TITLE: “IF THE BIBLE SAYS I AM LOVED THEN HOW COME I DON’T FEEL LIKE IT?”
By Rev. Chris Nerreau 12-10-03
INTRODUCTION
Illustration:
Recently I heard a story about a dog that was abused nearly all of its early life. The dog was not fed properly, washed ever and had bruises all over from beatings. Fotunately the dog was found by a kind man who took the dog in. The new owner treated the dog like a king washing and feeding it but do you know it took years before the dog understood that it was loved.
Now several years later the dog has completely changed, Instead of cowering when its master comes home it waits with bated breathe, Instead of hiding when it has an accident it seeks the masters forgiveness and instead of avoiding his master the dog now actively seeks to spend time with the master.
Tonight I think we can learn allot from this dog. You see the dog did not understand that it was loved because it had a misunderstanding of who his master was. In the same way it would seem that many Christians have a poor understanding of who God is and therefore do not experience His love.
• We cower rather than rejoice in Him
• We hide rather than seek Him
• We tire rather than rest in Him
Proposition:
This evening I am going to suggest that the reason we may not feel loved by God is because like the dog we misunderstand our Master.
Preview Of Main Points:
In our sermon time tonight I will attempt to address some of the misconceptions that keep us from fully experiencing God’s love:
Misconception 1. God is mad at you
Misconception 2. God is mean to you
Misconception 3. God is misleading you
Transitional Sentence:
So let us begin this evening by looking at the first misconception about God…
I. GOD IS MAD AT YOU (Romans 5:1)
Explanation:
The first misconception about God is that He is mad at His children for their sins. So many Christians spend their lives wondering when the lightning bolt will strike, when their heart will stop or when someone they love will be taken from them because of their sin yet Romans 5:1 clearly shows us that God is not angry with His children.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2
•Justified: To free a human of the guilt and penalty attached to grievous sin.
•Faith: Secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God’s will
•Peace: An agreement or a treaty to end hostilities.
Illustration:
When a person goes to prison for committing a crime they are punished for their wrong doing, but when they are released back into society they are declared justified in the eyes of the law.
In the same way people who put their faith in Christ are justified for all of their sin. They are free of the guilt and penalty because Christ already did the time for them. What I am trying to say is that God’s anger about your sin (the sin He knew you would commit before He called you) has already been expended on Christ and He is no longer angry.
Application:
Today maybe you feel like God is mad at you but if you are a Christian then God is just not angry with you. The misconception that God is angry with His children has kept many from fully experiencing God’s love. So where do we go from here?
•Meditate on Romans 5:1 And allow it to penetrate deep into your heart
•Have the courage to live a life of repentance and at the same time live a life of boldness that says I am right with God.
•Get freed up from constantly looking over your shoulder for God’s hammer
•Don’t allow others to persuade you that God is angry with you (legalists)
•Experience God’s love without guilt but rather with eager anticipation
•Live a life of thankfulness to Christ for doing YOUR time for YOU
Transition:
A giant step towards experiencing God’s love is understanding that He is not mad at you but there is another misconception that keeps Christians from fully experiencing God’s love…
II. GOD IS MEAN TO YOU (Proverbs 3:12)
Explanation:
Have there been times in your Journey with Christ that you felt as if God was just giving more trouble than you could handle? Well the idea that God is mean is simply a misconception of who God really is. Let’s take a closer look at this common misconception regarding the nature of God, look with me if you will at (Proverbs 3:11-12).
PR 3:12 my son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.
•Discipline: Training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement.
•Rebuke: To reprimand with a moral or mental improvement in mind.
•Delights: Something that gives great pleasure or enjoyment
Illustration:
I can remember a time as a child when I borrowed my fathers car and he got all bent, well actually I waited until he fell asleep and then pushed the car down the driveway hopped into it and pulled away not turning any lights on until I was a safe distance away. Oh did I mention that the car was only (2) days old and he told me that under no circumstance was I to even touch the car let alone drive it?
Well when I came back in the wee hours of the night I thought I had pulled off a great feat. The next morning I found out that I was wrong. The punishment I received was especially harsh and helped me to make constructive changes to my behavior. You see my father was not mean when he punished me but rather he showed how much he cared by not allowing me to grow in destructive patterns.
Application:
The point I am trying to make is that God is not mean but loving; He is not unjust but rather concerned about the condition of our walk with Him. A few things I want us to note:
•God’s discipline is not done for selfish reasons but for the specific purpose of molding us to be more like Christ.
•Remember you are loved when you are disciplined and rebuked
•Consider some areas in your life where God may be disciplining or rebuking you
•Instead of asking for God to deliver you from His discipline first seek the lesson He has for you then seek deliverance.
•Remember even when it hurts that God loves you
•To experience God’s love we must understand God’s nature, so what have we seen so far
Transition: God is not mad at you and God is not mean to you but lastly…
III. GOD IS MISLEADING YOU (Matthew 16:24-25)
Explanation:]
Often times Christians may not feel completely loved by God because they do not understand where God is leading them. We hear over and over by the world that we are wasting our lives because we do not drink, do drugs or commit sexual immorality and I must confess that there were times when I considered what the world was telling me, but look with me if you will at Matthew 16:24-25.
MT 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
•Deny: To declare untrue
•Save: To set free from the consequences of sin; redeem.
•Find: To be in a specific place or condition
•It: Life, Freedom, Peace, Joy
God is certainly not trying to mislead but rather lead us to experience life in abundance.
Illustration:
If you have ever seen the movie the Karate kid then surely you remember the scene “Wax On / Wax Off”. You see the kid was getting frustrated after days of waxing cars as training he just wanted to learn Karate. The instructor kept making him wax cars using a certain method of putting the wax on and taking the wax off. Although the kid was learning Karate through the repetitious waxing and polishing of vehicles he could never see it. He just considered this a waste of time.
Maybe in your life you feel like the Karate kid, you feel like God is misleading you, just asking you to wax on and wax off. Yet little did you know that God was training you for the day of the big fight.
Application:
In life there will always be those who portray God as one who misleads His people from experiencing the “fun stuff”. I have met Christians who have believed this and in turn missed out on all that God had for them. How do we know if we feel God is misdirecting or misleading us? Well consider these things:
•Do you constantly ask God to place you somewhere other than where you are?
•Do you constantly pray “Lord please remove this or that” seemingly without an answer?
•Do you constantly tell God His options for your life?
If you find that you are often time thinking is this way then you are probably not trusting in God’s guidance and therefore not fully experiencing His love in your life.
Transition:
As we begin to conclude this sermon let us review what we have learned…
CONCLUSION:
Today maybe thorough this sermon the Holy Spirit has struck a note with you regarding the misconceptions of God:
1. God is mad
2. God is mean
3. God is misleading you
Maybe today you are saying to yourself, Pastor Chris is right, I know the bible teaches that I am loved but I don’t feel like it. If this is true for you and if you have heard nothing else this evening remember this:
• God loves you
• God disciplines those He loves
• God cares about where you are at
Let us go back to the story I began with, the story of the abused dog. Remember that it took the dog a long time to understand that it was loved and the same is true with us. Just because you heard one sermon and just because you have agreed with it does not mean that everything is going to change overnight.
In conclusion here is a plan you can use to begin your journey of experiencing God’s love fully.
•Open a concordance and look up passages that have to do with God’s love and meditate on them
•Contemplate the times you have been disciplined by God and what was learned
•Take a moment to review your life and where God has placed you. Consider how he delivered you in the past and use that history to serve you as a tool for the future.
Conclude in prayer…
