What Does All Mean?

Introduction

Well, weekends are kind of a big deal. What did you do yesterday? Especially after that first week of school. It was the first break after all of that. Hopefully, you had a day of rest, kind of recharge and rejuvenate. But since you ask, I’ll tell you what I did yesterday. I did something that gave me perspective. I went to Tampa yesterday and visited with two old classmates. It was dark where we were. Oh no, there we are. I visited with two old college classmates. The one standing beside me there was a dear friend of mine in college. His name is Tim Jennings. Tim preaches in the Fort Worth area, one of the best preachers you’ll ever hear. And Tim was a good close friend of mine.

In fact, he was the best man at our wedding. And Tim Tim means the world to me. Tim and I spent about two hours at lunch just talking about preacher stuff. And we both needed it. So we talked and we talked. And then the purpose of our trip was after lunch, we got in the car and we drove to see our other good friend, my old college roommate Shane. Shane is the one who was seated there. Shane preaches at Valrico, just down the road from us. And many of you may know Shane. Shane was a professor at Florida College and uh preaches again as I said, or did preach in the Val Rico area. Shane has ALS and is in the final stages of ALS. Shane’s not able to use his hands or his arms.

In fact, uh it was a long visit with Shane, and part of the reason it was a long visit is Shane, the way Shane has to communicate. Shane has a alphabet on a poster board in front of him and a laser light on his glasses. And so he has to move his head and spell out what he’s wanting to say to us. And so we visited for about four hours together. And uh, and this will come as no surprise to you coming from me, as I told Shane when we left. I said, Shane, I said, I’ve got to go. I’m tired of playing Wheel of Fortune. But we just had to, he just spell out the words that he wanted to say and communicate that way.

Uh, and it was a day of perspective. We laughed, we cried a lot. We shared, we confessed sins. We did what brothers in Christ are supposed to do. And as I drove back home, I thought about the perspective that that gave me. Two dear brothers in Christ, who’ve meant the world to me since I was 17 years old. They’ve been with me and been in my heart for a long time. I asked for your prayers for these two good brothers. Pray for Tim and his work in Fort Worth and the challenges that he faces in preaching the gospel. More importantly, him wouldn’t mind saying, especially pray for my brother Shane. Shane’s trying. Trying to write three books before he passes. It’s a challenge. Difficult to be able to write.

He can’t write in the traditional ways. He can’t use his hands in the normal ways. And so he’s trying through the dictation and all those ways to write books. That will be a blessing to the rest of us. So it just gave me perspective. And I want to give you some perspective this morning. Will you turn with me to Luke chapter 24? I’m sorry. Luke chapter 10. I’m sorry. I said Luke 24. Luke chapter 10. I talked about going back to school. I think about school. Certain things stand out to me about school, good and bad. And I think I’ve shared with you before about I and I don’t know when this started, what grade it started, and what grade it ended. Maybe it didn’t end till I graduated, but I can remember spelling words were a big thing.

And the way we would do it, the way I remember doing it, is it’s Monday we were handed the list of spelling words. I want to say it was always 10. 10 words on Monday, and we had various assignments throughout the week, and then on Friday would be the test. You had to be able to correctly, or you’re supposed to, correctly spell those words by Friday. They were usually, as you graduated up from one class grade to the other, they got increasingly more difficult. You were introduced to new words, and you had to know what does this word mean? And many times you had to learn the definition of words that you didn’t know the meaning to. But this morning I want to talk about the definition of the word all.

You might think, well, wait a minute, I know what all means. That’s pretty simple and straightforward. But is it? It might be more challenging than you think. In the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus tells us that we are to love God. Quoting that passage that Wally read for us from Deuteronomy. He tells us not that we’re to love God, but we’re to love God with all that we have. Well, what does that mean? In that context, what does all mean? Let’s look first at the text in question. Jesus, in answer to the lawyer who came to him, wanting to know what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus said, or he had said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

1. God Demands All

To that Jesus said, You have answered rightly. Do this, and you will live. Two other times Jesus would say, that’s the key. Love God with, we would say, with everything you’ve got. Love him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Well, this morning, in trying to share with you some perspective in your Christian walk, I want us to talk about what does that means. What does all mean? Well, first of all, we need to recognize this is that God demands all.

He pulls no punches. He doesn’t let it sneak up on us. He doesn’t try to do the old tricky salesman thing of bait and switch. He doesn’t try to hide it in the fine print. He comes right out and says, I want it all. But what does that mean? All your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Well, let’s just analyze that text, that verse at the get-go, and then expand upon that. What does it mean to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Well, there’s two ways really of interpreting that verse that don’t vary greatly. Number one is we can do it kind of the detailed analytical way. Let’s break it down. Heart, soul, mind, and strength. And if we do that way, I come away with this conclusion that Jesus, God, is telling us that we are to love him with all of our emotion, heart.

That we’re to love him emotionally, that we’re to love him intellectually with all our soul, that we are to love him intellectually with all our strength. And maybe that’s the point that Jesus is making. Jesus maybe is, or God is wanting us to break it down and say, here’s what each one of those components mean. And I want you to analyze and separate those components. But there’s another possibility, and these may both be true, by the way, is that God isn’t saying I want you to separate those and analytically examine those separately, but that I’m just trying to get one point across to you as to what all means. That I want all of you. Heart, soul, mind, and strength. That means every bit of you.

I want it all, God said. God makes that demand. God wants, hold your finger there and go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. There’s a reason God wants all of us. Is that God has prepared something for all of us. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and in verse 23, notice what he says, now may the God of peace, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. Completely same as all. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God preserve all of you, and may the whole package of you be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so what do I need to give to Jesus? What do I need to give to God?

2. Two Hooks: Love God and Love Your Neighbor

That all of me. And so all means everything. Nothing is to be held back. I am to love God with everything there is about me. Okay. But what does all mean? Let’s just take one of those. If I’m to love God with all of my heart, if all means everything, and that’s what all means, doesn’t it? And if I love God with all of my heart, doesn’t it follow then there’s nothing left over for anybody else? That I can’t love Tom because I don’t have any heart left over, Tom. God’s got it all.

That’s what all means, hundred percent. If God’s got a hundred percent, if he’s got the complete, he’s got all of my heart, my soul, my mind, and my strength. Isn’t that mean that there’s zero left over for everybody else? Isn’t that what language usually means? Well, we know that’s not what it means. Because of this very context, that’s not what it means. Look at some parallel passages in Mark chapter 12. We said all three of the synoptic gospels record this command to love God with all. Notice what Mark says in Mark chapter 12. In Mark’s account, Jesus makes the statement, you shall love the Lord your God with all. But then he says in verse 31, and the second like it is this you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There’s no other commandment greater than these.

Go to the other parallel text in the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 22. Here’s how we can reconcile that concept that Jesus says, love God with all, but you still got some left over to love others with. I think here’s the key to understanding that Matthew 22 and in verse 40. After saying the first commandment is you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second commandment is like it, you love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus goes on to say this, Matthew 22, verse 40, on these two commandments, love God with all and love your neighbor, on these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets. All the law and the prophets hang on those two commandments. This is a oversimplified country boy interpretation of Matthew 22, verse 40.

It seems to me that what Jesus is saying is that you go into your closet, and all of your clothes and shoes are on the floor. And I know some of you are thinking, yeah, that’s the way it is. But you need to clean that up and organize it. And here’s the system. Two hooks. Two big hooks in your closet. Hook number one is love God. Hook number two, love your neighbor. So now you’re going to clean up and organize your closet. Everything has to go on one of those two. Everything in the law and the prophets. Every other commandment, every other thing God has asked you to do, you can file one of those commandments on one of those two hooks. Love God or love your neighbor.

Here’s a little simple homework for you. Take the Ten Commandments and put them on one of those two hooks.

Which hook does that go on? Shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Which hook does that go on? Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Which hook would that go on? Love God or love my neighbor. Here’s an easy one. Thou shalt not kill. That kind of probably goes on love your neighbor hook, doesn’t it? And that transfers over into the new covenant as well. Everything. And so what Jesus is saying, what God is saying when he says, love God with all then follows that up with and then every other and then attaches back to the loving God with all. It’s all a part of that. And so it is true that I’ve give God everything. And there’s nothing left over for you.

3. Give Me All You Got, Then Give It to Them

But God is a demanding God. He wants it all. But he’s also a loving and generous and kind God. He says, give me all you got. And when we give it to Him all, He says, okay. Now take some of it and give it to them. And share some of that with those people. And even those that hate you. Take some of this love and give it to them. The love that I’ve already given to Him. Notice that. Go with me to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 4 is where I want to, the end of chapter 4. And I apologize ahead of time. I’m going to be jumping around here in Ephesians 4, 5, and 6. I’ve highlighted some verses here. And I want you to notice how Paul, the Holy Spirit through Paul, phrases these commands.

He’s hanging every command on one of these hooks. Love God or love your neighbor. Let all, I’m ending it up in verse 31 of Ephesians 4. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Why? Because I love God. Chapter 5, verse 2. Walk in love. Why? Walk in love as Christ also has loved us and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. Do you begin to see the trend that we’re going to follow all the way? Everything he’s telling, when he tells me to love you, to be nice to you, to forgive you, to be kind and gracious, it’s all connected to God. Keep reading. Chapter 5, verse 21. Submitting to one another in the fear of God. Wives, verse 22, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. Chapter 6, verse 1, children obey your parents in the Lord. For this is right. Verse 4, you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and the admonition of the Lord.

Bond servants, verse 5. Be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart as to Christ. Verse 6, we’re not with eye service as men pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good willing service as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he’ll receive the same from the Lord. And you masters do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own master also is in heaven. And we could do that same analysis throughout the New Testament, where he’s saying, the reason you’re doing this is because you love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.

So God demands all.

If I’m not obeying my parents, I’m not loving my wife or submitting to my husband or submitting to one another or walking in love or being kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Remember, it’s perspective. The problem is not between me and you.

4. God Is Love: Though I Have Not Love

God’s wrathful. God’s judging. But when God wanted to describe himself through the Holy Spirit and the pen of John, he chose to simply say, God is love. When I read the descriptions of love in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, yes, I see what God is commanding me to be, but I also see what God is. God is patient, God is kind. God seeketh not his own. But if I have given everything to God, I can understand what Paul means when he says, Though I speak, though I speak with the tongues of men, we know in this context of 1 Corinthians and the context of the New Testament that the tongues of men were languages, but not just languages, but the miraculous ability to be able to speak in those foreign languages, like they did on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.

Though I have that ability to speak with the tongue, the tongues of men, or he goes on to say, are the tongues of angels. Seems to me he’s taking it something that is remarkable but yet doable in the first century to something that is beyond remarkable and undoable to speak in the tongues of angels. Even if you could do that, some men in the first century could speak in the tongues of men, but to speak it even if you could speak in the tongues of angels. If I could do that, but I have not love, I’ve become a sounding brass and a clanging symbol. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and again, there were some in the first century, some in Corinth who could do those things.

And though I have all faith, so that I could even remove mountains.

But I have not love, I’m nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, again, people were doing that. From Acts chapter 3 on, people were selling and giving possessions to help the poor. And what a wonderful act of generosity that was. They were doing that. And though I give my body to be burned.

Conclusion

But have not love. It profits me nothing. What does all mean? All means that God demands everything. And that changes everything. A short drive to Tampa gave me perspective yesterday. It reminded me what it was all about. Short journey to the gospel accounts of Jesus telling us you’ve got to love God with all.

With everything you’ve got. Gives us perspective. God demands everything of us. Because He wants all of us. And He wants to bless all of us. But in order to have all of us and to bless all of us, we have to give everything to Him. And that changes everything. Would you submit to Him? Not partially, not mostly. But would you surrender all? We can help you in your obedience to the gospel. If we can help you in your pursuit of loving God with everything you have. Would you let it be known right now as together we stand and sing?