Loving God means...

How do We Love God?

Recently I have been pondering the New Testament references to Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5.  The NIV translates the Hebrew, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”    The more I ponder the more Iam aware that loving God is about more than an emotional response.

There are three references to this in the Gospels.  Matthew and Mark both have Jesus quoting it in answer to a question about what is the greatest commandment.  In Luke, we find it being quoted by a pharisee in answer to a question from Jesus.

Matthew adds the word “mind”, but omits “strength”.  Mark adds “mind” and retains “strength”, as does Luke.  Since this is described as the greatest of commandments and on which all the other commandments hang, it is well worth taking some time to think through exactly what the text is saying.  So, I have been asking, “What does it mean to love God?”, and “How does this relate to heart, soul, mind and strength?”

The answer to the first question is probably best answered by the words of Jesus to his disciples: “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).  Here, and in all three places where the text from Deuteronomy is quoted, the word,”love” is translated from the Greek word “agapao) which many might describe as the highest form of selfless love.  We cannot claim to love God if we fail to act in ways that pleases him.

We are left with the question, how do we love with “all our heart”, with “all our soul”, with “all our mind” and with “all our strength”?  While our New Testaments in English are translated from Greek, It is probable that Jesus spoke in Aramaic.  Aramaic was a language closely related to Hebrew. It is probable that Jesus would have known Hebrew and also Greek, but the common language in Israel at the time of Jesus was Aramaic.But it’s not just the original language of the text that is important, we also need to understand how those with whom Jesus spoke would understand these four concepts.

In Hebrew thought, and probably therefore in Aramaic, “soul” is not a part of you.  It is the essential you; what it means to be a living being.  It has a root that links it to breath. God breathed into Adam and he became a living being. So, “loving God with every breath in my body” might be helpful.  It about putting your whole being into it.

In the Hebrew scriptures there are many verses where heart and soul are mentioned in the same sentence.  In English we sometimes talk about putting our heart and soul into doing something Strangely in Hebrew thought, heart was more than about emotions; it was also the centre for mind and thought.  It was seen as the place where thoughts originate. So in Moses time, to love God with all your heart has to do with mental application and attitude of mind.

Did you notice that Deuteronomy 6:5 does not include the word “mind”.  This is only added in the references in the gospels. Philosophical reasoning had developed much later with the emergence of the great Greek philosophers, some 400 plus years before Christ.  So by adding the word “mind” to the text in the gospels it emphasises the aspect of attitude of mind and thought.

Within our British culture we think of falling in love as an overwhelming emotional experience.  However, when that experience leads to a commitment by a couple to live together where each is exposed to many unattractive aspects of the other party, it is a conscious decision to love that keeps couples together.  I have heard frustrated parents say to an annoying child, “I don’t like you, but I do love you”.

A man whose wife’s personality had substantially changed through dementia, spoke of a daily determination to love the person who had replaced the person he had fallen in love with.  By so doing they were able to continue to share precious times together.

Reflecting on Deuteronomy 6:5, and its use in the gospels has made me see loving God in a different light.  The focus has moved from an emotional response to conscious wholehearted determination and commitment, while feelings are not excluded.  The Song of Songs, which most Christians take as a metaphor for our relationship with Jesus is about passion. The post-resurrection conversation between Jesus and Peter has an emotional undertone (See John 21).  

Deut 6:5 is not a suggestion; it is a command.  Obedience to it is a matter of choice not chance.  The first time I realised that the awfulness of Christ’s death on the cross, and all that was involved, I encountered God’s love.  I felt it. My response there and then was expressed in singing the final verse of Isaac Watts hymn, When I survey the wondrous cross: 

“Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life my all.”.  It is a response that needs to be refreshed and renewed every moment of every day - all my soul, all my heart (thoughts), and all my strength.

I started these reflections on loving God last Saturday, but other matters hindered my completing it.  So it is now Tuesday evening. This morning at school assembly I was asked “How did Jesus die?”  I did my best to describe the crucifixion honestly yet sensitively to very young children.  As I was leaving the school a lovely little girl in Key stage 2 asked me, “Did Jesus give his life as a sacrifice for me?”  What a precious moment!  I told her, “Yes, that’s how much he loves you”

Barry - 10th September 219.

FELLOWSHIP OR NETWORKING

What do you understand by the word "fellowship"?  Is it different from friendship? How does it differ from networking?  How do we express fellowship in our churches and between churches?

Following the amazing experiences  on the Day of Pentecost, thousands of new believers in, and followers of Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour "devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."  Luke's brief summary leaves us asking questions in the 21st Century.  With over 3,000 new believers how did they undertake the teaching programme?  Does "breaking of bread" refer to shared meals or what we call Communion or Eucharist?

From Paul's letter to the church at Corinth, it would have been more of a meal than a bit of bread and wine.  Prayer is more easily understood.  We know that there were gatherings for prayer both in the temple and in homes.  How often they met and what they prayed is uncertain.  But what did Luke mean by "devoting themselves to... fellowship"?

The Greek word Koinonia that is translated as "fellowship" in English Bibles, is best understood from the context in which it is found.  It becomes clear that this is more than meeting up.  The apostle Paul uses it to describe generous and sacrificial giving, and also as a willingness to suffer for Christ's sake rather than denying him.  So, where we use it to describe meeting up or having refreshments after a service, we are dumbing down the real meaning.  All too often we ask "How are you?" but the response we get may be hardly listened to.

If we do hear someone sharing with us that life is difficult at this time, are we ready to show real fellowship by exploring how we might help a person in need, or at the very least, take a few moments to pray with them?  The sad consequences of a lack of real fellowship is that too often we give or get a dishonest answer to the enquiry, and pretend that there is nothing wrong.

The first believers, showed fellowship by selling surplus property and sharing with one another, calling nothing they possessed as exclusively their own.  The first believers showed fellowship by ensuring that widows were properly cared for with adequate meals.  The first believers collected money on Sundays, not to support a building or even to support a minister, but to give away their money to Christians in other places who were suffering in a famine.  The believers in  Philippi gave up their own comfort to provide resources to help Paul in his mission work.

All of these examples come from places in the New Testament where the work Koinonia is used, which we translate as "fellowship".  Koinonia implies a generous level of commitment to one another within our churches and between churches.

So "fellowship" is more about what goes on seven days a week, and about how we truly express a love for one another that puts others before ourselves.

What then is going on when we come to church on Sundays?  It is doubtful that it is fellowship in the biblical sense, or even the beginning of fellowship.  It might be better described as "networking".  We meet up, we chat, we catch up with the news, but to what does it lead?  Sadly, sometimes it isn't even friendly.  I have heard some people describe going to the local pub as more friendly than their experience of church.  But what might people think if we could only get fellowship right, genuinely love and prefer one others before ourselves?

Here are some suggestions about putting fellowship back into the character of Christianity and church.

• When you ask how someone is, please be sure that you are willing to listen to the answer and then, if there is a need, to do something about it.
• Ensure that people can give an honest answer if things are not so good, because they know they are talking to someone who cares.
• Don't allow someone to sit or stand around on their own when they come to church and while others are grouped in conversation.
• Re-think your financial giving.  Could you go without to help someone in need or to advance the gospel mission?
• Re-think how you use your free time when you are not attending church meetings.  Is there a lonely or isolated person who might appreciate your company, for a few hours, or the offer of a lift to do some shopping?  Is there someone who might appreciate your cooking or baking?
• Try to be more empathetic.

Let's move from networking to fellowship if all we have been doing is networking.  If, on the other hand you are already demonstrating what "devoted to fellowship" means, then that is great.  Please pray that the rest of us will make a better job of it.

May the Lord abundantly bless you.
Barry - 2nd September 2019.