Who Is God?
Series Introduction – God Is Love
Ephesians 3:14-19
Do you ever feel like no matter how hard you try you just can’t get things right? That even though you are extremely busy, you don’t seem to be accomplishing anything? Does it ever seem like you are just living life in some sort of fog…with no direction?
It seems to me lately that, as a church, we’ve been in a fog…unsure what to do next…to many competing opportunities. And even though we’re extremely busy we don’t seem to be getting anywhere.
Dream
Turn on the light – expose the darkness.
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all…if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another
The greatest deliverance you will ever know is deliverance from you.
The consistency of our spiritual walk is in large part determined by our understanding of God’s character.
We were designed to discover ourselves by discovering God.
To begin the series on God, I want to begin with God’s character of love.
God sees everything through His nature of Love.
For God so loved the world…
Ephesians 3:14-19 - 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.
It seems that God’s love isn’t something to be talked about. We can’t just learn it. We must experience it. We must receive it. We must be filled with it.
For God so loved the world…
Everything God has ever done and will ever do is first motivated by His heart of love. The very decision to create us was motivated by His love.
The decision to reveal Himself to mankind was motivated by His love.
His walking in the Garden with Adam was an act of love.
His covenant with Abraham was a covenant of love.
The decision for God the Son to leave heaven and come to earth was a love act.
The sacrifice of God the Father was a love sacrifice.
For God so loved the world…
The very acts of Jesus were all done from a heart of love. From the very beginning to the very end, His heart was bursting with love for you and me.
And still today and He lives to make intercession for you and me, He is doing so motivated by His love.
For God so loved the world…
So how do we fully experience God’s love?
First you must believe it exists unconditionally.
Second you must receive it.
Third you must give it away.
Colossians 2:2 - My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God.
Love takes work
Love takes sacrifice
Love doesn’t just happen, it must be intentional
Stages of friendship
Acquaintance Stage – “Come on by any time” – doesn’t work with acquaintances
You usually have to work to get past the acquaintance stage – specific invitations, sacrifice, and time.
Restaurant Stage – meet somewhere for dinner – lasts about an hour
Meal in the home stage – this usually communicates that it is ok to hang around for a couple of hours
Drop by stage
Refrigerator stage
Family – highest risks – highest rewards
God wants us to relate to each other in this way. And He also wants us to relate to Him this way – as Family.
John 15:15 - I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
The word “friend’ here is actually a covenant term for someone who has become a blood brother through the act of cutting covenant. In the culture of the day, a blood brother – the person called “friend” – was actually a closer, more intense, relationship than a natural brother. Remember the verse that says that there is a “friend who sticks closer than a brother”?
Jesus is saying to His disciples and to us that He considers us closer than natural family members. That’s how strong His love is. That’s how committed He is to us.
Consider that in light of the previous verses.
John 15:12-14 - My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.
When we started this church we had some pretty clear directives from God.
The first is that we would have the Word of God as our foundation.
Second is that we would have worship as our first priority.
Third is that we would value small group discipleship and community.
Fourth is that we would be outreach oriented. This would affect how we treat those in our church as well as those outside our church. We would look to the interest of others first…we would be motivated by love in all that we do.
And all of this would be done in a contemporary, casual style under the power of the Holy Spirit. As a church, we are neither charismatic nor non-charismatic. We are very balanced in our approach to the foundation of the Word of God as well as the Power of the Spirit. And we are intensely committed to maintaining that balance.
An interesting thing happened when we started. Broken people began showing up. Before long it seemed like that’s all there was. We were nicknamed “the church of the misfits” by other Christians. They were being mean but we wore that name with pride.
Why? Because we knew that most people were broken. And probably the reason we saw more of them is because we were learning to be more accepting and full of grace than others. And then people started healing. It wasn’t because of anything we did. We didn’t know what we were doing. We just loved each other. We took care of each other. Live was an adventure and church was fun. We had dinner together and dreamed what it would be like to have a church full of people who lived in the fullness of God’s love.
And then something happened. We grew up. We got bigger – more organized. Over time things started to cool a little. Then crisis struck. Over and over again. Within two years we did three funerals for children. Last year we had an incident of child abuse that left us shaken and afraid. This year we lost a staff member. That combined with the everyday pace of life, our individual busyness, and our continued brokenness; it seems that we have lost a little of the love that characterized our early beginnings. We just don’t seem to be as open and trusting as we used to be.
Some have begun to withdraw and hold their feelings in. Others have retreated and isolated themselves. Still others have become way too busy. And some have become way too self-reliant.
It’s a risky thing to admit your need for others. But ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.
On 9/11 tragedy struck this nation. We responded admirably. Millions of dollars was given. Volunteers poured in. People bonded together in prayer. And we declared war on terrorism. But something else happened to the American people along the way. As we got on with our lives, we were changed. We had become a little more hardened – a little less trusting – a little more fearful. After the initial drawing together, we drifted back apart. Only this time we drifted farther apart and the walls between us and the rest of humanity grew taller. As we fight the war on terror overseas, we also need to declare war on isolationism here at home.
It’s the same in the church. It’s not hard to see the enemy of child abuse and fight it. But the enemy of selfishness and busyness is harder to pin down. But those enemies are just as real and just a dangerous.
A couple of weeks ago I was led to Revelation chapter 2 for what I believe is a message for our church. Here’s what it says in the New Living Translation:
“I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. 3 You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. 4 But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! 5 Look how far you have fallen from your first love! Turn back to me again and work as you did at first. If you don’t, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. 6 But there is this about you that is good: You hate the deeds of the immoral Nicolaitans, just as I do.
7 “Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Everyone who is victorious will eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God.
We need to return to the pure love of God. We need to receive it. We need to give it back to Him and we need to show it to each other. We need to declare war on those things in our lives that keep us apart.
1 Corinthians 13 – first from God to you; second from you to others.
