The Great Commandment AM

00:01 Praise be to the Lord this morning. Let the church say Amen. I want to take one exception with the one song that we sang this morning. The song where it said that the blood of the Lamb was spilt. I always remember what my pastor said growing up, and I have embraced that idea. 00:23 I understand poets. They have to make things rhyme. And guilt and spilt rhyme. But it wasn't spilt. It was shed. It was shed. The blood of Jesus was shed for our sins. It was poured out. It was given. Spilt has the idea... kind of communicates the idea that, you know, you did it unintentionally. 00:44 It just kind of happened. If you spill your milk at the table, you know, or you spill your soup on your shirt. You didn't intend to. It just kind of happened. But that was not the case with the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not unintentionally shed His blood. It was a very intentional thing that took place there. 01:02 That so many years ago when His blood was poured out, was shed for the remission of sins. Anyway, a minor thing in the grand scheme of things. But one thing that is major is we came through a week of meetings, and I'm a little surprised there were no testimonies this morning about that. 01:19 But I do want to just give you a word of encouragement that many of you, especially the last evening, made commitments to Christ in various ways, various levels, various things. Don't forget that. Don't forget those commitments. 01:34 Don't forget that decision and that time of prayer and intercession before the Lord. And so I just want to encourage you. It's a week now, and we tend to kind of go on with life, but made those commitments that have been made be real and ongoing. 01:53 And I want to encourage you to maintain those commitments. And if you do want someone to share with, this morning we're going to have an opportunity at the end of the service to do some time of reflection. And we do have a communion form to fill out that asks you to make some commitments on it, 02:15 as we've used before. It's been a long time since we used this form. But we want to use that this morning. 02:20 And at the end of the service, what we're going to do is we're going to give you an opportunity just to wait on the Lord and to pray and to ready your heart for this evening's communion service and to focus upon the risen and dying Lamb, the risen dying Lamb, the risen Lord Jesus. 02:40 And then us pastors are going to be up here in the front. And if anyone would like to come and share with us by way of prayer request, or you'd like to come and have prayer, special prayer will be available at the end of the service. We'll ask this morning that the visiting be done as you one by one leave the auditorium, 03:00 do the visiting on the other side of the wall. And this morning we're going to just keep this as a sacred space, a quiet space for God to work. And you take as much time as you desire and as God wants you to take. Now this morning I invite you to turn in your copies of the Scriptures to Mark chapter 12. 03:20 Mark chapter 12. I want to talk to you about the great commandment, the greatest commandment. And it is greatest in the sense that it is the first and top priority. 03:34 We have here in this passage of Scripture in Mark chapter 12, Jesus has been presented in the triumphal entry. He's been presented as the Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world. And then He went through a period of testing and investigation. If you remember the Old Testament Passover, 03:56 they would select the Lamb, and then they would observe that Lamb for several days to make sure that it was without spot and without blemish. That's what happened when Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem on the day of the triumphal entry. He was selected. He was appointed. 04:12 He arrived there, and He was then investigated and observed to see whether or not He truly was qualified to be our Savior. And so part of that investigation, part of that observation was the Pharisees. The Pharisees came to Him and said... 04:31 and the Herodians said to Him, "Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar? 04:38 Should we pay our taxes?" And Jesus, of course, responded very wisely and very truthfully, "Given to Caesar what's Caesar's, and given to God the things that are God's." And then He was tested and tried by the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection. 04:58 So what are they doing asking a question about the resurrection? 05:01 Except such a far-fetched question that you could see through this one quite easily. They're trying to trap Him. So they asked Him a question about the resurrection. And He said that, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. 05:18 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living." And He informed them that they were greatly mistaken. And then one of the scribes came, verse 28, and heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?" And Jesus answered him, 05:38 "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second like it is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 06:00 There is no other commandment greater than these." So the scribes said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth. For there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, 06:20 and to love one's neighbor as oneself is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." Now when Jesus saw that He answered wisely, He said to Him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." But after that, no one dared question Him. 06:38 You see, we are close to the kingdom of God when we recognize that the faith of our fathers and the faith has been delivered to us through the years and in the gospel message is about having a love relationship with God. A love relationship with Jesus Christ. 06:58 A love relationship with the triune God. Even though the Scripture says God is one, we know that the God is triune. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three personalities, but one God. And it is interesting that when Jesus was asked, "What is the highest commandment? 07:18 What is the most important commandment of all the law and the prophets?" And may we also say Paul said in the book of Romans that it is also the law of the New Testament. Because on this hangs all the law of the prophets. The whole Christian life is summarized in loving God and loving others. 07:36 Not in a works kind of way, but in a way that reveals a heart relationship with God and a love for Him and for others that wants to serve and to give of ourselves. Jesus here in this passage of Scripture quoted from the Shema, 07:56 which is in Deuteronomy chapter 6, where it's almost word for word. Our English text deviates a little bit because likely Jesus was quoting from the Greek Septuagint. And so sometimes in the quotations there's a little bit of discrepancy, a little bit of difference. But nevertheless, 08:15 the point is that man's duty is to love God with every fiber of his being. Heart, soul, mind, strength, every part of us is to be in love with God. 08:28 Now some people draw a distinction between the Old Testament that I think is a little bit too sharp when they say that the Old Testament was about law and the New Testament was about love. Brothers and sisters, the whole Bible is about love. The whole Bible is about God's love. The whole Bible... And some people will say, 08:47 "Well, there's a difference to the Old Testament being about law and the New Testament being about grace." And I understand there is a difference between the old system and the new system, the old covenant and the new covenant. But it's all about grace. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Abraham found grace in God's sight. 09:07 Whenever God enters into a relationship with someone, it is grace. It is unmerited. It is God's favor. It is God's invitation. It is God's strength. And so the Old Testament, if you were to turn... You don't need to. 09:19 But if you were to look at Deuteronomy 13 times in the book of Deuteronomy, the children of Israel were admonished to love God in response to His love for them. And Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12 says, "And now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? 09:41 But to fear the Lord your God and to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes, which I command you today for your good. Indeed, heaven and the highest heavens belong to God, 10:03 to the Lord your God. Also the earth with all that is in it. The Lord delighteth only in your fathers to love them. And He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day." And so 13 times in that book, which is a summary of the Old Testament law, 13 times God is commanding His people to love Him. 10:24 In fact, 10:24 I think it would be not a stretch to say that all God has ever looked to from man is for man to love Him and to return His love in a way that makes the relationship one of honor and worship and of 10:43 blessing and of one that is committed to walk in God's ways, to fear the Lord, and to keep His commandments. 10:52 And so Jesus reemphasized this in our passage, in our text this morning, and said that the second then is likened to this: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." And this is the law and the commandments. And so let's look at this first one this morning. 11:12 We're to love God with all of our heart. How do you do this? How do you do this? Well, number one, it's a choice. It's a choice that we make. It's a decision that we make. We make a decision to love. We don't fall in love. 11:27 We used to sing a song that was popular back years ago: "I keep falling in love with Him over and over and over and over again." It's kind of like a heavenly bridegroom. And we do. There's a lot of similarities between God and our Lord Jesus Christ and marriage. But you know what? There are some times when we don't feel anything, 11:49 and we cannot allow our feelings to dictate the facts. And the fact is that we can have a relationship with God that is a love relationship that's based on a choice. That I choose to love God, and I choose to do it with my heart, soul, mind, and strength. And by the way, part of our soul is our will. 12:09 That we make a decision. We make a choice to love God. Sometimes that involves great emotion. Sometimes it involves no emotion. Sometimes it involves negative emotions. Sometimes you can get disappointed with God and still love Him. But you don't stay there. 12:28 Sometimes you can actually... Dare we say question God? I'm sure there's some questioning going on in the Hostetler family today. You question God. But you can still love Him. But you don't stay in that questioning mode. You come back. You come back. You trust. But to love God with all of the soul, 12:50 our mind... He says our mind, with all of our mind, to think right thoughts about God. To ask God to sanctify and renew our mind. You know, we think thoughts about God, and sometimes those thoughts are not accurate. 13:11 And so we need to come back to the Scriptures and ask God to renew our minds by showing us who He is. I like to read Scripture by asking God as I read the Scripture: "Now, what is it that You want me to know about You in this passage? 13:26 What do You want..." Because this is God's way of correcting man's own ideas about God with the truth about who God is. And so there is a place to love God with our minds. There's a place to love God with every mental... all of our mental capacity and ability. 13:49 There are some people that are brilliant. They should love God with their brilliance. There are some of us that are less than brilliant. We should love God with whatever mental ability that we have. Even children without a highly developed theology can love God as they respond to who Jesus is. 14:11 And of course, that love grows then as they grow and understand more and more. So we love God with our mind. Satan is the one who wants us to... who wants to influence our mind not to love God. And Satan wants to put in our minds thoughts against God. We stand against those. 14:32 We tell Satan, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus." And we hold the thoughts that come into our mind about God in comparison with Scripture. And we say, "It is written." One of the things that Satan tempts people to do is to doubt that God is good. Have you ever doubted that God is good? I have. 14:52 I have doubted it very long. But nevertheless, we all have those questions. Is God good? Yes, God is good. We come back to what He says about Himself. And in simple faith, we believe that God is good. Does God care? Sometimes we ask the question, 15:13 "Does God even care about us?" Yes. We come back to the Scriptures and say, "God cares. He cares about the smallest sparrow that falls to the ground and the tiniest hair that falls off the head. And He cares about those sparrows. And He cares about His nature, that the world He's created. If He cares about them who are of little significance, 15:34 then how much more He cares about you?" Is God true? We ask ourselves that question. Satan places doubts about the truth and the authority of God's Word. Maybe this is just the book. Maybe this is just some religious manual that man has concocted and created. 15:52 If you have those thoughts, then you need to come with those thoughts to the book and to do in simple faith. Billy Graham was a man who... many... most of us remember him. He's been gone off the scene for a few years, but he was called America's pastor. He went through a valley where he was preaching the gospel. 16:14 But his valley was, "God, is this book true? Is this book true?" While he was going through that battle, there was another man by the name of Charles Templeton who was also a preacher who asked the question, "God, is this book true?" And they both ended up in two different places and eternal destinies. Charles Templeton was a preacher. 16:35 He was probably, they say, contemporaries of that age back in the '40s and '50s said he was probably a better preacher than Billy Graham. But he also allowed his intellect to deceive him. And so he began to doubt the questions of the authority of God's Word. And he began to question it. 16:52 And he began to dabble with science and the discrepancies between the scientific community and what the Word of God says. And he allowed that to take him away from the truth. And he began to doubt that God is good and that God is real and that God is authoritative and that God is true. And Charles Templeton, unless he changed his heart, 17:13 unless he repented at the last hour, lived his life as an agnostic and did not go to heaven. Unless God had mercy in the last hours, he had dementia in the last days of his life. That's a whole nother story. Billy Graham also grappled with some of the same questions. 17:32 Is God true? Is God's Word true? Can it be trusted? And Billy Graham laid it out before the Lord. And he said, "Science is telling me one thing. Your Word tells me another. Lord, I need to know or else I can no longer preach." And God came upon him in great might and power. 17:51 And he learned to love God with his mind. And he said, "God, I believe that Your Word is true." He laid it out before God. And God gave him confirmation after confirmation in his study and his search for the truth. And Billy Graham lived his life, the rest of his life, 18:11 preaching the gospel that at one point he questioned. You see how we love God? How will we do with this loving God with our mind? We'll take us two different directions. What about loving God with the understanding, with the heart? We don't understand all things. In fact, sometimes we feel like we don't understand many things at all. 18:29 But we want to grow in our understanding of God and His ways. And so that's part of our understanding. But then we also need to grow in our loyalty to God, in our devotion to God, loving Him with the values of of of of things we value. In fact, worship. 18:48 Worship is to ascribe to God utmost worth and value. And we're called to worship God as if He were the most significant thing in the universe. That's what worship is. So is He? Is He the most significant thing in the universe? 19:08 Is He the most significant thing in my universe? Or is He something that is there as a fire escape to keep me out of hell and something that I dabble in once or twice a week? 19:21 Or is He the treasure, the pearl of great price, the treasure that when one found, sold everything else and bought that treasure, secured that treasure as the most important, valuable treasure that one possesses? 19:41 That's loving God with our heart. What about loving God with our strength? Loving God with our strength. Loving God with our words. Loving God with our relationships. That dabbles into verse 31. 19:59 Loving God with our time. Loving God with our business. 20:09 Loving God with our finances. We're to love God with every ounce of strength that we have. That doesn't mean that we sit in a rocking chair and pray all day unless that's all that you can do is sit in a rocking chair and pray all day. If that's all you can do, then do it. But most of us have other things that God has called us to do. And so we use our strength to love God in the workplace. 20:30 We use our strength to love God in the factory. We use our strength to love God in in putting on a roof and serving our neighbors and providing for our families, doing it all under the auspices and the authority of the kingdom of God and the Word of God as an act of worship. Every day is an act of worship when we love God with all of our strength. 20:52 Now, in the next few minutes, I want to give you some tests about whether we love God or not. Because we cannot depend on our own feelings. 21:08 And the reason we can't is because there are some people who will feel like they love God and they don't. They come to church. They have an emotional experience. Or they go to a church. They have an emotional experience. And oh, I just feel so much in love with God. He's my heavenly friend. 21:26 And He's my genie that answers my prayers. And I just love God so much. And then they go out and live like the devil. So they think they love God and they don't. 21:38 And then, and maybe some like this here this morning, where you're not sure that you love God because you know how imperfect you are, you're not sure if you love God. And you really do. 21:56 So Scripture is very helpful in helping us identify what are the marks of one who loves God. And so I want to give these to you this morning. We could preach a whole nother hour on this, but we won't. First of all, the first test of those who love God are those who love God hate evil. 22:21 Those who love God hate evil. The Bible says in Psalm 97:10, "Ye that love the Lord hate evil. 22:34 Let love be without dissimulation or hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good." Psalm 119:104 says, "Through thy precepts I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way." Psalm 101 says, 22:56 "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside." I don't hate those that turn aside, but I hate the work of them that turn aside. "It shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person." I like the way the NIV translates that verse. 23:16 It says, "Men of perverse heart shall be far from me. 23:19 I will have nothing to do with evil." That's the person who loves God. Psalm 119 says, "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy law." When was the last time we cried over sin? 23:40 When was the last time we wept over sin? You know, God weeps over it every day, I'm convinced. I fear in my own life and heart that the more we know about the world, the more accustomed we get to the world. 24:02 And the more accustomed we get to sin. It's like the frog in the pan. You've heard of that, I suppose. That you put in a frog in a boiling pot of water and he'll jump out. 24:19 You put a frog in a cold pot of water and you turn up the heat gradually. And he will stay there and cook to death. I've never tried it. Makes sense. 24:35 I fear that in my own life even, that we are sometimes close to cooking to death. I think if you took a person who died in the 1940s or '50s or '60s, maybe even the '70s, 24:58 possibly the '80s, 25:01 and you brought them back to life and you plopped them down in the 2021s, 25:09 what do you think their response would be to the condition of the church and the world and the society and the people of God? 25:18 But you take us and you leave us here and it's change after change after change after change after change. Just little, gradually, slowly. And the culture around us shifts. The church culture around us shifts. And we are left wondering what happened? How did we get here? 25:39 I'll be honest with you. I came in this community in 1979. That's 42 years ago. 25:45 I look at the condition of the Mennonite churches here in this community in that time period. And now I look at it today and I said, "How did we get there? How did we get there?" And then that's not even that. That's just our little subculture. You talk about the whole worldwide church and national church. 26:07 And you talk about the culture out in the world. And we are called to love God. Part of loving God is to stand up for God. And I'll give you an illustration. 26:20 When Donald Trump was elected president, how did Trump make his money? Through gambling, casinos. How many of you remember back in the '80s when the lottery was first legalized? Yeah, 26:40 a few of us. The lottery is so entrenched in our culture today, we don't even think about it. Casinos are so entrenched in our society today. I didn't even hear that as an issue when people were evaluating whether or not to vote for Donald Trump. Oh yes, he was an adulterer. 27:01 Yes, he had his third wife. We heard that a little bit. But we have changed so much in our society in what we allow and what we tolerate and what we wink at and what we indulge in that it's hard to imagine sometimes how we got there. But we've gotten there. 27:20 And so loving God means to hate sin. It means to hate sin. If you want to discern what God loves, look at what Satan tries to destroy. Satan tries to destroy the family. Satan tries to destroy Christians. Satan tries to destroy righteousness and marriage and all of those things Satan is trying to destroy. 27:43 And we have to evaluate, do we love God more than the culture, than we love the culture, or than we love ourselves? The second thing that is an attitude of love for God, and that is an attitude towards His Word, that we not only hate what He hates, but we love what He loves. Do you love the Word of God? 28:05 Do you love the Word of God so much that you would take time in it every day? Do you love the Word of God so much that when it's preached, you would be here to hear the preaching and the proclamation of the Word of God? Do you love it enough to memorize it? Do you love it enough to commit it to memory? 28:24 Do you love it enough to think about it through the day? Do you love it enough to honor it and respect it? Do you love it enough to teach it? How much do you love the Word of God? Oh, Jesus loved the Word of God. You realize that? When He said it is written, He loved the Word of God. 28:43 But even in this mother's womb, when—no, that wasn't Jesus. I'm sorry. John the Baptist loved the Word of God. When Mary, carrying the child Jesus, who was the Word, and Elizabeth, carrying John the Baptist, came in contact with the Word, what happened in Elizabeth's belly? The babe within her leapt for joy. 29:06 When he came in contact with the message bearer of the Word, who was bearing the Word, there was a leaping for joy. There was a recognition of the power and authority of the living Word of God. Jesus' words on the road to Emmaus, 29:24 as He proclaimed to them the Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures, and applied them to Himself. 29:31 The two men on the road said, "Did not our hearts burn within us while He spoke with us and talked with us in the way as He proclaimed unto them the Word of God?" Ezekiel was told to take the scroll and eat it, to take the Word of God. 29:49 He said it was in his mouth, honey for sweetness. But you know, sometimes the Word of God isn't just honey. It causes indigestion. Because in the Book of Revelation, John was told to take that book, the little book in John 10:10. He said, "Take the little book that the angel held, the Word of God." And he said, 30:09 "It will be sweet in your mouth and make your belly bitter." Why does it make the belly bitter? Because it gets down into the heart and reveals the depravity and sinfulness of our old nature. 30:26 It is used by the Holy Spirit to bring righteousness and sin and judgment, sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Spirit bears witness in our hearts that we are sinners. The Spirit bears witness of what righteousness is, that Jesus is righteous. 30:46 And the Spirit bears witness that judgment awaits those who continue in sin and reject God's righteousness. And so there is a love for the Word of God. I wish we could take time to go to Psalm 119. But I'll just remind you of one verse. Verse 167, he says, 31:06 "I love thy Word exceedingly." The word exceedingly actually can be translated vehemently. Do you love God's Word vehemently? That's not exactly a way I would usually describe it. But he loves God's Word with a passion. It is the passion of his life. 31:26 The third test of loving God is our attitude toward the world. 1 John 2:15, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Now, what is the world? What is the world? 31:46 Well, it's the world system. What is that? What does that mean? Well, Jesus helped us identify the world when he talked about the patterns of the world, the possessions of the world, positions of the world, power in the world system, 32:08 the pleasures of the world, the philosophy of the world, and even the persons of the world. 32:16 Now, this gets a little bit tricky because we're supposed to love people. Yes, we are. But we're to love God more. We're to love God more. 32:33 In fact, Jesus said that he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And in a parallel passage, he said he cannot be my disciple. 32:52 And he that taketh not his cross and followeth me is not worthy of me. In fact, Jesus went so far as to use a term of comparison that our love for him should look like, make our other relationships look like hate. If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 33:13 What does that mean? Well, I think it's a term of comparison that compared to our love for God and our devotion and loyalty to him, everything else looks like hate. 33:27 So, wow, I'm not—maybe you say I'm not doing very well on this test. Well, it's a test. Love not the world. The adulterers and adultresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. So that is part of the test. Number four, 33:48 our attitude towards our brother is another test. Attitude towards our brother. 1 John 4:20 and 21, "If a man say, 'I love God,' and hate his brother, he is a liar. 34:03 For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" 34:10 God might just look like your brother. You ever think about that? You don't know what God looks like. You've never seen him. 34:21 Maybe he looks like the person you don't like or hate. He said it's inconsistent. You cannot say, "I love God whom I haven't seen, and I don't love or by hate someone who I have seen." This is the commandment have we from him that he who loves God, love his brother also. And we could spend a whole message right on that. 34:43 But it always amazes me how people can claim to love God and then slander and malign and gossip 34:55 and call people names and curse with their lips, 35:01 their neighbors, their friends, their enemies, even their family. The tongue is used to bless God and curse men who are made after the similitude of God out of the same mouth, proceed with blessing and cursing, "My brethren, these things ought not so to be." So a person who loves God will love others. 35:21 What is love? Love is the commitment to do what is right and what is best for another person in spite of negative feelings. Again, we come back to the issue of choice. We don't always feel good about everybody and our relationships with them. 35:43 Sometimes we have to work to love people. Sometimes we have to work to like people. If you're a parent, sometimes you always love your children. Sometimes you don't like your children. If you're a child, sometimes you love your parents, and sometimes you don't like your parents, but you always love them. 35:58 Because there's a commitment there to do what is right and do what is best in spite of negative feelings and trust God with the negative feelings. So again, it's not about a feeling. It's about a choice that I choose to do what is right and best for those around me in spite of how I may feel about it. The third or the fifth test is our attitude towards obedience. 36:20 Our attitude towards obedience. What is your attitude towards obedience? Obeying God. When you love someone, serving that person is not a chore. It's a joy. Amen? When you love someone, serving is not a chore. 36:43 It's a joy. When a mother gets up in the middle of the night with a child who's vomited all over its bed or wet the bed or crying out with a nightmare and mom and dad or dad and mom or whoever gets up with those situations, doesn't do it because they feel like it. 37:02 Doesn't do it because it feels good. Doesn't do it when they're struggling to get some sleep, but they do it. They tend to the needs of that because they love them, and serving becomes secondary to the love that is experienced in the mother's heart, in the father's heart. 37:19 Why does the father go off day after day after day after day to provide for his family? Because he loves them. He wants to provide for them. He wants to protect them. He wants to care for them. Why does he sacrifice his own time to get down on the floor and play with tractors and play with his daughters and read books, 37:42 take them on safaris out in the backyard, teaching, training, loving? Why does the father do that? Well, the father gets something out of it. Yes. It's enjoyable. It's fun to watch our children learn about the world around them. But there's another reason. 38:00 That's because serving is not a chore. It's a joy. So why would a person study the Bible? Because it's an opportunity to hear Jesus. Why would a person attend church and participate in church? Because it's an opportunity to meet Jesus and to serve Jesus, 38:22 to worship Jesus. Why would a person tithe? Because it's an opportunity to give to Jesus. Why would a person turn the other cheek? Because it's an opportunity to exemplify Jesus. Why would a person submit to authority? Because it's an opportunity to obey Jesus. 38:43 Why would a person serve his neighbors and his brother? Because it's an opportunity to serve Jesus. Why would you honor your parents? Because in honoring your parents, you're honoring Jesus. Why would you love your enemy? Because it's an opportunity to love Jesus. Why would you love people of other races? Because it's an opportunity to see the beauty of Jesus. 39:04 It's all about Jesus. And when you keep your focus on Jesus and you're loving God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love one's neighbor as himself and to serve one's neighbor as himself becomes not a chore, but a joy. Someone tells the story about a boatman in Burma many years ago. 39:25 This boatman was shuttling a missionary back and forth on a ferry day after day, and they struck up a conversation and found out that the boatman was a Christian who loved Jesus, made 30 shillings a month. And the missionary said, "I really need help in reaching this people for Christ. 39:45 We need more workers. We need more missionaries. Mr. Christian boatman, would you become a missionary with and serve with us? We can only pay you eight shillings a month. We know you're making 30. We can only pay you eight. Would you go and serve Christ with us for eight shillings a month?" And he said, "No, I will not serve Christ for eight shillings a month, 40:06 but I will go for Christ." See, I won't serve him for what I get out of it. I will serve him because I love him. So this morning, we wrapped this up by an illustration because we're probably not doing—if you're like me, 40:25 you're probably not doing much better with the test than you did with just the feelings because the tests are pretty stringent. So I remember the account in the Gospels where a man said to Jesus one day, "Lord, I believe." And then he made a strange statement, 40:47 "Help thou my unbelief." He just got done saying, "I believe," and then he's asking Jesus to help him with his unbelief. How does that work? I think there is always a part of us that believes and a part that doubts. 41:04 And there's always a part of us that loves and a part that doesn't. So if you don't love God this morning with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, as I don't, and you don't love your neighbor as yourself all the time, 24/7, every day, 41:24 every minute, every moment, keeping those two commandments as I don't, 41:28 then you and I are sinners in need of salvation because there's no way on God's green earth that we can keep that commandment, either one of them perfectly. And so we come to the cross and say, 41:46 "Lord Jesus, I love you, but I want to love you more. I believe in you, Lord, but I want to believe in you more. I want to have more faith. I want to grow in my love for you." And so this morning, if you don't love God with every fiber of your being, not that you're not off the hook because we all have that condition, 42:08 but our sin has been paid for, and now we can enter into a relationship with Jesus that grows in love and that looks more and more and more under the authority of him. 42:27 There isn't a one of us tonight, this morning, that are fit in ourselves to come to the Lord's table, not a one of us, 42:40 in and of ourselves. 42:43 So if you live a life that you think you can never measure up, "I just can't measure up," and this message this morning is one of condemnation, or you feel condemned because, "I'm just not there. I'm just not there, but I want to be there. That's my direction in life. That's what I want. Lord, I love you. 43:02 Help the part of me that doesn't love you as I ought." Then God says, 43:10 "That's what I'm looking for, not perfection, 43:16 but growth, growth, commitment." And so we have a paper here this morning that says something like this: "After a period of self-examination, please respond to the following statements expressing your readiness to participate in communion. 43:39 Also, 43:40 consider using the space under each question to respond further to what that statement means to you." The statements are as follows: "I love the Lord Jesus Christ and thank him for what he did for me on Calvary. 43:58 I have the witness in my heart that I am walking with him in obedience and peace. Are you at peace with God? As far as I know and am able, I have peace in my relationships both within and outside the church. 44:14 I love the body of Christ here at Living Water and wish to express this by joining in communion." Do you love God's people? Do you love the church? I do. He does. 44:30 Third question: "I am living in harmony with the doctrines of the Bible as interpreted by this congregation and applied in its membership covenant." Again, not a requirement for salvation, but an indication of unity and oneness as we partake of the Lord's Supper together as a group of travelers. You see, 44:49 those travelers coming up from 44:53 the south up to the border and coming in from Haiti up to the border, they travel as a group. You get isolated from the group. You can get picked off real quickly. You become vulnerable, exposed. We come together to the Lord's table as a body. And then the fourth: "When I open myself up to the brothers and sisters of this congregation, 45:14 that they may come and share concerns and speak God's message into my life. I make a commitment to receive them and to keep our conversations private and charitable." On the back, there are several things for you to read if you choose to from our confession of faith about the Lord's Supper and symbols of Christian brotherhood, 45:35 the washing of the saints' feet and symbols of Christian order. And then there's a place for your name. We're just going to have prayer here in a moment. I'm going to ask my fellow pastors to come and pass out these forms to those who are baptized members of Living Water. 45:55 Living Water welcomes those who are born again, baptized members to join in communion. Those members of the Living Water church and those who are in transition into the congregation are supportive of our applications, are welcome to join us for up to three communion cycles, after which they are asked to become members to continue to participate. 46:17 That's not the only way to do it, but it's the way that we have chosen to do it here at Living Water. So this morning, let's bow our heads for prayer. Father, thank you for speaking to us. 46:30 And I want to be the first to confess, Lord, that I do love you, but I don't love you as I want to. I don't love you as I should. I don't love you as I ought. 46:47 Help me to love you more 46:52 so that Christ is all in all, so that the things of this earth grow strangely dim in the light of your glory and grace. Lord, forgive me for my failures, my sins, my carnal ways at times, 47:11 my own self-centeredness, and help me to serve you and others with a heart of love, compassion, conviction, truth, and grace. 47:30 Lord, as we prepare our hearts for this evening service, we ask that you would, by your Spirit, be faithful to point out those areas, Lord, in our own hearts where we may need to repent, 47:46 where we may need to ask for help, where we may need to ask for forgiveness, where we may need to extend forgiveness. 47:58 Thank you for your grace and for this hour of meditation on the things of God. It's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.