CLC Values – We Go All In

Mark 12:28-30 NKJV  Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”  (29)  Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments 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, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ This is the first commandment.

• What we just read church is the greatest commandment.
  • The NKJV translates it as the “first commandment” meaning it is the first commandment in importance.
  • The NASB translates it as the foremost of all commandments
  • The ESV and the NIV translates it as the most important commandment.
    • But if you turn to Matthew 22 you will see that Jesus not only calls this commandment the first commandment, but the greatest commandment.

Matthew 22:36-38 NKJV  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”  (37)  Jesus said to him, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’  (38)  This is the first and great commandment.

• Thus, if asked what is the greatest commandment, what is the most important commandment… the answer any Christian should give is “You shall love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, with ALL your Soul, and with ALL your mind”.
  • This is the greatest commandment.
    • Somebody say ALL.
      • You shall love the Lord your God with _____ your heart, with ______ your soul, and with _____ your mind.
        • Come on church, somebody say all!

• We go all in.
  • At Christian Life Church our mission is the great commission, our mission is to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all Jesus had taught us…
    • That is our mission.
  • Our vision is to be a light on the hill overseeing Cedar Rapids, to be a thriving church that is the missions arm of the body of Christ in Cedar Rapids… that’s the vision God gave me as the leader of this church… that we would be the missions arm of the body of Christ in Cedar Rapids… not neglecting the ministry here locally, but being especially anointed in international missions.
• So there is our Mission and our Vision, but our values are what drives our everyday life.
  • Mission statements and vision statements are big picture, they are long term, they are grandiose plans that God will fulfil in time as we remain faithful.
    • But what about day to day, week to week, service to service… What drives us here, if the vision is far off?
      • That is where our value statements come in. And at CLC we are spending time going through our four values as a church.
        • Here are our four values as a church:
• The Gospel is for Everyone
  • Every person, every nation, every generation.
• A Place to Belong
  • There are no outcasts in this family.
• We Go All In
  • Everything we do we do with excellence and zeal. We go all in!
• Everyone Grows
  • From the newest believer to the senior pastor, we are called to grow.
• So two weeks ago I preached a message about how we at CLC believe the Gospel is for everyone.
  • Every person, every nation, every generation.
    • It is what drives us to preach the gospel every week, to send missionaries out into the world, to encourage evangelism and pray for the lost.
• Then last week our Associate Pastor, Pastor Jared, preached on how CLC is a place to belong.
  • We are a family, there are no outcasts in this family… there are some oddballs, for sure, I am the chief of the oddballs… if y’all only know… but there are no outcasts, everyone belongs, from every background, every culture, every socio-economic group, every age group… everyone belongs.
• This week I am going to talk about the verses we just read… We go all in. With our hearts, our souls, our minds, and our strength… WE GO ALL IN.
  • Everything we do we do with excellence and zeal, never holding back… we go all in!
• Finally next week we will have a message on “Everyone Grows”
  • Everyone means everyone, we are all growing to be like Christ.
• Ok, with that, let’s pray and get into it this morning.

• We have four points this morning, coming straight from our key text from Mark.

Mark 12:30 NKJV  AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ This is the first commandment.

• So here we have our four points, pretty simple and straightforward this morning:
  • Point One – Love God with ALL your heart.
  • Point Two – Love God with all your soul.
  • Point Three – Love God with all your mind.
  • Point Four – Love God with all your strength.
• So what I endeavor to do this morning is explain what Jesus meant by heart soul mind and strength, and then encourage us and remind us that we are an ALL IN CHURCH which means that we really need to be loving God, obeying God, honoring God with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength.
  • And I can already hear the naysayers “BUT PAAASSTTTTOOORRR… why add “obeying God” to the greatest commandment, it just says “love with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” it doesn’t say ANYYYTHING about obeying… stop trying to make things harder”.
    • NO! You are wrong… obedience goes hand in hand with love.

John 14:15 NKJV  “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

John 14:21 NKJV  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

• So know that we are talking about love in action this morning… a love that produces an obedience… we go all in for loving Jesus, obeying Jesus,  serving Jesus, and honoring Jesus, Amen?
  • Let’s get into it then, point one, Love God with ALL your heart.

Point One – Love God with ALL your heart.

Mark 12:30a NKJV  AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART…

• At Christian Life Church we go all in… and that means going all in with our heart, with our emotions, with our feelings…
  • That is what Jesus is talking about when he says “Love God with all your heart” in means loving God with all of your feelings and emotions…
    • But this, without the help of Christ, is problematic… because as Pastor Mike reminded us on Wednesday, our heart is deceitfully wicked.

Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV  “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

• Without Christ, our emotions are liars… they are wicked… they are broken… they are sick.
  • Have you ever been offended at someone then later find out the reason you were offended was totally wrong and you just entirely misread the whole situation?
    • I know I have…
  • Some people in that situation double down… and even knowing that they were wrong to be offended are so enslaved to their wicked hearts that they chose all the MORE to be offended!
• We get angry when there is no reason to be angry, don’t we? Road rage is a perfect example of that…
  • “THAT GUY ALMOST HIT ME!!!!!!!!”
    • Whenever my wife says this I always respond the same way, what do I say honey? “Well, then you can almost be mad”.
      • Because he DIDN’T hit you… you were not harmed at all… you weren’t even all that inconvenienced…
      • But our heart WANTS to be angry, because it is wicked.
• On the flip side we can be happy for the wrong reasons…
  • I have been happy that churches have closed before… because I didn’t like their theology or doctrine… and I get all excited and go and tell Pastor Amanda… and she brings me down.
    • Is God happy that church closed? Probably not…
• Man our hearts are just messed up church… so what do we do about it? Well first we get saved, and God gives us a new heart…

Ezekiel 36:26 NKJV  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

• And even with this new heart we must be vigalint… knowing that the nature of our heart, mixed with the devices of the enemy, tends to make our heart want to fall back into wickedness… this is why David, after being used and anointed by God for years, still cry’s out “create in my a clean heart”

Psalms 51:10 NKJV  Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

• So how do we go all in with our hearts? How does this apply to being a church that goes all in?
  • Well it’s like this: First we want everyone to be saved, because it is then you get a new heart.
  • Second we must be vigilant, examining our hearts and our emotions… is EVERYTHING any my heart loving God?
    • Well if you are offended at your brother because he doesn’t like your political candidate of choice, is your heart all in for loving God?
      • You can certainly disagree… but to be offended, to allow division to enter your heart, that is not all in… you need to cry out “Create in me a clean heart of God.”
    • If someone takes your seat at church and that puts you into a fit of rage…
      • “Create in me a clean heart of God”
    • If you roll your eyes when the gospel is presented at the end of service because you just want to get to lunch…
      • “Create in me a clean heart oh God”
    • If you have left a church, or are contemplating leaving this church, because of your feelings and emotions…
      • “Create in me a clean heart oh God”.
  • If in any way my emotions or my feelings are coming in between me and loving God, serving God, obeying God, being a part of God’s family, being united in Christ with other believers… if my heart is not all in… then I must recognize it, repent, and cry out “Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right Spirit with in me”.
• I want my heart completely, entirely, fully and wholly focused on loving God. And in this church we go all in, even with our emotions, even with our heart… ALL OF MY EMOTIONS, ALL OF MY FEELINGS, ALL OF MY HEART… IT IS ALL IN FOR YOU JESUS!
• Now that sets us up for point two, Love God with All your soul.

Point Two –  Love God with ALL your soul.

• Mark 12:30a,b NKJV  AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR… SOUL…
• God want’s you to love and obey Him with all of your conscience thoughts, all of you decisions, all of your free will…
  • He says to love God with all your soul… all of what drives you should be the love of God.
    • When you wake up in the morning and you ponder “what am I going to do today” there are a million things pining for your attention.
      • Take out the trash, get breakfast ready, pay the bills, get a haircut, prep for that business meeting… don’t forget to pack a high protein lunch…
      • This is your soul sorting out what you will do today… but what does the Bible have to say about this… Well, Jesus was quoting the Shema when He named the greatest commandment…
        • The Shema is a specific set of verses from Deuteronomy that some Jews will keep written on little scrolls that they put on their doorposts and sometimes they will tie these scrolls to their foreheads or wrists…
      • Let me read it from Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NKJV  “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!  (5)  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  (6)  “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  (7)  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.  (8)  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  (9)  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

• Now some Jews, as I mentioned, take these verses literally… because it says “Bing them as a sign on your hand, between your eyes, and on your doorposts”… but remember the first rule of Biblical interpretation is “Whenever possible, take scripture literally”… and I am not sure it is possible to put a little scroll with Deuteronomy 6:4-5 inside your heart… I have never heard of a surgery where a surgeon cuts you open and puts a little scroll inside one of the chambers of your heart…
  • I think what God is saying here  is “hey, you should be all in with these things”
  • And that means when you wake up you should be all in for loving God.
  • When you go to work you should be all in for loving God.
  • When you come home from work you should be all in for loving God.
  • When you talk to your children at the dinner table you should be all in for loving God.
• Every decision your soul makes in life should be centered around loving God.
  • Listen church, I changed where I get my hair cut because I love God so much I didn’t want to hear the filth that was playing at my barber shop, and I didn’t want to enter into filthy conversations with the barber.
    • So I know I go to a barber that loves Jesus… speaks almost no English, so we communicate in broken Spanish because I know a little Spanish and he knows a little Spanish, and I don’t know enough French to talk to him in his native language… But I know that He loves Jesus… and French worship music plays in the background…
    • My soul, even when it came to getting a haircut… makes the conscience decision to honor God.
  • When I talk to my kids at the dinner table, I am all in… let’s talk about God, let’s read scripture, let’s pray together.
  • Everything I do I think, or at least I should thing “Is this something honorable and loving towards God… and if not, should I be doing it”.
• I want my soul to be all in, I want my desires to be all in, I want my decisions to be all in, I want my consciousness to be all in.
• And that is how we should be as a church. WE DON’T MAKE BUISNESS MINDED DESCIONS AS A CHURCH… we make “LOVING GOD MINDED DECISIONS”
  • And sometimes “Loving God minded decisions” is bad for business, but we don’t care, because WE GO ALL IN!
• Now that bring sus to point three this morning, Love God with ALL your mind.

Point Three –  Love God with ALL your mind

Mark 12:30a,c NKJV  AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR… MIND…

• God has given you a wonderful and beautiful mind… are you using it for His glory?
  • Are you studying and learning and growing in the knowledge of your lord and savior?
• 2 Peter 3:18 NKJV  but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
• Do you spend time in Bible studies, reading scripture, listening to sermons and contemplating them… not just checking out until it is time to go get Mexican food with the family.
  • Do you ponder the great things of God… entering into deep theological discussions with brothers and sisters in Christ.
    • Or does it go in one ear and out the other.
• Do you use your intelligence, because we are all gifted with some measure of intelligence, do you use it for the love of God and the growth of His kingdom…
  • Or do you strive to find amusement to keep your brain happy.
    • Do you know what the word amusement means? It comes from two laten words… A, meaning without… like an A-Thiest is Without God A- Theo without God…
      • And Muse, meaning to think… a muse in ancient culture was the source of inspiration and great thought.
    • So A-MUSE means “Without Thought”. Amusement is designed to give your brain pleasure and rest without thought.
      • And sometimes our brain needs a rest… Amanda and I went and saw a movie recently, we made sure it was clean first because we love the Lord our God with all our souls… but we went and saw this movie and it was so nice to sit and relax and be excited at the thrills… without thinking… in fact, if you thought too hard about this movie it would ruin it because it was so stupid.
    • We need amusement sometimes… but don’t get addicted to it… because it will make your brain weak and lazy… that is what happens to a muscle that is not used.
• So we need to stay on the straight and narrow with our thoughts, with our minds… on one side of the path is the ditch of amusement addiction… anyone with a teenage videogame addict knows what I am talking about, such was some of me… and on the other side is the ditch of ungodly thoughts… fantasizing of sin, lust, greed, and gossip.
  • But in the middle is a path of Godly thoughts… growing in knowledge, focused on the things above, using your mind to strategize and accomplish great things for God… using your mind to love God… that’s what we do at CLC because we are an ALL-IN church… our minds are ALL IN FOR GOD.

Philippians 4:8 NKJV  Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Point Four – Love God with ALL your strength.

Mark 12:30a,d NKJV  AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR… STRENGTH…

• We are an all-in church, so we love God with all our strength…
  • That doesn’t mean we love God with every rep of bench press we church out in the church gym…
    • It means that all of my physical energy, all of my physical being is dedicated to loving God, to serving God, to honoring God, to obeying God.
• It means we don’t believe, in CLC, we don’t believe in being burnt out.
  • “Well pastor I am just burnt out on ministry”… what?
    • I mean I understand needing a break, needing some rest… but burnt out?
  • “Pastor I am not coming to church for a while… I am just burn out”.
    • What? You are skipping out on worship because you are burnt out? IS THEIR BREATH IN YOUR LUNGS?
  • I have heard far to many pastors say they have quit pastoring because they were “BURNT OUT”…
    • THAT IS NOT IN THE BIBLE… THE PHRASE BURNT OUT IS NO WHERE IN THE BIBLE.
    • If I am going to burn out, God forbide, it will be tied to a stake singing praises to my God, alongside great saints like Jon Hus… But that is a different kind of burn-out than the spineless burnout of pastors who just decided they didn’t want to serve God anymore.
• Church I am here until I die.
  • And I want that to be our church’s heart too… a church that says “if I have strength left, I will use it for the love of God and His Kingdom.
• And yes, we need rest… there are times we need rest. He makes us lie down by green pastures, we come to Him and He gives us rest, His burden is easy and light… Yes!
  • But rest is not an excuse for apathy, and rest is not an excuse for laziness… rest is a privilege given to the laborer who has worked all day in the field… rest is a privilege given to the warrior who has overcome the battlefield.
    • Rest is not an excuse not to work, but a reward for your work.
    • Rest is not a means to avoid labor, but a means to renew yourself FOR labor.
    • Rest is not a reason not to go to battle, but a step to prepare yourself for the next battle.

Isaiah 40:28-31 NKJV  Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.  (29)  He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.  (30)  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,  (31)  But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

• At CLC we go all in, and that means that sometimes we get tired… because we are using all our strength… but we know the God who gives rest and renews our strength, amen.
  • And side note, if you are feeling close to that god-forsaken burn out… PLEASE REACH OUT… we want to help you find rest and renew your strength, there is still more to be done for the Kingdom… find rest, renew your strength, go all in for the Lord your God!
• With that we are going to wrap this sermon up… I look forward to next weeks sermon on everyone growing…

Conclusion

• Mark 12:28-30 NKJV  Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”  (29)  Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments 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, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ This is the first commandment.
• At Christian life church we go ALL IN… in every area of life, in all of our being, we go all in for Jesus.
  • With all of our heart, our emotions, our desires, all in for Jesus.
  • With all of our soul, our conscience, our free will… all in for Jesus.
  • With all of our mind, our thoughts, our studies… all in for Jesus.
  • With all of our strength, all of who we are physically… all in for Jesus.
• Why do we have so many services and events… even celebrating Old Testament holidays?
  • Because we go all in for Jesus.
• Why do we never cancel a Sunday service?
  • Because we go all in for Jesus.
• Even when Christmas is on a Sunday, we can’t cancel service?
  • ESPECAILLY WHEN CHRISTMAS IS ON A SUNDY WE WONT CANCEL SERVICE… because we go all in for Jesus.
• Why do church members have to sign a covenant?
  • Because we go all in for Jesus.
• Why do we have sermons during youth group?
  • Because we go all in for Jesus.
• Why can’t your sermons be 15 minutes long?
  • Because we go all in for Jesus… and maybe a bit because I am long winded…
• EVERYTHING WE DO AS A CHURCH WE SHOULD DO WITH ZEAL AND STRENGTH AND EXCELLENCE… BECAUSE WE GO ALL IN FOR JESUS.
  • It is the third of our four value statements…
• The Gospel is for Everyone
  • Every person, every nation, every generation.
• A Place to Belong
  • There are no outcasts in this family.
• We Go All In
  • Everything we do we do with excellence and zeal. We go all in!
• Everyone Grows
  • From the newest believer to the senior pastor, we are called to grow.
• Now next week we will talk about how at CLC everyone grows… but for now, lets remember that first value, the Gospel is for everyone… and lets take just a few moments to allow anyone who needs to to hear and respond to the gospel.