Jesus Loves Me…So what?…
…know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:19
The Bible talks a lot about love. It tells us God loves us; it talks about the love of Christ and that God is by definition ‘Love’; but it can be one of those things that we can so subtly disqualify ourselves from in a microsecond and maybe even think, ‘yeah, yeah, so what?…’ It can be a nice sentiment that we essentially package to one side, still acknowledging it as good, but not something we really take in.
The mind can reason, ‘the love of God is a nice idea, but it’s for weak people or just for children to know’…and then the mind goes back to planning and working on how to make ourselves better people or our lives better…
Unfortunately at times the church and Christianity has been known as a place where we go to potentially end up walking out with a sense of judgement and as a religion where God’s blessings are contingent on our performance, but is that true? Does God really want us to have such fears of judgement and punishment?
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment [the thought of punishment]. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
1 John 4:18
If God really just cared about wanting us to be focused on our performance, why include a verse like this in the Bible? If it was all about performance it wouldn’t matter to Him if we lived in fear, so long as we did ‘the right thing’. But this is not what God actually says He wants for us. He actually wants us to live fear-free lives – lives focused on His love and not on our performance.
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.
Romans 8: 3-4
For Christ is the end of the law [performance] for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:4
A perfect performance before God doesn’t cast out fear from our hearts, and striving to do so actually creates fear.1, 2 God’s Word says it is actually love – His perfect love – that can cast out fear from the human heart.
That’s worth thinking about a bit more…God’s Love, not our self-will, or trying to reason fear away; not our obedience or increase in possessions; not more confidence or someone’s approval; not more money or more health; not more control or success in our lives or our children’s lives; can cast out fear…simply His Love; knowing God loves you personally…is the means by which God says, someone loses fear.
The conclusion therefore, is that knowing you’re loved by God especially at your worst moments is pretty powerful.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (payment/mercy seat) for our sins.
1 John 4:10
Giving a baby a toy that has – Jesus loves me – embroided on it, we can easily accept – ‘Of course Jesus loves the child, they haven’t done anything wrong yet’ – is one seemingly logical conclusion, but according to Holy Scripture, God’s love doesn’t just extend to innocent children, but to us adults, young and old who have done wrong against Him.
But He [Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions [our wrong doings], He was bruised for our iniquities [sins]; The chastisement [punishment] for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53: 5-6
It may be fair for someone to take a physical beating for someone who loved them, but who would take a severe beating for someone who didn’t love you?
Jesus did.
He took beatings for people who didn’t love Him. That’s some love.
Why would He need to take beatings and eventually death, just for innocent babies who have done nothing wrong? Jesus died out of His love FOR the guilty.3 Law doesn’t say, ‘you pay for your wrongs and another person must pay as well…’ It says, ‘Either you pay or someone else pays for those wrongs’.4 Jesus has paid. He has taken our guilt. Let’s stop paying and honour Jesus’ payment.
Despite anything contrary you may have heard of Christianity and the church thus far, God clearly, through the demonstration of Jesus dying on the Cross, doesn’t want anyone to pay for their guilt or sins. There is no double payment system in Heaven or Earth. One payment has been made and it is efficacious for all time.5
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (payment/mercy seat) for our sins.
1 John 4:10
Going back to this verse in 1 John 4, we only know the love of God by seeing Jesus as our payment for our sins. Each time we forget it and hold ourselves to guilt as payment for falling short of any standard we have set for ourselves, fear comes in. But even when it is not obvious and we can’t see where the fear is coming from, God says the answer is ‘nothing more’ then to focus again on knowing He loves you; to know you are perfectly loved by Christ Himself.6
Walking in a consciousness of wanting to please God as a lot of Christians do, can create a fear-filled life, even though stemmed from good intentions of the heart.1 So even for the regular church-goer forgetting we’re no longer under a performance-based relationship with God can happen often and a reminding of knowing the love of Christ in the forgiveness of all our sins is the place we will always need to come back to. Seemingly basic, but God says it is the place where His fullness; His power, can manifest in our lives. He wants people free from fear; to know they are deeply loved by Him.
You are.
Amen.
References:
- 1 John 4:18
- Galatians 3:10
- Romans 5:8
- Romans 6:23
- Hebrews 10:12
- Ephesians 3:19