Love the Lord Your God

 

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Key Verse 6:5

 

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

 

It has been said, “When the purpose is not known, abuse becomes inevitable.” This is true with man’s life. When one does not know the purpose of his life he ends up abusing it. So the question is, “What is the purpose of our life?” In today’s passage the Lord God shows us his purpose for his children, that is, for us to love the Lord as much as he loves us. 

 

Part 1, the Lord our God is one. 

 

“Hear, O Israel!” Today, before we consider the call to love God, we must first consider how much God loved and still loves each of us. When we remember and deeply appreciate the love he has for us, we are motivated to love him as much as he loves us.

 

Moses says, “the Lord our God.”(4) And he says, “the Lord your God.” What does, “the Lord your God,” mean? As used in the Bible, “the Lord” (yaweh) refers to the God of love who redeems his people through his own sacrifice. The word “Lord,” as it appears here in Deuteronomy, first appears in Genesis 2 where, in love, the Lord planted a garden in Eden and built a house church between Adam and Eve. Then in Genesis 3 when Adam fell, the Lord called to the man saying, “Where are you?” At the right time the Lord sent Jesus Christ who, in love, died on a tree for our sins and rose again for our justification. The LORD is not only the redeemer, but also the creator God.  

 

One of the ways to know God’s love is to meditate on the following. If a man’s eyes were bad, he would make every effort to be healed. If a doctor came and healed him.  How happy would he be? And how much affection would he have for the doctor. How much more should one love the Creator who created his eyes, ears, feet, and hands and all other parts of his body, even his heart and mind. If a person lacked any of  these how much would he suffer, and yet God gives him all without any payment. Even if a person keeps God’s commandments, this is not one thousandth of the debt one owes God. Nevertheless, in his kindness God rewards people for keeping the commandments. 

 

Before commanding the Israelites to love him, the Lord God added an interesting statement about himself: “the Lord is one.” Let us stop for a moment and think about this statement, especially the word “one.” What does “the Lord is one” mean? We can find an answer to this question in the command that follows: “Love the LORD your God.” The Lord our God is the very “one” whom we are to love. In fact, he is the only “one” for us to love. He alone, and no other, is “worthy” of our love. Previously, the Lord God made this point clear by saying to the Israelites: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me…” (Deuteronomy 5:6-9).

 

The word “one” has many different meanings. One of them is “unity.” The Bible shows us that one of the key characteristics about the Lord is perfect unity. The Lord is united, rather than divided. He unites his people and his kingdom, rather than divides. He is not divisive. The devil divides and destroys. But the Lord our God does the opposite. He unites and builds. He puts the universe and everything in it into a harmonious unit, that it would maintain its integrity and function as a unique, single unit. 

 

His perfect unity is well displayed in the way God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit work together. When Jesus came he revealed his perfect unity (or “oneness”) with God in all he did. For example, in John 10:30, he said, “I and the Father are one.” He then said to his enemies, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working” (John 5:17). Jesus demonstrated his perfect unity with God the Father not only in his work but also in his words, for he said in John 12:49, “For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.” After ascending into heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to represent him. But the Holy Spirit does not speak on his own, he speaks only what he hears [from the Father who sent Jesus] (cf. John 16:13).

 

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” The word “one” is indicative of the purpose of the command to love God, that is, to build the love between the Lord God and his children in complete unity. When Jesus came he expressed this purpose to his disciples by saying, “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). Before his suffering, Jesus offered this prayer, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23).

 

Personally I thank God for the direction Dr. John Jun gave us this year. From the beginning of January till now, Dr. John Jun has been visiting UBF directors worldwide to serve and pray for them. At each visit, the UBF directors study the same Bible passages, that is, Deuteronomy 6:5 and 1 Peter 2:9. Why is he doing this? In view of what Moses says, I gather that it is to build a perfect unity of love among us. We are one: we are NOT divided. We are united. If we are united, it is only because we are united with the Lord who is one. 

 

Part 2, Love the Lord your God 

 

After Moses commanded the Israelites to know that God is One, he commanded them to serve God out of love. If a person loves a king he strives to do everything that the king desires. He does not serve the king out of fear of punishment. A person who serves a king out of fear of being beaten serves his master unwillingly. However, if a person serves his master out of love, he does so willingly. 

 

Loving God also implies that one spreads love among other people. This sanctifies God’s name. The first and foremost important command is to “love” the Lord our God. But the problem is that not everyone understands what love is. In fact, a lot of people are confused about love. What it means to love is largely misinterpreted, misunderstood, and misapplied. For example, you say, “I love chicken.” But if you really love chicken you would not kill it, much less eat it. When you say, “I love chicken,” what you are really saying is that you love yourself and you use the chicken for food.

 

What then is love? We can find the meaning of “love” in John 3:16, which reads, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This passage says that to love is to give. When God loved he gave. This is consistent with the meaning of the Hebrew word love, ahav. Bible scholars also say that ahav originated from the Hebrew word E hav which means “I will give.” HYPERLINK "http://sea13.chol.com/webmail.html?C=write" \l "_ftn1" \o "" \t "_blank" [1] 

 

When one cares about someone more than himself. When he is willing to give rather than take. When the other person’s happiness means more than his own, then he really loves that person. The test of love is simple: Do you want to do more for another than you want done for you? 

 

“Love the Lord your God!” Here the word “your” indicates that our God (Elohim) is a personal God who created the universe and everything in it by his Word. Being a personal God, God revealed himself to his children. Thus God is known as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:15). This God can be your God and my God. He is all powerful. In his love he saved us from the power of sin and death; and he did it to empower us to do the impossible. Speaking of his power, Scripture says, “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27).

 

To love the Lord as much as he loves us, it is critical for us to first know just how much God loves us. Before commanding the Israelites to love him, the Lord reminded them of how much he loved them. 

 

How much did God love Israel? The love God showed the Israelites can be characterized as the love of a shepherd. As a shepherd the Lord God led the Israelites out of Egypt to himself. The Israelites were as wicked as the Egyptians. Yet through the blood sacrifice of the Passover Lamb, the Lord saved them from the bondage to the power of slavery under Pharaoh. As their shepherd the Lord God took good care of them throughout their journey through the desert. During the forty years of journeying, the Lord God fed them quality meals. The Lord clothed them with fine clothes. By day the Lord led them in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take. 

 

“Love the Lord your God.” This calls us to care more about what God has in mind than what you and I have in mind. Just as we have our own will, purposes, plans, thoughts, ideas, likes, dislikes, desires and feelings, so also God has his own will, purposes, plans, thoughts, ideas, likes, dislikes, desires and feelings. We have to ask ourselves, “Do I care more about his concerns or mine? Which one is more important?” 

 

Let us read the key verse again. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Moses commanded that we serve God with three things, with heart, soul and strength. What does it mean to love God with all your heart? Although a person has only one heart, it has two inclinations – a good one and an evil one. This indicates that a person must subjugate his evil desire and not allow it to tempt him. If a person sees wicked people who do not want to change their ways or recognize God, he must hate them, even though hatred is an attribute of evil desire. 

 

God also showed kindness to our souls by bringing us close to Him and giving us the Word which is beneficial food for our souls. So He commanded us to serve Him with all our souls. 

 

Similarly, God was kind to us when He brought us out of Egypt with great wealth. Therefore, we must serve Him with all our belongings. 

 

If a person has the opportunity to keep a commandment, he should do it with love, not hesitating in his heart whether he should do it or not.  Included in the love for God is that one should make His Name known in the world and bring people to love Him. One can do this by striving to keep people from sin. Then God’s name becomes loved by people. Abraham did this, admonishing and teaching people and bringing them under the wings of the Divine Presence. 

 

In general a person should love God with heart and soul so that all worldly delights mean nothing compared to serving God. There are many things by which it may be seen whether a person truly loves God. That person loves the Word and those who study it. He has all worldly enjoyments but none can compare to the delight he has in serving God. No matter how much effort it takes to keep a commandment it is considered as nothing to him. He puts aside his own affairs if it interferes with serving God. He admonishes and teaches people God’s ways. He is not ashamed on account of those who scorn him when he serves God. No matter what troubles come upon him, this does not cause him to abandon his service to God. He does not serve God for the sake of a reward, but only out of love. 

 

In the Summer of 1982, Missionary Isaac Kim prayed for me by saying, "Make disciples of all nations"(Mk 16:15).  He then left Korea to be a missionary for America. In 1988, I began to pioneer Seokyo Center and serve students from Hongik University, co-working with Dr. Abraham Kim in Dongkyo Center. In response to the growing work of God in the Dongkyo ministry, I accepted the pioneering staff position in 1992. Through this pioneering ministry I could serve Seokyo Center which had about 50 regular Sunday worship attendants. I accepted this as God’s sign of confirmation of his calling as a gospel servant.  Since then, I have trusted God’s call and served the gospel ministry with confidence in mission and passionate responsibility for God. Dr. Abraham Kim's family moved to USA in 1995. I began to serve both Donkyo and Seokyo Centers. Dr. Abraham Kim prayed that our new chapter may send co-workers as frontline, pioneering missionaries to the whole world. Since then, I accepted Mark 16:15 as God’s personal direction for my life and ministry. God blessed this. Since 1987 Dongkyo UBF sent out about 75 missionaries to 11 different nations and pioneered 3 other chapters in Korea. But the Dongkyo ministry shrunk. I was sorrowful. Through Deuteronomy 6:5, I realiz that what God wants is for me to love him. Having a big ministry and sending many missionaries is not the first priority of my life. My first priority is to love God. When I serve God out of love. Then nothing else matters. I repent my lack of love for God and self-pity. May God help me to love you with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength. 

 

Today we learned how much God has done for us. We also learned that as much as God loves us he wants us to love him so that in love we would become like Him, doing His will. Finally we learned that when we love the Lord fully the Lord will empower us to live a life that bears fruit; he will make us to be fruitful and be saints, rendering glory to God. May the Lord richly bless all of us as we obey this blessed command. 

 HYPERLINK "http://sea13.chol.com/webmail.html?C=write" \l "_ftnref1" \o "" \t "_blank" [1] The Secrets of Hebrew Words, by Benjamin Blech, (P. 96)

---