This is our fifth and final week in
our series on the Attributes of God. I think this is just such an important
series to do and I hope that you’ve gotten something out of it. It is so
important to know who this God is that we serve. So many people today claim to
be Christians but have no idea who Jesus is or who God is or who the Holy
Spirit is. You have to know the God that you serve. So I hope that this series
on the attributes of God has been meaningful and helpful to you in your walk.
We’ve talked about God as a God of
Celebration, second chances, justice, and promises, and today, we are going to
talk about God as a God of love. And I want to go back to the scripture that
was read for us and I want to read one verse back to you again. It’s 1 John 4:8
and it says “Whoever does not love does not know God, for GOD IS LOVE.” I’ll
read it one more time. “Whoever does not love does not know God, for GOD IS
LOVE.” Do you catch the intensity and meaning of this?
Back in the 90’s – and I feel old
saying that – but back in the 90’s there were these t-shirts that were really
popular. You may have had one yourself. I had one. They said things like this:
“Baseball is life. The rest is just details.” Do you remember those shirts? Or
“Football is life.” Or “Cheerleading is life.” That’s what Holly would have
had. But mine said, “Baseball IS life. The rest is just details.” What am I
trying to say about myself when I wear a t-shirt like that? I’m saying that my
life centers on baseball. It consumes every part of me. Anything I do is either
directly or indirectly related to baseball, and the stuff that’s not related to
baseball doesn’t really concern me. I’m not sure that was necessarily true
about my life, but I did really like baseball and still do.
Well let me tell you, if God had one
of those shirts during the 90’s, it would have said, “God is Love. The rest is
just details.” Are you all trying to picture God wearing one of those t-shirts?
“God IS Love. The rest is just details.” Love consumes God. Love and God are
inseparable from one another. Love isn’t just something God does. Love is who
God IS. God IS love.
Now I want to clarify something. I’ll
give you a couple of “If/Then” statements. Anyone remember those from taking a
basic logic class in high school? If/then statements? If A, than B. They are
things like, “IF I am standing outside and I’m getting wet and I’m not in a
pool or pond or anything, THEN it must be raining.” “IF the Indians don’t win
tonight, THEN they will be out of the playoffs.” Well, an If/Then statement
that applies to God and love is this: IF God is present, THEN love is also
present. If God is present, then love is also present. Wherever God goes, love
must be there also, because God is love.
Now it doesn’t work in reverse. You
can’t say, IF love is present, then God must be also, because not all love is
based on God. Two atheists can fall in love. A Buddhist loves their child. God
is not a pre-requisite for the presence of love. However, the love that IS
present with God is a higher-quality brand of love. We’ll explore that a little
bit later. But like I said, If God is present, then love must be present also.
Everyone confused? Are you with me? Just humor me and nod your heads.
Let me give you some examples. We have
a church. We have put God at the center of our church. Just so you know, that’s
they way it is supposed to be, but that’s not the way it is in every church.
But God is the center of our church. So if God is in our church, then we must
have love here also. And I think that’s a true statement. We have love here as
a result of the presence of God.
Some of you are married. If you have
God at the center of your marriage, then you will have love. Guaranteed. It is
impossible to have God at the center of your marriage and not feel love for one
another. That’s a pretty bold statement in a day in age when there’s a 50%
divorce rate, even for those who claim to be Christians. And I’m not
questioning the faith of those who get divorced. I am saying, though, that God
was not the center of that marriage. If God truly is the focus of your
marriage; if as a couple, you pray together daily, you study scripture
together, and you discern God’s will for your family together, then God is the
center of your marriage. And if God is present, then love is present also.
So you can also say, If there is no
love, then God is not present. Another If/Than statement. If there is no love,
then God is not present. It is impossible for God to be somewhere that love is
not, because everywhere God goes love follows. God cannot be the center of a
marriage that is devoid of love. Now he might be in their lives individually,
but a marriage devoid of love is also devoid of God. You might not always like
each other, you might not always agree, but if God truly is in the center of
your marriage you will ALWAYS love each other.
And if you are grump, you cannot claim
that God is the center of your life. You can’t have God in you and hate the
whole world. You know the kind of people I’m talking about, right? The people
who hate everything and are always mad or upset at someone. The ones who shoot
the neighborhood boys with pellet guns if they walk on their lawn to get a
baseball. Or the ones who go to an awesome party where everyone is having a
good time, and they’re complaining that the music is too loud and their punch
is lukewarm. Or the ones who turn off the lights and pretend not to be home
when trick-or-treaters or Christmas carolers come to the door. Grumpy people!
If anything I just said sounds like a typical day in your life, then I’m talking
to you. Look, we can’t have God in our lives and be mad at the world. If God is
truly at the center of your life, then love must also be at the center of your
life. And if love is not at the center of your life, then I’m here to tell you
that your relationship with God is not as good as you think it is.
This is the trap that a lot of
Christians fall into. We know lots about God and so we try to impress people
and show them how great our faith is. But in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul tells us how
to really impress someone with our relationship with God. He says, “If I have
prophetic powers, and understand all the mysteries and knowledge of God, and if
I have all faith, faith enough to move mountains, but I don’t have love, then I
am nothing.” NOTHING! Without love, we are nothing. Paul is basically saying
look, you can memorize the entire Bible. You can perform miracles. You can know
everything that there is to know about God. But if you don’t have love, if you
don’t love others, you are nothing. Worthless.
Do you know what made Jesus so great?
It wasn’t the miracles he performed. It wasn’t his intimate knowledge of
scripture. It wasn’t his leadership ability. It was his love. Greater love has
no man than he who has laid down his life for his friends. Christ laid down his
life for every person that ever lived. That love is what makes Jesus is great.
And as I said before, that brand of
love is higher-quality then your every-day, average love. If you’ve ever loved
someone or something and then added God to the equation, then you know what I’m
talking about. If any of you were married before you became Christians and then
once you were married for a while you both found Christ and put him at the
center of your marriage, then you know what I’m talking about. That ingredient
of God’s love is something extraordinary and wonderful.
So what makes God’s love a
higher-quality type of love? It is unconditional. God’s love is unconditional.
Most of us know what that means, it means that God always loves you no matter
what, right? But I’m not sure that we all get it. Just because you know what it
means that God has unconditional love for you, I’m not sure that you get it.
That means that God’s love for you, which is the greatest love that can be
found in heaven or on earth, never changes. When you come to church and you are
serving God and you’re helping the needy and caring for the sick and helping
others come to find a relationship with Him, God loves you more than you have
ever been loved. When you mess up big time and the rest of the world is mad at
you and you break relationships and you fall away from God and stop coming to
church and you start getting into some pretty bad stuff and you feel worthless,
God loves you more than you have ever been loved.
A lot of people compare it to the love
that a parent has for their child and I say, Yeah God’s love is like that,
except that it’s way better. God loves you more than any parent has ever loved
their child, and God’s love is even more unconditional than the love any parent
has ever had.
To me, God’s love is more like a
symphony. And you can do whatever you want to try to make him sound bad, but no
matter how many of his instruments you break, no matter how much other noise
you make, the symphony of God’s love is still the most beautiful music in the
world. The only way to stop it is to put in earplugs and pretend it isn’t
there. And some people do that. They say, “God can’t possibly love me.” And
they ignore all of the obvious signs in their life that God really does love them
more than anyone else ever could. The music never stops, we just stop
listening.
Now make no mistake about it, God’s
love isn’t always sunshine and roses. God’s love doesn’t always present itself
in happiness and joy and laughter. Sometimes God’s love hurts. Sometimes God’s
love comes in the form of justice. You remember when your dad used to take you
back behind the woodshed…and he’d take off his belt…because you had done
something dumb…like told your brother that there was another brother before him
named Pete that you drowned in the pond because he didn’t give you his
dessert…and you had had your brothers dessert for the last month, until your
mom heard the story and told your dad…I know we’ve all been there. And your dad
takes off his belt and says, “Son, this is going to hurt me more than it hurts
you.” And you think, “Then let’s trade places! I need punished, let me whoop on
you with a belt so I can get what I deserve!”
But we know as parents that sometimes
we need to discipline our children because we love them enough to care that
they grow up to lead a good and moral life. And sometimes when we get punished
by God, we think that he must not love us anymore. Bad things happen, and we
figure God is far away. But the opposite is true. God’s love never ends, even
when he has to take you behind the woodshed. Sometimes we need taken there,
don’t we? We need our eyes opened to how bad we’ve messed things up. But we get
all upset and wonder why bad stuff is happening to us. Let me remind you of
this: not only is God’s love unconditional, but God’s love is holy. God’s love
is perfect. God never loves you the wrong way.
This is where the “details” part comes
in. Remember, God is love, the rest is just details? Well the details are the
ways in which God shows his love for us. And they are always perfect and holy.
When it is time to celebrate, God shows us his love for us by being a God of
celebration. When we mess up, God shows his love for us by being a God of
second chances. When we need correction, God shows his love for us by being a
God of justice. When we are uncertain, God shows his love for us by being a God
of promise. And when we needed a savior, God showed his love for us by sending
his only son to die for us. The Bible tells us that God shows us his love for
us in this: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God loved us
first, and God has loved us perfectly and God has loved us unconditionally. God
is love, the rest is just details.
So you may be wondering, what do I do?
How can I show my appreciation to a God who loves me more than I will ever be
able to love him back? You do your best. You thank him. And you don’t take for
granted his greatest act of love in sending Jesus to die for us. You make the
most of that sacrifice and you let others know about it. And you let the love
of God invade every aspect of your life: your marriage, your relationship with
your family, your job, school, everything. Let God’s love be the central factor
of your life. Then start letting other’s know that God’s love IS life, the rest
is just details.
Van Buren United
Pastor Dan Metzger