Thursday
Evening Bible Study
May
29, 2014
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken
hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Is the church loved? Target 4400 words
Next Week we will jump into 1Corinthians.
Last week we saw that the greatest of all commandments, the greatest thing
we could ever do was to love God.
Last week we talked about how relationships can change.
Like the church in Ephesus (Rev. 2), we can “leave” our first love if we
aren’t careful to cultivate our relationship with God.
Cultivation requires weeding – removing things that hinder, and feeding –
adding things that nurture.
This week I want to talk about the kinds of things we can do to cultivate
and grow our love for God. I’ve got six things…
Some of these are going to kind of overlap, so be patient with me if some
of the points sound like I’m repeating myself.
Obedience
Jesus said,
(John 14:15 NKJV) “If you love Me, keep My
commandments.
(John 14:21 NKJV) He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And
he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will
love him and manifest Myself to him.”
(John 14:23 NKJV) Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and
We will come to him and make Our home with him.
I think that Jesus is giving us a sort of “prescription” for intimacy with
God.
Intimacy with another person is quite an amazing miracle, especially in
marriage since a man and woman are quite different from each other.
Video: John Branyan
– Adam & Eve
Intimacy with God is when you experience God’s love and He is “at home”
with us.
Jesus’ formula for intimacy with God goes something like this:
Intimacy = Love + Obedience
It’s both loving and obeying.
You can express love to God but not learn how to obey Him
– and to be honest, that’s not really loving God.
Others can work hard at obeying God, but their
relationship with Him is based solely on fear – they obey because they fear
God, not because they love Him.
Illustration
Spurgeon: “In the
biographies of eminent saints, you will find many instances recorded in which
Jesus has been pleased, in a very special manner to speak to their souls, and
to unfold the wonders of His person; yea, so have their souls been steeped in
happiness that they have thought themselves to be in heaven, whereas they were
not there, though they were well nigh on the
threshold of it—for when Jesus manifests himself to His people, it is heaven on
earth; it is paradise in embryo; it is bliss begun.”
Illustration:
Brother Lawrence (1600’s) was a cook in a monastery. He learned to press meaning into virtually
every action of his day. Listen to the
profound things this simple cook wrote about:
“I turn my little
omelet in the pan for the love of God.
When it is finished, if I have nothing to do, I prostrate myself on the
ground and worship my God, who gave me this grace to make it, after which I
arise happier than a king. When I can do
nothing else, it is enough to have picked up a straw for the love of God. People look for ways of learning how to love
God. They hope to attain it by I know
not how many different practices. They
take much trouble to abide in His presence by varied means. Is it not a shorter and more direct way to do
everything for the love of God, to make use of all the tasks one’s lot in life
demands to show him that love, and to maintain his presence within by the
communion of our heart with His? There
is nothing complicated about it. One has
only to turn to it honestly and simply.
Loving God is about more than just singing a song.
Beloved, this type of intimacy doesn’t come without living
a life of obedience.
Exclusivity
There was something that went viral a few weeks
ago on the internet. It’s a pastor’s
confession where he titles the post, “I’m dating someone even though I’m
married”.
In it he writes,
She’s an incredible girl. She’s beautiful, smart, cunning, strong, and has
an immensely strong faith in God. I love to take her out to dinner, movies,
local shows, and always tell her how beautiful she is. I can’t remember the
last time I was mad at her for longer than five minutes, and her smile always
seems to brighten up my day no matter the circumstances.
Sometimes she will visit me at work unannounced, make me an incredible
lunch, or even surprise me with something she personally baked. I can’t believe
how lucky I am to be dating someone even though I am married. I encourage
you to try it and see what it can do for your life.
Oh! Did I mention the woman I am dating is my wife? What did you expect?
We tend to think that a “girlfriend” is something different than your
“wife”, though they really should be the same person.
And yet from time to time someone gets confused and starts dating someone
OTHER than their wife.
You are going to have a hard time cultivating intimacy with your spouse
when this happens.
Jesus said,
(Matthew 6:22–24 NKJV) —22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If
therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if
your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the
light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Years ago I learned from an architect that they sometimes call windows “lights”. Windows provide light in a room.
Your “eye” is a sort of “window” into your soul. If your “eye” is bad, then it doesn’t let in
much light. If you spend too much time
looking at “dark” things, your soul is going to be filled with dark things.
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one
and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
There are all sorts of things that can become a “master” in our lives.
“mammon” is another word for treasure or riches.
Not everyone is tempted by “mammon”.
Others are tempted to “serve” “pleasure”. Others are tempted to serve “power”.
Jesus wants to be our “one and only”.
He ought to be the only God we serve.
Discernment
(Deuteronomy 13:1–3 NKJV) —1 “If there arises among you a prophet
or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or
the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after
other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’
We might tend to think that only God’s people can perform miracles, but it
isn’t true.
God is warning that there will be people who might fall into the category
of “prophet” who will say amazing things (“the amazing Carnac”), and even
perform amazing miracles, yet all the while leading people away from following
other gods.
3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer
of dreams, for the Lord your God
is testing you to know whether you love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
If you love the Lord, then you will be careful to follow Him and not get
sidetracked by people who would lead you away from Him.
I am not fond of “discernment ministries” because I think a number of them
have gone a little overboard and have begun to come up with reasons for
criticizing everyone that might not agree with them.
But this does not mean that we should not be concerned about discernment.
A group that thinks that all religions lead to God has some problems.
A group that doesn’t acknowledge the supremacy of Jesus and the need for
His death on the cross has problems.
A group that wants to pick and choose which parts of the Bible they want to
follow definitely has problems.
Ideas like these are going to take us away from the Lord.
We may have friends or family who believe some of these
things, and at some point we are going to be faced with a decision of whether
or not we will take a stand for truth.
We may not want to hurt our friend’s feelings, but that
doesn’t change the fact that without Jesus they are going to perish.
We need discernment
God’s Forgiveness
Watch for the connection between God’s forgiveness of us and our love for God.
(Luke 7:36–48 NKJV) —36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat
with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37 And
behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus
sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of
fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began
to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her
head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39
Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself,
saying, “This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of
woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus
answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” So he said,
“Teacher, say it.” 41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One
owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing
with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of
them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one
whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” 44 Then
He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered
your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she
has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her
head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet
since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this
woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her
sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom
little is forgiven, the same loves little.” 48 Then He said to her,
“Your sins are forgiven.”
The woman loved Jesus much.
While Simon didn’t bother to show common hospitality to wash Jesus’ feet as
a dinner guest, this woman washed Jesus’ feet … with her tears.
Another common show of hospitality was to put give your guests a little
fragrant oil to help everyone smell a little better.
While Simon ignored proper hospitality, the woman poured
out fragrant oil.
I think our intimacy with God ought to be seen by our doing “extravagant”
things for God, like feet washing and perfume…
Jesus connected her sense of being forgiven with the love that she showed
Jesus.
When was the last time you experienced God’s forgiveness over your sin?
Do you even think you have a need for forgiveness?
A common problem the believers fall into is to start thinking that they are
past needing forgiveness.
Perhaps you have stopped that one big Kahuna sin that you
used to be caught in, and you no longer worry about forgiveness.
Look at how Paul characterized himself towards the end of his life:
(1 Timothy 1:15 NKJV) This is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
Paul doesn’t say “I
used to be the chief of sinners”, he
said “I am chief”.
We make a mistake when we think that that one big sin was the only problem
in our life that needed help.
The truth is, as we grow in Christ, we find that there are deeper and
deeper layers to our sin nature that need to be continually conformed into the
image of Christ.
We have a need for forgiveness.
The one who is forgiven much loves much.
Forgiving Others
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray …
(Matthew 6:12–15 NKJV) —12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into
temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen. 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
To be forgiven, you also need to forgive.
If you want to cultivate your love for God by experiencing God’s
forgiveness (the previous point), and yet you continue to not forgive other
people, then we have a problem.
Unforgiveness towards others is going to quench your love for God.
You will not be walking in God’s forgiveness.
The result is you will not “love much”.
Similarly, I can’t say I love God if I don’t love my brother.
(1 John 4:20–21 NKJV) —20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates
his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has
seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have
from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
I’d love to suggest that if you don’t “love” your brother, you are probably
holding some sort of grudge against that person.
You need to forgive.
You need to stop justifying your lack of forgiveness.
I bet that your love for God will grow when you learn to let things go.
We need to forgive others
Thankful words
Words can give us insight into what’s happening inside us.
Jesus said,
(Matthew 12:34–35 NKJV) —34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being
evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good
things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
You can get a glimpse into what’s really going on in your heart if you
listen to the kinds of words that come out of your mouth.
Your heart is like an upright cup, and its
full of something. If you want to see
what it’s full of, just give it a bump and see what spills over the edge.
It’s those “bumps” in life that give us insight into what
is going on in our heart.
I have learned that the content of the words that are exchanged between two
individuals can greatly affect their relationship.
I work hard to regularly tell my wife how much I love her, and why I love
her (ie – she’s beautiful, smart, kind, loving, loves
God, etc)
For most of us (me included), this kind of exchange of words doesn’t come
naturally. In fact I think the only
people who automatically say nice things are people who have learned to use
words to manipulate and take advantage of others.
Two Choirs
Sometimes the words that go between individuals don’t tend to be
pleasurable to listen to.
Parents, how does it make you feel when you work hard all day to support
and take care of your kids, and all they do is respond with complaints?
Look at how God responded to Israel when they complained…
(Numbers 21:4–6 NKJV) —4 Then they
journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea,
to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very
discouraged on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses:
“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there
is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 6 So
the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel
died.
God wasn’t too pleased by complaining of the people.
Here’s another choir you could choose to sing in…
Which choir would you rather be a part of?
The Complaints Choir or the Praise Choir?
Which choir do you tend to sing in?
We need to cultivate thankfulness…
Jesus had an incident when He had
done something wonderful to a group of men…
(Luke 17:11–19 NKJV) —11 Now it happened
as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and
Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who
were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and
said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 So when He saw them, He said
to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went,
they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed,
returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his
face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. 17 So Jesus
answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?
18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this
foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you
well.”
Cultivate thankfulness…
Small group guidance
Of the things we talked about tonight, which one of them seems to be a
priority for you to be working on? Why?
Pray for each other – don’t dominate the prayer time, some of us need to
work at praying shorter prayers.