The First Commandment
Our theme scripture for the First Love series is the incredibly important warning from Jesus to the church in Rev. 2:1-5:
Matt. 22:37 – Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
ALL your heart… this surely is a description of an all-consuming passion. This is talking about being wholly devoted.
ALL your soul and mind… this is being sensitive and aware of His Person…by being completely attentive to the Presence of Jesus Christ.
The prayer of our hearts must become, ‘Open the eyes of my heart, that I might see where I have given the attention that You deserve to lesser things that are inferior to You.’
First Love is when we put Him above all else
His bride longs for His Presence. He is her beloved. She seeks to draw close and therefore He has her attention.
Giving His Presence first place in your life declares the value that you place on His Person.
Why is this so important? Because birthing Christ in you can only happen in intimacy…knowing Him intimately.
When there is a deep, deep love, there is a joyful and real surrender. A desire to do His will is a natural response. Dying to self is a natural response.
The deep, deep love that Jesus had for the Father is what kept Him steadfast to the end…even death on the cross.
The question at this point is:
How does drawing close to Jesus and being in His Presence transform me?
Jer. 29:13 – And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
And when you find Him, you will be having an encounter with the King of kings, the Word… who is God, the One who created all things, the Resurrection and the Life… how could you possibly not be changed by your encounter?
Let us put things in perspective…
John 1:1-4 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him (the Word) and without Him nothing was made that was made.
V4 In Him (the Word) was life (Zoe), and the life was the light of men.
V14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 14:6 – Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth and the Life (Zoe). No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 6:35 – I am the bread of life. (Zoe) He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
John 11:25 – I am the Resurrection AND the life. (Zoe)
Rom. 5:9-10 – Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God (how?) through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled (past tense), we shall be (future tense) saved by His life (Zoe).
So it is clear that there are two parts to our salvation.
- Through the blood and His death – we are reconciled and saved from wrath.
- Secondly, we shall be saved (Sodzo – to deliver, protect, heal, preserve, make whole) BY WHAT SHALL WE BE SAVED? By His life. Every time you have an encounter with the One who is the Life, you will be changed.
John 6:63 – It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life (Zoe).
John 10:10 – The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life (Zoe), and that they may have it more abundantly.
Life in all of the 6 verses is the same Greek word ‘Zoe’ – the absolute fullness of life which belongs to God… abundant life!
So in all of these verses you will receive the absolute fullness of life which belongs to God. How then shall we be saved by His Life?
Isaiah 55:1-3 – Ho! (Give attention to) Everyone who thirsts and come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. (How?) Incline your ear and come to Me. Hear and let your soul live (to be revived, quickened).
He says, INCLINE YOUR EAR…COME TO ME….HEAR…and let your soul LIVE. So the question is…how will the Word become flesh in you?
Already established:
John 1:4 – In Him (the Word) was life (Zoe), and the life was the light of men.
- Therefore, if you are spending time with Jesus the Word, you will find ZOE.
- If you are reading and meditating on the Word, you will find ZOE.
- You are hearing His voice and His voice is life. The Word is God inspired, it is God breathed… John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life (Zoe).
As we spend the time, as we are hungry and thirsty, as we bow our knee and our heart to surrender to His Will…
John 1:14 – And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
NOW… the Word will dwell in us, and the world will behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.