A talk about encountering the love of God and then being the encounter with God’s love that others so desperately need:
I recently came back from a men’s retreat. As soon as I got home I started judging in my heart other guys that I knew who had no interest in serving or loving God. I got angry… and then I realized something. These guys just don’t know how much Jesus loves them and some don’t even know that he loves them at all. We cannot and should not expect anyone to love Jesus or serve Jesus without first encountering his love. Right? After all, “We love because God first loved us.” (1 John)
But, in our self seeking and sinful hearts, we tend to avoid the love of God like the plague. Even as Christians we sidestep his love, avoid intimacy, and incessantly distract ourselves from God’s love. I think many of us are afraid of the perceived “strings attached” to his love (little knowing that there aren’t any – please disagree with me and comment if you can think of any), OR, that we will only disappoint God.
This is one of my greatest fears. That I will fail him. That I will be a sad disappointment to him. And that he will abandon me. I fear his rejection. But here’s the truth that calmed this fear:
Jesus suffered all of my rejection for me already.
Yes, I absolutely deserved rejection by this Holy God because of all the shameful things I’ve thought, done and said but I can instead rest assured of God’s glad welcome and open arms for me!
Why?
The cross.
So, what are we so afraid of? 1 John 4 tells us that God’s perfect love drives out all fear. Don’t you find it odd that the very think we avoid because of fear is the very thing that will drive out all fear?
Do we trust him? Do we believe that God loves us so much that he would rather die than to be without us? Why don’t we really believe he has our best interests at heart?
It seems to me that most people hold out from giving ourselves or surrendering to God’s love and instead pursue the fleeting pleasures that sin can offer us, little knowing that it is our sin that prevents us from experiencing the lasting pleasure of knowing God and his love.
God’s challenge for us is this: “I dare you to trust in my love for you. Just the way you are.”
Say it with me. “God, I trust you. Jesus, I receive your love.”
We need to be pursuing encounters with the love of God. While it is awesome to get alone in prayer and experience the love of Jesus, or to seek out an encounter with Jesus and his love in a time of worship, we often neglect the best way and the way Jesus reveals to us to experience and to remain in the love of Jesus. It is simply this: To be the experience and encounter of God’s love to others. This is the very thing Jesus tells us is the primary way to experience his love.
“Abide in my love”, Jesus says. How? “By keeping my commands”, Jesus says. What are your commands? “To love others”, Jesus says. (John 15)
“The story starts in 1815 in Digne. The peasant Jean Valjean has just been released from imprisonment in the Bagne of Toulon after nineteen years (five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family, and fourteen more for numerous escape attempts). Upon being released, he is required to carry a yellow passport that marks him as a prisoner, despite having already paid his debt to society by serving his time in prison. Rejected by innkeepers, who do not want to take in a convict, Valjean sleeps on the street. This makes him even angrier and more bitter.
However, the benevolent Bishop Myriel, the bishop of Digne, takes him in and gives him shelter. In the middle of the night, Valjean steals Bishop Myriel’s silverware and runs away. He is caught and brought back by the police, but Bishop Myriel rescues him by claiming that the silverware was a gift and at that point gives him his two silver candlesticks as well, chastising him to the police for leaving in such a rush that he forgot these most valuable pieces. After the police leave, Bishop Myriel then “reminds” him of the promise, which Valjean has no memory of making, to use the silver candlesticks to make an honest man of himself.” (From Wikipedia)
This “encounter” with the grace and love of God changed Jean Valjean’s life. We too can be encounters with the love of God that others need for it is only the love of Jesus that can transform our lives and make us into the loving people God created us to be.
So, what do you think? Does this ring true? How will this affect your approach to experiencing the love of Jesus?
Here are a few thoughts regarding the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus and the Name of Jesus. After watching the word for word rendition of the “Gospel of John” (Visual Bible), I was stunned. My faith was challenged as I watched this actor playing the role of Jesus saying the audacious things he was saying.
If you read through John’s Gospel you can’t escape the fact that Jesus was claiming to be God. This flesh and blood, quite ordinary looking Jewish man, claimed to be God! Any serious look into who who exactly this Jesus was (and still is) forces us to wrestle with his claims and make a decision about him.
C. S. Lewis writes that for a man to make the kind of claims Jesus made he could not simply be just a prophet or just a good moral teacher. No, He would have to be much more than that or very, very much worse.
Lewis points out that either Jesus was a liar and a great deceiver, or he was a lunatic or, that he was and is exactly who he says he is. The LORD. God incarnate. The only way of salvation. The “I AM”. There is no way around it!
God has left it to you to decide. Will you believe in Jesus? Will you receive him or reject him? Will you submit to him or chase after sin? But you must not and cannot come with any patronizing nonsense about him being just a good moral teacher or just a prophet. He didn’t leave that option open to us. He did not intend to.
Well put C.S. Lewis.
God revealed his name to Moses as “I AM” (YHWH) in the burning bush experience (Exodus 3). This is often rendered Jehovah or Yahweh and in most bibles will read “LORD” (all caps) throughout the Old Testament. God progressively reveals himself to his people by pairing his Name “I AM” with his attributes. In Genesis 22 He reveals himself to Abraham as “I AM your provider” (YHWH Jirah) Genesis 22:14 . The Bible goes on to describe him with these names:
I AM your Righteousness (YHWH tsidkenu) Jeremiah 23:6
I AM your Healer (YHWH rapha) Exodus 15:26
I AM your Peace (YHWH-shalom) Judges 6:24
I AM here for you (YHWH shammah) Ezekiel 48:35
I AM your Creator (YHWH hoseenu) Psalm 95:6
I AM your Banner of victory (YHWH nissi) Exodus 17:15
I AM your Sanctifier (I make you holy) (YHWH-m’kaddesh) Exodus 31:13
I AM your Shepherd (YHWH-raah) Psalm 23:1
I AM Lord of hosts (armies) (YHWH-sabaoth) 1 Samuel 1:3
In his Gospel, the apostle John picks up on this theme and gives us at least 7 “I AM” statements of Jesus.
1. The Bread Of Life
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35)
2. The Light Of The World
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
3. The Gate
I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. (John 10:9)
4. The Good Shepherd
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)
5. The Resurrection And The Life
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)
6. The Way, The Truth, And The Life
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
7. The Vine
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
On one occasion Jesus makes his identity abundantly clear to his Jewish audience who then picks up stones to stone him for blasphemy. He says them, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!” (John 8:58 NLT)
They all knew what he was claiming and were going to kill him for it.
Here is another account where Jesus makes a claim that the people knew was a claim to be God from John 10:30-33 (NIV):
I and the Father are one.”
Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them,“I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
Take a look at this account of when Jesus was being arrested in John 18:4-6 (NLT):
“Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.
“Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied.
“I AM he,”[b] Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) As Jesus said “I AM he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground!”
(Here is the footnote [b] John 18:5 Or “The ‘I AM’ is here”; or “I am the Lord”; Greek reads I am; also in 18:6, 8. See Exod 3:14.)
Amazing isn’t it? This Jesus whose very name means “I AM Salvation” is the very same God who spoke the world into existence, who created you and I for his glory, and then gave his life on a cross. His love for us made him do it.
I will leave you with this last verse I just stumbled upon:
“Unless you believe that I am you will die in your sins” ~ Jesus (John 8:24)
The following are some videos I put together on this subject and more. I particularly like Part 2 and I think you will too:
Jesus shared the story of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son to illustrate the attitude of the Father (God) toward all his lost children. He is waiting and watching and doing everything possible to bring them home. Yes, he has done everything! The cross accomplished more than we will ever know. When Jesus said, “It is finished” he meant it. On the cross God Himself bore our shame, our pain, every last lustful look and judgmental attitude. He bled for every murder, every rape, every homosexual act, & every word of gossip so that we might be saved and have hope & redemption.
God respects our free will. He will never force us to come. He simply invites…
Be reconciled to God today! Stop everything and take a moment and connect with him right now. Talk to him.
“I have done nothing at all in my life, to earn your favor
I have done nothing at all in my life, to earn your love
I have been broken and bruised by my sin and my folly
But you have been broken for me redeeming me with your blood
And how is it that I am accepted?
How is it that I am made clean?
Why should you even care for a wretch like me?
And how is it that I am made righteous?
And how is it that you have saved me?
Why would you choose to die for a wretch like me?
You have been longsuffering, as I have tested your patience
You have been calling to me, as I have wandered from you
But you go to great lengths to prove that you still care
And you went to great lengths to woo my heart back to you
Your blood cries out Father forgive them
Your blood cries out Father I love them”
(Lyrics to “Nothing at All” – a song by Daniel & Catherine Lovett which appears on their latest album, “I Will Bring You Peace” – See the Support our Music link above to learn more about this project! Or visit: www.reflectworship.com)
Here is a video of this song on Youtube:
Several years ago, I had an epiphany – an insight into something that was ingrained in my thinking patterns. I know that I had learned this same lesson on several occasions before, but a dialogue I had with my wife drilled it home once again. Here is how that went down:
My wife and I were visiting with my sister-in-law Stacy. During our visit, Stacy told us that she had felt ill for the past few months and after many visits to the doctor she was just told that she has cancer. The doctor had given her about a year to live. Of course this news was a blow to my wife and I. We couldn’t imagine how they were handling the fact that she was facing imminent death.
The thing that amazed me the most was that she was more worried about her husband having to raise the kids by himself than the fact that she was going to die. During our visit I did not sympathize as I should have. Instead I said something like, “Well, we all are going to die.” I went on to philosophize about death and how we are all living on borrowed time anyway and how fragile life really is and what a miracle it is that any of us are breathing. It was very eloquent.
On the way home my wife confronted me about my lack of compassion. I became instantly defensive, and then went into a tirade of how I must be condemned because I have no love in my heart and where is the activity of God in my life anyway that I should be such a heartless jerk? I was being slightly facetious because, in fact, I really did love myself and thought very well of me. I must humbly admit in retrospect however, that I was very wrong. Anyway, most of what spewed from my mouth left me feeling terrible and alienated from God.
The next day I started once again in the new mercies of God, but I had to ask myself why did I react in this way? Then this thought hit me:
“Will my good deeds outweigh my bad?”
I realized then that I had been carrying around this idea of a “scale” that weighed and measured my good deeds against my bad deeds. My worth depended on how well I performed and how well that scale was balanced.
This mentality was so deep-seated in me that I reacted badly when anyone dared to confront me with a fault. It was as if they were adding one more brick to the ‘bad deeds’ side of the scale. For this reason, I hated taking responsibility. In fact, I hated words such as “responsible” and “accountable”. I didn’t want to face the punishment for my own sins, much less be held responsible for someone else and have their blood on my head. This was why I, in the past, I didn’t function so well as a worship leader in “church leadership”. I felt that I was responsible for people’s souls and I could not cope with that. I would even wish for sickness or a broken down car at times to escape the constant pressure. Of course this is just one of the many ungodly beliefs that over my lifetime have become embedded in the gray matter.
I began to recognize that I was not alone. Many people operate out of this mentality in which they “hope” that their good deeds will outweigh their bad in the end. Whole religious systems of thought are based on this idea. As I thought this way it led me to try to seek approval through doing good and performing well. I thought that by just adding more good bricks to the good side of the scale that things will all work out in the end, and in the meantime, I will feel better about myself and be accepted.
My good bricks were my good deeds. For instance, if I played spiritual concerts for the elderly at nursing homes, then I would finally be accepted and approved by God. Each “successful” concert left me feeling much better. In fact I only considered a concert a success if it left me feeling better about me. I had to feel good.
It was thrilling for me when I preached my first sermon, because in my mind this was a good and heavy brick. I would definitely be in God’s favor now! I called my mother and left a message for her, “The most exciting thing had happened to me! I just preached my first sermon!” A few days later she called me back and told me how proud of me she was. As she was telling me that, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. As I reflected on my initial reaction to “my first sermon” and how excited I was about it, I realized that yes, I could be excited about it, but not for the reasons that I was. I now see that the Lord is just as offended by the good bricks as he is by the bad ones. Trying to earn God’s favor is an insult to his grace.
Radical New Perspective
I have come to see that God doesn’t want us burdened with any bricks (good or bad) that weigh us down and keep us from following him. Besides, the constant balancing act is no way to live. Jesus wants to liberate us and he invites us to drop all of our “bricks” at his feet and learn to walk with him and live for him as we are meant to.
At one point after about nine months of playing hymns for the old folks several times a week the Lord asked me, “So when are you going to start doing these concerts for me?” Wow. His question cut me to the heart.
I was playing these concerts for me. It is true that I became free from a long seven year stretch of chronic depression when I first began to bless the elderly with music. How could I not be changed by a constant interaction with, not only the liberating truth that is in so many classic hymns, but also the love and support of so many of my elders? How could I not be blessed when I have a hundred year old lady shake my hand and say, “God bless you”?
In spite of all the good things that came from all my good deeds, my performance mentality still stood in the way of the relationship that the Lord desired to have with me.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul comments about his Jewish brothers. He says, “I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:2-4 NIV)
I could identify with this Scripture but I didn’t know how to change. Ever since I became a “Christian” I was always trying to establish my own righteousness. It’s not even that I was raised to think this way, but perhaps this is just a universal human default mentality to want to (or feel like you have to) earn God’s favor. I even once caught myself praying, “Lord, make me worthy of your grace.” I was missing the point of grace altogether.
My own grandfather was once presented with the good news of Jesus by my parents. At the time he told them, “If I can’t have a part in my own salvation, I am not interested.” He has since passed away, and it burdens me now more than ever to think where he might be.
Why is it so ingrained in human nature to want to earn our own way? Why is it so difficult for us to receive God’s saving grace – his unmerited favor and blessing? Our own pride is the enemy of our own salvation.
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6 NIV)
We must humbly admit that we cannot do a thing to save ourselves (be “poor in spirit”). We must humbly admit that we cannot even add an ounce of our own righteousness to the scales that will somehow make us acceptable to God. On our own, the scales will always be out of balance and never in our favor. Thank God that he does not leave us on our own.
Of course the Lord knows our desperate situation and has given Jesus as his answer. I believe he is telling us to abandon our scales and bricks once and for all and then simply come and follow him. Jesus will teach us how to truly live. He will teach us the “unforced rhythms of grace”. See Matthew 11:28.
THE EXAMPLE OF THE APOSTLE PAUL
The apostle Paul had a pile of good bricks. He was a pure blooded Israelite. He was able to say that he kept the law faultlessly. He was a Pharisee, the most zealous and strictest sect of the Jewish spiritual leaders. By all appearances he was a model example of spirituality. Yet he says, “Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith” (Philippians 3:7-9 NIV emphasis mine).
Paul abandoned his bricks for a new approach to spirituality. A spirituality based on and flowing out of an affirming love of God that is entirely separate from any good deeds.
Think about it. Before Jesus had even begun his ministry, his Father spoke from heaven affirming him with his love saying, “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.” (Matthew 3:17)
As you trust in Jesus, the Father will speak those same words over you. You become the delight of his life. As you trust in Jesus, you become his beloved. As you trust in Jesus, you become a member of Christ’s body – part of Christ himself! As you trust in Jesus, the Father says that he loves you as much as he loves Jesus! Because you are one with Christ and in Him!
This is the ‘mystery’ that Paul keeps referring to throughout his letters. This is what Paul was so excited about that even imprisonment, beatings, persecutions, and all the other sufferings and hardships that Paul experienced did nothing to dampen this flame of Christ within him! This was Paul’s cause to live and to die for – Christ, the one new man – “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3 NIV).
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O God, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that we no longer need to sweat about our own efforts and our lack of “measuring up”. Thank you for Jesus, your gift to us, who did all the measuring up for us on our behalf. Thank that as we simply trust Jesus, we are included in all that you have planned – all of the wondrous and beautiful and glorious blessings that you delighted so much in planning for us to experience.
We trust you. We trust in you our kind Creator and our good shepherd. We trust your good intentions for us and in your salvation which runs far deeper than we can even or ever imagine. We thank you that our salvation is not depended on our own efforts, but that you have freely given salvation to us all who least deserve such a gift. Help us to receive your grace well and learn to, once and for all, lay down the scale and the bricks at your feet… at the cross.
C. S. Lewis
Daniel Lovett 