Do You Love Me? (Compelling Love 3/3)

[Context: This is also a messy draft, but the actual final delivery was much better due to the intervention of the Spirit. It is actually a textual message, not an exposition.]


Message 3: Do you love me?
Passage: John 21:1-19
Big idea: Loving God and loving one another means loving His church in the Vietnamese American context. We need to consider the situation, the strategy, and then to surrender our lives to love Christ and His church.

1) Introduction

Our English Ministry got started back on an ordinary Sunday in 1989. That morning there was a few teens hung out in the church's playground, while the worship service was proceed as usual inside. These teens were a little bit too old to be in Thieu Nhi, but were too young to understand the adult worship in Vietnamese. So I gathered these kids together in a spare room, six of them in all, and started teaching them the Bible with my broken ESL. The whole ministry for the next generation took shape from that Sunday. That generation formed a High School youth group back in 1991. When graduated, they started an English Speaking College group in 1996. And now, out of college, they are transitioning to careers and couple groups. The ministry grew with them and now we are transitioning to become a church within a church.

Along the way, we faced a lot of huddles. First there were the issues of culture. A lot of people in the church are afraid that we are going to forsake the Vietnamese culture. They are afraid that if we use English in our worship service, the kids won’t be able to speak Vietnamese any more. Then the issues of unity: if the church were to “dividing” between Vietnamese speaking and English speaking congregation, how can we worship together as a family?

[transition is missing here on the idea of what love should be like in God's community]

The main idea of this passage is often used to call us to recommit to love God. But today, I am going to speak on a minor angle on this passage. I am going to talk about our situation, the strategy, and the call to surrender using the light shed from this passage.

2) {The Situation}

"I'm going fishing"
"We’ll go with you" (v.3)

Two thousand years ago, Peter decided to go fishing. The other disciples wanted to tag along. We may think this is just an ordinary action, nothing worth noting about. Not until we consider the extraordinary context surrounding this ordinary action. This happened only a few weeks after Jesus resurrection, the most powerful event in history a person could ever experience. And Peter simply wanted to go fishing afterward. I have always wondered "Why?"

What happened is they were living between Easter and Pentecost. They saw their Rabbi resurrected from the dead, that He’s the Almighty God. But they are not so sure that does it have to do with them yet. They don’t have a direction of what to do next, they were simply lost. They don’t know what to do, so they do what they know: go back to fishing.

Isn’t that the same way in many of our lives and our churches today? Living in limbo between Easter and Pentecost? We might have met the risen Christ but haven’t yet experience the full power of the Holy Spirit. Look at our churches! Is this the community described in the pages of Acts [2:41-47]? Do we see a devotion to Scripture; do we see fervent prayers? Do we see the unity and sincerity among the people? Do we see the awesome miraculous wonders and of God’s presence there? And do we see God changes lives, and adding more and more people into our churches?

Instead what we see is very disheartening. Most of our churches are struggling for survival, many were so buried in fire fighting of various emergent issues that they had no time to look ahead and see what direction they are heading for.

The questions Jesus brought up in the midst of this situation is this: “Do you love me?” Three times He was asking Peter, meeting every single denouncements Peter had with a chance for confirmation of his love; a public reinstatement of His leadership and ministry. And for every time Peter said “yes”; Jesus gave him a similar command; a command to love and care for others. So here we see the same principle we learn last night: If we say we love God, we will need to love His people. If we say we love God, we will need to love His church, even your local Vietnamese Alliance Church.

{Transition}

But the three commands Jesus gave was not exactly identical. The first time He said, “Feed my lambs”; the second was “Take care of my sheep”; and the last time “Feed my sheep”. The slight variations each time actually was significant enough, because in them, I believe we can learn the basic strategy to address our current situation, even for our churches.

3) The basic Strategy…

a) We need to invest in the youth: “Feed my lambs”

This is the first priority. Why? Let’s say if I and my son Timmy is about to get hit by a truck and my wife can only have time to push one of us out of harm way. Guess who she’s going to save? Timmy, of course! Later on, if you were interview her, “Why didn’t you save your husband?” Her answer would be, “Hey, he’s big enough, he should be able to take care of himself!”

This is exactly why invest in the youth must be our first priority. Because they cannot fend for themselves. They cannot must rely on somebody else for their survival. It’s the same way for new believers, and the youth too. Especially people in Jr. High and High School age. Do you know that 83% of people who possessing faith in Christ do so before 19 years old?

So, if we don’t invest in the younger generation, we will not survive in the long run. I remember one retreat we had in 1997. That year, pastor Pham Thanh Vu were pulled from our church back to the district headquarter. He was very supportive of our English Speaking Ministry and he’s the main speaker for our English Service every Sunday. With him gone from our church, we were facing serious issues because from time to time there would be this resentment wave toward English Speaking Ministry. “What’s going to happen to our Sunday English Speaking Service now?” We were discussing a survival plan. “If the church disbands the English Speaking Service (for a lack of leader) and wants us to come in and meet with the Vietnamese congregation, what would we do?” Some of us contemplated going to American churches if that were to happen. But then some people start to put their feet down: “Yes, it’s easy for us to leave and go to American churches. (We are in college now, we can drive, we have our own car.) But what about our younger brothers and sisters? Who is going to make sure that they won’t have to go through what we are going through?” From that moment, we realized that our job was to be pioneers, to pave the wave for the next generation. And so we formulated a plan. If the church disbanded English Speaking Service on Sunday, we will redirect the college fellowship ministry to cover for it, and if that is gone, we will morph into home groups Bible Study. But the next generation needs to survive! Fortunately, the leadership of our church were very wise to see the signs of the time. Within five years, they formally made the English Speaking Service into its own Worship Service.

But the keyword here is “invest”. Casually picking stock would not be qualified as investment. That’s only intention. If you love the next generation and volunteer to teach in Children Ministry, that’s only “intention”. How do you turn intention into investment? When you put the best you have into that intention.

In 2000, our High School youth pastor left to go on with his schooling. We scan our district and begin to realize that it’s going to be impossible to get a youth pastor. At the time our whole district has 83 churches, and they have only three youth pastors (one of them is here, pastor Hoai-An). So our college leadership team met together and discussed the situation. We decided to send our best people forward. Chelsea was the College group’s “president” at the time and we sent her to take over the High School group. A year later she came back and take the next best leader we had (An Nguyen) into the High School ministry. We know that the college group will be unstable because of these “brain-drains”, but we know that it’s the best investment we could have.

But before you are jumping on this, let me remind you a few applicable basic rules of investment. 1) You don’t invest out of deficiency! Make sure that you and your group is at the point of sufficiency first. If you are still struggle with loving God and loving your neighbor, you won’t be able to spread that love around. 2) Investment takes time to grow. Before Chelsea went on to lead the High School group, I was investing in her on our College leadership team for 6 years, she went on all the SonLife training, she was with Campus Crusade, she went to Urbana, OGN and countless other stuff. And when she was leading the High Schoolers, it would take times before her investment to the kids started showing too. 3) Investment is risky and requires constant prayer. Even without the best effort went in to pick a stock, the market could go belly up and you loss your investment. Similar here, we can put our best foot forward in invest our lives into the next generation, but it may not get us any where. That’s why we pray, friends! Ultimately, God has to multiply our investment, God is the only factor between a successful investment which yield returns, or just a royal waste!

Let’s quickly move to the 2nd strategy…

b) We need to care for the young adults: “Take care of my sheep”

Here the verb changed from “feed” to “care” because the noun had grown from a “lamb” to a “sheep”. To the kids in the children ministry, their needs are basic scripture knowledge. If you had a chance to teach elementary kids like my son Timmy’s age, you will be amazed of how tenderly they are toward the things of God. They would just absorb everything. Not so when they were older. The older people are the more diverse their needs would be.

And so, if we settled for just providing the baby food for college and career people, we are short changed them. When kids are taught to have faith in God, that’s the feeding of the lambs; when people are practicing that faith, that’s the care the sheep need. When kids are loved, that’s the feeding of the lambs; when people are cultivating a community of love, that’s the care the sheep need. When kids are memorized the Word, that’s the feeding of the lambs; when people are anchoring in the Word to face the real issues of the World, that’s the care the sheep need.

The postmodern world we live in today is very skeptical with promises. We are not easily impressed with people who spill the Bible out every time they say something. We want to be real faith, even in the struggles of real life. So, our lives must be authentic and transparent so that our faith can be observable, include our struggles to let Christ reigns in our lives. But how can we be willing to be vulnerable unless “acceptance is assured and fear is driven out by unconditional love and the proclamation of forgiveness. Not only is the church to believe that there is no condemnation in Christ but the church is to become a ‘no condemnation zone’”.[i]

I still remember my first encounter of authenticity when I was a small group leader with Intervarsity Christians Fellowship. It was my first semester. All the leaders gathered after Spring Break to share about their experience. Many just came back from a Spring Break conference and was excited. But one guy shared that he didn’t go, and had a miserable time at his home town, a popular student-tourist destination for Spring Break. The whole week, he saw the many college students paraded around, and he had a hard time fighting with the urge to go out there to woo girls and party. I was amazed as I listened, “What? These guys are leaders! And they have no shame to be vulnerable like this?”

But then I understood: In order to care for each holistically, we need to get deep beyond the superficial religiosity. That requires authenticity in sharing all of lives with each others as we following God together. And authenticity can only happened when we minister to each other not only just in truth but in grace as well. From then, I want to be as transparent and authentic as I can on my journey of following God.

My most liberating experience of ministry happened one night toward the end of a routine ministry meetings. We were instructed to write some encouragement note to the person next to us. The girl next to me handed me this note: “Bumble, I know your struggle with lust. But don’t be weary! This bible verse is for you, and I am praying for you, too!” Was it a shame for me to not be perfect in my walk? No! I have my battles just like you have your battles and Paul had his. We are slowly gaining ground and making progress, being transformed toward the likeness of Jesus. Even as people see me as a leader, the last thing I want to be, is to set myself apart on a pedestal, because there in that place is where I will have no mutual support from my fellow companion! What’s liberating for me in that moment, is I know that this person - even a girl - accepted me, loved me, and minister to me, not as her leader, but as a fellow recipient of God’s grace!

Perhaps this lack of authentic care in ministry was the reason why we don’t have a lot of people who would be willing to pastor the next generation church. Which would bring us to the next strategy…

c) We need to raise up the shepherd: “Feed my sheep”

I believe that this is the 3rd strategy: we must raise up the shepherd among for our generation, because “feeding the sheep” is not as simple as “feeding the lamb”. A friend show me a picture of him feeding a lamb with a bottle. He was just a tourist, but with a bit of “how to” training, he could do the job well enough. Not so when you have the responsibility to feed the flock, you cannot feed the sheep by cutting the grass and filling them into the trough all the time. A shepherd must lead his flock to find grass and water in a dry and stony land. He must protect his charges from weather and from fiercer creatures, and retrieve any strayed animal.[ii] So when Jesus charged Peter to “Feed my sheep”, He was calling Peter to the most awesome responsibility of overseeing the community of God’s people.

If you were to ask me that same question a few years ago, I would say “No way! You must be kidding me.” I am willing to help in anything I can do. But feeding the flock? Aren’t you supposed to have a special calling for that? I just don’t feel that it was something for me and my family. So I just sat there in the pew, and griped “our church didn’t pay attention enough to the next generation”. I was frustrated, “we are not relevant enough for the young people, and they are leaving the church in drove!” I was just there, doing what I could, but never think far enough down the road. Mean while, God began to drop some hints. Some old saints in the church started telling me that they are praying for me; some pastor I know started challenging me to consider the next step. Then the whole thing came together as I visit one of the camp a few years ago. We had a Korean pastor as the main speaker. And I seek him out, telling him about my story with my church for the last 15 years, about our English Speaking Service. My question to him was, “Since the Korean church was about 10-20 years development ahead of the Vietnamese church, what’s the next thing that will happen to our church?” And through that conversation, I began to realize that while I sat there and griped, our Vietnamese pastors had tried their best, but they simply will not be able to meet the needs of the next generation. We could sit there and wait for the District to try to find someone and to send them to serve your church. Have you ever scouted around at the Annual District Conference to look for some prospect? We could sit there and gripe about the lack of people, or we could step up to the plate and learn how to shepherd our generation.

Is God calling you to shepherd our generation?

What kind of shepherd are we talking about here? I am not talking about just youth pastor. I am talking about the need for full-pledged pastors for the 2nd generation church. They will need to be able to discern God’s voice as they lead the next generation through the landscapes of changes. They will need to be able to preach the Word relevantly into our world. They will need to be able to care for broken people in our church. They will need to be able to train church leaders. And they will need to be able to interface well with the older generation.

There are 3 things that are needed for the development of 2nd generation church: 1) The youth: if you don’t invest in their foundation, they won’t survive; any movement now would be dead in a few years. 2) The college and young adults: if you cannot care for them holistically, they won’t mature and the church won’t get movement forward. 3) The pastors: if you cannot raise them up, no one will be able to coordinate the direction for the movement.

{Transition} But what is the common motivation for all of this three-tiers strategy? Love. Specifically the love for God. Without this love, you will burnt-out and you will even give-up. But with the love for God, you would embrace His challenge to love the way God loves. Here is what God challenge us to love: to surrender and sacrifice everything to love Him, the same way He have sacrifice everything to love us.

How did Christ love us?

and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Eph.5:2

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her Eph.5:25



4) The challenge to Surrender

a) First, God challenge us to surrender our Materials possession and/or Careers to love Him.

When Jesus first asked Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” What was the word “these” He talking about? Some people think that “these” meant “Do you love me more than these people love me?” They could be right. But look at a few verses earlier; I think with the 153 shiny fishes just being counted laying there flopping under the sun, “these” could be what Jesus pointing toward as He talked to Peter. Jesus could challenge Peter to surrender his love for fish, or for fishing in order to love Him.

I believe this is an area where Jesus is challenge us today. We could talk much about our love for God, but how many of us is willing to put money where our mouth is? How many of you is tithing your ten percents of your income to God? You might say, “But I don’t make any money! I work part time! And I am still on Financial Aid!” But if you won’t be able to part with your money when they are still little, will you be able to part with them when they are great? Or perhaps by then your materialism had already formed a lifestyle and it control you?

Let me challenge you a bit. At a Vietnamese church in my region, the budget for youth and college groups is about 20 – 25 thousands dollars a year, this is just operational budget, not for staff or personnel. They have less than 100 people in both groups combine. And what’s noteworthy is that this amount was totally self-support! This is not the budget the mother church allocated for them, but it’s their own contribution. And it’s not from every members either. They have less than 20% of their members who faithfully finance their own ministry!

We talked invest into our youth. But where’s the money get the Bible materials for them? We talked about caring for people holistically. But where’s the money to send people to trainings? We talked about raising up pastors. But if they are available, would we be able to hire them? We talked about loving God; but do we love Him enough to financing His operation?

b) Secondly, God challenge us to give up our Control to love Him.

In verse 18, right after saying to Peter “Feed my sheep”, Jesus followed with a cryptic remark of, “When you are young... when you are old... someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not go”. When we were young, we want a revolution, we want changes, and we want to be in charge! But eventually, we will realize, as the old generation before us will have to realize, that ultimately we are not the one who is in control. Things will not turn out to be the way we want it to be. But that’s OK because God is still in control.

If there is any of you here who are movers and shakers in the church, may I respectably submit to you that perhaps God is challenge you to let go of your control and invest, train and empower next generation of leaders. In the Korean American churches, the control issues were so great that 95% of younger Korean American had left their churches. They even had a name for this phenomenon. It called the Silent Exodus.

And to the younger brothers and sisters among you, I plead that we too need to let go of our fight for control. God is the one who is in control. As David submitted himself under God’s authority, he also submitted to the power God had put over Him. By relinquish his control and observe God’s timing, David was forged by God into the best potential God had for him. Later on in his life, David even relinquish his control even to Absalom, and God intervened and backed him up, restored him back to the throne.



c) Even life itself: “Jesus... indicated the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God”

Ultimately, every Christian will die glorifying God. No, I am not talking about you have to die a martyred death in the jungle of Africa somewhere. Every Christian will die glorifying God when they die in the middle of what God had entrusted them to do.


5) Conclusion



END NOTES:
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[i] Thanks to the idea first expressed by Brad Hightower at http://haloscan.com/tb/bradhightower/111594121098499228
[ii]D. R. W. Wood and I. Howard Marshall, New Bible Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 1093.

And I Love You, So? (Compelling Love 2/3)

Message 2: And I love you, so?
Passage: Luke 10:25-37
Big idea: Loving God means loving one another. Unless we radically love one another, our love to God doesn't matter, we can't love God! It requires us to see differently, feel deeply, act concretely and follow-through sustainably.

1) {Introduction}

Good evening! Are you enjoying this camp so far? Let’s me gauge your reaction so far. Thumb up or thumb down: The food? The fun? The fellowship? In some youth group, food, fun and, fellowship could be used interchangeably. Our High School and College groups eat dinner together at the end of every weekly meeting, and the terms were fused together and confused many new believers. One of our new members went to visit another church, and when he came back I asked, “So how was the fellowship over there?” And he answered, “I don’t know, they feed us nothing afterward.”

What’s fellowship anyway? It’s a ship full of fellows, right? (Sorry for my corny joke. I couldn’t resist.) Anyway, it came from the word fellow.

But what is “fellow” mean? Why don’t you get together in group with people around you and write down your definition of the word “fellow”. I have a prize for the group with the best definition.

{Interaction}

Webster dictionary defined “fellow” as “a member of a group having common characteristics”. So, if I want you all to pair up with your “fellow”, do you know who would you pair up with? Yes? No? May be? If you have a few computer/engineering major like me around, chances are as we shuffle to pair up with one another, there will be a few people who come up here and ask, “Huh? Can you define exactly who is my fellow?”

Alright, let’s define “who is my fellow”, shall we?

On September 11th, a stock trader name David Lee was caught in the initial explosion of the World Trade Center and managed to crawl out onto the street before the north tower collapsed. He was lying there half dead. A fire marshal came along to meet up with the NYPD. He saw David lying there, but decided someone else can look after him, so he rushed on. Then an FBI agent came by. He too saw the man lying there, but looking up noticed that the south tower was starting to groan; so he hurried on to get clear. Finally, along came one of the Muslim fundamentalists to check out the results the attacks. He saw the man lying there and took pity on him. He helped him up, took him down the street, hailed a cab and brought him to the nearest doctor office where he paid for David’s treatment in advance, out of his own pocket. Then he went on to his business and David Lee has never seen him again since. [i]

Isn’t that unbelievable? Some of you sat there and shook your head, “Nah, it couldn’t have happened like that! The story just didn’t make sense!” How you feel was exactly how people would have felt when they heard the story of the Good Samaritan from Jesus. It’s exactly the sort of situation Jesus described. And the story was Jesus’ answer to our previous question, “Who is my fellow man?” (In the Jewish sense the word “neighbor” in “Who is my neighbor?” have less a sense of neighborhood, but more a sense of “fellow man”[ii]).

But what was the occasion for someone to ask Jesus about “Who is my fellow man?” Let’s turn our Bible to Luke 10, starting from verse 25:

“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers…” You know the rest of the story.

Let’s pray before we study the Word of God…

So, the occasion for the story of the Good Samaritan was the same Great Commandment we studied last night from Mark, this time from Luke. First, let’s compare this text with the one yesterday and see if we see how they are similar or different…

{Hand out paper with side-by-side text; Interact to compare the above text with Mark 12:28ff
“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.”
End of interaction}

a) {Critical tangent} So, why did Luke record the same story differently than Mark?

Have you ever tried to read a 3D comic book or watch a 3D movie without the red-and-blue eyeglass? Without the glass, you might see the major similar patterns but with seemingly contradictory interferences. But with the glass, everything is harmonized; and you can examine, enjoy and experience in such a way that you could not before. Similarly when we read the Bible through the eyes of faith and the illumination of the Holy Spirit: the multiple angles of the same incidents in Scripture help us understand God more completely.

In this case, Mark was more interest in the “Loving God” aspect of the Great Commandment. He recorded the whole Jewish context of the Shema to establish the theological foundation of why we must love God. Luke on the other hand, is more interest in the “Loving your neighbor” aspect so he recorded the dialogues with the Lawyer in more details.

Notice the following emphasis Luke made: Luke used the agreement and repetition of the lawyer, and played that up to emphasize that he knew of the Great Commandment all along! So Luke had the Lawyer actively gave the answer, while Jesus was agreeing with him. Afterward Jesus simply told him, “OK, you know it, now go do it!”

At this point, the lawyer had the options of reexamine his life in the two aspects of loving God and loving his fellow human. Apparently he felt content with how he was loving God, so no further discussion there. But in the area of loving his fellow human, well, it’s still having a lot of room for improvement. So, that’s why Luke wrote, “But he wanted to justify himself” (making himself righteous), so he asked Jesus, “And who is my [fellow human]?”

Is that the same way we often feel today? Most of us will have little problem measure our love for God. It easier for us to love God: because He had loved us first; because He was good to us; because He is gracious to us, even when we raised our fists angry at Him.

But it’s not that easy to love people. People are selfish, some times you love them and they suck you dried. People are vicious, some times you love them and they bite you back. People are unlovable; some of them gross you out; some of them carry infectious disease; and worse some of them are just pure evil. So when God commanded us to love our fellow human, it is natural for us to want a clarification: “Yes Lord, but what kind of fellow? Can you define for me ‘Who is my fellow?’ Better yet, ‘Do I have to? Can I just love God without loving people? What if I just love God without loving people?’”

Here, you can see how Luke felt about this matter of loving people: In verse 25, Luke had the whole matter the Great Commandment is underneath the crucial question of “eternal life”. Mark indicated that knowing the Great Commandment will lead us to the point of “not far from the kingdom of God”. Luke emphasized that if we want to be IN the kingdom of God, if we want to have eternal life, then “Do this and you will live” (v.28) and “Go and do likewise” (v.37).

You cannot just say to God, “I love you”; that may be OK for a familiar song “And I love you so”; but when we expressed our love to God, ultimately it must become a question, “And I love God, so?” So what’s the implication/result of loving God lead to?

2) Loving God will RESULT in loving “BEYOND” our fellows

a) (Yesterday we saw in Mark) The Lawyer had asked for one “‍greatest‍” commandment, but in reply Jesus gave him two. The implication is that the love for God and the love for one’s neighbor cannot be separated.[iii] The Apostle John understood this implication clearly as he wrote in 1st John, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” [1 John 4:20-21]
b) Why is it that the two components of loving God and loving others cannot be separated in the Great Commandment? It is because God is love, and the target of God’s love is people. He loved people to the point of sacrifice His own Son for them. And when His Son left the earth, He sent forth His Holy Spirit to dwell in His believers so that they continue to love people as He does. As the love of God draw us to Him, and transform us into the image of Himself, the essence of Love in God’s nature will increasingly become the essence of love in our nature.Once you understand this, you will understand that our love for God would be the source to love other people.

i) Without the source of love from God, we usually love people according to our human nature: love the people who is nice to us, love people who have some similarity to us, love our “fellowman” within the normal definition as you seen in Webster dictionary. That’s the way that the Jews understood back in that time: “neighbors” are people that of the same Jewish race, the same Jewish culture, or the same Jewish faith ii. So it’s completely understandable why the audience of Jesus would shake the heads in disbelief as Jesus cast a Samaritan as the hero in his story. Samaritans were despised at Jesus time. They were considered “half-breed” by the Jews. When a Jew needed to travel from Galilee down to Jerusalem, they would cross over the Jordan and take the long way instead of crossing over Samaria. When the Jews wanted to insult someone, they called him “Samaritan” [Jn.8:48]. And the Samaritans also hated the Jews back too; just in the previous chapter [of Luke 9:51-56], the Samaritans shooed Jesus out of their villages.

c) Jesus said that “Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them” [Luke 6:32]; so does it make sense to you that the transformation of God’s love in us would operate in the same way with what already operated in the world? No! God’s love would surely be the source for us to love “beyond” our fellowman![iv] I remember there was a certain bridge in Vietnam where I grew up. The bridge was pretty steep, that most of people had to get off their bicycle and walked it to the top of the bridge before they got back on and ride down. Once in a while you had a very athletic man who was able to ride the whole way over. But most of us walked. One day, I saw a special bicycle with a motor attached to it. A moped, as it was called. The engine would propel even a delicate lady over the top of the bridge like a breeze.Most of us only love people who love us, like gliding down the bridge. Once a while we see someone love “beyond” their fellowman. It’s not natural for us human to do so. But if we Christians claimed that we are transformed by utmost divine love of God, and we settle to love those who love us, and we don’t love “beyond” our fellowman; it would be like people walk their moped up the bridge! Either they were naïve and don’t let the engine do the work, or their moped has a fake engine or something.

{Transition} I am going to trust God that all Christians here had already received His love and live in His love already. We had already had the engine to propel us to love “beyond” our fellows, we just need to get a hang of how to do it more often. And Jesus gave us an example of how to love “beyond” in this illustration of the Good Samaritan.

3) How to Love “beyond” our fellows…

a) First, we need to see differently; in a different perspective.

In the story, did the priest see the man? Did the Levi see the man? Or only the Samaritan? All three saw the man, but how did the Samaritan see the man differently? Jesus gave us a subtle hint in the way He told the story.

If someone came to me and asked, “Who is my fellow?” I would have told the story in this way: “On September 11th you were driving your taxi down the street of New York and a fire marshal flagging you down to take him to the WTC to coordinate the problem there, then an FBI agent jumped in and want you to pursuit a getaway terrorist, and then there’s this bloody Muslim on the sidewalk. Who do you think is your fellow?”

But that’s not the way Jesus tells the story. I tell the story of one person who could help with three persons who need help. He tells the story of one person who needs help, out of three persons who could help. My story is told from the perspective of one who could help. Jesus story is told from the perspective of the one who requires help. Mine is from the vantage point above of giving grace; Jesus’ is from the ditch below of receiving grace. Mine is about playing God, Jesus’ is about bringing God.[v] You see, Jesus didn’t really answer the question of “Who is my neighbor?” to the Lawyer but He insisted that the Lawyer need to change his perspective by asking him, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell [and not to you, who could help]?”

I believe perspective is the main difference from what the Samaritan saw and what the other two religious people saw in the man. As a Samaritan, he knew about isolation and injustice, he saw himself not better than the victim, but in the same place of the victim.

Is this one of the reason why we could not love “beyond” our fellows today? Often we are seeing ourselves as better and way different than other people and therefore we couldn’t put ourselves in their place to love them?

At our church, we used to gripe about the Vietnamese style of worship. We thought they are so boring; they are so dead; they don’t know “the meaning of worship” (like we do)… And then it dawned on us that it was all about our pride! In reality, there is not much different between their worship and our worship, even though the musical style might be different, but as we struggle to worship God with our lives, we realized that our 1st generation struggled to worship God with their lives too. And as God accept our worship, God is also accepting their worship too.

b) Second, from seeing differently, we can feel deeply[vi]; with compassion

The text said that, “when he saw him, he took pity on him” (v.33) or “when he saw him, he felt compassion” [NASB version].

The word for compassion in the New Testament derived from splaxna, a Greek word from which we get the English word “spleen” or the equivalence of the word “guts” today. Splaxna is the shakiness we feel in our guts when moved by contact with suffering. Compassion happens as our body reacted in love-shock when God pour His disturbed love into our soul.[vii]

Have you ever caught the imageries of poverty and hungry children on TV? Don’t you feel a knot in your stomach when you see those hollow eyes on TV and you I just want to turn it off, or to flip to another channel? It’s painful to watch. That’s the deep feeling of compassion.

How do we have compassion? By embracing that guts-wrenching feeling God induced; don’t pass it by. The word compassion is the composite of Com=with/together; Passion=suffering. It means to actually enter into the suffering of others[viii]. Notice how the other two religious leaders reacted to what they saw: both “passed by on the other side”, while the Samaritan “went to him”.

One Easter I took my youth group to visit a convalescence home. At the end, one of the kids said, “It’s too creepy depressing. This is the last time I am going to go to a convalescence home!” No, don’t just brush off your emotion like that. Linger on and enter their suffering. Similarly, don’t just rush on with your life and go out and eat and drink like nothing had happened after you see “Hotel Rwanda”, or news report on the Tsunami, and other situations of painful suffering. Let your hearts be broken by the things that broke the heart of God!

Brushing it aside and rushing it off are the top two reasons why we don’t have compassion today. Even the doctors and nurses who work in health care everyday, even the police who face the outcome of crimes everyday, and yes even the pastors who deal with the sins of the people everyday. Slow down and enter into the suffering of others so that we can continue to be compassionate.

c) Third, we enter into the suffering of others by acting concretely.

The reason that God pour His disturbed love into our soul and cause our body to love-shock is for us to act and care for people concretely. The Bible said, “let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” [1Jn.3:18] and gave us an example, “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” [James 2:15-16]

The bible said that the Samaritan “went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine” (as a way to medicate his wound). Jesus wants us to act and address the need in a practical way, not just with well wishes.

When I was in college, I and my younger brother Lee rent a small apartment in a low-income neighborhood and we had all sorts of interesting people living there. My next door neighbor was an old Russian lady living with his 40 years old son, Mr. Miller. Mr. Miller didn’t have any job because most of the time he was drunk. Eventually, his mom passed away, and Mr. Miller was evicted from the property. One night not long after that, he was so drunk that he went back to his old apartment by mistake. He was just kept on pounding the locked door of the vacant unit and screaming, “Ma! Let me in. Ma!” My brother went out and let him in to crash on the couch for the night. I protested, “What are you doing, Lee! Don’t let him in my apartment!” He replied, “Hey, I pay for half the rent too, OK!” The next morning, my brother made breakfast for Mr. Miller, and since he was half naked, Lee took him into his closet and said, “Pick any shirt you like, it’s yours.” After that, Mr. Miller left. I was so mad at my brother and chew him up big time, “You are crazy! That drunk is going to coming back here, he’s going to bug us all the time!” And my brother was just shrugging coolly, “Hey, I follow Jesus, and that’s what Jesus would have me do.” Well, Mr. Miller didn’t come back after that. But I don’t think my brother helped Mr. Miller as much as he helped me to learn how to act out compassion concretely.

But acting concretely is not enough…
d) Fourth, we also need to follow-through sustainably.

The bible said that the Samaritan “put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins (about $200 dollars today) and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’” Apparently the Samaritan was on a business trip or something. He had to run. But he did the best he could, and he promised to check back in.

Acting is actually the easy part. I see two strangers at church, it’s not so hard to reach across the pew, introduce ourselves and welcome them. Acting with follow-through is the challenge. It is much harder to spend time with the strangers, getting to know them, find out where they are at and building up relationship with them. It costs time, sometimes money, and it interferes with our normal routines of life. But that’s the love God wants us to carry out, to follow-through even if it will cost us something. Someone had said this, “Love without cost is actually convenience, not love!”

But if true love has a cost, then we have to make sure that we can pay that cost. This is why God gave us an equilibrium mark to watch out for. Note that He didn’t command us to “Love your neighbor with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strengths.” No, it’s “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is why I use the word sustainably in describing follow-through.

The bible doesn’t say that we need to love ourselves first before we can love others. We all instinctively know how to care for ourselves, and we shouldn’t neglect that either. Without proper self-care, you will not be able to pay the cost for loving people in the long run. You will be bankrupted emotionally, physically, and even spiritually. It calls burn-out. In order for people to drink from your cup, first you need to make sure your cup is full. Even Jesus took frequent times out to rest and to pray.

Just a few weeks ago one a member of our English Congregation invited a homeless person over for dinner with our small group. Dr. Hai is a few years younger than me and just recently practicing medicine. He met a homeless person name Adam in the ER as he was taking care for his case. And after finding out that Adam hadn’t had a home-cooked meal for “a long time”, he invited Adam from the hospital to his house to have dinner and Bible Study with our career small group. All of our small group members (including me) were apprehensive a bit. But as it turns out, the whole thing was pretty pleasant. Adam mingled well with us. He even gave the opening prayer for our Bible Study.

That was a concrete and sustainable act of love. But sometimes we cannot always sustain in following-through:

Around Thanksgiving of 2003, a man with mental disorder problem came by our church. His name is George. We interacted with him, some even get to know his family, and he came back frequently for a few months before he disappeared. Last November he contacted one of the members in our group, asking if someone could house him so he could get off the mental ward. This member appealed to our group to do something to “the least of these”. After much heated discussion about what’s the “Christian thing” to do. We began to realize that we could not sustain in following-through with his request. None of us have the capability as well as the training required to care for a mental patient.[ix]

4) Conclusion

At the end of the parable, Jesus challenged the Lawyer, “Go and do likewise!” What does it take for people like us to be able to love “beyond” our fellow Christians?

I am dreaming of a day where we can follow-through sustainably with other Georges out there. They might be beat up by addictions, abuses, homosexuality, and all sort of evil of the world. And we will need trained ministers, counselors, and physicians to follow-through with them. I am dreaming of a day where we can tackle the negligence of the typical Vietnamese immigrant parents on their kids by having good Christian school for them. And we will need solid teachers who are grounded in Christian and Education for them. Be able to following-through sustainably is the sign of maturity for the people of God.

But you cannot follow-through if you don’t act concretely. Paul Tokunaga said, “What do you do now will be what you do later. The patterns you establish now when you are 20 and 30 will be the patterns of your life when you are 40, 50 and older. If you are cruising through life oblivious of the needs around you now, then you won’t be able to address the people needs for Christ later”[x].

But acting must come from allowing God to pour His compassion into your soul; don’t brush it off, don’t rush it on. But instead, open your eyes and see as God intended you to see. You are God’s children. He had started doing the work in you to make you more like Christ. So learn from Him and see like Him so that you can act like Him. Saturate yourselves in His love, because His love is the only way to love.

[Let me pray for us before we break into small group discussion time…]



END NOTES
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[i] This brilliant twist was originally from Chris Appleby http://sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=39862&ContributorID=13

[ii] πλησίον [plesion /play·see·on/] 1 a neighbour. 1a a friend. 1b any other person, and where two are concerned, the other (thy fellow man, thy neighbour), according to the Jews, any member of the Hebrew race and commonwealth. 1c according to Christ, any other man irrespective of race or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet. [Strong Exhaustive Concordance, electronic ed. (Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996), G4139.]

[iii]Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight and I. Howard Marshall, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 134.

[iv] I cut out this part and replace it with the bicycle-crossing-bridge illustration…

It also means that for us to love like Jesus loved, the only way is to be the carrier of God’s love in us. Only God could help you love “beyond” your fellowman.

I want to make this truth as clear as possible; otherwise, you could feel guilty for your lack of love, and start walking out of here, trying to love like Jesus, but with only the feeble effort of your own strength. Doing so will only make you feel miserable, like a penguin trying to fly. If you want to fly, make sure that you are bird for real and not just a bird by name. Similarly, make sure you are God’s children before you attempt any God’s command.

…because after some thoughts, I don’t think that the concept is very accurate – there are a few non Christians demonstrated compassion in such way that would put Christians to shame. Besides, there was no reference in the parable describing the spiritual status of the Samaritan at all. That’s why I revised the paragraph the way it is.

[v] This keen observation about “perspective from the ditch” was original from Funk, (Parables and Presence, 32) as quoted by Nolland, J. 2002. Vol. 35B: Word Biblical Commentary: Luke 9:21-18:34. Word Biblical Commentary. Word, Dallas.

[vi] Splanchnizomai

[vii]David Hansen and David L. Goetz, vol. 1, The Power of Loving Your Church Leading Through Acceptance and Grace, The pastor's soul series; Library of leadership development (Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House, 1998), 70.

[viii] MacArthur, J. 2001. Truth for today: A daily touch of God's grace. J. Countryman: Nashville, Tenn.

[ix] For the details of this discussion on this, see TNSA.net discussion page.

[x] As heard from Paul Tokunaga’s message at Urbana 1990 “Even My Gold Press Card” even though his manuscript is a bit difference at http://urbana.org/_articles.cfm?RecordId=858

Love, Do You Remember - (Compelling Love 1/3)

[Context: This is the first in a series of 3 messages for a Vietnamese Alliance Youth and Young Adult retreat in Seattle, which I haven’t met any of the audience. It’s my first time preaching outside of my region. My draft note is still pretty messy from the revisions, so I am going to post only the key points here...]

{Introduction}

[...The introduction was cut from this post since it's a bit longer because the audience didn't know me...]

{Biblical context} Back in Jesus day, people were having similar problems too. The hot issues of the day were Sabbath-keeping, dietary laws, and ceremonial rituals. The Jewish Rabbis at the times counted a total of 613 commands in the Mosaic Law and they debated frequently to see which ones were the “main things”, and which were the “minor” ones.[i]

Have you heard the saying: “The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing”? We don’t sweat over unimportant and petty things. But what we consider the “main thing” will orient our life and conduct accordingly. Earlier, you played a community exercise where you put down the most important things in your life on a 3x5 card. No doubt that many of you have written down that “God”, or “faith”, or “spiritual matters” as the top of your list? Of course, this is a spiritual retreat; you are here because you are interested in spiritual things – so that should be on the top of your list.

But “God”, or “faith”, or “spiritual matters” are still pretty generic. Among the things of God, what is the main thing?

What you consider the “main things” will orient your life accordingly. If you consider worship is the main thing of God, then you would join a praise team. If you consider service is the main thing of God, then you would go on a mission. If you consider knowing God the main thing, then you would read lots of book. If you consider holiness the main thing of God then you would practice spiritual disciplines.

So, if you are serious about living according to what God teaches, then sooner or later you would grapple with the issue of “main thing” in order to find a foundation to build our life upon.

{Illustration}[ii] – Should replace with Rabbit Stew!
There was a guy who just got a job at a lighthouse along a remote and bleak coast. On the first day of every month, an oil tanker dropped by and filled up the fuel tank next to the light house. He was given training on how to fuel the beacon of the lighthouse and maintain it. Life was pretty boring with that job. One day a woman came by and asked for oil so that her children could stay warm in the winter. Then a farmer came; his son needed oil for a lamp so he could read. Still another needed some for an engine. The keeper saw each as a worthy request and measured out just enough oil to satisfy all. Near the end of the month, the fuel tank in the lighthouse ran dry. That night the beacon was dark and three ships crashed on the rocks. More than 100 lives were lost. When a government official investigated, the man explained what he had done and why. "What was the main task you were given?" asked the official. "It was to keep the light burning. Everything else was secondary. There is no defense." Not understanding what’s important and what’s secondary can lead to disaster.

So, what is our “main thing” about all of God’s things? A teacher of the law came to Jesus and “asked him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important [the main thing]?’ ‍‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ‍Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ‍The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.’” [Mk.12:28b-31]

Let’s pray…

1) {We are commanded to love God}

In this passage, Jesus stated the “main thing” of God for us very clearly. The Great Commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ‍ And: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

Our “main thing” is to love God.

This was not called the “great suggestion” nor the “great principle” but the Great Commandment. Why? What is the term Commandment means anyway? A “command” always associates with authority and has consequences. Great suggestion means that we “should”, Great Commandment means that we “must”.

I cannot command that you must give me your money. But the government could. It calls tax. And you must pay your tax. The higher the authority, the more compelling for us to obey. If my son Timmy follows my command and clean up his toy, the consequence would be an orderly household for our family. On our flight here, if Timmy does not follow the airplane pilot’s command to keep off his Game Boy, the consequence could be a delayed-trip for couple hundreds of people. The higher the authority, the wider effects of the consequence could be.

In the gospels, whenever Jesus referred to “the Commandments”, He meant the divine directives of God, as contrasted to the rules and regulations of Moses, which He called “the traditions of men.”[iii] God is the ultimate authority, and with His commandment associates the ultimate consequence. This is what God said about obeying His commandment: “Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord” [Lev. 18:5]. The ultimate consequence here is life and death! And according to Jesus, the Greatest of all of the Commandments is that we must to love God!

But just because a Commandment comes from the highest authority and has the ultimate consequence, it doesn’t mean that people will carry it out. Just like the decree of a King will only be honored by His loyal subjects and not the rebels in the land, the Great Commandment of God is not carried out by people who reject God’s authority. You and I can approach any person on the street and tell them, “You must love God” and chances are we will be met with blank stares, “Huh? Who is God dude?”

2) Why? Because it’s the directive for THE PEOPLE OF GOD.

When I approached you, the People of God and relay the same message, “You must love God”; you and I, we no longer have to argue about “Who is this God”, but we perhaps could discuss the questions of “Why?” and “How?” As People of God, we acknowledge who God is, and we are grateful for what He had done.

a) Loving God is the only proper response for the people who ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS.

Jesus stated the Great Commandment by reciting “Hear Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one”. This was recorded in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and was known as the “Shema” (Shema is Hebrews for “Hear”). According to the custom of the time, the Jewish people recited this verse twice a day. Some Jewish synagogues still do it today. It’s kind of like our Apostle’s Creed today.

The Great Commandment was originally addressed to Israel, the People of God as they were liberated from slavery in Egypt and were approaching the Promised Land. This context reminded us this truth that before God asks His people to do anything; He had done tremendous things for them already. “We love because he first loved us” [1Jn.4:19] the Bible said.

What kind of things that God had done? “The Lord [Yahweh] is our God [Elohim],” God the Creator. He is the ground of our existence, ‘in Him we live, we move, and have our being’. Even when people rebelled and cursed God, He was still the one who sustaining the very breath they need in order to rail against Him.

How is that Creator God like? “The Lord is One”. If He's the only one, there are no other! This is the concept of the Holy God. Holy means “set apart”. God is Holy – set apart from everything else. Everything else was created, He alone is uncreated. Everything was from Him; and therefore everything else was for Him.

How many ways can you connect between two points? Countless infinity. But how many straight line can there be to connect two points? Only one. Similarly, there is only one proper relationship between God and us, between the Uncreated and the Created, between the Infinite and the Finites. That proper relationship could have many labels: love, devotion, worship, etc. But essentially it’s describing the same thing. Here Jesus reminded us that God wants us to response to Him by love.

{Transition} But knowing that God wants us to love Him would not necessarily compel us to love Him. There are plenty of people, who know who God is; and they know what He wants; but they would not response by loving Him. In order to love God, there must be more than just knowledge about Him. It requires an experience of Him directly.

b) The proper response of loving God can only come from the people who EXPERIENCE His love.

According to Luke 7, when Jesus was here on earth, he was invited to a banquet. There was a sinful woman who lived in that town. When she heard about Jesus coming to the banquet, she came with a bottle of very expensive perfume, and she kissed his feet and anointed with the perfume. The owner of the house, Simon was irritated and Jesus told him the parable of two debtors of the same banker, one owed some money, and the other a lot of money. Since neither could pay, the banker forgave them both. And then Jesus asked, “Which of them will love him more?” Of course it’s going to be the one who owed more. Then Jesus went on and explained that in contrast with the lack of hospitality from Simon, the sinful woman did all this stuff to Jesus because “her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” [cf. Lk.7:36-47].

So what is Jesus saying here? He is saying that once we realized how much God love us, and how much we have been forgiven by Him, the only proper response we could have is to love Him back. The woman knows her awful life, and therefore she was moved by the awesome love of God. Simon doesn’t realize how terrible his life is before God, and therefore he has problem loving God.

If you are having problem loving God, may I suggest that you take a hard look at your life and remember the gutter you were in before you met Him.

i) My life was in a gutter before I receive Christ as my savior. It would take more time to give a detailed account of my conversion, so here is an abbreviated version of it.[iv]

I was born and raised in a Christian family in Saigon, Vietnam. Both my mom and dad were “big shots” in the Christian circle. Despite all the biblical stories and doctrines I had learned since childhood, I became very rebellious during my early teen. I was addicted to stealing and pornography. I slept with prostitutes when I was 13 and I even prayed to the devil for guidance and protection in my thievery (using a human skull I found in the local cemetery).

My dad punished me a lot hoping to deter me from a criminal life. Many times my mom pleaded with tears at my feet begging me to turn from evil. But the stronghold of the devil on me was so great that I even I tried, I could not break away from that sinful life. At one revival meeting, a pastor sensed the bondage I was under and prayed to cast out the demons in me. I was shaking and almost repented, but finally determine to see if I can overcome the power of God, and I resisted Him.

But God didn’t give up on me. One night a two-years old Christian witnessed to me. I really don’t care much about what he said, because I have heard it all, and I have known it all. But this time it was different. As he was witnessing to me, he also sensed the supernatural oppression I was under, so he quietly prayed that God cast out the demons in me. After the third time praying, he asked me if I wanted to accept Christ. At that precise moment, I felt like as if 20 pounds had been lifted from my shoulder. I felt like I was back in the Garden of Eden; that I was presented a choice to follow God or to continue to go against Him. And thank God, I was able to choose Him.

From that moment on, I continue on the spiritual journey. I went through the ups and downs. There was a period in my life where I was backsliding for 7 years straight. But the grace of God had always found me out. He continues to love me and lead me on until now.

Once you have tasted the wonders of God’s grace and mercy on your messed-up life, how could you not love Him back?

ii) But some of you might have thought, “What a lucky guy, Bumble was so sinful, and therefore it’s easy for him to experience God’s forgiveness in order to love God. As for me, I’ve never done any thing terrible; I’ve always been following God’s instruction as long as I can remember. So how am I supposed to experience God’s love the same way Bumble did?”

Do you really need to run away from home in order experience the love of your dad? Do you remember the story of the Prodigal Son? What did the Father said to the elder son, the good one, the one who had always been with him? “You are always my son. I always love you. Don’t you realize that all the things here are yours?”[v] Do you remember the story of Eve? Eve’s original sin was not disobedience but that she was ungrateful with all that God had provided for her. She didn’t realize that God loved her through all the things He had provided her.

Even if you have never strayed away like I did, you could still experience God’s love on your life by seeing what he has been doing in your life. All it takes is a moment of reflection. If you have tasted the sweetness of God’s abundant blessing on your insignificant life, how could you not love Him back?

{Transition} We have talked about “The ‘main thing’ is to love God. Why? Because it's the only proper response when we know who He is and experience His love.” But how are we to love God?

3) How?

Are we to love Him with the same kind of love we see around us? The love between parents and child, between brothers and sisters, between friends or even between lovers?

No! Notice that when it comes to love others, God simply commanded that we need to love our neighbors as ourselves; but the love to God was qualified and explained with two major attributes: Balance and Intensity.

a) We love God with the BALANCE of our whole person

When it comes to loving God, you need to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

§ When we think of the heart, we think about our emotion; we think of our passion and desire; how we feel.
§ When we think of the mind, we think about our intellect; we think of our rational and logic; how we understand.
§ When we think of the soul we often think about something inward; we think of some essence of being; who we are.
§ When we think of strength, we think of something outward; strength is displayed in action; strength is displayed in what we do.[vi]

What I see [show graph] is the inclusion of the whole spectrum of our personhood: Both heart and mind, even though they might be at the opposite ends; both soul and strength, even though they might be in different dimensions.

God is calling us to response to Him with all of who we are.
§ A person who loves God with only the passionate heart will be gullible of false doctrine and easily be led astray.
§ A person who loves God with only the rational mind will have a hard time yielding their philosophy over to rejoice in the mystery of God.
§ A person who loves God with only the piety of the soul won’t contribute much to the practical needs of God’s world.
§ A person who loves God with only the activities of the strengths will tend to run their life on empty and eventually burnt out in service.
So you see: we are called to love God with our whole being, not just in some areas while neglecting the others.[vii]

But strength in one area at the expenses of other areas won’t be healthy. You cannot drive a car with one wheel, two wheels, or even three. A four-wheels-drive car must have all four to go anywhere. But that’s only half the picture. A four-wheels-drive car, even with all four wheels intact, will not get anywhere if it’s not moving. Similarly, loving God with the whole balance of our being will not move us anywhere without the intensity.

b) We love God with the INTENSITY of our whole being

Notice that God didn’t say: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength”. Even in its original language, the phrase “with all your” appeared four times. It may look clumsy in English, but this repetition is the way people emphasize something in Hebrews. Maximum intensity in loving God is even more important than the concept of balance all four aspects of our being in loving Him. God wants us to love Him in these aspects of our being with total abandonment, no reservation, no holding back.

Why do we must love God intensely “with all” of our being? Is it selfish of God to want our total devotion?

Remember the story of King Solomon’s wise judgment in 1 King 3:16-28? Two women were roommates, each had an infant boy. During the night one boy died and his mother switched him with the other one. By the time they appeared at the King’s court, each was accusing the other and claiming the boy as her own. Wisely, Solomon ordered the boy cut in half to divide equally to each. The true mother immediately was willing to give up her son to protect her son life. Solomon then restored the son to the rightful mother.

True love cannot content with half a person. While the devil would be satisfied with any part of your being, God knows that you will not live until you are wholly devoted to Him.

If you love God with all of your heart, with all of your mind, with all of your soul and with all of your mind, you can do whatever in your life and God will always be pleased with you.[viii] A person who loves God with such intensity will not have rooms for anything else. The guy will not let himself loose in pornography because he couldn’t love sex more than God. The girl will not max out her credit cards in debt because she couldn’t love shopping more than God.

c) {The bottom line of loving God is obedience}

Jesus has a special term to describe this type of love, this type of devotion. He called it “obedience.” This is what He said in John 14, “If you love me, you will obey what I command… Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him… If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (Jn.14:15,21,23,24)

When we love God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind and with all of our strength, we will express that love through our obedience to God.
§ This is not a heartless obedience: “but I don’t really want to do it!”
§ This is not a mindless obedience: “I don’t really understand what I am doing, I just work here!”
§ This is not a soulless obedience: “I am just doing in it for show!”
§ And this is not an effortless obedience either: “I am just doing the easy and convenience stuff!”
Loving God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind and with all of our strength is submitting ourselves under the Lordship of Christ!

4) {Conclusion} I would like to conclude the talk with this summary statement: Our ‘main thing’ is to love God. Why? Because it's the only proper response when we know who He is and experience His love. How? With every single aspects of our life, with our whole being, and through obedience.

Would you agree with that? Can I hear an “Amen!” from those who agree?

a) Good! The teacher of the law in this story also voiced his “Amen” too: “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (v.32-33).

The only problem is this: “When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (v.34).

“Not far from the kingdom of God” is still “not IN the kingdom of God”!

I am afraid that some of you here today are like this lawyer: Growing up in church; knowing God’s law; agreeing with His law and even keeping His law. This is almost—but not quite—sufficient for salvation.[ix] You are saved not by any of those things. You are saved not even because you came forward and prayed a specific “prayer”. Salvation is by grace and through faith [Eph.2:8]. If you have never put your faith in Jesus, trust Him as your Savior, you cannot accept Him as your King, and you cannot become a subject of His Kingdom! If there is any of you today who wonder how would Jesus classify you as “not far” or “in” the Kingdom of God, talk to someone and don’t leave this retreat without knowing for sure.

b) And then some of you here today who had already crossed that threshold of faith. For you, the Word of God today challenges you about…
§ Whether or not you are keeping your love for Him the ‘main thing’ in your life?
§ Whether or not you love Him with the balance of all aspects of your life?
§ Whether or not you love Him with the intensity of your whole being?
§ Whether or not you have obeyed Him in the way that He wanted?

Some of you perhaps begin to realize that you were once loving Him, but now the love had faded away. The Word of God is calling out, “You, you have forsaken your first love: Remember…” Remember where you had been! Remember what you did back then. Remember! [Rev.2:4-5]

[We are going to break into small groups so that you can spend sometimes sharing and praying to one another about what God put on your hearts tonight. Let me pray for His guidance before we continue to process His message in our small group…]





END NOTES
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[i] 291. Wessel, p. 737. As quoted from Tom Constable's Expository Notes on the Bible: Mark 12:28, 2003.

J. W. Shepard also wrote: “The Scribes had declared that there were six hundred and thirteen comandments: two hundred forty-eight affirmative precepts—as many as the members of the human body—and three hundred sixty-five negative, as many as the days of the year (Vincent). There was a great discussion between the opposing theological schools of Shamai and Hillel as to which were the “light” and which were the “heavy” commandments. They discussed the distinction between the ritual and the ethical, or the positive and the moral, the prevalent tendency being to attach more importance and greater weight to the positive commandments relating to circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, and other ritual requirements (Lightfoot). The result was the “exaltation of the ceremonial element, the curse of later Judaism.’’ The words of the Rabbis were to be prized above the words of the Law. It was commonly agreed that the positive commandments about the minutest details of the ceremonial law were as binding as the fundamental moral code. The heavy commandments were the ones to which the death penalty was attached, such as the Sabbath-keeping laws, sacrifices, and purifications. If the Pharisees could get Jesus entangled in the web of current theological, hair-spliting controversy, they would bring the unlettered Nazarene Rabbi into disrepute. They hoped He would take the fatal step of asserting again His divine supremacy. This would precipitate a reaction of violence against Him such as had almost swept Him away on various previous occasions.” J. W. Shepard, The Christ of the Gospels (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1939), pp. 501-502. (As quoted by Bob Deffinbaugh , Th.M. from http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=615#P2949_896155)

[ii] One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of a group of high-powered overachievers, this expert in time management said, "Okay, time for a quiz," and he pulled out a one gallon mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. He also produced a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class yelled, "Yes!" The time management expert replied, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. He then asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?" By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered.

"Good," he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces between the rocks and the gravel.

Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?" "No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good." Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things into it!"

"No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is this: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all."

He went on, "What are the 'big rocks' in your life - time with your loved ones, your faith, your education, your dreams, a worthy cause, teaching or mentoring another?"

"Remember," he concluded, "to put these big rocks in first or you'll never get them in at all."

Alternate Ill.:

Haddon Robinson points out that one old recipe for rabbit started out with this injunction: "First catch the rabbit." Says Robinson: "The writer knew how to put first things first. That's what we do when we establish priorities -- we put the things that should be in first place in their proper order.

Source Unknown.


[iii] See the “Commandment” article by Michaels, J. Ramsey in “Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels” edited by Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight and I. Howard Marshall. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1992, p.132.


[iv] Revised from a longer version of…

I was born and raised in a Christian family; my dad pioneered one of the largest expatriate mission/relief agencies in Vietnam; my mom was a teacher and a respectable church deacon. Since I was a kid, I went through all the usual Christian upbringing: children church, choir practice, Scripture memorization, VBS, etc. But all of that religious training didn’t help much. When I became a teenager I started rebel everything. I ditched school, hung out with bad crowd; sleeping with prostitute (can you believe that, at 13 years of age). And in order to have spending money, I start stealing everything in sight and selling them in the black market (the equivalence of pawnshops here).

My thievery got pretty bad. I stole stuff from around the house, from our neighbors and relatives, and even from church. Even I know God and I could even prove about God’s existence and His love, I simply decided to not obey Him. I reasoned that since I couldn’t pray to God to bless me in break into people house and stealing from them, I could pray for protection from God’s opposite, the devil instead. I even ventured into the cemetery and got myself a real human skull to use as an icon. This became fatal for me because I began to lose my self-will and I could not stop all my wrong doing even if I want to.

I wanted to stop my wrong doing many times for many reasons. One of them was my dad who whipped me many times to punish me. Another was my mom; there were times that she was kneeling, and weeping and pleading me to stop. I loved my mom very much and it hurt me to see what I was doing to her, but I could not stop. It was as if I am not just stealing out of needs, but out of an addiction to the adrenalin-high from the “action”.

I was also very prideful of how bad I was. I still went to church and went to the youth group meeting with the attitude of “So, what could you do to me?” Many people tried to convert me unsuccessfully. There was this one time a powerful speaker came to our youth group. At the end of the talk, he asked the youth to stand if they wanted to accept Christ, and the conviction power of the Holy Spirit was so powerful that I see most people in the group, one by one stood up. Then he started praying, saying my name directly and asked God to cast out the devil on me so that I can come to Him. At that moment, I started to shake up. I really wanted to stand up, but then a small voice whispering to me “Stay still. Stay still and see if you can overcome God.” And I did. Afterward, some of my friends came and asked if I was offended because of the demon-casting prayer; and I shrugged it off, “Who cares, God will not be able to handle me.”

I continued to live in bondage of sin until the night of May 30th, 1980. That night, my visiting grandma asked me to take her to church and so I did. As she attended the service, I was just hanging out in the parking lot, checking out if anything I could swipe. At that point in my life, I was considering learning some more lock-picking from a local locksmith so that I could “perform” at the next level of my criminal activities. A young man came and talk to me (he was the church parking lot attendant). He asked what my problem in life is. I was so cocky so I gave him a straight answer: “Stealing, Sex, and Pride.” (For I thought even if he know me, he could not stop me from swiping stuff from his parking lot)…


[v] Τέκνον σὺ πάντοτε μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ εἶ - Tom Constable wrote that “The father responded to the older son’s hostility with tenderness and reason. The Greek word teknon, translated “child” or “son,” is a term of tender affection. The father stressed his older son’s privileged position as always enjoying his father’s company.” [Tom Constable's Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003; 2003), Lk 15:31] So I don’t think it’s a stretch to expand on the idea as I did.

[vi] Pastor Brett Stair said it better than me at http://sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=51323&ContributorID=3358

[vii] Similarly, a church with hearty love often is known for its worship; a church with intellectual love often is known for its teaching; a church with inward love often is known for its prayers and spiritual discipline; and a church with outward love often is known for its services.

[viii] Heard from David Jeremiah in one of his sermon.

[ix] Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight and I. Howard Marshall, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 134.