Magnetic Love
Selected Passages
February 15, 2004
Introduction
When I was little I can remember standing in front of the church I grew up in and singing Jesus Loves Me during the VBS program. We had worked all week at learning that song and now we were sharing it with everyone at the program.
How many of you know that song?
The message of the song is very simple and yet it is extremely profound. Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong. Yes Jesus loves me Yes Jesus loves me Yes Jesus loves me for the Bible tells me so.
No one will ever love you more than Jesus loves you right here and right now. Jesus has a love that can never be taken away from you.
The message is so simple that I think we far too often miss it because the fact that Jesus would love us is sometimes beyond our ability to fully grasp. I want to assure you this morning that the message of that song true Jesus loves you.
Do you realize it? Do you understand what it means to know that Jesus loves you?
This morning I want to take some time and explore the scriptures to show you just how much Jesus loves you.
Body
1. The love Jesus has for you is complete (Ephesians 3:18-19)
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
What exactly is Paul praying for?
The main petition that Paul takes before God is that his desire is for the Ephesian church to have the ability to grasp just how much Jesus loves them.
Paul uses the four dimensions to describe the love of Christ: width, length, height and depth. These were the same dimensions given by ancient philosophers to describe the vastness of the universe. Paul uses this concept to real the complete nature of the Christ has for you. Literally, the love of Christ is so massive that it fills the entire universe.
The width of Christ’s love reaches the whole world and beyond. The length of Christ’s love stretches through all of time. The height of Christ’s love raises believers to the heights of heaven. The depth of Christ’s love reaches down into the depths of this sin soaked world to bring redemption.
The truth is that your feeble human understanding will never be able to fully comprehend just how much Jesus loves you. So, we need to be seeking to experience more and more of His love on a daily basis. God has promised give us all that we ask for if we have faith to believe and a genuine request.
There is nothing that you have ever done to make Jesus love you any less than the day you came into being. Nothing! Not one single thing you have ever done in your life has caused a decrease in the love Jesus has for you.
Only the love of Jesus makes us who we are meant to be and without it you will never be whole. The love that Jesus has for you can bring wholeness to…
· Every relationship that you have in this life because it is the foundation of love
· Every course of action you chose in this life
· Every hurt that you ever experience because His love brings healing to your life
The love of Christ can meet the greatest needs of your life if you will just open up to it and allow it to penetrate the deepest recesses of your heart. The love of Jesus can bring wholeness to your life if you will just allow it.
2. The love Jesus has for you is sacrificial (Ephesians 5:1-2)
1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
A. Remember that you are part of God’s family
How many of you love your children? How many would do everything you could for them?
I think that it is crucial for you to remember that when you come to Christ, you enter into God’s family. Not like some distant relative from far away that drops by once in a while for a visit but rather you are His dearly loved Child. You are precious to Christ and you are always on His mind.
(Use an example of being related to someone in the church)
We are blood relatives but not be DNA, bone marrow or the blood that runs through our veins. The truth is that we are related by the blood that poured out of the body of Jesus.
B. Remember the price that Jesus paid for you
How many of you would die for your children? How many of you would sacrifice your children for others?
Bridge conductor story
God loves you so much that He sacrificed His Son to save you from a miserable death and just like the bridge operator; God saved you through giving up His Son. We are a lot like those people on that train. We reap the benefits of the sacrificial death that Jesus died but we never truly allow that love to impact our lives.
I don’t care if you’ve been a Christian for 20 years I believe that we all need to be reminded of just what Jesus did for you through the cross.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
Why does Paul say that this is of first importance? Jesus died for your salvation. He died for you. Jesus gave Himself up for you and that means that you have such an infinite worth to Him you will never be able to fully understand.
3. The love Jesus has for you is powerful (Romans 8:38-39)
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The love of Christ is so absolute and so powerful that there is absolutely nothing in the entire universe that can separate you from that love. When Paul tells the Roman church nothing he means nothing.
· Not death: When you confront the reality of death understand that it cannot and will not ever be able to separate you from the love of Christ.
· Not life: There is no difficulty, no trial, no pressure, no threat than can separate you from the love that Christ has for you
· Not angels, nor demons: There is no heavenly or spiritual being that has the power to take the love of Jesus away from you. It cannot be done.
· Not the present or future: There is no event that will happen today or any other day that can separate you from the love of Christ
· Not height or depth: There is no distance that can ever be achieved that can ever separate you from the love of Christ.
· Not anything else: There is absolutely nothing in all of creation that can ever separate you from the love of Christ.
Paul shows that there is nothing that can separate you from the love that Jesus has for you. There is nothing that can take the completion you find in the love of Jesus away from you. There is nothing that can take the love that secured salvation away from you. The simple truth is that you cannot earn the love of Jesus and you cannot lose the love of Jesus.
All of these benefits that flow from the love that only Christ can give you are based on one condition, you have to choose to walk within them. You can walk away from the love of Jesus.
I can see it on your faces you would never walk away from the love of Christ. The sad truth is that we do it every day and sometimes without knowing it.
· Each day that you choose not to pray is a day that you take another step away from the love of Christ
· Each day that you harbor bitterness or resentment toward another person is a day that you step away from the love of Christ
· Each day that you say something less than kind about another person or to another person is a day that you take another step away from the love of Christ
So what do you do to step back?
Conclusion
When I was a substitute teaching for fifth grade science last year; we did a really cool experiment with magnets. The purpose of the experiment was to show how magnets either attract to each other or repel from each other. When the opposite ends of the magnets were placed close to each other there was a great attraction and the magnets were drawn together.
The love of Jesus works like the opposite ends of the magnets; it draws us closer and closer to Him. Jesus is divine you are human and He wants to draw you close.
I think that the deepest desire of the Christian is to be drawn closer and closer to Jesus but far too often we fail to find that kind of intimacy with Him. Why? I think we draw back when He draws close and we miss the magnetic moments of His divine love.
Is Jesus the desire of your life today? Do you want more of Him? Maybe you just need to bask in the light of His love this morning.
Today come and feel His loving embrace once again because nothing else will do. If Jesus is speaking to your heart come find His friendship and His love all over again. He’s waiting for you. If He is speaking to you, don’t ignore it, just come and experience His love in fresh ways. Why don’t you come?
Draw Me Close
Draw me close to you/ Never let me go/ I lay it all down again/ To hear you say that I’m your friend/ You are my desire/ No one else will do/ Cause nothing else could take your place/ to feel the warmth of your embrace/ Help me find the way/ Bring me back to you/ You’re all I want/ you’re all I’ve ever needed/ You’re all I want/ Help me know you are near
