BASICS OF CHRISTIAN LIFE # 1
   If the creation is beautiful, what does it tell us about
 LOVING GOD (Part 1): ITS REASONS
The first three lessons will discuss the essential truths
concerning loving God: its reasons, requirements and
results. This first lesson presents five important
reasons for loving God above all.
I. WE SHOULD LOVE GOD BECAUSE HE IS WORTHY TO
BE LOVED ABOVE ALL
A. According to Mark 12:29 God is worthy to be
loved above all for
He is L__ __ __, He is G__ __ and He is the __ __ __
LORD God.
God is glorious in all that He is and in all that He does.
He is one of a kind for He is the only LORD God.
Nobody is greater and better than our God as He
Himself said, “I am God, and there is no other; I am
God, and there is none like Me” (Isaiah 46:9). Thus,
God is worthy to be loved above anyone and anything
else.  B.  How can man glorify God according to Mark
B. Underline everything that God possesses in the
verses below.
“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and
the glory, the victory and the majesty; For all that
is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the
kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head
over all. Both riches and honor come from You,
And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and
might; In Your hand it is to make great and to give
strength to all” (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).
C. God is worthy to be loved above all according to
what He has revealed about Himself through Christ
Jesus.
According to the Scripture Jesus Christ is the invisible
image of God (Col 1:15). All the fullness of God is
manifested on Him bodily (Col 1:19, 2:9). Christ
Himself said, “He who has seen Me has seen the
Father” (John 14:9).  Deuteronomy 30:6?
1.   Because Jesus Christ is the Maker and Maintainer of
all things (Col 1:16-17; John 1:3), what is He?
_____________________________________________
2.   If the creation is great, what does it tell us about
Jesus Christ, the Creator?
_____________________________________________
3.
Jesus Christ, the Creator?
__________________________________
4.  Because Jesus Christ is the perfect manifestation of
God, what does He deserve according to Matthew10:37?
_____________________________________________
_______________________________
5.  Can you share of anything you know from the
Scripture about Christ which shows Him worthy of
admiration and praises?
6.   Discussion: Which statement magnifies God, a) “I
love God in spite of who He is” or b) “I love God
because of who He is”?
Please explain your answer.
II. WE SHOULD LOVE GOD BECAUSE HE CREATED US
TO LOVE HIM ABOVE ALL
 A. Why did God create man according to Isaiah
43:7?  ______________________
12:30?  ______________________
C. If God’s greatest commandment for man is to love
Him above all, what is God’s greatest desire for
man? ______________________
D. If God’s greatest commandment for man is to love
Him above all, what is the greatest sin?
__________________________________
E. What did sin do to man’s relationship with God
according to Isaiah 59:2?
________________________________________
 III. WE SHOULD LOVE GOD BECAUSE HE SAVED US
TO LOVE HIM ABOVE ALL
 A. What is the purpose of Christ’s substitutionary
death according to 1 Peter 3:18?
________________________________________
B.  What is the purpose of salvation according to
 
________________________________________
C. What is the essence of eternal life according to
Jesus Christ in John 17:3?
________________________________________
D.  Christ’s ultimate desire for every believer is to
love Him for life and for eternity (John 17:24-26). 
IV. WE SHOULD LOVE GOD BECAUSE THE     God is holy for He always loves above all the most
COMMAND TO LOVE HIM IS FOR OUR OWN worthy to be loved above all, namely, Himself. What
GOOD then does it mean when God said to His people “be holy
for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16)? 
 A. What is God’s command to His people according
to Deuteronomy 6:5?       ____________________________________________
________________________________________
 PERSONAL APPLICATION: What truth has struck you
B. Why does God give commandments to His people
most from this lesson? What do you intend to do in
according to Deuteronomy 6:24?
response to all these precious truths?
________________________________________
 ASSIGNMENT: Read the Gospel of Matthew, at least 1
C. If the commandments are for man’s good and
chapter a day
loving God is the greatest among the
commandments, what then is the greatest good for                       Memorize 1 John 5:13; Mark 12:29
man?
________________________________________

 V. WE SHOULD LOVE GOD BECAUSE EVEN GOD

LOVES HIMSELF ABOVE ALL

 A.  Everything is created and sustained by God to

magnify Himself. 

“For of _____ and through _____ and to _____

are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen
(Romans 11:36; cf. Col. 1:16).

B. What does God value most according to Isaiah

48:9-11? _______________________

C. What is the reason stated by Christ why He wants

believers to love Him for life and for eternity
(John 17:24)?
________________________________________
________________________________________

 Christ wants us to love Him above all for life and

throughout eternity future because God the Father had
loved Him throughout eternity past. Before the
foundation of the world, when nothing existed but God,
when the heavens and earth have not yet been created,
the Father loved the Son. God’s ultimate treasure and
pleasure was His Son throughout eternity past. It will
always be the same, otherwise, God will be an idolater
for He would be valuing other things more than Himself
(John 17:5; Matthew 3:17; 17:5; Luke 6:35).

 Out of kindness God wants to share with believers the

joy He had in loving God the Son throughout eternity.
God wants us to love Christ above all for He knows
Christ is worthy to be loved above all and that there is
none else that can fully satisfy man than the glory
of Christ. 
 
 BIBLE VERSES  
Mark 12:29b “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the
LORD is one.”  
Matthew 10:37 “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.”

Isaiah 43:7 “Everyone who is called by My name, whom I

have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have
made him.”

Mark 12:30 “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.”

Isaiah 59:2a “But your iniquities have separated you from

your God.”

1Peter 3:18a “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the
just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God”

Deuteronomy 30:6 “And the LORD your God will

circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to
love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all
your soul, that you may live.”

John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know
You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have
sent.”

John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave
Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My
glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before
the foundation of the world. 25 "O righteous Father! The
world has not known You, but I have known You; and
these have known that You sent Me. 26 "And I have
declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the
love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in
them."

Deuteronomy 6:5 “You shall love the LORD your God

with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
strength.”

Deuteronomy 6:24 “And the LORD commanded us to

observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for
our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is
this day.”

Romans 11:36 “For of Him and through Him and to Him

are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”

Isaiah 48:9 “For My name's sake I will defer My anger,

And for My praise I will restrain it from you, So that I do
not cut you off. 10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as
silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For
My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; For how
should My name be profaned? And I will not give My
glory to another.