The Joy Of Being Loved
Richard Nunez
The Passion Of God - Joy • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 24:04
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Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good Morning Church Family! I hope you all are doing well this morning. I’d like to open up by talking about a couple observations that surrounded our last two presidents (not including the current sitting president). This is not political. In fact, politics will never be addressed from this pulpit. One thing that’s been noticed is how some have strong passionate beliefs. I’m not saying that you should or shouldn't (that’s a conversation we can have later). During Obama’s era leading up to Trump’s presidency, it became easier in some regard to see the line of contrast on many topics. Some were coming forward with words that were not loving. Here’s the thing, there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about things.
This reminded me of a book I read in seminary. It was titled “toughest people of love” (Chuck DeGroat). It gave some technique on loving tough people. The book reminded me of something someone told me long ago — “have eyes of grace and love toward one another, even if you don’t understand or appreciate them.” For some that might be a challenge. We might view that other person as different, or they don’t quite seem to fit into the box we have for them.
This morning we’re going to talk about the lives of two individuals. You could think of them as the opposite side of a magnet (you know the side where the magnets repel one another). It’s like that. During this time and culture, there was no way these two would stick. You might be feeling like that, opposite, perhaps seen as different. Today, we’re going to be talking about being loved. The title of our sermon this morning is The Joy Of Being Loved. Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke Chapter 18, and let’s begin reading in verse number 9.
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer
Our Lord is once again trying to give the Pharisees a lesson. It’s important to know Jesus is not giving this lesson to be hurtful, or anything like that. Jesus is trying to help. If you’ve not heard of these guys before, who are the Pharisees? Verse 9 begins to give us a picture.
[Display Verse 9]
The Bible tells us the Pharisees were “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.” Some of these guys were something else — trusted in themselves — righteous — and treated other with contempt. The thought of treating others with contempt can mean to look down on another person (NIV translation). Josephus once said the Pharisees were “known for surpassing others in the observance of piety.” Another way to think about the Pharisees is they were at the top of the ladder and others at the bottom of the ladder.
In verse 10, it’s interesting this is where it gets interesting. Our Lord vocalizes,:
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Here’s the interesting part. I love how Jesus borrows from things in life to help make a point. And, He’s doing that right here.
We’re introduced to a tax collector. Some Pharisees really looked down on these guys. Many tax collectors were considered traitors (for service to Rome, essentially turning on their own). If the illustration of begin at the bottom of the ladder was used, being considered traitors, the tax collectors would not have made it to the first step. So to see Jesus using these two examples is unique. These two groups people are literally on opposite ends of the spectrum. Perhaps you’ve been there? Is there a person in your life, either personally or professionally, were you fee that the two of you are literally on opposite ends, or feel like you two are oil and water — there is going to be mixture. Perhaps you’ve heard me say this before, when I was going to discernment seeing if there was true opportunity in ministry, where I spoke with a pastor of decades of experiences. He gave me two points, preach as accurately as you can, and love the people. After going through the interim period, I learned that loving the people was not straight forward, it was fluid and a constant moving target. It meant loving people sometimes that were radically different or had a different points of view. I remember asking one of my mentors, “how have you survived this long in ministry?” He told me early on, “he learned to work with people.” These two example were about trying to be a complement to one another. There is no way two people could be exactly like the other. God has crafted each one of us uniquely. He did not create us to be clones.
[Display Verse 11]
In verse 11, the Pharisee who is praying, understands there’s an obvious difference between him and the tax collector. If you’re taking notes this morning, I want you to know the next few verses deal with the subject of prayer (which we’ll shelve that for another time). In the prayer of the Pharisee, we can see the various elements that make up his prayer. But, I’d like to focus on something deeper than the words on the paper or up on the screen.
Notice how the prayer of the Pharisee starts off, “God I thank you.” This is good, but notice what comes next, “that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” In verse 12, we learn were this Pharisee fasts and tithes. In the larger context, this prayer shows where his heart is at. His heart is focused on self. We see how he’s comparing others. This guy is using himself as a bench mark. We’re seeing evidence of a self-eulogy, which begins to point to a form of pride.
One aspect of the society we live is how we can view the outside world, even the world in our backyard. Because of the way much of our society is built, it can be easy to reflect on the success God has blessed with. Sometimes to the effect, we can begin to measure others to ourselves. It can be easy to look at another in terms of comparison or where we consider ourselves the bench mark. Because of our achievements or how we’ve been gifted, it could be easy to have eyes of “contempt.” For others it could be challenging to have eyes of grace, love and mercy. Because sometimes we can feel our point must be brought to attention.
I’ve heard it said once, loving people was one of the hardest things to do. I’ve also heard it said loving people has brought great and wonderful joy to the heart. This really got me thinking about Jesus. One of the best blessings we, as human being ever had, was the blessing of Jesus taking on human form and living among us. This is warming to know Jesus once walked the earth. This is a form of love.
But here’s the thing. The God of all creation is a God of love. But, He’s also a just God (which we’ll talk about another time). One of the great attributes about God is He always existed, with no beginning and no end. This means, if we with our finite minds try to quantify this, it would mean to say God is infinite. This means two things. Our Lord and God are one, which means Jesus is infinite. It also means, God’s love is infinite.
Now, within what we just read about the Pharisee and the Publican, in how the Pharisee used himself as the bench mark to look upon the Publican in contempt; Jesus is the bench mark. In fact, as God word guides us, we should aim to keep Jesus as our example (1 Cor. 11:1). Although Jesus teaching examples shows us the way, Jesus never once used His divinity to look at all creation with contempt. He looks to creation with love in His eyes.
The book of 1st John is filled with these kind of examples. Now we could talk about this all morning, but here’s a few verses that speak to us about the love of God!
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
My personal favorite!
19 We love because he first loved us.
From the Old Testament:
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
Over in Romans, Paul tells us:
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
And probably one of the best well know passage:
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
WHOOOO! The love of God can be found throughout scripture! We see a very short list of how God has shown and demonstrated His love for you. Let me ask you … is there something about you that you do not like, or wish you could change? What is it? Or what just make the list?
Could it that:
You don’t remember things so well?
Could it be an exterior feature? Teeth, hair, height, weight. Could it be how we look in our clothes. I want you to know something there is nothing wrong with your teeth, hair, hair, height, weight. And these curves, well, there’s nothing wrong with curves whether we’ve got them or not!
In Exodus 4:10 is where we learn Moses is not eloquent and that he calls himself to be “slow of speech and of tongue.”
When the Lord came to Gideon in Judges Chapter 6 to lead, he came back with the words “my clan is the weakest in Manasseh” (Judges 6:15).
In The Song of Solomon, the young bride to be compares herself to the “daughters of Jerusalem.” She even requests to “do not gave at be because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me.” If you’ve studied the book of Song, beyond the obvious, we will see how her beloved looks past all these exterior features and sees her heart. He sees her for who she is, not what she thinks.
Application
Application
God has that attribute toward you and toward I. And, that ought bring great joy, to know the fact that God loves you!
In Genesis Chapter 1 in verse 26, the Bible tells us, “then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” You are forged by God Himself. It doesn't matter if you have all the perfect feature the world tells you to have — you’re hand crafted in the image of God.
We might find others that can differ from us slightly or greatly, it really doesn't matter, they’re part of God’s creation. Unlike the Pharisee, we can have eyes of love, mercy and grace, because of the love and joy we have received from God.
If you feel like you can’t be loved by God because of some unspeakable act or sin, I want you know know every believer in this worship area, according to God, had a RAP sheet. That’s an important word — had. The believer in Jesus Christ has received love, mercy and grace. The believer in Jesus Christ has the assurance of true forgiveness, a closed case, how ever you want to call it. That’s because of the cross. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection gives that joy of knowing true love.
Do you want to celebrate in the joy of being loved? Jesus came for that unspeakable act or sin. Instead of reaching for self-conscious, reach for Jesus! The cross of Jesus Christ is for you. What’s stopping you today from experiencing the true joy of love from God?
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer