01 Jul Obedience Borne of Love

Last Sunday, Pastor John Henschen closed our series in The Exalted Christ with the sermon: “The Judge,” from Matthew 25:31-46. We saw that certainty in the final judgment is found in Christ alone.

Read: Revelation 2:1-7

This Sunday, Pastor Jason Finley will begin a new series: Dear Church: A Study of Revelation 2-3, with a sermon from Revelation 2:1-7. As Jesus addresses the church in Ephesus, he praises their works, toil, patient endurance, and commitment to the truth, even to the extent of rooting out false apostles among them. However, he rebukes them for abandoning the love they had at first and calls them to repentance. While laboring hard for the Lord and passionately pursuing truth are vitally important for us, these must never be severed from love. In fact, our labor for God and pursuit of truth must be driven by our supreme love for God. As you prepare your heart for our gathering, let this devotional from Milton Vincent help you to grow in this supreme love by pointing you to the gospel.

Reflect: “Obedience Borne of Love”

To love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength is the greatest commandment in the Law (Mark 12:28-30). If I could simply fulfill this one commandment, I would gladly fulfill all others as a natural matter of course.

So how can I come to love God with all of my being (1 John 5:3)? The Bible teaches that genuine love in my heart for God is generated by an awareness of His love for me (1 John 4:19), and nowhere is the love of God more clearly revealed than in the gospel (Romans 5:7-8; John 15:13; Ephesians 2:4-5).

Therefore, preaching the gospel to myself is a great way to keep God’s amazing love before my eyes, so that I might experience its power to produce in me a passionate love for Him in return. Captured by His love in this way, my smitten heart increasingly burns to do His will and feasts itself on doing so (John 14:31; John 4:34; Psalm 40:8).

“Obedience Borne of Love,” in A Gospel Primer for Christians, by Milton Vincent

Sing: Song List for Sunday

1. “O God, Our Help in Ages Past,” by Sovereign Grace Music
2. “Be Still (Psalm 46),” by Crosspoint Music
3. “Heart of Worship,” Arr. Shane & Shane
4. “My Jesus, I Love Thee,” Arr. Lifeway Worship