Elm Street Community Church

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Last week we talked about where we were going for the fall as we look at what the church is called to be and do, and for the first week, we are going to look at what is most important for Christians and the church.

When we talk about what is most important, we need to look at what Jesus has to say. And before looking at today’s passage, we are going to look what Jesus said the night before He died… (read John 13:34-35)

This is how His followers will be known, and this is how His church will be known, by love. But this passage talks about our love for one another. In order for us to be able to love one another, we need look at what comes first (read Luke 10:25-28).

What is most important? Loving God. This comes first, and loving others is right behind it. But we need to start with loving God. Why? Because God first loved us!

“For God demonstrated His own love for us in this, while we were sinners Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:8; And John 3:16, which says “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

We are called to love God because He first loved us. And how much did He love us? Enough to send His Son to die so that we can be seen as right before Him. He paid the price for our sin, He died on the cross. That’s how much He loves us.

Jesus said in (Read) John 15:12-14 ...

Jesus is going to show them what real love is when He goes to the cross and dies for them and for us.

So He shows us what love is and He let’s us know what is expected of us. This wouldn’t be new for them as this shares, essentially, the Shema, which they would have repeated morning and evening (Read Deut. 6:4-6).

God showed His love for them by rescuing them and leading them to the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey (in other words, it had everything they could ever ask for).

But I think there is more. Let’s take a look at a Father’s Day video on this day when we are looking at our Father’s love for us (Show Video Clip).

God isn’t just up in heaven not paying attention to what is going on here, He knows what is going on. let’s look at Psa 139:1-6.

He knows our ways… He knows everything (and still loves us). In fact, Matt. 10:30 tells us that He knows the number of hairs on our head (easer for Him with me) hahaha…

So God loves us, and shows His love by knowing us intimately and still dying for us. And we are called to love Him with our heart, soul, mind and strength. So what might this look like?

Heart? What is your passion? Is it your family? Your work? A hobby? What about God? Is He your passion too? If so, what does that look like?

Soul? Does God and His word influence who you are and how you see things? How do you see yourself, as His child, or as something else?

Mind? This isn’t just about thinking about God, but God wants us to use our minds to know God and His creation. As Christians we believe what God tells us, but we aren’t afraid to learn and grow because creation points to Him! All we have to do is look at the order and detail that is in what He made, most importantly us!

And Strength…. Do we love Him with what we do? We have heard it said here that this includes our time, talent and treasure. How are you showing God you love Him in these areas?

God has shown us that He loved us first, and that He loved us enough to sacrifice everything? Do we love Him enough to really love Him back?

And if there are areas where we are falling short, what can we do to love Him better moving forward. And what is our church doing to focus on loving Him, and teaching others to love Him?

Do we come to Sunday morning services looking to worship Him because we love Him, or are we doing it because it’s what we think we are supposed to do?

Our goal should be to meet Him here, and to come together and worship Him with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. If we aren’t, then we need to ask Him to show us why?

And if you haven’t heard of God’s great love for you before, today is a great day to choose to love Him back. He has done the hard work, He died on the cross to pay the price so that we could be made right.

And we just need to recognize that although we don’t deserve what He offers us, nor the forgiveness that comes from telling Him we are sorry for our sins (times we’ve missed the mark), and that the freedom from those mistakes that separate us from God comes from asking Him for it. And if you want to do that today, you are welcome to pray with me.

Pray…