How Do We Express our Love for God?
 
When asked which commandment is the first and greatest (or, in other words, the most important), Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5;“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). And, the most obvious way to express our love for God is by formally acknowledging the “worth-ship” of God; i.e., we express our love for God in worship.  
 
Each member of the church is expected to worship regularly.  In worship, we respond to God’s claim on us and to God’s redemptive action for us in Jesus Christ.  In worship, we faithfully offer ourselves to God.  When we give ourselves to God in worship, we are really only returning to God what properly belongs to God.
 
The apostle Paul writes “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1).  This verse speaks clearly to the reality that God’s love for us affects the whole of human life.  So, like the burnt offering given wholly to God (Leviticus 1:3-17), every member of the church is to be a total sacrifice to God, and that sacrifice is to consist of the whole of life. 
 
This is what each of us is doing when we come before God in worship; we are responding to God’s love revealed in Christ.  This response—this spiritual sacrifice—consists in shaping our lives to the structures of Christ’s love rather than to the structures of our own worldly desires.  This is the very idea expressed by the apostle Paul when he writes in the very next verse “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Romans 12:2a).  This verse urges us not to be shaped by the reality of our selfish world, but to reshape ourselves by the power of Christ’s selfless love.  As members of Christ’s church, we are to shape ourselves conformably to the love of Christ.  And, this is love at work: to exist for God and not for ourselves.
 
By worshiping regularly, then, each member of First Presbyterian Church is participating in the first part of the church’s mission.  Worshiping regularly means that we exist not for ourselves.
 
 
 
How Do We Grow in God's Love?
 
Scripture charges us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).  This verse speaks clearly to the reality that we were created by God to grow spiritually—that we were created to flourish on the grace of God.  Our faith in God is not a station at which or souls arrive; rather, it is a grace in which our souls grow—a grace on which our souls are nourished.  As the risen Christ breathed God’s Spirit into his faithful followers (John 20:22); so too, we are to breathe in God’s grace.  Breathing in God’s grace means taking in every spiritual gift which God intends for us; it means consuming every divine blessing which fosters our spiritual growth.  Breathing in God’s grace means feeding on that which our souls desire most—the love of Jesus Christ.  
 
Our souls have no inherent worth apart from the love of Jesus Christ.  If our very being has any intrinsic value, if our existence has any purpose at all, it is to love Jesus Christ and to “grow in the grace and knowledge” of that love.  It is the grace of Christ’s love which has granted us everything necessary for life.  It is the knowledge of Christ’s love which supports the development of virtues and spiritual fruit in our lives.  It is this life, these virtues, this spiritual fruit which make our existence meaningful and our love for God possible. 
 
It is perfectly reasonable, therefore, to expect each member of the church to tend to the wellness of his or her own soul by partaking in at least one ministry of First Presbyterian Church which nourishes him or her spiritually.  Each member is to breathe in God’s grace—each member is to feed spiritually on the love of Christ.  When we study God’s Word in Church School or in a Church Study Group, when we become a part of the communion of saints in one of the church’s fellowship programs, we are spiritually nourishing our very being—we are caring for our lovable, worthwhile selves—we are meeting our souls’ inherent spiritual need for the love of Christ. 
 
But, does God mean for us to tend to our spiritual welfare?  Are we supposed to minister to the health of our own souls?  After all, does not the first and greatest commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God,” require us to exist for God and not for ourselves?  Yes, it is true that we exist not for ourselves; but when Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 as the first and greatest commandment, his answer was not yet complete.  He then quoted Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).  Jesus offers this second quote as one like the first, implying that each quote denotes the other—that each is only meaningful because of the other.  In other words, there is no love of God without (at least, in part) a love of self; and there is no love of self without a love of God.  To “love the Lord your God” certainly means that we exist not for ourselves; but it does not mean that we do not have worth—it does not mean that we should not love ourselves as worthwhile, lovable beings.
 
The evidence that we are truly lovable, worthwhile beings is shown in the passion of Jesus Christ himself.  “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  So, if God does indeed love us, then we are (by definition) lovable.  And, as loveable beings, we must of course love ourselves.  A failure to love ourselves is a declaration that we are unlovable.  A failure to love ourselves is the same as having no faith in God’s love for us—it is tantamount to declaring that Jesus Christ suffered in vain and that he died for nothing.  Truly, then, there is no love of God without (at least, in part) a love of self; and there is no love of self without a love of God. 
 
We must embrace ourselves as lovable, worthwhile, spiritual beings.  We must love ourselves enough to take our spiritual well-being seriously.  We must grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  As members of Christ’s church, we are to breathe in God’s grace and nourish our lovable selves on the love of Christ.  By participating in the fellowship and educational ministries of the church, each member is participating in the second part of the church’s mission.  Breathing in God’s grace means we exist to love Jesus Christ.
 
 
 
How Do We Make God's Love Known?
 
When Jesus was asked which of the commandments is first and greatest, he answered with two distinct quotes—one from Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God” (Matthew 22:37), and one from Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).  Jesus declares that both are the first and greatest commandment, implying their interdependence—that each is only meaningful because of the other.  This two-fold commandment forms an unbreakable circle, in which there is no love of God without (at least, in part) a love of self; and there is no love of self without a love of God. 
 
But, even though the love of God and the love of self together form an unbreakable circle, they also form an incomplete circle.  Christ’s first and greatest commandment requires a much wider circle—a circle wide enough to encompass everyone—a circle in which there is no love of others (i.e., our neighbors) without the love of self; there is no love of self without the love of God; and there is no love of God without the love other others.  To “love your neighbor as yourself” certainly means that we exist to love Jesus Christ; but it also means that we exist to make Christ’s love known to others.
 
Scripture reminds us that whenever do something “to one of the least of these who are members of my family,” we are doing them unto Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:40).  This verse speaks clearly to the reality that each and every person in all of God’s creation (although distinguishable) is inseparable from Christ himself—our love for Christ and or love for others is effectually the same love.  Likewise, if each and every person in all of God’s creation is inseparable from Christ himself, then Christ’s own love for us is effectually the same as Christ’s love for others. 
 
When the risen Christ breathed God’s Spirit into his faithful followers (John 20:22), they in turn became the spiritual breath of God himself.  We too are the breath of God’s grace.  And, just as every physical breath has two parts (inhaling and exhaling), so too spiritual breath has two parts: not only do we breathe in God’s grace, but also we breathe out God’s grace.  Breathing in God’s grace means taking in every spiritual gift which God intends for our spiritual growth.  Breathing out God’s grace means deploying and sharing every spiritual gift which God intends for others.   Breathing out means that not only are we blessing others with God’s grace, but also we are being God grace for others.   Breathing out means that we are loving our neighbors as ourselves—that not only are we making Christ’s love known to others, but also we are being Christ’s love for others. 
 
It is perfectly reasonable, therefore, to expect each member of the church to tend to the well-being of Christ’s family by partaking in at least one ministry of First Presbyterian Church which selflessly serves others.  Each member is to breathe out God’s grace—each member is to feed others on the love of Christ.  When we support the church’s mission through our gifts and talents, when we risk giving of ourselves to feed, to clothe, to heal, and to teach others through the mission and service ministries of the church—we are caring for our lovable, worthwhile brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, just as surely as we are caring for our own worthwhile, lovable selves—we are showing others the love which Christ has for them as well as for us—we are being Christ’s love for them—we are meeting our souls’ inherent spiritual need to make Christ’s love known. 
 
So, by participating in the mission and service ministries of the church, each member is participating in the third part of the church’s mission.  Breathing out God’s grace means we exist to make Christ’s love known.
 
 

RETURN TO WHAT WE BELIEVE