Have you ever heard a preacher say something that made you wince about his correctness (kind of like fasting)? Well, I am going to say something to make you wince. I am going to say something about the love of God. Then, when you are picking up stones to stone me, I am going to tell you why I said it.
Ready? Do I have your attention? “The Love of God never saved anyone.”
How in the world can I say that? Because it is not the love of God that saves. It is Because of the love of God that He sent His Son (John 3:16), but it is the death, burial and resurrection of that Son that saves us by grace through faith.
If the love of God saved anyone, it would save everyone. If the love of God saved anyone, Jesus would not have had to suffer and die.
It was God’s love that sent Jesus to the cross. But the love of God could not satisfy the justice and holiness of God.
Tonight we are going to look at Absolute love, but we are not going to over-romanticize love. Love is the reason for our redemption, not the means of our salvation.
Despite the fact that love never saved anyone, without love, no one would be saved. So important is the Love of God that a very description, a definition of God is LOVE.
OK, put your rocks down. There will be no stoning today.
I. We were unlovable.
Eph 2:1-3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
We could not have been more despicable to God. The scriptures call you dead. That has to be a shocking thought.
There was a woman in Kansas City named Bobbie Jo that lived on the streets. She worked as a prostitute when she could, but due to her life habits, she became too undesirable. She had nothing, no hope, no place to go, no food, no security, in a word, no life.
She went into a rescue mission looking for a meal. While she was there, another woman greeted her and showed her value. She served her a meal, spoke with her with interest, prayed with her. With the heart of God, this worker for the rescue mission ignored the valuelessness of this Bobbie Joe.
Later, when Bobbie Jo was in a van serving the homeless food, police officers stopped them. One of the police officers recognized Bobbie Jo, and said, “Hey, I thought you were dead.”
He went and got the other police officer who was amazed. The other officer recognized several women in the van and said, “I thought all of you were dead.” (Tim Smith Illustration: SermonCentral.com).
How startling it must be to someone to hear someone say, “I thought you were dead.” The angels in heaven, amazed at our salvation, probably say, “I thought he was dead. I thought she was dead.”
Why were we considered dead in heaven? Because (verse 2), we stopped checking in. We checked in to a different master. “…in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience”.
We stopped calling home. Our voice was absent in the halls of heaven for way too long. Our actions were too wicked to be viewable or recognized in heaven. We were, as far as heaven was concerned, dead, gone, and hopeless. “…the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
We were dead because our only guide force, Satan’s forces, had control of our passions, desires and minds. We were sold out to spiritual wickedness with absolutely no hope and no value.
We are the Bobbie Jos of heaven. When no one seemed to care, when we had nothing to offer, when we were considered dead and gone, we were remembered.
II. He showed us love.
Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
The worker in the rescue mission led Bobbie Joe to Christ. Bobbie Jo was now a new believer, one of our valued sisters. She was one who God, her loving Father, being rich in His mercy, because of the great love with which he loved her. Even when she was dead in her trespasses and sin, God chose to be united with her. He made her alive together with Him, with us, in Jesus Christ.
His purpose? To show in the coming age His immeasurable riches in His grace, His beautiful kindness. All that, empowered by His love. Motivated by loving something that no one else would love.
Bobbie Joe was physically what all of us were spiritually: Worthless, valueless, empty, nothing of value, nothing to offer.
That is what “grace” means.
How could Bobbie Jo be shown the change in her status, the recipient of God’s immeasurable love?
Right after she was saved, she was contacted by a law firm. One of her relatives had died and left her a large sum of money. Now Bobbie Jo was faced with a choice. She could live in comfort and luxury, or she could allow how she was touched in her heart by the experience she lived and make a difference.
Bobby Jo used the money to buy a house with several bedrooms. She renovated it and began to bring in homeless women, either right out of prison or out of prostitution. She began to help them develop job skills, find presentable clothes, and she gave them hope. The greatest hope she gave them was the message of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
People heard about her work and began to send in support. She purchased a boarded up nursing home and fixed it up. She called her work “The Healing House of Kansas City”.
You see, when Bobbie Jo was stopped by police in the van, it was full of women who had been previously homeless taking Christmas gifts that they made or purchased for the homeless. All the police officers knew is when you arrested someone nearly weekly and you stopped seeing them, you simply assume that they are dead. “We thought you were dead.”
Let me tell you something. When someone is saved and starts to do the work of Jesus, it gets Satan’s attention. Some demon will pipe up and say, “Hey, I thought they were dead.”
“I am crucified in Christ, Satan, but I am very much alive. But it is not my life anymore, but Christ living in me.” Galatians 2:20.
That is because of God’s absolute love for us. 1Jn 4:9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
Absolute love. God is love. Love sent God’s only Son to die for us, to be the ransom for us. God’s absolute love brings Christ’s life into us so that we might life through Him. And in living through Him, he can live through us. We must let Him live through us, love through us, forgive through us, serve through us.
III. He taught us to love.
1Jn 4:8, 10-11 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love….10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
For Bobbie Jo, there was no choice. God had loved her when she was unlovable. He had called her, gave her hope, and rescued her. She could not look at the other women, abused, abandoned, and hopeless, and not have compassion. She could not walk away from that world and forget others.
Now Healing House has not only places for women, but places for men. God has blessed the work.
When God saves us, He saves us to a mission. That mission requires several things for us to accomplish.
First, we must begin with the same motivation that He begins with; love. Joh 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
When one cannot forgive, it is usually because they will not love the offender. When one abuses another, it is because they do not love the other. When war begins, it is because of a lack of love. When one swindles another, it is because of a lack of love. When we do not serve, it is because we do not love enough. When we do not sacrifice, it is because we do not love enough. When we do not tithe, or tithe improperly, it is because of a lack of love. When we hold a grudge, it is because of a lack of love.
The love of money may be the root of all evil, but love of self is the sap running in those roots.
Bobbie Jo Reed and The Healing House has a story on earth of the story that happens in the life of one who believes in and calls upon Jesus to be Lord.
Five letters away from “Lord” is “Love”. V is four away R and E is one away from D. So Love is only five steps away from Lord. The truth is, those five steps are truly mandatory. You cannot accept Jesus as Lord and reject His love. Absolute love is not only our salvation, it is our service. It not only motivated God to do the difficult work to bring us home and crown us with value, it motivates us to do the difficult work of living for Him and reaching others.
Ill. In The Grace of Giving, Stephen Olford tells of a Baptist pastor during the American Revolution, Peter Miller, who lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and enjoyed the friendship of George Washington. In Ephrata also lived Michael Wittman, an evil-minded sort who did all he could to oppose and humiliate the pastor. One day Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die. Peter Miller traveled seventy miles on foot to Philadelphia to plead for the life of the traitor.
"No, Peter," General Washington said. "I cannot grant you the life of your friend."
"My friend!" exclaimed the old preacher. "He's the bitterest enemy I have."
"What?" cried Washington. "You've walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in different light. I'll grant your pardon." And he did.
Peter Miller took Michael Wittman back home to Ephrata--no longer an enemy but a friend.
