Servant Leadership Part 7 : Full Extent Of His Love Series

How many of you are married? I and my wife are married for 19 years now. Of all the questions that get asked between a husband and wife, the question “Do You Love me?” must be the one that gets asked the most. But I better be careful about talking about my marriage. I have go back home you know, after all. So let me talk about another couple who were married for more than 20 years. The wife complained to the husband, “You don’t tell me that you love me, any more.” The husband replied. “Well. I told you I love you 20 years back, if that situation changes, I will let you know.”

Jokes apart, I am sure all of us must have been faced by this question one time or another. We might have been asked this question, or we might have asked this question. If not loudly, we might have asked this question in our mind.

This morning, God has prompted me to bring this question to us. He is asking this morning, “Do You Love Me?

But before we try and find out our response to that question, let us first ask ourselves the question, “Does God Love me?”. As seasoned Christians, I am sure all of us know that this is purely a rhetorical question. There is only one answer to that question. God’s love to us is the undeniable, unquestionable and everlasting truth. He has loved us from the very beginning and He continues to love us despite what we do or how we do not deserve that love. God had made this very clear in multiple ways. One of the passages that sticks to my mind is found in Isaiah 43:1-4. I read from the Message translation of the Bible.

“But now, God’s Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started, Israel: “Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called your name. You’re mine.

When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end—

Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you: all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!

That’s how much you mean to me! That’s how much I love you! I’d sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you.”

God is saying “ I paid a huge price for you… That is how much you mean to me. That is How much I love you.. I am willing to trade the entire creation just for you, I will sell off the whole world to get you back”. This is amazing. Just look at the passion in those words. Just feel the depth of God’s love in that pronouncement. Let me ask you, Husbands and wives, when is the last time you heard your spouse say some thing like that? Parents, when is the last time you heard your children say some thing like that? Children, when is the last time you heard your parents say some thing that powerful? God, the creator of the entire universe, the Alpha and the Omega, the almighty, the all powerful one is saying, ” I will sell off the whole world to get you back, I will trade the entire creation just for you” . And we know that God did just that. We know that God made good this promise in John 3:16.

But, the question that I would like us to ask ourselves this morning is “Do we love God?” Again, as true blue Christians some of us might feel offended if we are asked this question. So let me rephrase it. How are we showing the world that we love God? We know that God’s love is unconditional. There is no way we can “earn” this love except by accepting Jesus Christ as our saviour and Lord. Not that we “owe” any demonstrations to God. But because we love God, who loved us first when we were still sinners, are we encouraged to demonstrate that love by taking some action?

I would like us to turn our attention to John 21:15-19. This is known as the three fold redemption of Peter. Jesus asks him thrice, “Peter, do you love me?” And Peter confirms all the three times that he loves Him. I would like you to note that every time Peter confirms his love for the Master, Jesus asks him to “do some thing”. He says “ Feed my lambs”, “Shepherd my sheep” and “Feed my sheep”. To me this is very important. To me there is a call for action with our statement of love to God. If we say we love Jesus, are we prepared to “do some thing for Him”. Are we prepared to Feed His lambs and shepherd His sheep? A lot of times we are happy to receive the love and attention that God gives us. A lot of times, the maximum we go to is to do some thing for ourselves.