Kingdom of Right Relationships

Part 3

Loving God the SonMatthew 22:34-40

Living in Four Relationships

• You can’t escape the necessity of living in four relationships

– To God – To Self – To the significant others in life– To the world

• The good news of the gospel – Jesus Christ can enter into a human life

and redeem it in all four of these relationships!

Love God

Love Others

Serve the World

(Matthew 22:37)

(Matthew 22:39)

(Matthew 28:18-20Acts 1:8)

Worship

Small Groups(Bible Study Classes)

(House Churches)(Personal Disciple-making)

Ministry/Missions(Local, Global)

GodGod

MeMe

Other Other believersbelievers

The WorldThe World

The most important relationship in life = God and me!

The vertical relationship The vertical relationship carries all the weight of the carries all the weight of the horizontal relationshipshorizontal relationships

The Most Important Relationship

• The one between you and God– There are 3 dimensions of this love

• Love of God the Father

• Love of God the Son

• Love of God the Holy Spirit

• They are One – Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord

our God, the Lord is one!”

– We show our love for each of them differently!

– We relate to each person in the Trinity differently!

The Commandment

• Matthew 22:37-38 – Scribe: “Which is the great commandment in

the law?”– Christ’s answer - “Love the Lord your God” – Love God as your very own God, a personal

relationship, not a distant relationship

• Love Commanded Is Controllable– The greatest of all commandments– Is it possible to command somebody to love? – Yes, love is an act of the will– We choose to love God no matter how we

may feel

An All Encompassing LoveMatthew 22:37-38

• “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”

– Nothing must be held back

– God holds nothing back when He loves us

• A person’s total being must be involved in loving God

– “Heart” - our emotional response

– “Soul” - the will, decision-making

– “Mind” - the reasoning component of our love

Agape Love

• A Christian - Ephesians 6:24– One who loves “our Lord Jesus Christ

with a love incorruptible”– Agapao = the distinctive Christian love

• Totally unselfish love• A love we are capable of only with the help

of the Holy Spirit• Self-giving love• Love which desires only the highest good

for its object

– How do we love “our Lord Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible”?

Loving God the Father

– Have Faith - Trust Him! - Hebrews 11:6

– Worship Him - John 4:23-24– Enjoy Him - Psalm73:25– Obey Him - 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3– Be Holy (1 Peter 1:15-16) – Love Others – 1 John 4:20

Loving God the Son• The Father’s Highest Good

– To glorify Him - John 17:1-5• The Son’s Highest Good

– Philippians 2:9-11 9. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and

given Him the name which is above every name, 10. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of

those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,

11. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

– Exalt His name above every name– Bow your knee to Him and worship Him– Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory

of God the Father

Loving God the Son

1. Thank Him

2. Serve others in humility

3. Keep His commandments

4. Lay down your life for Christ

5. Believe that Jesus came forth from God

6. Feed His lambs/sheep and follow Him

7. Look forward to His return

Thank Him

• Luke 17:11-19

Luke 17:11-1911-13 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached

the border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14 He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, their leprosy disappeared.

15-16 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God, I’m healed!” He fell face down on the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.

17-19 Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Does only this foreigner return to give glory to God?” And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has made you well.”

Thank Him

• We all need to be thankful– All 10 men believed and Jesus healed them– All 10 lepers were blessed– All 10 should have turned back and given

thanks

• We all need to come back to Jesus and thank Him!

– One did come back to Jesus and give thanks• He glorified God• He worshipped Jesus

– Worship Jesus and Glorify God – he loved them both and wanted the very best for them

Serve Others in Humility

• John 13:1-5– Jesus loved them to the end - v. 1

– What Jesus knew – v. 3• That the Father had given Him all things

• Where He came from

• Where He was going

– What Jesus knew helped determine what Jesus did – vv. 4-5

Serve Others in Humility

• The Gospel of John reveals the humility of our Lord even while magnifying His deity!

– “The Son can do nothing of Himself’ - John 5:19, 30

– “For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will” - John 6:38

– “My doctrine is not Mine” - John 7:16

– “And I seek not Mine own glory” - John 8:50

– “The word which you hear is not Mine’“ - John 14:24

Serve Others in Humility

Christ’s ultimate expression of humility was His death on the cross!

Philippians 2:5-8 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ

Jesus,

6. who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

7. but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

8. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Serve Others in Humility

• A desperate need for love and humility

– Many in the church have a worldly spirit of competition and criticism to see who is the greatest

– Humility is not thinking meanly of yourself, it is simply not thinking of yourself at all

– True humility grows out of our relationship with the Father

Keep His Commandments • 6 times in the Gospel of John- our love to Jesus is

demonstrated by doing His will– John 14:15 - If you love Me, you will keep My

commandments– John 14:21 - He who has My commandments and keeps

them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him

– John 14:23 - If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him

– John 15:7 - If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you

– John 15:10 - If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love

– John 15:14 - You are My friends if you do whatever I command you

Keep His Commandments

• Each verse has a wonderful promiseJohn 14:23– If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and

My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him• The Father and the Son dwell in the hearts of those

who love Jesus and keep His commandments• The Holy Spirit comes to indwell us - we are then

rooted and grounded in love• Then the love of God can work in us through the

power of the Holy Spirit• Then we can love Christ, even as He loved us, in

the love of the Father

Lay Down Your Life for Christ

• John 15:13-15

John 15:13-15

13. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

14. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

15. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Lay Down Your Life for Christ

• Revelation 12:11 – And they loved not their lives unto the

death• Agape love withholds nothing from

Christ– If we actually love Him, He will have

• Our time and resources• Our gifts and service• Our lives

– God loves each of us the same way - He will withhold nothing from us that is good for us

– He did not even hold back His only begotten Son!

Lay Down Your Life for Christ

• A great sacrifice in loving and honoring Christ

– John 12:3 - Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil

– Mary loved the Lord with her whole being– Her love was a sacrificial and costly love

• Myrrh - a very costly perfume• Mary was taking her most precious possession and

giving it to her Lord

– Her love cost her more than material things• A very personal act of worship, but it was also very

public• She set aside pride to demonstrate her love and faith in

Jesus

Lay Down Your Life for Christ

• How far are we willing to go in order to show our love and faith?

• Are we willing to die to self or even physical death in laying down our life for Jesus?

Believe that Jesus came forth from God

• Have faith – John 16:27-28

27. for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.

28. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”

Believe that Jesus came forth from God

• 1 Peter 1:8 – whom having not seen you love. Though now

you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory• Christians are people who had never seen Christ,

and yet truly love Him and believe on Him

• Great love will result in great faith – Faith in His love to us– Faith that He came forth from God– Faith that He will finish the work He has

begun in us– Faith that one day He will return again!

Feed His Lambs/Sheep and Follow Him

• John 21:15-17, 19– “Do you love Me? . . Feed My sheep . . Follow

Me”– 3 times Jesus asks Simon Peter, “Do you Love

Me?” • Everything hinges on our answer to this question• Everything is determined by the degree to which we

really love our Lord Jesus

– Before you can ever feed His sheep, you must love Jesus! Nothing can take the place of that• Christian minister or missionary • Evangelist or preacher • Sunday School teacher or Christian worker • Not learning, or eloquence, or wisdom, or organizing

ability, or even a “passion for souls”

– First requirement is that you love for Jesus!

Feed His Lambs/Sheep and Follow Him

• First, “Do you love Me ?” • Then, “Follow Me”

– Are you obedient in following Jesus wherever He leads you?

– Willingness to follow is the sensitive nerve of many• The “self’ in us will yield up anything else

– money, time, comforts, anything else

• If only we can be in control and direct ourselves!

– Jesus says to us, “Do you love Me? Then Feed My sheep and follow Me”

Look Forward to His Return

• 2 Timothy 4:8 – “in the future there is laid up for me the

crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing”• Of all the evidence that one loves the Lord, this

longing for his return may be the best

– The crown of righteousness • God’s reward for a life that loves the promise of the

Lord’s appearing• “crown” = stephanos = the victor’s crown

Look Forward to His Return

• Revelation 22:17 – When the Spirit and the bride say, “Come,”

every person who really loves the Lord will also say, “Come.”

• Revelation 22:20 – And when the Lord answers, “I am coming

quickly,” the immediate reply will be, “Amen,

come. Lord Jesus.”

III. Returning to Your First Love

• Revelation 2:4– Nevertheless I have this against you,

that you have left your first love• Revelations 2:2‑3 - 8 signs that show the

zeal of the Church at Ephesus• One bad sign• We find the same lack in the Church

today– There is zeal for the truth– There is continuous work

• But what the Lord values most is lacking – a fervent love for Himself

How do you find the love that is lost?

Revelation 2:5• Remember from where you have fallen

– Remember the joy & excitement for the things of God– Remember how you saw God’s hand in every

circumstance– Remember how you felt the presence of God in you– Remember the thankfulness you felt

• Repent– Turn 180 degrees and go the opposite direction– Confess your sin to God, then stop sinning!

• Do the things you did at first– Come into God’s presence in awe when you pray– Read God’s Word more than you do now– Be teachable and apply what you learn from the Word

of God

Loving God the Son

• Jesus asks, “Do you love Me?” – There are times when every Christian

needs to revive their love for the Lord

– It’s human nature to get distracted

– Remember where the Lord found you and what He did for you when He saved you