The Love Of Jesus - What Do We Do With It? Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: March 23, 2013

Date Preached: March 24, 2013

Where Preached: OPBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Series Title: Palm Sunday Sermon

Sermon Title: The Love of Jesus - What Do We Do With It?

Sermon Text: John 12 [ESV]

Introduction:

[Sing these 2 phrases…]

Jesus loves me this I know - FOR the Bible tells me so…

This song tells a message! This song tells a message that, AS BELIEVERS, we must tell to the world around us! “Jesus loves you” is NOT just for little children… “Jesus loves you” is for everyone…EVERYWHERE!

This sermon this morning PRESUPPOSES that Jesus loves us… I am going off the premise that God loves us and has shown His love to us in many ways. Thru creation but most of all through His Son Jesus!

We find the love of God revealed ALL throughout the Bible but we find the love of Jesus revealed all thru the NT Gospels where we find Jesus showing the love of God to all He encounters…

To those He did not know… Jesus offered Himself freely to accept them WHERE they were, and teach them what God had for them

To His disciples… He was a patient and caring teacher who loved them in spite of their inability to fully comprehend His teaching.

To YOU… Jesus has shown His love to ALL of humanity because was willing to exchange the worship of angels for the mocking of soldiers… willing to exchange the crown of heaven for a crown of thorns…

[Sing these 2 phrases…]

Yes Jesus loves me (3x)… The Bible tells me so…

Scripture is FILLED with the love of God as shown thru His righteous and loving Son, Jesus! We can read about it and we hear people tell us ALL the time about how Jesus loves us…

Just yesterday I was driving home on the frontage rd by the expressway and at an intersection a young man stood holding a sign that said… JESUS LOVES YOU!

In our passage of Scripture for this morning we know that the people in and around Jerusalem in the 1st century had heard about Jesus and what Jesus had done by way of miracles and teaching…most of them had actually seen the love of Jesus IN ACTION!

It is EVIDENT the people KNEW about Jesus…they had seen evidence of His love, but today I want us to see that even tho’ the love of Jesus was made known…

NONE of the people of Jesus’ day were able to understand His love, [and today people are still mystified by it]

MOST of the people of Jesus’ day could not bring themselves to accept His love, [today in our cynical, “what is in it for me” world…MOST people cannot accept a love that does not seek things for themselves first] but finally…

Very few of the people of Jesus’ day would make that leap of faith needed to receive His love [this is the same today, the love of Jesus is proclaimed daily, but there are so few people who are willing to make that leap of faith to receive His love]

Jesus made His love evident but it was not understood: (John 12:1-15)

The love of Jesus was made evident in all of his actions. His love for God (the Father), His love for His earthly family and His love for the world…

But here in the 1st 15 verses of this chapter we find that the love of Jesus was just NOT understood by anyone of the 1st century! It was BEYOND their comprehension of God!

You see, to the avg Jew: God was the One on the mountain top with lightening, wind and thunder… God was the ‘pillar of fire’… God was the angel of death in Egypt… God was the divider of the Red Sea…

To the avg Jew (including the disciples) God was a sovereign & unapproachable God… Sure Moses & Joshua were in His presence BUT they did not believe that they could know God on a personal level!

In John 12 we find that EVEN the disciples did not understand the love of Jesus… The chapter begins with a story that reveals that the disciples did not TRULY understand who Jesus was (even tho’ they had proclaimed Him Messiah)…

When the woman anoints Jesus feet and washes his feet with her hair, in submission and confession… She was giving Jesus the proper place in HER life… SHE SAW Jesus for who He was, but the disciples still had NOT grasped it…

When they protested her ‘wasteful’ act… Jesus basically tells them to leave her alone because she understood just who He was… They may not know just who He is, but SHE did, and she acted on that belief!

At this point the people could NOT see Jesus for who He REALLY was, but they saw Him for who they BELIEVED Him to be… They had put their own perception into play… they had drawn their own conclusions…