The document discusses how to love God as commanded in scripture. It summarizes that loving God is: 1) A response to His love for us, as God always loves first and more. We love God by entering into His covenant of love. 2) Demonstrated through obedience to God, as faith in action is God's love language. Love for God means being loyal to the Lord who is loyal to us. 3) Perfected as we abide in God's love by keeping His commandments, which are not burdensome but our natural response of loyalty to God.

1. Love for…
God
How can we love God?

3. Matthew 22:35-40 ESV And one of them, a lawyer,
asked him a question to test him. [36] “Teacher, which is
the great commandment in the Law?” [37] 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. [38] This is
the great and first commandment. [39] And a second is
like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. [40] On
these two commandments depend all the Law and the
Prophets.”

4. Mark 12:29-31 ESV Jesus answered, “The most important
is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
[30] And you shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and
with all your strength.’ [31] The second is this: ‘You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other
commandment greater than these.”

5. Deuteronomy 6:4-6 ESV “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our
God, the LORD is one. [5] You shall love the LORD your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your might. [6] And these words that I command you
today shall be on your heart.
Deuteronomy 4:39 ESV …know therefore today, and lay it
to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and
on the earth beneath; there is no other.

6. ‫שמע ִש ָאל יהוה אלֹהינּו יהוה אחד׃‬
ֶָ ֵ ֱ ֵ ‫ְׁ ַ י ְׁ ר‬
Listen, O Israel – YHWH Elohenu YHWH is echad
YHWH is the Hebrew name of the Self-Existent God who
led Israel out of Egypt.
Elohenu is the more common name for God that can
describe the plurality of God. It is used of the Creator
Echad means a “unified” one – “they cried with one voice”
Whole, Unique, and Unified

7. [5] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might.
Love the Lord is the willful and emotional response of
dedication and affection to God.
Heart is generally the seat of the conscience. It is
connected to the mind and is the foundation of the
whole person
Soul is generally the spiritual nature of a person.
The place indwelt by God

8. [5] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might.
Might is a noun that means exceeding – power or
strength. In the account of the flood the word is used to
describe the extent of the flood over the earth
This verse means that we love God with everything we
have – total surrender… not partial commitment

9. An Impossible Command
Is this Possible?
Is it Possible to Love God this Way?
Who in Scripture was Successful?

10. Nature of the heart / mind
What goes out of the mouth comes from the heart (Matt.
15:18); from the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaks (Matt. 12:34)
God Searches the heart
The Lord searches all hearts (1 Chr. 28:9); you test the
heart (1 Chr. 29:17); the hearts of men lie open before the
Lord (Prov. 15:11).

11. The Common Heart of Man
God gave them over to a depraved mind (Rom. 1:28); the
heart is deceitful (Jer. 17:9); puffed up by his fleshly mind
(Col. 2:18); their mind and conscience are defiled (Titus
1:15); their heart is far from me (Matt. 15:8); out of the
heart come evil thoughts etc. (Matt. 15:19);

12. Mankind’s Thoughts Compared to God’s Thoughts
My thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord (Isa.
55:8); as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my
thoughts than your thoughts (Isa. 55:9); your thoughts
are very deep (Ps. 92:5); God declares his thoughts to men
(Amos 4:13); they do not know the thoughts of the Lord
(Mic. 4:12); who has known the mind of the Lord?

13. Man is Weak and Lacking Strength
I am like a man with no strength (Ps. 88:4) man’s frailty
(Job 4:19); what is my strength, that I should wait? (Job
6:11); the body is sown in weakness and raised in power
(1 Cor. 15:43); my groans are many and my heart is faint
(Lam. 1:22); my strength fails me (Ps. 38:10); I have no
strength left in me (Dan. 10:16); I have no strength left in
me, and no breath in me (Dan. 10:17); no strength was
left in me (Dan. 10:8)

14. How Can We Love God?

15. 1. Love for God is a Response to His Love
– God Always Loves First and Always Loves More
– God Expresses Love in Covenant
– To Love God we Enter His Covenant

16. 1. Love for God is a Response to His Love
– God Always Loves First and Always Loves More
– God Expresses Love in Covenant
– To Love God we Enter His Covenant
2. Love for God is Obedience
– Faith in Action is God’s Love Language
– Love is Loyalty to the Lord who is Loyal to Us

17. Deuteronomy 11:22 ESV For if you will be careful to
do all this commandment that I command you to do,
loving the LORD your God, walking in all his ways, and
holding fast to him…
Deuteronomy 30:19b-20 ESV Therefore choose life,
that you and your offspring may live, [20] loving the LORD
your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he
is your life and length of days…

18. Psalm 11:7 ESV For the LORD is righteous; he loves
righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.
Psalm 45:7 ESV …you have loved righteousness and
hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed
you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions…

19. John 14:23 ESV Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me,
he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and
we will come to him and make our home with him.
John 15:9-10 ESV As the Father has loved me, so have I
loved you. Abide in my love. [10] If you keep my
commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have
kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

20. Covenant Love of God
1 John 4:15-17 ESV Whoever confesses that Jesus is the
Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. [16] So we
have come to know and to believe the love that God has
for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in
God, and God abides in him. [17] By this is love perfected
with us, so that we may have confidence for the
day of judgment, because as he is so
also are we in this world.

21. Our Natural Response of Loyalty
1 John 5:1-3 ESV Everyone who believes that Jesus is the
Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the
Father loves whoever has been born of him. [2] By this we
know that we love the children of God, when we love God
and obey his commandments. [3] For this is the love of
God, that we keep his commandments. And his
commandments are not burdensome.