Sermon Notes: The Need For Love Part 2

So if all of this is true then why is it that many of us know about His love but few of us dwell in the reality and experience of His love? Why is it then that so many Christians rarely if ever express and present to the world around them a person who has been fundamentally and radically changed by the experience of dwelling in God’s love? Why is it that we look and sound like those who walk around this earth speaking the language of the lost; complaining. Why do we have to fight so hard with our self absorption in order to even begin to consider what is going on with someone else around us, maybe someone in our homes and in our own beds? Why do we feel that we aren’t good enough Christians yet and that I need to do all this work for Christ in order to gain His acceptance and approval? How come I don’t have a clue about this so called victorious Christian life of rest and peace in Him? Why is my life being ruled more by my emotions instead of the eternal truth of God’s word? How come I haven’t learned how to be content in all things like Paul was able to learn? Why do I continue to believe the lies about myself that my inner man mumbles to me when I want to go to sleep that I am worthless and unlovable and that no one really cares about me because why would they?

It is all because I have allowed my emotions and thoughts to be my god. It is all because I have defined love based on my experiences with fallen, sinful human beings. And as thankful and appreciative as I am for the priceless gift of the love of another person, it can never do the work of "completing me". Somewhere along the line we believed the message that human love be it from a parent, a lover, a spouse or even a child can fulfill us and "complete" us. And as wonderful and precious as all those forms of love are, they still end up failing in sustaining our need for love.  

And then we are presented with the truth of God's word which goes to great lengths to describe a love beyond human understanding; a love that is infinite; a love received not based on the recipient earning or even deserving of His love. A love that just is because the God who gives it is love. And to prove the truth of His love, He sacrifices His Son in the single greatest act of love in human history. 

And yet we struggle with experiencing His love. I think the problem is THE problem of all problems; the problem of sin. Sin has tainted and distorted everything good in God's creation. By the time we get to experience anything of God's creation; the purity and holiness of what His hand has created has changed. Think about it. In the original creation everything was sinless, pure, perfect and holy. Once sin entered our experience it tainted everything. Man who was made in the image and likeness of God barely resembles that image and likeness anymore. Certainly not at all without the transforming work of Jesus Christ. And even then, the born-again renewed and transformed spirit and soul is still housed by a body of corrupted flesh. Then you put together a hundred or so of those transformed and renewed people housed in flesh together in a place we call church and it's no wonder the church has the issues it has. Christians are not perfect human beings. We are transformed, saved, forgiven, sanctified ONLY by the work of His cross. To expect complete perfection from Christians is an extremely unrealistic expectation and a recipe for disappointment and disaster. To expect complete perfect love from any human beings, even Christians is a set-up for failure. It is only through the work of the Holy Spirit that we get to experience any of the glimpses of His original, sinless, holy creation at all. Including the experience of love.

We believe that the love of God is a real and wonderful reality but have we judged the quality of His love based on our experience of human love? And since human love is lacking we judge God’s love to be lacking as well. And since pain, heartbreak, disappointment, suffering, tragedy and the fact that life is not going my way are all a parts of this life, my brain jumps to the conclusion that if there were a God who loves us then why do I and the rest of us have the experience of suffering and pain? (Funny how we never ask this question when we experience pleasure which probably cause more problems than pain does, but that's another blog for another day).

Despite the problem of God's love being tainted by our sin, God has made His love as abundant to us as the air we breath. I really don't have to look very hard for it. What did I have to eat today? Where did the food come from? Is there anything at all that I need that I don't have? Is there at least one person in the world who loves me and that I can love back? The answer to all of these questions is a resounding yes and the truth is that I have much, much more than I need in all of these areas and so many more.
So then why is it that so many of us are so dissatisfied and interpret our dissatisfaction as meaning that God's love is deficient in our lives? The reason I don’t always experience His love is simple. I am still a child throwing a temper tantrum who insists that I get my toy or my ice cream and if the one who can give it to me ever says no then I am not being loved.

But if I make the choice to reconsider all of this; to see the truth not just in His word but in this world and in my own life and the lives of most, then maybe something could change. If I begin to place the truth of God’s love before my thoughts, my feelings and my interpretations of my life then maybe I might start seeing things differently. If I force my mind to begin it’s processing with the truth that God loves me then maybe something might begin to change. If the first thought I choose in the morning when I awake would be that God loves me then maybe things might change. If when I look at my wife I would have the thought God loves me maybe things would be better between us. If when I go out the door and drive and think God loves me maybe I will see and treat others a little bit better and maybe His love will push through the sin and corruptible flesh to touch someone else. If when I have to deal with difficult people I think that God loves me in my extreme difficulty maybe they won’t bother me as much and I won’t be as inclined to give them a piece of my mind.

If I begin to look back through my life and look for the evidence that God loves me maybe something might change deep within me. If instead of looking at my parents through critical eyes that condemn them as being dysfunctional maybe I would be able to see that maybe there were times that they provided love for me. It might have been imperfect and it might have been infrequent but maybe there were times where they at least tried to love me through their fallenness and sin. If I really look hard enough I’ll see that they loved me when I was disrespectful and took my anger out on them. I’ll se that they loved me in spite of my own sin and fallenness.

If I look hard enough I would see that God had sent a multitude of people throughout my life to love me. And instead of being angry that they were only there for a season and when they left my life they took their love with them; maybe I could instead be grateful that they were there in the first place and that I did experience their love.

If I look hard enough I would see that during the times of my being abused that there was an eternal action of love that took place 2000 years ago when God gave His Son to be abused in order to deal with what was being done to me then maybe I might begin to see that despite what He allowed that He still loved me and would eventually use this for good.

If when I look at myself instead of seeing a severely overweight, getting older by the minute lump of flesh who in my own critical eyes never does anything right and who questions his own existence in this world; if I would choose instead to see His creation, His handiwork created by Him for a purpose and function in this world then something very deep within me might begin to change. Instead of looking at myself and seeing a Christian who just isn’t good enough yet if I would choose instead to see me as He sees me; forgiven, made righteous through His blood, a new creation made new by His love having paid for my sin then things might really begin to change.

If I ever wonder if God actually loves me or not maybe I’ll imagine a beaten beyond human recognition Savior dying on a cross for me. Maybe something might fundamentally begin to change deep down inside of me that this event happened because of His love for me and because of my hatred for Him. 

If after all of this change in perspective I begin to look at you and understand that I am just as much of a sinner as you are and that since God loves me it must mean that He loves you too then maybe I just might start looking at you differently than before and I might just start treating you differently than before.

Because once I begin to experience and live in and dwell in the reality of His love for me things will begin to fundamentally change. The world won’t change one iota. But I will. Once my need for love begins to be filled by Him I won’t need yours as much as before. I will still want and it and need it for God loves me most often through you. But once I become secure by the power of His might reinforcing His love over and over again and again in me I will be a person who is more at peace and at rest in Him; secure in a love that has no limits; a love that can never be depleted; a love that still loved me when I was against Him in my sin; a love that loved me before I was born; before the heavens and the earth were formed. I am not loved because I exist; I exist because I am loved.

And I’m going to need you in order to give you some of this love too. He doesn’t just want me to dwell in the experience of His love just for my benefit. If that were the case then it wouldn’t be love at all. His love can’t just stop with any of us. It has to keep keeping on. Just as being loved is a need so is being a lover a need. So let people love you. Don’t steal their blessing. And pass it on. When you do you will be living as Jesus lived. You will be fulfilling the purpose of His creating you.  

Knowing that through what Jesus performed on that cross that I am forgiven and accepted as I am; that at this moment of still having flawed fallen flesh that God is ok with me; has got to be the most incredible thing of all. Just as a newborn baby is loved for coming into the world and cannot earn or even deserve that love based on any accomplishments, we too need to know that His love for us is always exactly the same. There is nothing we can do to earn it. What He wants us to do is believe it so that we can receive it and share it with those around us. As far as I'm concerned that right there is the deepest and most profound theology of all. And once I allow myself to exist in that knowledge I can take a deep breath and relax in Him and in His love. There is still work for Him to do in me for I am far from completion. Even after dwelling in the experience of His love the old self absorbed old man resurfaces pretty much everyday. But that’s ok, there’s always a cross to take that old man to. God always provides the way.

So I don’t have to worry about jumping through any hoops and being a better Christian for His work on that cross was complete. There is no greater love than a man laying down His life for another. He did it and I get to receive the blessing of it. 

And so do you.