Realizing God's Love
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58 times — in scripture — we are told “Do Not Fear”
10 times — we are told “Do Not Worry”
No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, says the Lord.
and
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Throughout our study on Luke 9, we saw the power and authority given to the disciples.... even over demons....
So… Why do we worry? Why do we have fear? Why do our prayers seem to so often lack power?
Acts 3 — tells us of Peter and John, after Christ’s ascension, walking together to the synagogue… Along the way, they encounter a beggar… Peter utters those famous words:
But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”
Why do we not see that happen today?
I mean, why do we each not see that in our lives? Why are we not all able to simply reach out our hands and heal those who need it?
God gave me this word early last week, and I have been wrestling with it every since…
He said:
You need to realize My Love for You!
You need to realize My Love for You!
What? But God..... I kind of felt a little like Peter so long ago.....
Jesus asked: “Do you love me?” and Peter kept saying “Yes!”
But you see, Peter had to realize the same thing we do.... Peter had to REALIZE Christ’s Love for HIM!
Would you agree that, We get out of life what we put into it.
We love because he first loved us.
Peter could not “Feed [Jesus’s} sheep” until he realized Jesus’s love for him.
The same is true for us!
We must REALIZE God’s Love for US!
You see… there is a difference between “seeing” and “understanding” God’s love for us, and REALIZING God’s love for us.
Let me give you a couple of definitions:
“See” — “perceive with the eyes; discern visually”
We can “see” God’s love revealed in scripture… in the stories… in the narrative… even in the Cross, we can even logically understand it, but.... That does not mean that we “realize” it in our lives.
“Realize” — “1. to become fully aware of something as a fact.”
“2. to cause something to happen.”
“3. to give actual or physical form to.”
You see… There is a difference between “seeing” and “understanding” something, and “realizing” it in our lives....
When we “realize” something in our lives, then it becomes “law” in our lives.... It becomes a “governing” principle in our lives....
We realize the truth of gravity in our lives because… well… if we drop something it falls.
That’s why we don’t jump off cliffs without a parachute or something to protect us.
The same is true for God’s Love...
We cannot experience God’s Love at work in our lives until we truly realize His Love for us!
We love because he first loved us.
Look at John 13
There is one character in this story, that we need to look at: Judas
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God,
got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.
Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”
Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”
Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.”
For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
Then on down in verse 18:
I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But it is to fulfill the scripture, ‘The one who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’
After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.”
The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking.
One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him;
Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.
So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.
After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.”
We know that this passage is about Judas… We know that He betrayed Jesus…
The question always arises: Could Judas have been saved?
The answer is a resounding “YES!”
If he had REALIZED Christ’s love for him...
Notice that Jesus never expressed dislike, or hate toward him. Jesus never speaks a harsh word toward him. In fact, Christ does the opposite!
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”
He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Jesus Chose him.
Jesus shared with him.
He experienced the love of Christ over and over again!
He was there when Jesus washed their feet...
He was there for the Last Supper...
He shared the bread....
He shared the wine...
He experienced the Love the Christ had for Him in that last communion....
Even Christ’s words to him to “Go and Do what he must do...” were spoken in love!!!
Why was Christ “troubled in spirit” (21)? Because of His Love for Judas!
When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death.
They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.
He said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”
Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself.
There is a lot that we can say about the “church’s” treatment of Judas here, but I want you to see something else today....
Judas repented.... He repented of his sin… , and turned to the only place of forgiveness he knew — the Church.
But the Church rejected him.
You see — Judas did not REALIZE the Love that Christ had for him. He didn’t REALIZE God’s love for him given THROUGH Christ!
If he had, he would have known where to turn, and he would have received forgiveness....
Now, let’s compare Judas to another man.
He entered Jericho and was passing through it.
A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich.
He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.”
So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.
All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.”
Who was Zachaeus?
— a tax collector
— a cheat… a swindler
— an extorsionist
— a Jew who had “sold himself out to Rome”
— a sinner… someone a good, God-fearing Jew would not defile himself with...
Yet, Jesus intentionally speaks to him. Not only that, He invites Himself to Zachaeus’s house for dinner!
Do you realize the full consequences of that?!
Not only was Zachaeus a sinner, but his house — and the dinner party — would have been filled with “sinners”, people to be avoided, dirty, filthy, low-life characters....
People who to even step across their door step was to defile yourself and make yourself unfit for worship!
Yet these are who Christ went to....
I told this story to a man I was working with in Korea (tell story)
When we got to this part of the story, do you know what he said?
“That’s Love!”
You see....He got it! He REALIZED God’s Love for Zachaeus… for people… for him!
So did Zachaeus!
Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.
For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
The difference between Judas and Zachaeus is simple… Zachaeus REALIZED God’s Love for him!
And that changed his life!
We need to REALIZE God’s Love for US!
God’s love is not just something we HOPE for....
God’s love is not just something thats “out there” somewhere.....
God’s love is not some illusive thing....
God’s love is not something we have to be “good enough” for....
God’s love is real...
It’s free...
It’s ours...
It’s given to us inspite of us....
We need to hear this!
Too many of us think that we have messed up to bad.... that we are unworthy.... or that our past somehow prevents God from loving us....
God loves us inspite of......
… our past...
… our circumstances...
… our failures...
But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
God loves you because of who HE CREATED you to BE!
But...
We cannot become that until we REALIZE His love for us!
Because...
When we REALIZE God’s Love for US… then His Love for us becomes LAW in our lives…
And when God’s Love becomes LAW in our lives… the it becomes a DEFINING RULE that we live by…
And when God’s Love becomes the DEFINING RULE that we live by… the world no longer takes PRECEDENCE in our lives...
And when the world no longer takes PRECEDENCE in our lives… the world around us is CHANGED by the love of Christ IN US.
When we REALIZE the God’s Love for us, then we REALIZE that it is not about us any more.....
We cannot REALIZE the love God has for us, and not REALIZE the love He has for others....
Are you struggling in your marriage? With your children? Co-workers? Relationships?
Whatever it is… know this… We cannot “fix” those issues ourselves… We cannot “Love” well in those relationships without God…
We must REALIZE God’s Love for us before we can truly Love others.
We love because he first loved us.
We get what we put into our lives…
This is why God tells us:
But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Will you STRIVE to REALIZE God’s Love for YOU, or will you simply seek to “get by” in this world?