GIVE IT YOUR ALL
Greetings church family
It is interesting how parent’s temperaments and their children’s temperaments can mesh (or not mesh). As a kid in my home, I seemed to consistently drive my dad crazy. It wasn’t because I was rebellious. It wasn’t because I was hyper. My dad was fanatic about things being clean and organized. I … well, let’s just say I wasn’t as fanatic about it.
I can remember my dad telling me that I needed to go clean my room. I would go and clean my room. After 20 minutes or so, I would come out and tell my dad that it’s clean. However, when he came to check on how clean my room actually was, he and I were not on the same page. At some point my dad stopped telling me to go clean my room. Instead, he would list about 12 things that I needed to do so that my room was clean. Just saying “clean your room” was not enough for me to understand what he meant by a clean room. He had to break it down to a checklist.
In Deuteronomy 6, Moses shares commands from God to the Israelites that would eventually become a central part of their culture. Known as the introduction to the Shema (a special prayer the Israelites would say once in the morning and once in the evening each day), Moses shares the following in Deuteronomy 6:4-5: Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
In Mark 12:29-30, Jesus references this passage in response to a scribe’s question about the most important commandment. Jesus answered, “The most important is Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength (our course Jesus also states that the other important commandment is to love one’s neighbor as one’s self).
It’s interesting to note that Jesus could have said the most important command is to love God. However, Jesus adds more detail. It’s almost as if he feels like we would not truly grasp the idea of loving God without providing a more detailed checklist. To love God means to do so with your heart, your soul, your mind (Jesus adds this one, as it is not a part of the original Shema), and your strength, and ALL of those four things on top of that.
This Sabbath, we will have the second message in our Revelation series, entitled “Love Wins.” We will look at Jesus’ letters to the 7 churches in Asia Minor as found in Revelation 2-3. From our last sermon, we were reminded that one like the Son of man (Jesus) was among the seven lampstands (the seven churches). It is comforting to know, both for those specific 7 churches, as well as for the church today, that Jesus is with us, has always been with us, and always will be with us. No matter our circumstance, we can rest assured that he will not abandon his people.
In Revelation 2-3, we also discover that Jesus is with his believers to commend them for the areas of their ministry that are in alignment with his will and purpose, but also to enlighten them on where they are not in alignment with his will and purpose. Is there a connection between the letters to the seven churches and Jesus’ call to love God with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength?
I invite you to read Revelation 2-3 as we prepare the upcoming message entitled “We’ll Be A Church Ready For You.”
Have a blessed week, and hold on to the truth that God is for you, God is with you, and God loves you!
Pastor Chris
