Embracing Love: The Heart of God's Kingdom
Summary
In her sermon, Pastor Suzy explores the profound meaning of praying for God's kingdom to come, drawing from her personal experience of praying the Lord's Prayer with her children. She suggests that our homes and the love we share can be seen as mansions of glory and endless delight, and encourages the congregation to find transcendence in the in-between moments of life. She then delves into Jesus' mission to live out the redeeming and steadfast love of the triune God, emphasizing the importance of the Shema, a teaching within the Torah that calls the people of God to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind.
The pastor then turns to the passage from Matthew chapter 22, where Jesus is tested by a lawyer asking him which is the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus responds by saying that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, and the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. These two commandments, Jesus emphasizes, are the foundation of all the law and the prophets. The pastor then reflects on the power and significance of love songs, suggesting that they speak to the depths of our hearts and emotions, providing courage, solace, and a reminder that we are not alone in our experiences and desires for connection and belonging.
The pastor further emphasizes the importance of loving God with all aspects of our being, encompassing every aspect of our lives, including our time, place, circumstances, and manner. She challenges the congregation to reflect on their own understanding of the Messiah and how they are called to love, both towards God and others. She also discusses the book of Deuteronomy, emphasizing that it is not merely a fixed set of laws to be followed, but rather a representation of the active and evolving word of God.
The pastor then shares personal experiences of love from her childhood, recalling moments when people offered their homes as safe spaces during difficult times. She encourages the congregation to love without expectations or conditions, and to embrace the words of Jesus to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind, and to love their neighbor as themselves. Finally, she emphasizes the importance of recognizing that we are not autonomous individuals, but rather interconnected beings, and encourages the congregation to love God with all of their being, including their resources, community, and abundance.
Key Takeaways:
- Praying for God's kingdom to come means seeing our homes and the love we share as mansions of glory and endless delight. It's about finding transcendence in the in-between moments of life and inviting children into this space, even without having all the answers. [12:45]
- The greatest commandment, according to Jesus, is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, and the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. These two commandments are the foundation of all the law and the prophets. [24:30]
- Love songs speak to the depths of our hearts and emotions, providing courage, solace, and a reminder that we are not alone in our experiences and desires for connection and belonging. They remind us of the power and significance of love. [36:15]
- The book of Deuteronomy is not merely a fixed set of laws to be followed, but rather a representation of the active and evolving word of God. It presents rules and ideas that define a distinct way of living, setting the people of God apart from others. [48:20]
- We are not autonomous individuals, but rather interconnected beings. To love God with all of our being means to love in a way that acknowledges the impact of others in our lives, including our family, neighbors, and even strangers. It involves using our physical body in action, embodying emotions, and engaging in relationships that demonstrate recognition of God's love. [59:30]
Study Guide
Bible Reading:
1. Matthew 22:34-46: "But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 'Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?' And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.' Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, 'What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?' They said to him, 'The son of David.' He said to them, 'How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?' And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions."
2. Deuteronomy 6:4-9: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
Observation Questions:
1. What are the two greatest commandments according to Jesus in Matthew 22:34-46?
2. How does Deuteronomy 6:4-9 instruct the people of Israel to incorporate the love of God into their daily lives?
Interpretation Questions:
1. How does Jesus' response to the Pharisees' question in Matthew 22:34-46 reflect the essence of the law and the prophets?
2. What does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul, and might as instructed in Deuteronomy 6:4-9?
Application Questions:
1. Reflect on your daily routine. How can you incorporate the commandment to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind into specific parts of your day?
2. Can you identify a person in your life who you find difficult to love as yourself? What is one practical step you can take this week to show them love?
3. How can you actively teach and demonstrate the love of God to your children or those in your sphere of influence?
4. What is one way you can use your resources, community, and abundance to love God and others this week?
5. How can you create a physical reminder in your home or workspace to love God with all your heart, soul, and might, as suggested in Deuteronomy 6:4-9?
Devotional
Day 1: Transcendence in the Mundane
Our homes and the love we share can be seen as mansions of glory and endless delight. Praying for God's kingdom to come means finding transcendence in the in-between moments of life and inviting children into this space, even without having all the answers. [12:45]
Ecclesiastes 3:11 - "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."
Reflection: Reflect on your daily routine. Where can you find moments of transcendence and invite God's kingdom into your life today?
Day 2: Love as the Foundation
The greatest commandment, according to Jesus, is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, and the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. These two commandments are the foundation of all the law and the prophets. [24:30]
1 John 4:19-21 - "We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."
Reflection: Who is one person in your life that you find difficult to love? How can you show them God's love today?
Day 3: The Power of Love Songs
Love songs speak to the depths of our hearts and emotions, providing courage, solace, and a reminder that we are not alone in our experiences and desires for connection and belonging. They remind us of the power and significance of love. [36:15]
Psalm 42:8 - "By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life."
Reflection: What is one song that speaks to your heart? How does it remind you of God's love and presence in your life?
Day 4: The Living Word of God
The book of Deuteronomy is not merely a fixed set of laws to be followed, but rather a representation of the active and evolving word of God. It presents rules and ideas that define a distinct way of living, setting the people of God apart from others. [48:20]
Hebrews 4:12 - "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
Reflection: How can you engage with the Bible as a living and active word of God today? What is one passage that you can meditate on?
Day 5: Interconnected Love
We are not autonomous individuals, but rather interconnected beings. To love God with all of our being means to love in a way that acknowledges the impact of others in our lives, including our family, neighbors, and even strangers. It involves using our physical body in action, embodying emotions, and engaging in relationships that demonstrate recognition of God's love. [59:30]
1 Corinthians 12:26 - "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."
Reflection: How can you demonstrate love to someone in your community today? How does this act of love reflect your love for God?
Quotes
"When we pray that his kingdom comes, we're really talking about how it is here, and we're doing that, and that song said, in mansions of glory, in endless delight. If we're praying that his kingdom is coming, what if, what if those mansions of glory and that endless delight is our small, meager homes that we live in right now?" [41:40]
"My message this morning is full of lots of questions, so I hope that you walk away pondering this morning, because I don't have all the answers, so I just left the questions. So I've started with a bonus, because that's not in here. But what if? What would that look like? I think it's beautiful. And I think our children are capable of standing in that space as well, and that we can invite them into it, and we don't have to have all the answers." [42:43]
"Jesus' call and mission was to live out the redeeming, steadfast, relationship building, sit with you in your sorrows, our cries for mercy, people uniting, always seeing joy-filled, never-ending love of the triune God." [51:10]
"To love God with our nefesh means we love in a way that proves that we do not function individually. We love in a way that shows that our lives are made up by those who are part of our lives, whether it's our parents, our grandparents, our spouses, our children, our neighbors, the child that you're not quite sure about, the one that you love, the person who bags your groceries." [59:55]
"To say love God with all of your strength means to love God with literally everything else. Love God with all of our exceedingly, with our excess, and with our abundance. Strength was also understood by the community in which someone lived... Our influence, our exceedingly, is always changing. Our community, our resources, our charisma, they're ever-widening. They're getting bigger. And we are to love God with all of that." [01:02:21]
"To love the Messiah allows us to walk the path of Jesus, to live into the commandment of loving the Creator with our love, with our Nefesh and with our Me'od. And from that relationship to love those around us. Have you ever been loved like that?" #!!01:09:55!!#
"Love songs speak to the feelings of our hearts. They give us courage not to give up, to pursue a relationship when it feels hard, and they give us courage to get back up when that relationship was hard and maybe didn't go quite as we had planned." #!!48:15!!#
"Deuteronomy is not a fixed keeping place. I'm going to put my stuff in this box and keep it here for all of the ancient laws. Because the law of God, the word of God, is active." #!!53:41!!#
"When we love God with our nefesh, we love in a way that demonstrates that we recognize the depth of the meaning of the word when we love God with all of our nefesh. We love God with how we use our physical bodies in action. We love God with how we feel and embody our emotions." #!!58:37!!#
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