What I Would Do Differently
2. To Love the One Unique True God
• We read in verse 4, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” – There are a number of ways to translate this sentence, but the important thing is that the emphasis is placed on the oneness, or uniqueness, of the true God.
• When we think about Moses and the people of Israel singing to the Lord after the Lord had delivered them from Egypt. They sang, “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you (Ex. 15:11).” Being the one true God had important implications. Craigie said, “When God spoke there was no other to contradict; when he promised, there was no other to revoke that promise; when he warned, there was no other to provide refuge from that warning.” God’s himself would declare to Cyrus in Isa. 45:5, “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God.” God will confirm again in Jeremiah 15:20,
“Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!” — God wants Israel to look no further for their well-being. He is the one true God. He is all they have ever needed and he is all they will ever need. This one unique and true God has the power to provide for them protection, daily provisions, and even deliverance from foreign enemies.
• God’s self-revelation as the one true unique God should lead to the natural response of loving him. That is why verse 5 goes on to say, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” – The love that God is calling for is one that will love him with a person’s whole being. This is an all-encompassing love. When God speaks of loving him with “all your heart” he is speaking of the person’s mind and where
the will of man is seated. Loving God with “all of your soul” is referring to the person’s life or vitality. This means that the Israelites were to choose to love God with their minds and wills, but also with their emotions. God tells us to go even further to love God with “all your might.” This isn’t referring to the idea that you “might” do something or you “might not.” He is not referring to a possibility, but rather a disciplined choice. This is talking about the actual willingness to put this love into action. True love of God results in a person who has given over every part of himself to the desires and the will of the Lord. – The heart/will, the soul/life/vitality, and the might/self-discipline. – The whole person has become encapsulated by the one true God.
• There is a Problem with us Loving the One Unique True God.
• The issue we face today is that we love ourselves too much. One person wrote,
“The biblical picture is that the natural person is hopeless because of the fixation of his or her love upon self.” Our problem is that we think we are the center of the universe and that our needs must be met, that we must be happy, that people should love us, and that others, including God himself, should serve us. – That is anti-gospel. –
• The well-known song from the movie Frozen is a good example of what our culture teaches today. Here are a few lines from that song. “(and no. I’m not going to try and sing it.)
• It is sung by a girl who has powers that have destructive effects on others. / They help to keep her hid for a long time, but she breaks out of this and says,
“Let it go. Can’t hold it back anymore. Turn away and slam the door. I don’t care what they are going to say. Let it go. I can’t hold it back anymore. No right, no wrong, no rules for me. I’m free. Let it go. That perfect girl is gone. Let the storm rage on.
• Our culture teaches us from a very early age to love ourselves, just the way that we are. No matter if it is morally right. No matter whether God would approve or disapprove. The highest importance in our culture is to be who you are. – That is anti-gospel.
• We have a problem! We are sinners. We don’t need to be who we really are.
That would be anarchy!
• The Christian knows that our way of life is one of the cross. Following our Savior, we must also daily walk that hill to Calvary and die to ourselves and our own desires and replace them with the will and desires of God.
• God knew that his people, Israel, were sinful and selfish people at heart. He had to remind them that their primary responsibility was to love the Lord their God.
• For us to be intentional disciple-makers we will have to turn our love away from ourselves and onto the Lord and onto others.
• Even though we have come a long way from loving our selves supremely, we must always be putting to death our flesh that wants to love ourselves before we love the Lord and before we love other people.
• The command to “love the Lord” is born out of a response to God’s initiatory love. – Israel’s obedience to Love God with their whole being is crucial for their survival and success. Verse 6 points Israel back to God’s words. “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” – The reference to
“these words” is referring back to the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy when he also speaks of “these words.” God wanted “these words” (the immediate text, but also the whole book of Deuteronomy) to be on the hearts of his people. / God shows us right here that the only way that we will love God with our hearts is if we have his words on ours. /
• But why does having God’s words on our hearts have that much effect?
• If we look over to verses 10–15 God gives the importance of his words to his people. – 10 And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. – God knows that when the people get into the promised land, that if they are not vigilant to have the words of the Lord on their hearts then they will forget Him and turn to other gods. — Oh, my how could they possibly forget what God has done for them! He just said that it was by his mighty strong arm by which he delivered them out of Egypt! He revealed himself to be the true God, the most powerful God, and the victorious God. –
• God’s people must know and love him as the one true God. The God who delivered you out of the Egypt of your sins! The God who has given you the promised land in being united with Christ Jesus. All this comes from the dwelling and meditating on God’s words. It is there where we will not forget, but rather bask in the truths of what God has done for us. à And this, brothers and sisters, leads us to love the Lord our God with our whole being.
• When I said that Disciple-Making begins at home, I didn’t mean with your children. I meant you and me. In order for us to guide our neighbor and our children in the ways of the Lord we must first be loving the One true and Unique God for ourselves. We must not have correct theology, yet turn from him with our hearts. We must not say that we trust him, but when it comes down
to it we really don’t. — Rather, we must have his words on our hearts. We must recognize that it is because of his great love with which he loved us that is the encouragement to love him with all our hearts.
• And now God points us to their children.