Responding to Love
Over the past few weeks I've talked about hard truths and sin, about separation from the world, and even the reality of Hell. All of which are related to punishment and the nature of God's wrath. And because God is so multifaceted - there are so many aspects and characteristics that make up our limited understanding of Him - this morning, I wanted to look at another aspect - God's love.
The world claims to know a lot about love. Think about some of these many song titles, and you'll probably hear the melody in your head for many - "All You Need is Love", "I Want to Know What Love Is", "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Addicted to Love", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Love Me Do", "The Power of Love", "When A Man Loves a Woman", "Somebody to Love", "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", "Love Will Keep Us Together", "Love Me Tender", "Modern Love", "How Deep Is Your Love", "Sunshine of Your Love", "All Out of Love", "Higher Love", "Tainted Love", "You Can't Hurry Love", "Radar Love", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Love Stinks", "You've got to Hide Your Love Away", "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)"...
Musicians apparently have a lot to say about love, but I don't want to look at love as the world defines it. The world has made an art form out of taking something that God created good and turning it into something unrecognizable. I'd like to remind us of what true love looks like by looking at God's love for us. God's love is far deeper and greater than any song title can convey. So let's look at the fact that God has...
I. Unconditional Love
Is it possible for a human to truly love unconditionally? Does our 'unconditional love' have limits? - Which kind of disqualifies it as 'unconditional'. How many individuals can we love unconditionally? Are we emotionally capable of loving the whole world 'unconditionally'?
When we talk about God's unconditional love, it's on a whole different level from man's idea of love. God will never run out of love; God can physically demonstrate His love for every single person indefinitely. We can't do that, no matter how well intentioned or how hard we might try.
Our love is 'discriminating'. Meaning - our love, our human relationships discriminate, differentiate how we relate to others. Based on shared values, personalities, life circumstances - we choose different relationships over others. We are called to love one another - but our love varies by degree from person to person. I can't honestly say that I love everyone unconditionally. It's something for which to strive, but I don't have the same love for everyone.
Think of it this way - years back when I was dating, there were some girls who rejected me and some that I rejected. (Of course it was mostly me being rejected - I'm a bit of an acquired taste...) But I chose my wife, Erin, over all the others. And I chose to make a commitment to her that I wasn't going to make to just anyone. I can be nice and polite in my other relationships - but by definition of my marriage vows, my love chose one over others.
God isn't limited like that. When we talk about God's unconditional love, we see that God loves even...
A. The unlovable
God doesn't have the limitations that I have. I want to look at the book of Ezekiel from the Old Testament. Remember that Ezekiel was a prophet who was among the Jewish exiles carried away to Babylon. He was given some awesome visions of God in His incredible power and glory! And keep your finger in chapter 16 as our main passage today. In this first section, God gives a rather graphic description of His chosen people and the state in which He found them. So let's look at Ezekiel 16:4-5 (NIV)...
On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. (5) No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.
God was establishing the fact that His chosen people - on their own - were not very lovable. They were unloved. It wasn't their beauty or strength that drew Him to them, but rather His love. God was choosing His people not based on anything about them but because of His unconditional love.
God's love for us doesn't come from our inherent loveliness. We're nothing special on our own. In fact, left on our own, we choose to live lives that can be downright unlovable towards God. And that's how some get the idea that they aren't 'worthy' of God's love; that they've done too many bad things to even enter into a Church building! - Because they mistakenly believe that God's love is dependent upon what we do.
They believe that God loves them if they're good and rewards them, or hates them if they're bad and will condemn them to Hell. You don't go to Heaven or Hell based on how good or bad you've been but on your acceptance or rejection of Jesus as your Lord and Savior- period.
God chose us because of His amazing capacity for love, not because we were such a great catch! Even in our unlovable state, God demonstrates His...
B. Extravagant love
Let's go back to our Old Testament passage...
Ezekiel 16:10-14 (NIV)
I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. (11) I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, (12) and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. (13) So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth.
Your food was fine flour, honey and olive oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. (14) And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD.
This is a picture of God's wild, extravagant love. Because of God's unconditional love, His chosen people - who started out as unlovable - became beautiful and powerful and precious, through the power of His transforming love. It's at this point in Ezekiel, however, that the story changes. After this outpouring of unconditional love on God's part, the story takes a dark turn. At this point we see demonstrated...
C. A jealous Love
And this may seem out of place after we just talked about God's unconditional love, His extravagant love - but it makes sense in the context of the whole story. Let's continue in Ezekiel 16:15 (NIV)...
But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his.
Then let's skip ahead to Ezekiel 16:32-34 (NIV)...
'You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband! (33) Every prostitute receives a fee, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors. (34) So in your prostitution you are the opposite of others; no one runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you.'
Pretty harsh words - I'm kinda glad we already dismissed our younger ones. This picture of God's jealousy is not the first time we see something like this recorded. God told Moses back in Exodus "Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God."
It isn't a secret on God's part that He is a jealous God. But as we listen to this description of God's jealousy - does it make you a bit... uncomfortable? You may be asking yourself the same question many have - isn't jealousy bad?
When we hear that someone is a jealous husband - that's not a compliment, right? A jealous husband is one who suspects that his spouse is cheating on him, who doesn't trust the one who made a vow to him. That suspicion and jealousy actually undermines the relationship and usually proves fatal to that relationship. But, there's a difference between that kind of jealousy and righteous jealousy
For a different perspective, let's take a look at the Apostle Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3 (NIV)...
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. (3) But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
There's a difference between suspicious human jealousy and righteous or 'godly' jealousy. In a situation where two individuals have promised to be faithful to the other - if one breaks that vow - isn't jealousy the natural emotion? One major difference is that God doesn't have to speculate about a supposed infidelity. God knows at all times whether his people are faithful to Him or not.
When we just read God's harsh accusations of His people's unfaithfulness, there was a section that I skipped over, chapter 16:16-31. In that passage, it describes very graphically the sins of God's people and their unfaithfulness. It talks of perverse sex acts with idols and even sacrificing their own children to idols. There was no doubt whatsoever of the unfaithfulness of those who had promised themselves to God. They had undeniably and unashamedly broken their vows and God had every right to be angry and jealous.
God has told us that He is a jealous God, but to get a more complete picture, we also need to look at His...
II. Incredible grace
Some who don't understand God might say that this display of jealousy on God's part is the reason they couldn't worship a god like that. But they're missing the rest of the story. To understand the bigger picture, we need to understand that God is so holy and so perfect that He cannot tolerate sin. His very nature abhors sin. He's never made that a secret about Himself and He even clearly spelled out the consequences of sin. As The Creator, He has told us, when we sin, exactly...
A. What we deserve
There is always a price for sin, for disobedience. God spelled out exactly what His disobedient people deserved for their repeated unfaithfulness. Back to Ezekiel 16:38-40 (NIV)...
I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring upon you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger. (39) Then I will hand you over to your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you naked and bare. (40) They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords.
God didn't mince words when He told His people what they deserved. He told them because of their unfaithfulness He would remove His blessings - remove His divines protections and would allow other nations to punish them. There is always a high price for sin. However - and here's the part that people who don't truly know God miss - for God's children who turn back to Him, what we deserve isn't always...
B. What we get
God had just displayed His jealous anger and pointed out, that by the rules of the covenant that His people agreed to follow, they actually deserved a horrific punishment. But let's continue in Ezekiel 16:59-63 (NIV)...
'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. (60) Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. (61) Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger.
I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant with you. (62) So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD. (63) Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign LORD.'
There's always a price for sin. God's people deserved a severe punishment for their unfaithfulness, but notice that because of God's great love - ultimately, He Himself will take their punishment. Notice the words in vs. 63 - "when I make atonement for you for all you have done". Because God is righteous and just, there must be a penalty, a punishment for sin. But because of God's unconditional love and incredible grace, He now takes the punishment Himself for those who love and follow Him.
Hundreds of years before Jesus was born - God told Ezekiel that He would atone for their sins. Jesus - God in the flesh - died on a cross for our sins, He took our punishment. That's the example of incredible love that God sets for His people. It's a selfless love, a sacrificial love, a love that gives everything. That's the relationship into which God calls each of us.
So What?
The real question is - how do YOU respond to a love like that? You can choose to reject God and do what you want and see how that turns out... Or - you can choose to accept that love and choose to follow God with every fiber of your being. Those are really the only two choices.
Now, some might be tempted to argue - 'But preacher, you just said God's love is 'unconditional'! Isn't accepting Jesus a condition?' Yes, Jesus did say that 'no man comes to the Father except through Him' - but that's not a statement about God's love. God does love you no matter what - but He won't force you into Heaven. God will not force you into a saving relationship with Jesus. God did everything necessary for you to be saved - including taking the penalty for your sin on Himself. If that's not unconditional love, I don't know what is.
God loves you despite your flaws, your imperfections and your outright sins and He wants to have a lifelong, eternal relationship with you! For those of you who have already made this covenant with God through baptism, have accepted this offer of love and pledged yourself to Him - "fight the good fight"! Keep working, keep serving! Respond to God's amazing love by showing that love to others, by inviting friends to meet Jesus!
To those of you who haven't taken that step to accept God's offer of love, "What are you waiting for...?"