Notice: These two commands cover two *different* *spheres*: Loving God (*vertical*) and loving others (*horizontal*).

These two themes run throughout Deut.

·         This week we will be looking and “loving God” and next at “loving your neighbor.”

what is love?

Q   The *most* *important* question we can ask: Do you love God?

 

Before you can answer, we have to know what love is, because I am not so sure our *culture* really *knows*.

What the world means by love and when God means by love are two very *different* things.

The popular idea of love is basically *warm* *emotions*.

Here is a *song* I *loved* to *hate*:  

 

1: You’re like a dream come true \\ 2: Just wanna be with you \\ 3: Girl it’s plain to see that you’re the only one for me

4: Repeat steps 1 through 3 \\ 5: Make you fall in love with me \\ If ever I believe my work is done \\ Then I start back at 1 (/Back at One/, Brain McKnight)

 

Work is done?!?

You haven’t done any work!

The work doesn’t even *start* until *finish* this *list* – and neither does *love*.

·         Love starts when she’s *no* *longer* a *dream* come true and you *don’t* *want* to be with her.

Our emphasis on “the warm fuzzies” as love is incredibly *destructive* to deep, lasting *relationship*, because emotions *can’t* *last*.

They are nice, but they *come* and go.

·         *Emotions* are the *fat* of the “*nutritional* *pyramid*” – a little is great and makes eating fun, but too much will kill you.

*Feelings* are *not* *love*, in fact they are in some ways the *opposite* of love – the feelings are all about *me* and what I *experience*, love is about what we *give* to the other.

I recently watched “*Magnolia*” (rated R for language, sexual content, and Tom Cruise’ pony tail), and was really struck by William H. Macy’s saying “I have so much *love* to *give*,” but all we watch him do is *take*.

Q   Is *this* what you mean by “I *love* *God*”?

I love what he *does* for me?

I love the warm *feelings* he gives me?

We are *all* *guilty* of this.

For instance, when do you *pray* the most, when things are going *well* or when they *suck*?

·         At my last church, I knew I guy who because a *Christian* in order to *save* his *marriage*.

Q   Do you love God for what he can *give* you or because he *is* God?

A covenant between UNEQUALs

 

That’s not to say that our love for God shouldn’t be *needy* to some extent – we really *need* *God* and are lost without him.

We come to God with our hat in hand, without *anything* to *give*.

There are *two* *extremes*: 1) Only wanting God as a *magic* *genie*, and 2) Imagining we are *independent*.

·         I learned something *very* *interesting* about Deut: it was written like an ancient *Hittite* *covenants*.

Fascinating, huh?

 

Q   *What* is a covenant, and *why* does that matter?

A covenant is a mixture of a *business* *contract* and a *relationship*.

It is a binding relationship with *promises* and *requirements*.

The best example is a *marriage*.

·         This isn’t simply interesting *historical* *trivia* (though it is, especially because it vouches for the antiquity of Deut.).

These covenants were between *unequal* *parties* (unlike a marriage), a king and a subject.

We come to God as the *pauper* and he’s the king.

This means he *sets* the *terms*.

He get to tell us how to love him and “The Great Shema” teach us we learn *what* it really *means* to *love* God, on his terms.

There are *four* *components* of loving God, and *warm* *fuzzies* are not even on the list.

The first item:

 

 

*1.

**A good theology*

 

NIV *Deuteronomy 6:4* ¶ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

·         This is the *first* *monotheistic* creed.

Loving God is based on *good* *theology* – you have to know who he is before you can love him.

A *stalker* may think he loves a Hollywood start, but is just in love with an *image*.

·         True *love* requires true *dogma*.

Q   If you and your wife are *snuggling* and getting frisky, how would it go over if you called her your *ex*-*girlfriend’s* name?

Likewise, God is surprisingly *intolerant*.

He really doesn’t go for being *confused* with *other* *gods*.

One song says “We’re all praying to the same god,” but Yahweh disagrees.

·         He’s not *Moloch*, nor *Allah*, he is the one and only true God.

Graven images

 

But frankly that’s preaching to the choir – there are not many *polytheist* in the room.

I am more concerned with the fact that we are *all* *idolaters*.

·         I know you don’t have any little *statues*, but we are still idolaters.