GOD LOVES THE UNLOVABLE
Eph. 2:4-10
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: A Cheap Obituary
1. Mrs. Willencot was very frugal. When her husband died, she asked the newspaper how much it would cost for a death notice. “$50 dollars for five words.”
2. “Can I pay for just two words?” she asked. “Like ‘Willencot dead?’” “No, $50 dollars is the minimum. You still have three words. Is there anything you want to say about your husband?”
3. Mrs. Willencot thought about her husband’s bad driving, and said, “Okay say, ‘Willencot dead. Car for sale.’” [Patricia Schultz]
B. THESIS & TITLE
1. AN UNUSUAL SURVEY was done a few years ago; participants in the survey were asked this question; “What 3 word sentence would you most like to hear?”
2. The top three answers were:
a. “I love you;”
b. “I forgive you;”
c. “Supper is ready!” Doesn’t that pretty much sum up our needs?
3. UNLOVABLE means, “Incapable of inspiring love or affection.” We love people because we find some intrinsic worth in them or we have made some investment in them, and value that investment.
4. Sometimes we feel unlovable, so tonight I’m preaching on “God Loves The Unlovable.”
I. REASONS GOD SHOULDN’T LOVE US
A. ARE MANY REASONS GOD SHOULDN’T LOVE US
1. GOD IS A HOLY GOD. Ps. 5: 4 says, “You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.”
2. WE ARE CORRUPTED WITH SIN
a. In Romans 3:10-18, Paul said, “There is no one righteous, not even one...12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”...14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”...16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
b. Eph. 4:18-19, “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God...Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” We FEEL our estrangement from God.
B. MOST OF US FEEL LIKE WE’RE UNLOVABLE, ESPECIALLY TO GOD:
1. We’re nobodies – we’re not important to the world.
2. We have no intrinsic worth: we’re not geniuses, not particularly beautiful or handsome, and of little financial worth.
3. We’re sinners, we’ve broken most of the 10 commandments, we’re hypocrites, and don’t pass an hour without thinking of something God would be repulsed by. How could God possibly love us?
4. Our worthlessness seems to be confirmed by our rejection by people around us. We’ve been stabbed in the back and betrayed. We’ve been dumped and others preferred over us. All this tells us we’re not lovable.
C. MY OWN EXPERIENCE
1. When I was a kid, I was so homely that my mother had to tie a porkchop around my neck just to get the dogs to play with me! (not really).
2. I grew up in a house where no one was a Christian. I was a typical teenager in Junior High school; all I could see was my acne, thin hair, boney legs, and skinny face. I wasn’t particularly popular or athletic.
3. One day a voice said, “You ought to end your life – no one loves you.” I considered taking some of my parent’s sleeping pills. But as I meditated this, another voice spoke and said, “Doesn’t your grandmother love you?” She really did; I was her pet. Then the voice said, “Doesn’t your mom & dad love you?” I knew they did. Then the voice listed 3 or 4 other people, and I felt warm all over and dismissed the idea of ending it all.
4. Remember, YOU ARE LOVED! Your family loves you and your church family loves you! And God has said that He loves you; we’re looking at that next.
II. WHY GOD DOES LOVE US
A. WHY MIGHT GOD LOVE US?
1. But HE HAS A GREAT INVESTMENT IN US – we’re His creations. We are master pieces of His creating skill, made in His image. He originally placed “eternity in our hearts” – an eternal, spiritual nature.
2. He knows OUR EVIL NATURE IS SATAN’S DOING, so we should be given a second chance to make a decision for ourselves about serving Him.
3. HE’S PROVIDED A WAY FOR OUR RESTORATION – for us to again become His blameless and pure children.
4. God CAN SEE WHAT OUR LIVES CAN BE LIKE if we served God with all our hearts – the great potential good we could do.
B. THE BIBLE SHOWS US THAT GOD DOES LOVE THE UNLOVABLE
Jesus chose the Roman Centurion, uneducated fishermen, people possessed by demons, and an adulterous woman about to be stoned. He laid His holy hands on the lepers, blind beggars, and those viewed as cursed. Jesus is the friend of sinners. JESUS LOVED THE UNLOVABLE. LIKE...
1. ZACCHAEUS THE TAX COLLECTOR. Zacchaeus was an extortionist, an outcast and traitor, yet Jesus loved him!
2. MARY MAGDALENE THE PROSTITUTE. She was a prostitute (Lk. 7:37,39) & probably mixed up with idolatry or witchcraft. She became possessed by one demon, and ultimately by seven demons (Mk. 16:9). The 7-devil condition is one of torment, starvation, exposure & nakedness. Mt. 12:45. Yet she became the most prominent woman disciple in the N.T.
3. SAUL OF TARSUS. This man was “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1). He “tried to force them to blaspheme” and was “obsessed with persecuting them” (Acts 26:11). He put many of them to death. Yet the Lord loved Saul and made him into the Apostle Paul!
4. JESUS LOVED THE UNLOVABLE! IF JESUS COULD SEE THEM AS LOVABLE, HE CAN SEE YOU AS LOVABLE! We’ve been “looking for love in all the wrong places!”
III. WHAT GOD SAYS HE HAS PLANNED FOR US
A. EPHESIANS TELLS US GOD’S GREAT LOVE
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (2:4-10).
John 3:16, “16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
B. WHAT IS GOD’S LOVE LIKE?
1. In the English language there’s only one word for love, but in the Greek there’re 3 words. First, EROS – romantic, selfish love. Second, PHILEO – “the love of a friend.” These are the kinds of love we have and they’re often conditional and false.
2. The third type of love is AGAPE – it’s “selfless, Godlike love.” God’s love is unconditional and true. His love never wavers or fails. It’s consistent and persevering. It is self-sacrificing.
3. IT’S A LOVE...
a. Not for the deserving...but for the undeserving;
b. “ “ “ obedient... “ “ “ disobedient;
c. “ “ “ Just.......... “ “ “ Unjust;
d. “ “ God’s friends...but for His enemies! It’s through Jesus that God shows us what His love is like.
4. God especially loves those who are rejected by others.
a. Deut. 10:18 tells us God loves (is partial to) the widow, orphan, and the foreigner.
b. Gen. 29:31 says, “When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel [the wife Jacob loved] remained childless.”
c. So if you feel unloved, you are especially loved by the Lord!
C. SO ACCEPT THAT YOU’RE LOVABLE!
His message is that we are loved and this message of His love has the potential to change the world.
1. “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” Jeremiah 31:3.
2. “Those who are not loved I will call my loved ones. Those who are not my people I will call my people. Then they will say, ‘You are our God!’ ” Hosea 2:23 GW
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: GOD CARES
1. One day a couple of church members were out distributing loaves of bread in a low-income housing complex. They came to an apartment where they heard arguing through the door, but they decided to knock anyway.
2. A man opened the door and asked what they wanted. One of the visitors said, "We don't want anything. We just wondered if you know anyone who could use some loaves of bread?"
3. "Why are you doing that?" the man asked. "Just to let people know that God loves them." "What did you just say?" the man asked. "We're just handing out loaves of bread to let people know that God loves them."
4. The man stared and said, "I can't believe this. We just buried our three-week-old son yesterday, and now here you are at our door."
5. The visitors offered to pray with them, and the couple accepted their offer. As they were leaving, they heard the husband say to his wife, "See, honey? I told you God cares. We thought he wasn't paying attention to us, but he sent those people here to make sure we knew."
B. THE CALL
1. Having problems? God still loves you!
Have you fallen into sin? “ “ “ “
Does no one else love you? GOD LOVES YOU, and He’s the only opinion that counts! Keep the faith!
2. [Bow your heads.] Is there anybody here who feels like you’re not lovable? You are the only person who has your finger prints because God thinks you’re special!
3. Anyone need forgiveness? Let’s PRAY.
