IT’S DECISION TIME

1 Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

It took me years of reading this passage to see the absolute absurdity of what is being said in verse 5. This is a COMMANDMENT! Think right now, of all your family, all your personal friends, every acquaintance you can think of, and tell me how many of them you love, truly love, because someone commanded you to love them. Okay, maybe you had a brother or sister that your parents commanded you to love, and you eventually loved them, but I doubt if even that love came as a result of the command to love. It just seems odd to be commanded to do something that experience tells us just arises naturally out of our emotional being. But once we accept the fact that love can be commanded, our perspective is changed forever. Love becomes more than something that “just happens.”

I. IF LOVE CAN BE COMMANDED, THEN LOVE BECOMES A DECISION

No matter what the impulses to love, no matter what the emotions, somewhere and sometime in a love relationship there will be times when the love becomes a conscious decision. Before I married Lynn, even though we were very much in love, there came a point when I had to make a decision to continue to love her. When circumstances got in the way, like different denominational backgrounds, age differences, and a seemingly perpetual long-distance relationship, there were times when I became convinced it would never work out. So there came a time when I had to decide to love her in spite of all the circumstances. There came a time when I had to decide to love her, because friends and relatives told me it wouldn’t work. There came a time when I had to decide to love her, because all that was inside of me told me it was crazy. There came a time when I had to decide to love her because I heard her Dad was going to shoot me if he saw me around her. It wasn’t true, but I had no way of knowing at the time, and believe me, I had to really make a decision.

The same thing is true of us in our walk with the Lord. There comes a time when we must make a decision that we are going to love God. When all the world seemingly turns the other way, we must make a decision to continue to follow. When atheism says “there is no God,” we must make a decision to continue to love and believe. When schools teach evolution, we make a decision to continue to love the God of Creation. When science tells us belief in God is not rational, we make a rational decision to continue to love the God who is beyond rationality. Even when it is not completely

obvious that God loves us, we still make the decision to love and trust in the unseen. When something or someone dear to us is taken away from us, somehow we still look beyond our grief to see the hand of one who loves us dearly, and we still choose to love. Yes, our love for God must by necessity be very much a conscious choice, a decision we make many times in all the changing circumstances of this life.

But I want to bring your attention to another observation I have made about loving God. And since I was an English major, I feel I am qualified to say:

II. LOVE IS A VERB, NOT A NOUN

I hope you hear very clearly what I am saying with that statement. Love is not a thing, it is an action—it must be shown so it is felt and seen before it can find its fullest expression. The word has gotten far too much lip service from people who were certainly sincere in speaking of love, but in attitudes and actions have fallen far short of truly living out their love for God. I read somewhere (forgive me, I forget the source) that there are only two things a man can’t hide: the fact that he is drunk, and the fact that he is in love. I have come to realize that when you love something or someone, it probably will not be a secret. Because there are certain actions, certain things we do in response to that love, that make our love very visible. I love Lynn, and I try to tell her often, but I have found that no amount of telling her how much I love her will be enough if I forget our anniversary or her birthday. I love coconut cake, but if Lynn made one and it sat around without being eaten, I’m sure she would wonder about my love for it. Robert, our youngest, loves school buses, and he lets it be known by his actions—he lights up like a Christmas tree every time he sees one.

The same thing I have said about our human love for people and things ought to be true also in the expression of our love for God. I can’t say I love God and never take the time to talk to Him. I can’t say I love God and never read the Bible, God’s Word. I can’t say I love God and only spend a few minutes out of my busy day in what passes for devotion. I can’t say I love God and show only a passing interest in the people of God. I can’t say I love God and not actively love my neighbor. True love for God will find expression in our actions, and if that love cools off, our actions will express that cooling also. Love is a command, and the greatest expression of that command is to show our love by our actions.

So what ought we to be? Listen to John Wesley describe his version of what we as Methodists, what we as Christians, ought to be:

“A Methodist is one who has ‘the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him’; one who ‘loves the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength.’ God is the joy of his heart, and the desire of his soul; which is constantly crying out, ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee! My God and my all! Thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion forever!’He is therefore happy in God, yes, always happy, as having in him ‘a well of water springing up into everlasting life,’ and overflowing his soul with peace and joy. ‘Perfect love’ having now ‘cast out fear,’ he ‘rejoices evermore.’ He ‘rejoices in the Lord

always,’ even ‘in God his Saviour,’ and in the Father, ‘through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom he hath now received atonement.’”

He continues in this same vein for about six pages, then concludes:

“These are the principles and practices of our sect; these are the marks of a true Methodist. By these alone do those who are in derision so called, desire to be distinguished from other men. If any man say, ‘Why, these are only the common fundamental principles of Christianity!’ thou hast said; so I mean; this is the very truth; I know they are no other; and I would to God both thou and all men knew, that I, and all who follow my judgment, do vehemently refuse to be distinguished from other men, by any but the common principles of Christianity.—the plain, old Christianity that I teach, renouncing and detesting all other marks of distinction. And whosoever is what I preach, (let him be called what he will, for names change not the nature of things,) he is a Christian, not in name only, but in heart and in life. He is inwardly and outwardly conformed to the will of God, as revealed in the written word. He thinks, speaks, and lives, according to the method laid down in the revelation of Jesus Christ. His soul is renewed after the image of God, in righteousness and in all true holiness. And having the mind that was in Christ, he so walks as Christ also walked.”1

Those are some pretty powerful words, huh? And somewhere between here and there, it seems to me we have collectively missed the boat. As I look at these words and apply it to my own life and actions, I feel like hanging out a sign, “Temporarily Closed for Repairs.”

I’ve heard people in the church speaking of praying for revival. And it’s really easy to say, “That’s great! Let’s pray for revival here!” But it’s another thing to understand what must take place in preparation for revival to come. Until we are all in one accord, we can’t expect revival to come. Until we are actively seeking the Lord and seeking God’s will for our lives each day, we can’t expect revival. Until we turn our focus inward and upward, we can’t expect revival. Until we let the Spirit search our hearts and rekindle the dying flame of divine love, we can’t expect revival.

How strong is that love for God this morning in our hearts? We can say we believe in God—we can say we’ll serve God—we can come to church and worship God each week—but how much can we say we really, truly love God with all our heart, soul, and strength? I want each person here this morning to search your heart right now and ask yourself exactly where you stand in your love for God and for the Kingdom of God. Then I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to come and search your heart and show you if you really actively love God as you should—and whatever the Spirit speaks to your heart and says you need to do, let’s do it. If we seriously want revival for our church as a body, then let’s let it begin where it has to begin—with a revival of the love of God in our hearts.