Do You Love Jesus Christ?

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Lord willing, next Sunday we will look at the last four verses of this letter. But today in

preparation for the Lord's Table, I want us to think about our love for Jesus Christ. I want us to look at just the last verse of this wonderful letter and sort of meditate on what we discover there. Look at Ephesians chapter 6 verse 24. Here's how Paul ends: "Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love." "Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul closes this wonderful letter by reminding us that the Christian life is not merely about all of the rich theology that we've learned over the last three years or so. It's not even about living out that doctrine in our lives. The Christian faith is not merely knowing the truth, agreeing with the truth, being emotionally stirred by the truth, or even trying to obey the truth. It is at its heart, a personal response of love to a Person—our Lord Jesus Christ.

For a few minutes I want us to meditate on the implications of what Paul says in verse 24, and I want us to evaluate the true condition of our own love for Jesus Christ. In fact, I want everyone in this room this morning to ask himself or herself this simple question: Do I love Jesus Christ? Do I love Jesus Christ? Nothing is more important than your answer to that question. Your answer will tell you whether or not you are a Christian or whether your profession of Christ is just that—merely a profession. Because the message of Scripture and the message of this verse is that loving Jesus is the primary characteristic of a true Christian. Loving Jesus is the primary characteristic—the distinguishing mark—of a true believer. Our Lord said this, you remember, in John 8 verse 42 Jesus said, "If God were your Father." If you really knew God, "If God were your Father, you would love Me." "If God is your Father, you will love Me," Jesus says. That's really Paul's point in Ephesians 6:24.

You remember he began his letter by talking about our position. He begins in chapter 1 verse 1 by saying that the believers in Ephesus are saints. That's their position, their standing. They are

set apart unto God from sin unto God, as the special objects of His care and favor. But he ends the letter by referring to their own subjective response to Jesus Christ not their position. He does so in the context here, Ephesian 6:24, of pronouncing a blessing on the Christians there in Ephesus. Literally, the text reads this way: "Grace to all the ones loving our Lord Jesus Christ." "Grace to all the ones loving our Lord Jesus Christ." You see that is the definition of what it means to be a Christian. You see this over and over again in the New Testament. For example, in John 16:27 Jesus says, "The Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father." You have a relationship with the Father, Jesus says, because you love Me. And Paul writes to Philemon in that short letter where he's sending the letter along with Onesimus, he describes Philemon this way: he says in verse 5 of that little brief letter, "I hear of your love … which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints."

Turn over to James' letter because I want you to see this. James refers to Christians in a most interesting way. In James chapter 1 verse 12 he's talking about trials and dealing with trials. Very familiar passage to you. And he says in verse 12, "Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial," a Christian who remains under the trial and sees it as from God, who stays faithful to God, "for once he has been approved, [that person] will receive the crown of life." You know we hear about these crowns in the New Testament. Don't picture something you wear on your head. That isn't the idea. The idea here is the crown which is eternal life. You're going to receive the crown which is eternal life. And who gets this crown? Notice the Lord has promised this crown of life, of eternal life, to those who love Him. It's for those who love Him. Over in chapter 2 verse 5 James makes exactly the same point. In the context of impartiality and partiality in the church he says in verse 5, "Listen my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?" Now watch what he says about the kingdom of Christ, "which He promised to those who love Him." In 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 8 Peter describes Christians in this way: "Though you have not seen [Christ] you love Him." Now, just in case all of that isn't clear Paul leaves absolutely no room for doubt when he closes out his first letter to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 16:22. Listen to what he says, "If anyone." Ok. That's you and you and you and you and me and anyone, "If anyone does not love the Lord he is accursed." He is damned. He is devoted to destruction. Couldn't be any clearer than that. Those who love Jesus Christ belong to God, know God. Those who do not love Jesus Christ have been devoted to destruction. And, so you can see there is really no more important question you can ask yourself than this simple question: Do I love Jesus Christ? But that raises a key question. How can I know? How can I know if I love Jesus Christ? And here again there's dangerous ground all around us because there are flawed ways to determine that we love Him.

One way people approach this problem of do I love Christ is to set up their own criteria, their own standard, and then to evaluate themselves against it. They measure themselves against their own standard of love and then they say: "You know I do love Jesus. I mean look at look at what is true in my life? Look at what I do? Look at how I respond. I mean after all I enjoy coming to church. I must love Jesus. I like hearing about Jesus and hearing about what He did at the cross. And you know when we sing songs about Jesus sometimes I am overwhelmed with emotion. I once had a vision of Jesus. I have this warm emotional feeling inside of me. I absolutely love Jesus." Or maybe this is the test we give ourselves: "You know I asked Jesus to forgive my sin and to come into my heart years ago. And I wrote that date in the front of my Bible and since that day I've never really doubted that I was a Christian. So there, I love Jesus." Still others may use this measurement of their love: "You know I try to live the best I can. I do nice things. I try to do just like He did. I try to live out the life of Jesus in the world." And there are many other ways this expresses itself. The problem is that these are all our own standard. Imagine if in the world of commerce everyone could establish their own standard. Tomorrow night you're going home from work, and you decide you need to stop by the grocery store. So, you go up to the grocery store, and as I often do, you go up to the deli counter to get some meats, some sandwich meats for your family and you say to the attendant there behind the counter, "You know I'll have a pound of that turkey thinly sliced please." And the attendant acknowledges your request and goes back there, and you watch that attendant take that ham and put it on the cutter and then run three little thin slices of turkey. And carefully seal those three little thin slices in a bag and put the little sticker on it and hand it to you with a smile and say, "Have a nice day." And you look down at those three little thin slices and that puny little plastic bag and the sticker says it's a pound of turkey. And the sticker says you're going be charged for a pound of turkey. And you say, "Wait a minute. Excuse me, um, this isn't a pound." And the attendant says, "Well, you know, I think it's a pound." What's going to be your response? "That doesn't really matter what you think is a pound. You're not the standard. You don't determine what is a pound and what isn't." You'd be right because there is an objective ultimate standard of what a pound is determined by the Division of Weights and Measures which is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. There is an objective test for what constitutes a pound. Each of us individually don't get to determine that. Thank God. Guess what? You don't have the authority and I don't have the authority to determine whether or not we love Jesus Christ. We can't establish the standard for that. We can't write the script and then see if we live up to it. Only Jesus has that authority. Only He can say whether or not we love Him. So, how can you know?

Well, you can know through the objective standards that He gives us in His Word. I searched through the New Testament this week and I found four primary evidences of a genuine love of Jesus Christ. I encourage you to do the same. I think you'll come up with the same basic list. Four primary evidences of a genuine love for Jesus Christ. Because ultimately our own assessment of whether we love Jesus doesn't matter. It's Christ's assessment that matters. You know there are many spouses who would say they love their mates. But you ask the mate and sometimes you get a different story. It's Christ's assessment that matter. Our hearts are so deceitful that we can't trust our own perceptions of whether or not we love Jesus. We need an external test that helps us and that's where these evidences come in. These evidences provide a test of whether or not you and I love Him, in other words, whether or not we are truly Christians at all. Moreover these evidences help teach us how to grow in our love for Christ. How to express our love for Jesus Christ even more. So, how can you know if you love Jesus Christ? Most important question you can ask yourself. How can you know?

Test number 1: Is Jesus more valuable to you than anything else in the world? Is Jesus more valuable to you than anything else in the world? Turn back to Matthew 13. Matthew 13 there are a number of parables that Jesus gave about the kingdom—about knowing Him and being a part of His kingdom. Buried in the heart of these parables are two very brief ones that are sisters to each other that basically communicate the same truth in in a different way. In different language. Look at Matthew 13 verse 44. "The kingdom of heaven," that is, Christ and His kingdom; knowing Him, being a part of His kingdom, "is like a treasure hidden in the field." Back in those days there weren't banks as we know them. You didn't go and deposit all your wealth in a safety deposit box or in the bank. Instead, if you had that kind of wealth you wanted to make it so that no one could find it. It wasn't uncommon for them to hide it somewhere in the ground on their property. So, here's apparently somebody died, nobody knew there was treasure in the field, somebody comes across and find the treasure hidden in the field "which a man found" and then he hides it again having found it he hides it "and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." Here's the picture of somebody who has come to see the value—the infinite value—of Jesus Christ and belonging to His kingdom and guess what? He's willing to give up everything else to get it. This isn't talking about earning your way or buying your way to heaven. This is talking about coming to the realization of the infinite value of Jesus Christ. He is worth more to you than anything else. Same story in the next parable verse 45, "Again, the kingdom of heaven," this Christ and His kingdom "is like a merchant seeking fine pearls." Here he doesn't stumble over it; he's been seeking fine pearls "and upon finding one pearl of great value he went and sold all that he had and bought it." Nothing else he possessed even came close in his own mind to the value of what he found. That's how it is with Christ and His kingdom.

There is the infinite value of knowing Jesus Christ. If you want to see what this looks like in a person, look at Philippians chapter 3. Paul is a perfect model of it. Paul uses in Philippians 3 the language of finance. He said, before I came to faith in Christ, I had these assets. I had these spiritual assets: I had a rich spiritual legacy; I had external righteousness in keeping the law of God; I was zealous for the things that mattered. And he lists a long list of spiritual assets. And he said I thought these things were really valuable. They were really important. And then he says verse 7, "But those things that I thought were an asset those things I have counted as a liability for the sake of Christ. More than that I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." And in Paul's case he didn't just see the value of Christ and

have a willingness to give up everything; he did give up everything. Notice what he says, "For whom I have suffered the loss of all things." And I count what I lost as, watch this: "rubbish so that I may gain Christ." That is, the word "rubbish" in the most polite word in the Greek language Paul could have used for the worst of trash including human excrement. Paul says, "I put Christ on one side of the scales, I put everything else I thought was important on the other side of the scales and on the Damascus Road, I came to see that Christ was infinitely more valuable and I was willing to give it all up. I did give it all up to gain Christ." By the way, tonight we'll look at the rich young ruler in Mark 10 and we'll see the opposite. A man who is confronted with all the things in his life and Christ and what does he choose. He chooses as well.

Let me ask you. Is there anything in life that matters more to you than Jesus Christ? I'm not asking for a politically correct answer. I'm not asking for the answer you think you ought to give. I'm asking you a genuine question. Is there anything in your life that is more important to you than Jesus Christ? Personal prosperity, money, success, possessions, status, success in your field whatever that may be, personal peace. You just want to live your life, have 1.5 children, have a job that allows you your weekend, retire early and just enjoy whatever you want with life. Personal pleasure and fulfillment whether it be the kind that Scripture allows such as the joy of marriage and married love or good food and family and friends or whether it be the illicit variety of the illicit pursuit of sex and pornography and drugs and alcohol or whatever it is some pleasure that you live for. Can you honestly say that if I could be sure I got Jesus Christ there is nothing in my life that I would not be willing to give up to get Him? He could ask me to give up anything or everything. If there's anything that's more valuable to you than Jesus Christ that thing whatever it has become, I'm sorry, whatever it is, has become an idol in your life. That means you love an idol more than you love Jesus Christ.

There's a second test of our love for Jesus: Is your affection greater for Jesus than for any other person including even yourself? Is your affection for Jesus greater than your affection for any other person including even yourself? I want to show you two passages, parallel passages that make this clear. Look back in Matthew chapter 10. Matthew 10. Jesus is talking about the fact that He came not to bring peace but to bring a sword. He would be the sword that would divide families based on their response to Him. In that context, He says in verse 37 of Matthew 10, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And He who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." Jesus says, you can't be My follower, be My disciple and love someone else more, that's the bottom line. In fact, you have to love Me so much more, Jesus says, that your love for other people in comparison looks like hatred. Turn over to the parallel passage in Luke 14. Jesus makes this point very clearly. Luke 14 verse 25, "Now large crowds were going along with Him," Jesus never sought large crowds but He attracted them, "and He turned and," He had this seeker sensitive thing to say to them, verse 26, "If any one comes to Me," in other words if you want to follow Me, if you want My kingdom, if you want to have a right relationship to Me and that person "and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." Couldn't be any clearer than that. By "hatred" we're told to love everyone so He's not saying you actually hate them as opposed to love them. He's saying your love for Me has to be so surpassing, so great that every other love for every other person looks like hatred in comparison. Jesus is claiming supreme allegiance of your affection. And He makes it very clear: if you don't do this you cannot be My disciple. To be a Christian is to have your affection more for Jesus Christ than for any other person including even yourself.

Let me ask you this morning: Is there a person in your life whom you love more than Jesus Christ? And if it meant devotion to Christ or devotion to that person you would choose that person? A spouse, a friend, a fiancée, a family member, a parent, a son, a daughter? If you were forced to choose, would you be willing to let go and choose Christ? That's what Christ is saying. If you have to choose: it's got to be Me if you're going to be My disciple. That's the spirit, by the way, that inspires missionaries to leave their families. You see, the right kind of missionary doesn't go to the mission field for the people there. Because if he goes solely for the people there he'll soon burn out because guess what the missionary will discover when he gets there? Those people weren't sitting there waiting for him to come. They're enjoying their sin and for the most part are happy to be without him. The real reason a missionary spends his life away from friends and family in some foreign land is for the sake of Jesus Christ and for the sake of His name.

David Livingston, the great missionary to Africa who braved all of the troubles of Africa for the sake of Christ, said this in his famous prayer, "Lord, send me anywhere only go with me. Lay any burden on me only sustain me. Sever any ties but the ties that bind me to Your service and to Your heart." Have you ever said that to Jesus Christ? How do you measure whether your love for Christ is greater than your love for yourself? It's a question I asked myself this week. How do you know? How do you know if your love for Christ is greater than your love for self? Ask yourself are you willing to set aside your own desires to pursue His desires? Are you willing to give up your own agendas to serve Him? Are you willing to use your time for His priorities rather than your own? Are you willing to do what He wants even when it crosses what you want? Are you willing to give your life as a living sacrifice? That's what He demands. Romans 12:1, I beseech you, "I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." No relationship can rise higher.

Number three, third test of our love for Jesus: Do you love His people? Do you love His people? Do you love other Christians? Do you love the people in this church? Nothing in Scripture is plainer than this. If we really love Jesus Christ, we will love others who know and follow Him. There are so many passages let me just take you to a couple. Look at John 21. This is the reinstatement of Peter. Do you remember after the resurrection, Peter and the other disciples returned to their homes in Galilee and Peter and some of them returned to fishing? Jesus shows up and this interchange takes place. John 21 verse 15, "So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?'" Now we can't be absolutely sure what Jesus means by "more than these." Commentators offer three options. The first one is not likely but it's possible. Jesus could be saying, "Do you love Me, Peter, more than you love these other disciples?" Again, possible but not likely. The second two are more likely. Jesus could be saying, "Do you love Me more than the other disciples love Me?" Do you remember Peter claimed that? He said, "Well, Lord they might all desert you, forsake you but I'll be true." He could be asking that. There's one other option though and frankly it's the one I tend to lean toward although we can't be certain. Jesus could be asking, "Do you love Me more than these things?" Looking around at the boat, and the fishing gear, and Peter's former life to which he had returned. "Do you love Me more than all of this stuff that's a part of your former life?" Now, I understand there's a lot of debate about the two Greek words for "love" that occur in this passage. Frankly, I don't think that's the crux of the passage because those same two words are used interchangeably in other places in John's gospel and throughout the New Testament. So, I think too much is made of that. Don't miss the big point though. Jesus asks Peter, "Do you love Me?" Peter says, "Yes, Lord I do." Three times. And in response to each one of those Jesus says, "If you love Me," watch verse 15, end of the verse, "tend My lambs." Verse 16, "Shepherd My sheep." Verse 17, "Tend my sheep." You see what Jesus is saying? "Peter, if you really love Me, you're going to pour your life into My sheep."

Do you love God's people? By the way, this isn't just true for apostles and ministers. Hebrews 6 verse 10 says the same thing is true of all believers. The writer of Hebrews in that verse says, "God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints." He says, you've shown your love for God and for His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, by ministering and continuing to minister to the saints. But this becomes crystal clear over in 1 John. Turn with me to John's first letter and chapter 4. He just keeps hammering this. 1 John 4 verse 7, "Beloved, let us love one another. For love is from God; and everyone," without exception, "who loves is born of God," or born out of God, "and knows God." If you love, and in the context, other Christians, you have been born of God, you've been regenerated, and you know God. Verse 8, "The one who does not love," one another, "does not know God." Couldn't be any clearer. Look down in verse 19, "We love because He first loved us." We love in response to the love God has shown us. "But if someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he's a liar;" He does not know God, "for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. This commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also." Look at chapter 5 verse 1, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Messiah" and I don't particularly like this translation in the Greek, it literally says, "whoever believes has been born of God," regeneration preceding faith, "and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him." He's talking about Christians. If you love the Father, you love His children. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe His commandments. You see it is impossible to love Jesus and not to love His church and His people. People who say "Oh, I love Jesus" but they don't belong to a church, they're not connected to the people of God, they're not living out their lives trying to care for God's people. They do not love Jesus. That's what John says. Do you enjoy being around Christ's people? Do you love them as John says in another place in his first letter, "Not in word only but in deed?" By what you do? Do you visit people who are sick? Do you care for those who are going through hard times? Do you pray for them? Do you open up your pocketbook and give so their physical needs can be met when they're without? Do you spend time with others who love Jesus? Do you love His people? If you're a true Christian, you do.

There's a fourth and final test of whether or not we love Jesus. It's this: Do you obey His commands? Do you obey His commands? Look at John chapter 14. In the Upper Room Discourse the night before His crucifixion our Lord makes this so clear again and again. Look at John 14 verse 15. "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." And remember if you're a Christian you love Jesus. So "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." Look down in verse 21. "He who has My commandments" listens to them, in other words, who treasures them "and keeps them," obeys them, he "is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." He's truly my disciple in other words. Down in verse 23 "Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, [that's comprehensive "anyone"] he will keep My Word.'" There's no question about it. If he loves Me, he'll keep My Word. "And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and [literally] make Our home with him." And then He says it negatively just in case we've missed it verse 24: "He who does not love Me does not keep My Words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's Who sent Me." Listen, you can test the reality of your love for Jesus Christ by do you take the commands of the Bible seriously? That's what Jesus is saying. When you're faced with a decision do you find yourself asking the question, "What would Christ want me to do?" Do you ask yourself often what does the Bible say about this situation? About what kind of clothes I should wear or whether I should go there or do there? Does the Bible speak to this issue at all? What about how I live? What about how I handle my Christian liberty? And on and on it goes. Do you find yourself asking yourself what does Christ say about it in His Word? And then seeking to do it? When your conscience confronts you with a sin pattern in your life do you just ignore it and move on? Or do you take that seriously? Do you as Jonathan Edwards said, "Do you fight against your corruption? Do you pray and fight and struggle and work hard to pursue changes in your life?" Listen, if you belong to Jesus Christ, if you love Jesus Christ, you at some level desire to obey Him and are obeying Him. And I don't care how many times you've prayed for God to save you, if you aren't living a life measured by obedience to Jesus Christ you are not His. That's what He says.

So, how did you do with that objective test? How did you measure up to the standard that Jesus uses to measure your love? Is He more valuable to you than anything else in the world? Is your affection greater for Him than for any other person including even yourself? Do you love His people? And do you seek to obey His commands? Do you love Jesus Christ? I'm not asking you this morning if you've made a decision or prayed a prayer or walked an aisle or signed a card. I'm not asking you if you attend church or attend Bible studies or attend youth group or try to read your Bible. I'm not asking if you try to live like a Christian. There will be people in hell forever who have done all those things. I'm asking you "Do you love Jesus Christ?" If not, this morning you need to understand that God is your righteous Creator. He made you. He has a right to tell you what to do and He's told you what to do in His Word and in your conscience which either excuses or accuses you. And you and I have chosen to rebel against conscience and against the Word of God to do our own thing. We are all sinners against God and the Bible says that sin deserves His eternal wrath in a place called hell forever. But God is also a God not only of justice and holiness, but He is a God of love, and He sent His only Son. He sent His only Son to live a perfect life. The life we should have lived. The life He commanded us to live. Jesus lived and then He died, suffering the wrath of God for every person who will ever believe so that you don't have to suffer the wrath of God. And then God raised Him from the dead and took Him back to heaven and someday He's coming again. That's the truth of the good news, the gospel. But it doesn't happen by osmosis. It doesn't happen for you until you respond to that gospel. How do you respond? Jesus first of Mark's gospel tells us how. He says, "Repent and believe in the gospel." Repent, be willing to turn from everything you know to be sin in your life. You have to be willing to leave it all and turn to Jesus Christ and then believe in Him. Put your full confidence of heaven and of eternal life and of salvation in Christ, in His perfect life and in His death on your behalf. If you'll do that, in a moment's time God will change you. He will forgive you. He will give you a genuine love for Jesus Christ.

Let me talk for a moment to those of you who can honestly take that test and say, not by my own standard but by the biblical standard, I can truly say that I love Jesus Christ. There is a very real danger folks in letting our love for Jesus grow cold. The last verse of Paul's wonderful letter to the church in Ephesus says, "We love Jesus!" Fast forward 30 or so years later the apostle John on the isle of Patmos and Jesus comes to him and says, I want you to write a letter to the church in Ephesus and I have a lot of wonderful things to say about them, but I have one huge problem. Tell them I have this against them; they have left their first love. Didn't mean they didn't love Jesus at all. Can't be a Christian and that be true. It meant the fervor of their first love for Christ had ebbed.

So, how can we rekindle a genuine love for our Lord? How can we cause the dying embers of our first love to burst into flame again? The English puritan, Thomas Vincent, who lived in the 1600's wrote an excellent book that I highly recommend to you entitled, The True Christian's Love for the Unseen Christ. In that book he gives nine remedies for an ebbing love. The first remedy is the only one I'll mention to you. He suggests we do this: direction number 1, be much in contemplation of Christ. You want to see your love for Christ grow? Meditate on Christ: On Who He is; on what He did for you; on what He is doing; on what He will do. Vincent writes, "Spend time in secret retirement and there think and think again of the superlative excellencies and perfections which are in Christ's person. How wonderful and matchless His love is. What heights that cannot be reached. What depths in it that cannot be fathomed. What other dimensions that cannot be comprehended." Think about Christ and His love. Meditate on Him. I think no where do we do that more profoundly than in the Lord's Table.

Our Father, thank You for the cup. Thank You for the reminder, in it that our Lord completely dealt with sin, with the guilt of sin that one day we would stand before You and hear our sins pronounced and hear the guilty verdict and hear then and experience the execution of the sentence. But, oh God, we thank You that in His death, in His blood poured out we are set free. That we stand before You in His righteousness with a hope of eternal life and eternal joy in Your presence. Father, help us to love Jesus Christ. We do love Him. But Father we want to love Him so much more. Help us not to live our lives for ourselves but for Him Who loved us and gave Himself for us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.