The Kingdom of Right Relationships

1
The Kingdom of Right Relationships

• Part 2
• Loving God the Father
• Matthew 2234-40

2
Living in Four Relationships

• Whoever you are
• Wherever you live
• Whatever your values or philosophy of life
• You live in four relationships
• You must relate in some way
• To God
• To Self
• To your significant others
• To the world

3
Living in Four Relationships

• The quality of these relationships
• Live in the Kingdom of Right Relationships
• Live in the world
• The Good News
• Jesus Christ can enter into a human life and
  redeem it in all four of these dimensions or
  relationships

4
The Most Important Relationship

• The one which exists between you and God
• It is impossible to escape this relationship
• Even for those who deny the existence of a
  Supreme Being
• People who profess not to believe in God spend a
  great deal of time
• Denying Him, fighting Him, explaining Him away,
  or attempting to prove wrong those who do believe
  in Him
• Even this is a relationship!

5
The Most Important Relationship

• Built into every human being is an instinctive
  sense that there is Someone or Something out
  there that cannot be ignored
• Ecclesiastes 311
• He has made everything beautiful in its time.
  Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except
  that no one can find out the work that God does
  from beginning to end
• Isaiah 5715
• For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits
  eternity, whose name is Holy I dwell in the
  high and holy place, With him who has a contrite
  and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the
  humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite
  ones

6
The Most Important Relationship

• A right relationship
• One has heard the good news that God says to us
  in Jesus Christ
• I love you. I love you as you are. I love you
  unconditionally. I have already given myself to
  you totally, and now all I ask is that you begin
  to respond to my love and my commitment to you by
  committing to me all of yourself that you are
  able to give.
• This is what the cross is all about

7
The CommandmentMatthew 2237-38

• Scribe Which is the great commandment in the
  law?
• Christs answer was powerful
• Love the Lord thy God
• Love God as your very own God
• Your is a personal relationship, not a distant
  relationship
• God is personal and we are to be personally
  involved with Him on a face to face basis
• Loving God is an act that is alive and active
• We are to maintain a personal relationship with
  God that is alive and active

8
The CommandmentMatthew 2237-38

• Loving God involves the very same factors as
  loving a person
• A loving relationship involves commitment and
  loyalty
• God irrevocably says, You shall have no other
  gods before me - Exodus 203
• A loving relationship involves trust and respect
  just for who he is
• He is the Creator and Sustainer of life
• He is the Savior and Redeemer of our souls
• He is the Lord and Owner of our lives
• A loving relationship involves the giving and
  surrendering of oneself
• A loving relationship involves knowing and sharing

9
Love Commanded Is Controllable

• Loving God is commanded!
• It is the greatest of all commandments
• The importance of a personal relationship with
  God cannot be overstated
• Is it possible to command somebody to love?
• Yes! Love is an act of the will
• We choose to relate to God no matter how we may
  feel

10
Whole LoveMatthew 2237-38

• Jesus replied
• Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
  with all your soul and with all your mind. This
  is the first and greatest commandment
• From Deuteronomy 65
• A persons total being must be involved in loving
  God
• Nothing must be held back because God holds
  nothing back in loving us!

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Our Response to Gods LoveIs To Be Total

• The total personhood of each individual is to be
  involved in the fulfillment of this commandment
• Each of these components express your love
• Heart refers primarily to our emotional
  response
• Soul includes the willful, decision-making part
  of us
• Mind refers to the reasoning component of our
  love for God

12
Agape Love

• The distinctive Christian word for love
  agapao
• Totally unselfish love
• We are capable of agape only with the help of the
  Holy Spirit
• Agape is self-giving love
• It is love which desires only the highest good
  for its object
• God loves you and He desires only your highest
  good
• He cannot desire anything for you that will
  compromise holiness, righteousness, or His very
  best for you
• Agape is unconditional love
• It loves no matter what is happening
• It is a choice that we make, an act of will, no
  matter how we feel
• This is the kind of love we are commanded to have
  for God and others
• It is also the kind of love we are expected to
  have for ourselves

13
Loving God the Father

• The Fathers Highest Good
• Agape love seeks the highest good for the object
  of its love
• So what is the highest good for God?
• John 171-5

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John 171-5

1. Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to
   heaven, and said Father, the hour has come.
   Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify
   You,
2. as You have given Him authority over all flesh,
   that He should give eternal life to as many as
   You have given Him.
3. And this is eternal life, that they may know You,
   the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have
   sent.
4. I have glorified You on the earth. I have
   finished the work which You have given Me to do.
5. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with
   Yourself, with the glory which I had with You
   before the world was.

15
Loving God the Father

• Westminster Shorter Catechism
• Mans chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy
  him for ever
• To glorify God forever
• 1 Corinthians1031 - Whether therefore you eat,
  or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the
  glory of God
• Whatever you do, do all to Gods glory!
• We will glorify God forever with our praise, with
  our words, with our works, and with our whole
  life
• The second end of man is to enjoy God forever
• God has put us on this earth for a purpose
• It is a purpose bigger than us
• We are here to live for Gods glory and to enjoy
  God, starting today and continuing throughout
  eternity

16
Loving God the Father

• Contrast the philosophy of the world
• The chief end of man is to glorify himself, and
  to enjoy the good life as long as he can
• Your Choice
• Put God at the center of all things
• Puts man at the center
• The philosophy you choose to live by will
  literally determine everything in your life
• It will set your priorities
• It will determine your values
• In the end, it will determine your eternal destiny

17
Loving God the Father

• There is no higher calling than to live for Gods
  glory
• But just how do we accomplish this?
• How do we love God?

18
Have Faith - Trust Him! Hebrews 116

• And without faith it is impossible to
  please Him, for he who comes to God must believe
  that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who
  seek Him
• One of the great verses of Scripture
• Should be memorized and held within the heart of
  every believer
• It is impossible to please God without faith!
• A living, active faith
• A faith that knows and follows God
• A faith that communes with and fellowships with
  God

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Have Faith - Trust Him! Hebrews 116

• The person who comes to God must believe 2 things
• He must believe in God that God is that God
  exists
• A person must look at the worlds (heaven and
  earth) and at himself - at the existence, design,
  order, and end of all things and believe in God
• A person must look at the Word of God, and
  believe in God
• A person must look at Jesus Christ, who reveals
  God to man, and believe in God

20
Have Faith - Trust Him! Hebrews 116

• The person who comes to God must believe 2 things
• He must believe in God that God is that God
  exists
• He must believe that God rewards those who
  diligently seek Him
• diligently means to diligently seek out God to
  find Him and to follow Him
• Be in earnest and persevere and endure to the end
  
• What is the reward to those who diligently seek
  God?
• Righteousness and Gods care in this life and
  deliverance from death unto eternal life

21
Have Faith - Trust Him!

• Trials that test our faith
• A great issue in the life of faith
• The only way to find out if faith is real is to
  go through a trial

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Oswald ChambersMy Utmost for His Highest

• Faith must be tested, because it can only become
  your intimate possession through conflict. What
  is challenging your faith right now? The test
  will either prove your faith right, or it will
  kill it. Jesus said, "Blessed is he who is not
  offended because of Me" Matthew 116
• The ultimate thing is confidence in Jesus. "We
  have become partakers of Christ if we hold the
  beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end
  . . ." Hebrews 314.
• Believe steadfastly on Him and everything that
  challenges you will strengthen your faith.
• There is continual testing in the life of faith
  up to the point of our physical death, which is
  the last great test.
• Faith is absolute trust in God trust that could
  never imagine that He would forsake us.

23
Have Faith - Trust Him!

• Trials that test our faith
• A great issue in the life of faith
• The only way to find out if faith is real is to
  go through a trial
• Loving God means to have faith in Him and to
  trust Him no matter what is happening in your life

24
Worship Him

• John 423-24
• But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true
  worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and
  truth for such people the Father seeks to be His
  worshipers.
• God is spirit, and those who worship Him must
  worship in spirit and truth.
• God seeks and desires true worship!
• Christ has opened the door into Gods presence so
  we can worship Him!
• True worshippers worship God in spirit and in
  truth

25
Worship Him in Spirit and Truth

• To worship God in spirit means to worship God...
• Seeking the most intimate communion and
  fellowship with God
• Trusting and resting in Gods love and care
• To worship God in truth means...
• Approach God in the true way, through His Son
  Jesus Christ - John 421 John 146
• Worship God sincerely and truthfully, not
  half-heartedly or with a wandering mind
• The reason for worship
• God desires worship, for He created man to
  worship and fellowship with Him
• Loving God means that we will worship Him no
  matter what is happening in our lives!

26
Enjoy Him

• Psalm 7325
• Whom have I in heaven but You?And there is none
  upon earth that I desire besides You.
• All our delight is in God, and in nothing else
• This is enjoying God forever
• Psalms 1087
• God has spoken in His holiness I will rejoice
• When you hear somebody speak, whom you love, and
  in whom you find joy you will rejoice.
• Psalm 924
• For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You
  have done, I will sing for joy at the works of
  Your hands
• Our response to enjoying Him is always praise and
  worship and singing!

27
Enjoy Him

• We find joy in the things of God
• In His Word - when we read the Scripture, we
  experience joy
• Jeremiah 1516 Your words were found, and I ate
  them, And Your word was to me the joy and
  rejoicing of my heart
• There is great joy in seeking fellowship with God
  through prayer and sharing with Him
• Loving God means that we enjoy fellowship with
  Him, especially when things are not going well in
  our lives!

28
Obey Him

• Loving God with all your heart and soul and mind
  means obeying Him
• Ezekiel 2019
• I am the LORD your God walk in My statutes and
  keep My ordinances and observe them
• Psalm 335
• He loves righteousness and justice
• 1 Thessalonians 41-3
• Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you
  in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us
  instruction as to how you ought to walk and
  please God (just as you actually do walk), that
  you excel still more.
• For you know what commandments we gave you by the
  authority of the Lord Jesus.
• For this is the will of God, your sanctification
  . . .

29
Obey Him

• Obedience honors God
• Disobedience always dishonors God
• Jesus said that men would see our good works and
  glorify God
• That is the highest good for God!
• The one who truly loves God is the one who truly
  obeys God, no matter what it costs him to do so!

30
Be Holy

• 1 Peter 115-16
• but as He who called you is holy, you also be
  holy in all your conduct,
• because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy
• Being Holy means
• To be righteous, pure, sinless, and godly
• To be complete, and fulfilled in every possible
  sense
• To be separated and entirely different from all
  other beings and things

31
Be Holy

• 3 reasons why believers are to live holy lives
• God is holy
• He is the very embodiment and perfection of
  absolute holiness
• Amos 33 Can two walk together, unless they
  are agreed?
• God has called believers to be holy in all of
  life
• Gods very purpose in saving us is to have a
  people who can live with Him eternally
• Scripture demands holiness
• Be holy for I am holy - Leviticus 1145
  192 207, 26

32
Be Holy

• What about the times when we are not holy?
• Romans 715 For that which I am doing, I do not
  understand for I am not practicing what I would
  like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate
• Paul is saying
• Even though he did not always do what was right,
  he always loved what was right and longed to do
  what was honoring to God
• He was like David, A man after Gods own heart
• True love of God desires to be holy
• If we love God, then we must desire to live Holy
  as God is Holy, no matter what is happening in
  our lives!

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Love Others

• 1 John 420
• How can you love God, whom you have not seen, if
  you cannot love your brother whom you have seen?
• There is a direct connection between our
  relationship with God and our relationship with
  man
• This is affirmed and reaffirmed many times in
  Scripture!
• Missionary in a Middle Eastern country
• Some people say it is our love for these people
  that keeps us here, but they arent THAT
  loveable! It is because of HIS great love for
  these people that keeps us here were being
  obedient to Him. 
• They love others because they love God
• If we love God, then we must love others no
  matter what they are like and no matter how they
  treat us!

34
How do we know that we really love God?

• By responding to His love no matter what
• 1 John 31-3
• By seeking on Gods glory no matter what
• Psalm 1813
• By loving what God loves no matter what
• Psalms 11972, 97, 103
• By hating what God hates no matter what
• Psalms 9710
• By grieving over sin no matter what
• Matthew 2675
• By our love for one another no matter what
• 1 John 419-21
• By loving whom God loves no matter what
• 1 John 51