A Love Affair

The Life of Moses – Act 4, Scene 1:
“A Love Affair”
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Rev. Clark Lynn Callender, 8/29/10

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by life? Overcome by just the sheer volume and complexity of its demands upon you – seemingly endless responsibilities, conflicting and competing pressures, unrelenting problems and issues? Do you ever dream of a simpler existence?
I suppose it’s probably safe to say that we all do, from time to time. As is well-documented, we live in an extremely complicated and demanding age: complex issues; difficult decisions; mechanization and technology meant to ease life’s burdens turned, instead, into a force that only increases what we feel we can and must do. Life today is complex and demanding and often quite overwhelming.
See if you can relate at all to the following. Author Tim Davis writes:
“I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I wish to return to my life as an 8-year-old. A time when going to McDonald’s was a four-star restaurant. A time when M&Ms were better than money because you could eat them. A time when decisions were made by going ‘eeny-meeny-miney-mo’ and mistakes were corrected by simply calling ‘a do over!’; a time when spinning around and around, getting yourself dizzy was a perfect way to spend an afternoon.
“I want to live simply again. I don’t want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in a month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, illness, loss... I want to discover again the power of smiles, hugs, dreams, a kind word, and making sandcastles at the beach.
“So here’s my checkbook and my car keys, my ATM card and my 401K statements. I am officially resigning from adulthood. And if you want to discuss this further, you’ll have to catch me first, ‘cause... Tag, your it!”
Dreams of simpler existence. A philosopher once said: “The foolish endlessly make the simple complicated; while the wise strive to make the complicated simple.” This is what I would like to talk about this morning: SIMPLIFYING our often overly-complicated and overwhelming lives.

Today we return to our study of the life of Moses for the final act, the last two scenes in the drama...
Since we left our saga, some 40 years have passed in the story. The first Israelites who had been brought out of captivity in Egypt and who had arrived at the border of the Promised Land a few months hence - only to refuse to enter out of fear, have thus been left to wander in the wilderness until they have all died off. And now the second generation arrives at the boundary of the Promised Land once again and Moses prepares them to enter.
He reminds them of the story of their salvation, he restates the Law, he offers words of personal advice... all of this ultimately centering in our text today – a passage that is generally understood to be one of the most important in the entire Old Testament – a text that is central to the Jewish faith (out of which, of course, our Christian faith arises):
Deuteronomy Chapter 6, Verse 4. In Hebrew it’s known as the SHEMA (referring to the first word of the verse – the verb to HEAR.) It is the first scripture that every good Jewish child commits to memory. And it is the first sentence with which a service of worship begins in a Jewish synagogue. Depending upon your translation, it goes like this:
“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 strength.”
A couple of thousand years after its introduction by Moses at Mount Sinai, Jesus, one day, will be questioned as to what is the most important command of all, and (in keeping with the tradition) he will indentify this as “The Great Commandment” - essentially making the point that this sums up all the Law of God. That if you get this, you get the whole thing. But if you miss this, you can have everything else, but life will only elude you.
That is, life really only ever has ONE TASK, ONE OBJECTIVE – not many, not millions; just one: LOVE GOD. It all comes down to this. It all hinges on this! And why?
Because love for God draws us to God and thus opens to our disposal all the attributes of God that are normally far beyond us – the power of life in God that that God wants for us but that is far beyond us. Basically, we’re made able to truly live, made able to do what we cannot do on our own (but must) by changing our whole approach to life – specifically, our relationship with our Creator (the source of all life) – from one of demand to one of affection. And this, you see, changes everything. Think of it this way:
When somebody orders you to do something, how do you feel? If you’re like most people, it makes you angry. None of us like being ordered around – we resist it, we chafe against it. And who’s doing the ordering changes whether or not we comply: If it’s our boss and we need to keep our job, we do what we’re told. If it’s a fellow co-worker at our own level, we tell them where they can go!
In contrast, however, think about doing things for those you love... Doing things for those we care about – even sometimes painful, sacrificial things – is almost pleasurable. We’re glad to do it! In fact, doing the very same task can change from being difficult to being easy depending on who we’re doing it for. For instance:
If every day, at work, your boss (whom you hate) orders you to make him or her a cup of coffee; you’ll do it, but it won’t be easy, you’ll be annoyed. You may even occasionally add a little spit to the cup for flavor! “Here, boss, and I added a little extra ‘sweetener’ for you!”
Conversely, if there’s someone you care for deeply and you know they love a cup of coffee to start their day; you’ll occasionally get up extra early just to make coffee and bring it to them as a surprise gift. It’s enjoyable!
The same task changed from drudgery to blessing depending solely upon WHY we’re doing it: out of obedience or out of affection.
Well, sadly, the former is what often passes for a relationship with God – even among many of the most devout and faithful people. Our relationship with God is solely one of duty and responsibility. God tells us what to do and if you’re a good person, you do it. But you’d really rather not. It all seems like drudgery, endlessly annoying and difficult demands: “What? I have to get up and go to church? I have to serve on a committee? I have to give my money to those in need? I have to be nice to that jerk who’s rotten to me?” Basically, there’s all this other “fun” stuff we’d rather be doing; but we’re stuck doing this!
Perhaps, most sadly of all, this is then the message the Church communicates to the world at large - that: “Faith in God is about obeying the rules. That’s it. Until you obey, don’t come here!”
To which God is saying, “No, no, no! You’ve got it all backwards! Faith isn’t simply about obedience, it’s about relationship. You don’t enter the Kingdom by grudgingly complying to some list of requirements; you enter by coming to love God which, alone, enables you to fulfill the requirements! You’re making the easy difficult and the simple complicated.”
As Jesus once said: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me... for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
In other words: “You’re making it all way too hard! It’s so much easier: just come to love God with all that you are – and everything will fall into line!”
Think of it this way: In my own life, the three people in this world that I love more than all others are my wife and my two daughters. And most people would probably say, “That’s good, you should love your family most of all.” However, I have discovered that, while I love them, in those rare moments when I can bring myself to love God MORE than them I actually I LOVE THEM BETTER – because now my love is not limited to my own abilities but pushed to even greater lengths by my devotion to the Source of all love. As the great C.S. Lewis once wrote:
"When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. Insofar as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving toward the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.”
It all comes down to this. Life is really very simple – there is always only ever just one goal: LOVE GOD. In every thought, in every word, in every action, in every situation, with every person: LOVE GOD.
So how do we do this? How do we learn to “Love God with all our hearts and soul and strength”? A couple of suggestions...
(I)
First: SET YOUR SIGHTS ON JESUS.
You know, right off the top, one of things I find so curious about this great text is that it is a COMMAND TO LOVE. It seems contradictory: How can you command love? “You will love me... or else!”
It seems odd. But actually, this points us, right at the beginning, to a very important truth, namely: That love is not simply an EMOTION; it’s ultimately a DECISION – a choice we make. That is, true love is not something we do simply when we feel like it; it’s something we commit to - at times, regardless of how we feel.
It’s like those we love most in our lives: We don’t always necessarily feel love for them – sometimes quite the opposite; but we commit to loving them – we choose to do so. In this, I believe it’s very interesting that the word “love” here is a word that refers to FAMILIAL LOVE – the affection and devotion within a close-knit family. Such love, by definition, ebbs and flows, right? In our families, sometimes we’re madly in love with one another; sometimes we look around and wonder, “How do I get out of this?”
And in our human relationships, in the ebbs and flows of affection for those we love; what keeps us in love? Well, sometimes it’s pure persistence (and more than just a little bit of stupidity); but more often than not what holds us together through the ups and downs is that, above all else, we REMEMBER WHAT WE MEAN TO EACH OTHER. We bring to mind what these other people have done for us. We recall how they have loved us. We remember what drew us to them in the first place.
This is what holds us together: We focus our attention on HOW WE HAVE BEEN LOVED. And it’s the same with God. Learning to love God as the center of our lives begins by focusing our attention on how we have been loved by God. And just how much does God love us? Well, the Apostle Paul states it clearly:
“God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
The very heart of God’s love for us, it’s ultimate expression: Christ’s death for us on the cross – loving us, accepting us right now, as we are; doing whatever it takes to give us life.
This is where everything begins – by setting our sights on this above all else. For those who do not have a relationship with God, this is where you start: Not with a bunch of rules – “Do this, don’t do that. This is who’s in, this is who’s out”; but in thinking solely about how much God loves you right now as you are – no matter who you are and what you’ve done and where you’ve been – as demonstrated in the ministry of Jesus Christ.
And if you have a relationship with God, this is where you continually return. As Moses says to the people here: “Teach these words to your children. Talk about them all day long. Write them on your clothing and all around your house so that they’re continually before you!”
Simply put: Think about this constantly. Make it the center of your life.
Let me ask you: How often, on any average day – in any average week – do you think God’s love for you – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on your behalf? Let’s be honest: Most of us spend most – if not all – of our time thinking about OTHER THINGS: the tasks of the day, the responsibilities, the problems, the worries. We don’t generally make thinking about God’s love for us primary and thus we lose our way.
First and foremost, think about how much God loves you and have this drive everything you are and do. Make this the constant first thought because it’s so easy to lose it – and thus lose everything. Preacher Lee Eclov writes:
“Author and speaker Brennan Manning has an amazing story about how he got the name ‘Brennan.’ While growing up, his best friend was Ray. The two of them did everything together: bought a car together as teenagers, double-dated together, went to school together and so forth. They even enlisted in the Army together, went to boot camp together and fought on the frontlines together. One night while sitting in a foxhole, Brennan was reminiscing about the old days in Brooklyn while Ray listened and ate a chocolate bar. Suddenly a live grenade came into the foxhole. Ray looked at Brennan, smiled, dropped his chocolate bar and threw himself on the live grenade. It exploded, killing Ray, but Brennan’s life was spared.
“When Brennan became a priest he was instructed to take on the name of a saint. He thought of his friend, Ray Brennan. So he took on the name ‘Brennan.’ Years later he went to visit Ray’s mother in Brooklyn. They sat up late one night having tea when Brennan asked her, ‘Do you think Ray loved me?’ Mrs. Brennan got up off the couch, shook her finger in front of Brennan’s face and shouted, ‘What more could he have done for you?’ Brennan said that at that moment he experienced an epiphany. He imagined himself standing before the cross of Jesus wondering, Does God really love me? And Jesus’ mother Mary pointing to her son, saying, ‘What more could he have done for you?’
The cross of Jesus is God’s way of doing all he could do for us. And yet we often wonder, Does God really love me? Am I important to God? Does God care about me?
Set your sights on the cross. Set your sights on Jesus. Step One in simplifying your life – and thus truly find life - through learning to live the Great Commandment.
(II)
Step Two: REFUSE ALL SUBSTITUTES.
In our text today, another one of the key words is the word “ALL”: We are instructed not simply to love God but to love God with ALL – all our heart and all our soul and all our strength. In other words: UNDIVIDED, UNDILUTED DEVOTION – ONE THING, ONE LOVE. Why is this so important? Well, think about it...
We’re talking here about having our lives driven by love for God. But let’s face it: Throughout the history of the world – up to this very day – some of the absolutely worst things that have ever been done have been done in the name of “Love of God.”
Why?
Because people (all of us at times), while claiming to love God, have actually loved SOMETHING ELSE MORE and have simply chosen to call this other thing they love most the love of God Almighty – while it is not! That is, we have chosen to believe that God’s love SUPPORTS our personal points of view rather than CHALLENGES them and this has led us most tragically astray!
Second point here: Love for God accepts NO CONTENDERS. Simply put: Each of us here today may love God; but invariably there’s something else that we also love – something we truly love MORE - and this is keeping us from life and we have identify it and rid ourselves of it. REFUSE ANY SUBSTITUTES for love of God alone! Have a love for God that doesn’t simply make us feel good but that challenges any ways we are less totally committed to God’s ways!
Now, for each of us, this “other love” is a different thing: it may be pride or success or prestige or popularity or wealth or comfort or laziness or security... whatever. But the way you spot your true love is this: Look for what ultimately seems to DRIVE your life – most especially, look for what always supersedes, takes precedence over, devotion to God. “I know I should forgive that person, but they really hurt me.” That’s pride. “I know I can and should give more, but I can’t right now.” That’s fear or selfishness.
Sometimes the thing we most love is actually the very thing we claim most to HATE. It’s like the person who is constantly BUSY or the endlessly long-suffering CAREGIVER: “I’d love to serve more, to help out; but my schedule is just so packed these days – I have all this other stuff I have to do.” We claim to hate having to do what we do when actually we love it – seeing it as a badge of honor that makes us more important than others and enables us to avoid the things we really ought to be doing! Let’s be honest: we always have time for things that truly matter to us.
True love for God is challenging: it seeks to weed out all other loves that are keeping us from our best self as discovered in love for God alone. Are we willing to do this? A good way to think of it – to motivate yourself - is like this:
It’s a well documented fact that we all often begin to LOOK LIKE WHATEVER WE MOST LOVE. For instance, studies have been shown that couples who have been married for a long time start to resemble one another. Other (quite informal) surveys have shown that pet owners often look like their pets. I remember once seeing this series of photos online of dogs and their owners – and each pair looked the same. It was creepy.
Well, building upon this idea, Christian author Wayne Cordiero reflects:
“The more you love something, the more you become like it. For example, I have a friend that loves tennis. He wears tennis stuff. He reads tennis magazines. He has tennis talk. He has a racket, and his hair looks like a tennis ball.
“I have another friend that loves surfing. He dresses with surf stuff, and he reads surf magazines. He has a surf talk. He's even starting to smell like seaweed. Everything about him is starting to go that way. But isn’t it true whatever you love, you start moving that way? Some of us love food. Case closed on that one.
“That’s why the Bible says the greatest commandment of all is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. That is the greatest commandment of all. Why? Because the power to change is given in relationship, and what you love you become like.”
Basically: If we love God we start to look like God – we become Christ-like. Are people mistaking us for being GOD-LIKE – or something very other? When you look at yourself, do you like what you see? If you really want to be beautiful, to love what you see every time you look in the mirror, strive to look like God by loving God. Drive out all competing loves.
Step Two in simplifying your life through learning to live the Great Commandment: REFUSE ALL SUBSTITUTES. And finally...
(III)
Step Three: LOVE AS YOU HAVE BEEN LOVED.
Preacher James Moore writes:
“Her name was Mary Lou. His name was Tom. They were both in their 80’s and they were celebrating their 60th Wedding Anniversary. A news reporter was there to cover the big event and he asked this question: ‘Tom, so many marriages are failing today... and yet here you and your wife are celebrating 60 years together. How did you do it? What is your secret?’
“Tom didn’t even have to think for a minute how to answer that question. Without a moment of hesitation, Tom said with a warm smile: ‘Well, the answer is on the face of my watch. Mary Lou’s father gave me this watch as a wedding present on the day we were married and over the years this watch has played a large part in giving us a happy marriage.’
“The reporter didn’t understand until he looked more closely. Inscribed across the face of the watch were these words: ‘Tom, tell Mary Lou you love her!’
“Think of that... Every time he looked to see what time it was over all of their 60 years together, there was that message from his father-in-law: ‘Tom, tell Mary Lou you love her!’
“Tom’s father-in-law was a wise man. He realized how much all of us need good reminders. Most especially how much all of us need to be constantly reminded of WHO we are, and WHOSE we are, and what we SHOULD BE ABOUT – to be reminded of WHO WE LOVE and to EXPRESS THAT LOVE.
The final step here: Love, to be real, must be expressed. To simply say we love God but then never to show that love, to never have it change in any way how we behave is pointless... it’s not love!
This is the final component in fulfilling the Great Commandment: If we love God we must EXPRESS that love. And how do we best express love for God? By loving as God loves. By loving what God loves. By loving others as God has loved us. By offering the love we have received.
You know, a lot of Christians who claim to love God don’t seem to like any of the people around them. It doesn’t work that way. If you truly love God, you love all God’s children as God loves them!
Final thought in learning to love God with all – returning to where we began: In every situation, in every encounter, with every word, every thought, every action, in all times, all places, and in all ways, it’s all very simple: Are my actions expressing love for God? Am I loving as God has loved me? Do this, and everything falls into line – life abundant, as God intends, happens. Author James Hewett writes:
“During the Korean War, a South Korean Christian civilian was arrested by the Communists and ordered shot. But when the young Communist leader learned that the prisoner was in charge of an orphanage, caring for small children, he decided to spare him and kill his son instead. So they took his 19-year-old son and shot him right there in front of the Christian man.
“Later, the fortunes of war changed and the same young Communist leader was captured by UN forces, tried, and condemned to death for war crimes. But before the sentence could be carried out, the Christian whose boy had been killed came and pleaded for the life of the killer. He declared that the Communist was young, that he really didn’t know what he was doing. The Christian said, ‘Give him to me and I will teach him of God’s love.’ The UN forces granted the request and the father took the murderer of his boy into his own home and cared for him – claiming that this was what he had received form Christ: Having been loved though totally undeserving.
“Today, that young man, a former Communist leader, is now a Christian pastor, serving Christ in the United Methodist Church. And his adopted father couldn’t be more proud, noting that, ‘God didn’t give my son back to me, he gave me more. This is the power of loving God above all else!’”

“The foolish endlessly make the simple complicated; while the wise strive to make the complicated simple.”
Whenever your life becomes complicated and overwhelming, remember that it’s really all very simple – it all comes down to just one thing: LOVE GOD. Set your sights on Jesus; refuse all substitutes; love as you have been loved - and everything will fall into line.
“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 strength.”