How many times do we allow stuff to get in our way of loving others? Think about it. How many people have you loved that you don't talk to now? Are there family members you hate to be around? Do you struggle to love some folks? You see, we allow stuff to get in the way of our love. Fights, arguments, hate, judgmental attitudes, jealousy, envy, bitterness, greed, holding grudges and the list could go on. You get what I'm saying right? So how can we understand a God who says this, "nothing can ever separate us from God’s love." We allow stuff to separate us from loving people all the time. So how do we get a God who doesn't let that happen?
Here's the short answer. If you want to know how much God loves you, look at Jesus. If you want to wrap your mind around the depth of love that God has for you then take a good, long, hard look at the life of Jesus. We struggle to understand the love God has for us because we do the same stuff to God that we do with people. We relate to God through our human condition. We get angry with Him, so we'll stop talking to Him for awhile and we allow our anger to separate us. Or we doubt that he's for real so we'll ignore Him. There are times we might even feel that He doesn't care about us anymore and so we stop caring about Him. Some make deals with Him, if God does a certain thing, they'll do God stuff for awhile.
But God doesn't love like a human being. He doesn't respond to us the way we respond to Him and to others. This is what is so awesome about God becoming human. Jesus shows us how God loves on a human level. Isn't that awesome? Nothing can separate you from His love. Jesus proved it. This is what makes the cross scene so powerful. God is hanging on a cross in pain and agony and to the people who put Him there says, "Father, forgive them."
But this is why it's so difficult for me to understand God's love. And this is why I worship. I worship my God who loves me so deeply and so fully that I have difficulty wrapping my mind around it. He wants me. He values me. He loves me. The only response I can think of is to worship Him. To offer my life to Him. This is exactly what Paul says in Romans 12, "because of what Jesus did for you, give yourselves to Him, this is your worship."
This is why I worship. There's a day in the life of Jesus in Matthew 9 that helps to explain how much God loves us and why we worship Him. Jesus is approached by some folks who carry a paralyzed man and they beg Jesus to heal him. You would think that Jesus would respond with a hearty, "be healed" or something like that, but, the first thing Jesus says is, "your sins are forgiven." As usual in the crowd this day are some Saturday School teachers and they are quite disturbed that Jesus would forgive the sins of this man. Jesus knowing what they were thinking said, "Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins. Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!" Matthew 9:5-6 The man jumped up and went home! Whoah! What do you say to that? How can you be one of the Saturday School teachers or one of the friends who carried this guy and walk away not realizing how much God loves you? He cares enough to not only heal but to forgive my sins!
Later in the day Jesus sees a tax collector at his booth, he's no doubt cheating people, lying about what they owe and threatening them if they don't pay up. At least that's what most tax collectors did. Jesus walked up to Matthew and said, "follow me." I'm not sure what kind of voice Jesus used, or if he had some kind of mind control thing going, because that's all he said, and Matthew immediately quit his job and invited his friends and Jesus over for dinner. When the Saturday School teachers and the religious leaders saw that Jesus was having dinner with this crowd they continued to be upset with this rebellious rabbi and they asked some of his followers, "why does your rabbi eat with scum like this?"
Jesus loves them that's why. Jesus says, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” Matthew 9:12-13
Here's a couple of things I learn from this day in the life of Jesus about His love for us and why I worship Him.
I know Jesus loves me and I worship Him because he has the authority to forgive sins. Matthew 9:6-8
I have a son who is in college. We're separated by distance. Does it make sense to suggest that the farther he lives from me the less I love him? This is a fact with God, too. When a person hears about Jesus but decides then to ignore Him, or to not believe Him they have put space between them and God. Because every person who lives without Jesus lives with sin. We all know John 3:16 but very few have committed to memory what Jesus said in that same chapter, "And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.” Well, that doesn't sound very loving does it?
God loves everyone. He loves those who live with His Son and He loves those who reject Him. People who live with their sin rather than with Jesus are loved just as much by God. Just like I love my son who lives a long way away, God loves those who refuse to live with Him. This is why I worship Him, he has the authority to forgive my sins.
I love Jesus and I worship Him because He shows me how much he loves me.
Matthew 9:10-11
The Weymouth Church of Christ wants the reputation of being the most loving and accepting group of people in Nova Scotia. We proudly identify ourselves with the One we follow and we want everyone in our community to know that those who are hurting, wounded, sad, lonely, isolated, addicted, abused, promiscuous, cheaters, liars, and all sinners are accepted here. We don't care if other religious people wonder why we hang around sinners. Jesus shows me that He loves me even if "religious" people don't, and for that, I love Him. And loving people is how we worship Him.
There's a lyric from a poem written by sisters Anna Bartlett and Susan Warner included in a book called "Say and Seal." It was one of the more popular books during the early 1860's leading up to the Civil War.
One of the characters is Mr. Linden a Sunday School teacher. One of his students is a dying child named Johnny. Towards the end of the book Mr. Linden is in Johnny's room with his family and he's holding the boy in his arms walking back and forth softly singing a song. As Johnny passes from this life to the next these are the last words he hears.
Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong, they are weak, but He is strong.
Jesus loves me He who died, Heaven's gate to open wide
He will wash away my sin, let His little child come in.
Jesus loves me, loves me still, though I am very weak and ill;
From His shining throne on high comes to watch me where I lie.
Jesus loves me, He will stay, close beside me all the way.
Then His little child He'll take up to heaven for His dear sake.
This lyric has become the most popular children's Sunday School songs of all time. For those who trust in the love of Jesus, the most powerful of all worship experiences is the understanding that He loves you, He's right there with you even in the most difficult circumstances. I wonder if we know how much God loves us. Are there more comforting words to a person than these words? "Jesus loves you."
But I wonder if we know how much God loves us. Maybe you can sing the song, and quote the verse, "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16 But do you really know how much God loves you?
I worship God because He has the authority to forgive my sins and He shows me how much He loves me. Why do you worship?
