Revolutionary Love Uganda: Recent Episodes
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More than anything, kids need their moms and dads to be lovingly and actively involved in their lives!
They need us to be with them and walk with them to help them become the God-glorifying young men and women that God created them to be.
Feeding them and sending them to school isn’t enough. We need to capture their hearts. And that begins by parenting in a way that turns their hearts towards us, not against us.
The relationship between a child and his or her parents is the most foundational human relationship of our lives.
So much of who we are – for better or for worse – is the product of our relationship with our parents. Our way of seeing the world, our perspective on what life is about, our sense of identity, our level of confidence, our value system, our view of who God is – so much of it is rooted in the relationship we had with our parents when we were growing up.
And not only as individuals, but entire churches and communities are greatly impacted by the health or dysfunction of families. And that health or dysfunction begins at the level of the parent-child relationship.
Much of our teaching about marriage in Christian churches focuses on how to find someone with a compatible personality, someone you have fun with, someone who has common interests, someone who will complete you and meet all of your needs.
We talk about how to resolve conflict, how to communicate better, how to deal with financial issues, and how to keep adding spice to our romance to keep the fires burning.
Those things aren’t bad, but the problem is that all of it is usually focused on finding MY happiness…and it usually has very little to do with Christ.
Listen, a good marriage that is filled with the love of Christ will make you very happy in a lot of ways, But finding personal happiness is not at all the point of marriage.
We so often enter marriage starry-eyed and at least a bit naive, imagining a "happily ever after" that Hollywood would envy.
But what happens when the other spouse is either unable to give or unwilling to give? What happens when a spouse is not what they ought to be, due to sin, weakness, or some character issue? What happens when there is an accident or a serious injury, or when illness comes? What happens when a couple falls on hard times, like the loss of a job or financial difficulty?
If Jesus is alive in us, He will only do what Jesus does. And what Jesus does is exactly what the apostle Paul is calling us to do in all of our relationships in the body of Christ: to give ourselves for one another in love.
It’s not something we study or learn in a book. It’s not something we work hard to achieve. It’s not something we master through lots of practice or experience. It is completely – 100% – the result of the work of God in us.
And he promises that through the power of the Spirit, God is able to do in us far beyond anything we could ask or imagine. There is no limit to how much Christ can fill us with His love. There is no limit to how much He can love others through us.
Our new life in Christ should not only affect the way that we live with one another, but that our lives in the world ought to be like lights shining in the darkness, a visible testimony to everyone of the goodness and truth of Jesus Christ.
Our witness to the world is to invite them to CHRIST: to the love, the forgiveness, the life, and the hope that we have in Him. We do that with our words, but more than anything we testify with our lives.
And the light shines most brightly in our relationships: when we walk in God’s goodness…when we love one another as Christ loves us, living not to please ourselves but for the good of our brothers and sisters…when our conversation is filled with Christ and with encouragement for one another.
Since the day that Adam and Eve were deceived in the Garden of Eden, the real problem of humanity has been in our hearts. We don’t need everything around us to change. We need everything within us to change.
And change is exactly what happens when we put our trust in Christ. But Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4 that when Christ makes us new, He doesn’t automatically zap us and force us to live in perfect harmony with one another.
He has begun a work in us which makes it possible to live together in the way that He calls us to live; but we have to respond to Him by intentionally walking in this newness of life.
And that new life is most clearly reflected in the transformed nature of our relationships within the family of God, the body of Christ.
Over and over, the New Testament writers stress that the quality of our relationship with God is revealed in how we live with one another. Love one another…encourage one another…pray for one another…lay down your lives for one another.
God knows us intimately, loves us tenderly, and cares for us personally, but salvation is not just about God rescuing the lives of individuals so they can relate with Him. When we get saved, we become members of God’s family, a family that includes a new Father and a new set of brothers and sisters.
And we can fulfill our reason for living only as we give ourselves to walk together to fulfill the common mission that He has given us.
We have been led to believe that life is all about what we can see right in front of us, and so we put our focus downward onto the temporary concerns of our temporary existence on this temporary planet which Jesus says will one day pass away.
We pour all of our time, energy, attention, and effort into trying to make the best of these few years that we have here in this life. We work, and save, and plan to make ourselves as comfortable as possible, to try to enjoy the time we’ve got as much as we can.
But God wants us to know that He has so much more for us than what we can see and hold and experience for a few moments today.
He is calling us to a life that can’t be measured, a life of a completely different quality, a life that lasts forever. That's what we were created for: specially designed to know God and to be filled with His life; custom-made to be perfectly loved and fully satisfied in Him.
History has proved over and over again that people’s attempts at creating peace on their own always ends up in failure, in one way or another. Because hearts that haven’t been transformed, hearts that are still fighting for identity and value, will always end up in conflict of one kind or another.
Even those who say we just need to be tolerant of one another are incredibly Intolerant of anyone who doesn’t agree with them.
The problem is much deeper than some superficial decision to “just get along.” All the conflict in the world began when the individual hearts of men and women were deceived and decided that they wanted to be God.
So, the only solution is for those hearts to be transformed and the image of God renewed in them, for people to once again acknowledge and love GOD as God.
Only when that happens will human relationships have the ability to find true healing and peace. And in Christ, that is exactly what God has done for us.
The apostle Paul says that not one of us can boast about our salvation, as if we did something wonderful or noble in order to achieve it. We didn’t do anything to deserve it. We didn’t do anything to earn it. We didn’t even take a step toward God.
God is the One who came and rescued us and made us alive in Him – while we were still dead in our sins…while we were still following the ways of the world…while we were still living to satisfy the desires of our body, heart, and mind…while we were still living under the authority of the devil.
Those other shepherds were leading us to death. But we have a new Shepherd now. A Good Shepherd who came so that we could have life.
And He did it all for one reason…because He LOVES us.
Ever since the Garden of Eden, the devil has been in the business of identity theft. Eve already had an identity as a created and loved daughter of God. But he deceived her when he told Eve that IF she ate the fruit, THEN she would really be somebody.
And the devil has continued to spread his lies throughout the world. The world tells us that if we have this, do this, achieve this, and when we do, THEN we will become somebody.
But our identity isn’t created by anything outside of us. Our identity is rooted in the reality of what is on the inside.
The Bible never calls us to do things in order to gain our identity in Christ. The Bible calls us to trust that our identity is rooted in what HE has already done for us and in us.
We have been blessed with “every spiritual blessing.” It is a gift…ALL of it the result of what Paul calls in verse 7 “the riches of His grace.”
He chose us before the world began
He loved us and adopted us to be His beloved children
He redeemed us and set us free with His own blood
He took our guilt on Himself and forgave our sins
He revealed His plan to us so that we know who we are and where we are going
He has given us an eternal inheritance that can never be taken away
And He has sealed us permanently as His own through the presence of the Holy Spirit in us
Everything that we need for life, for joy, for peace, for hope…He has given it all freely in Christ. The riches of His grace indeed.
Don’t ever forget that the Bible isn’t a collection of stories and sayings that we can read and then magically apply them to our lives so that we get good things out of it. The Bible is about God revealing Himself to us: who He is, how He works, and what He wants from us.
God is up to something much bigger than you or me. He is not writing my story or your story. He is writing HIS story. And we have an important role in His story.
What is His story? What is our part in His story? If you want to know what God’s plan is about…if you want to know what the church is all about…if you want to know what your life is about…
I can’t think of any better place to look than to study the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."
For Paul to say the things he has said: that life is all about Christ, that our focus should not be on satisfying our own desires but on giving ourselves for the sake of others; that every pursuit is nothing but garbage in comparison to knowing Christ…and then suddenly for him to close the letter by saying that Christ will give you the power to achieve anything you want to achieve?
It makes no sense. And it makes no sense because that is NOT what Paul is doing.
What he is doing is promising us that Christ will give us everything we need in order to stand firm in Him, in order to live our lives with this way of thinking, in order to see life through the lens of knowing Jesus, loving like Jesus, and living for Jesus.
We’ve been told our whole lives, from every direction, that joy is found when circumstances are good, when things in life are going well; when we are healthy; when we have plenty of money; when we are popular; when we feel strong; when we have a clear vision for where we are heading; when we feel good about ourselves, when we are in control and on top of things.
But Paul knew something. Actually, he knew SomeONE. You see, Paul’s life had been personally and powerfully and radically transformed by the love of Jesus Christ.
And for years, in the midst of many difficulties, he had continued to walk in the power of that love.
So, even though is sitting in a prison cell, he tells us a much different story about life than the one we are used to hearing in our families, in our classrooms, in the media, in the marketplace, even in our churches.
When Paul saw Jesus for who He really was, he realized that NONE of the things that had looked so good had any real and lasting value.
And so, he says, I put everything else aside, and I live my life for ONE THING – to know Christ.
In the eyes of Jewish society, Paul had everything a Jewish man could have ever hoped to become.
But he says, it gained him NOTHING. For Paul to really find life, he had to come face to face with Jesus, the true Source of Life. And in order to see Jesus clearly, in order to get a proper view of what life was all about, Jesus had to blind Paul to everything else and bring Paul and all of his qualifications to his knees.
And for us to really find life, He needs to do that with us as well.
Everybody wants to live lives that are filled with joy. But most people are looking in the wrong places. Some have been in church their whole life and still don’t understand what it means to be alive in Christ…
Because they have been blinded by the lies of the enemy – in the world and quite often in the church – lies that tell us that joy is found when my circumstances are good, when things in life are going well, when my dreams are being fulfilled, when my plans are being accomplished, when my goals are being achieved.
But Paul's joy had nothing to do with Paul’s circumstances. Because Paul had experienced the transforming power of the love of Christ. And day after day, even in prison, he was experiencing the fullness of joy that is found simply in being in the presence of Christ.
When you really know the joy of His salvation…when you experience the real presence of Christ and the fullness of joy that is found in His presence, then you understand that in Him you already have everything.
And when you understand that, you are totally free to give yourself joyfully to share His love with others.
When you have the joy of knowing Christ, suffering is not an obstacle to your ability to minister to others. It opens your eyes to the needs of others around you, and it becomes an opportunity to show a kind of love that most of the world knows nothing about.
We talk about joy. We sing about joy. We say we want joy. But most of the time, we actually don’t want joy…what we really want is happiness.
Happiness is based on my circumstances, how I feel about life, whether or not things are going my way
But that can easily be taken away in a moment.
But joy…is much deeper than that. And true joy CANNOT be taken away…ever.
The joy Paul is talking about doesn’t depend on favorable circumstances, good feelings or comfort. Paul didn’t look at life through the lenses of how things affect Paul and how things make Paul feel. He looked at life through much bigger, much more important lenses than his own temporary comfort and happiness.
And he wanted the Philippians – and US – to look at life, and particularly, suffering, through the same lens.
So he prayed that they would grow in their knowledge of Christ so that they would get a clear picture of what is important in life…even in the midst of suffering.
Holiness. It’s a very familiar word to those of us who have spent any time at all in church. And if we had a whole room full of people who call themselves followers of Jesus, we would probably get a number of different definitions.
But regardless of how we respond to the idea of holiness, if we honestly read our Bibles, we can’t possibly deny that we are called to live holy lives. Anyone who tries to teach that holiness doesn’t matter, that we can just live however we want to, can only do so by ignoring a very large portion of God’s word.
Holiness is the Will of God for You…Holiness is Made Manifest in Real Actions in Real Life…Holiness is the Work of God’s Spirit in You as You Give Yourself to Him.
The truth that you listen to is so important, because what you believe about God will determine what you do with your life.
And what you believe about God is not revealed by what you do in a room on Sunday morning, or by what you know or what you feel.
What you really believe about God is revealed by what you do, who you are really living for, day after day throughout the week.
The Apostle Paul says that your life - the things that you do, the way that you live - will prove both to yourself and to those around you that the way that God sees the world, the heart of God for the world, and the purposes that God has for the world is the one and only thing that makes life good and satisfying and complete.
We can waste our lives trying to find new ways to chase after the wind or we can spend our lives on something real.
Jesus invites us to a life that has real purpose and meaning, a life more fulfilling than anything that you or I could ever imagine for ourselves, a life that is filled with a joy that is much deeper than my troubles and a peace that rises above even the worst of my circumstances.
What Jesus came to do for you and I is not only to get us into heaven, but to completely and radically reorder our lives to live NOW for something that will last forever.
You are not the master of your own life. You are a steward, or a caretaker, of the life that HE has given you. You weren’t created so that you could live it up, but so that you could live for Him. It’s why He created you.
And it’s why He died for you.
Our lives are not defined by how well we have achieved the goals that we set for ourselves in our few years here on earth. Our lives are defined by who we are in Him, the One who lives forever. He is our God. We are His people.
Through Christ, He has redeemed us from our slavery to sin and set us free. Our freedom in Him defines everything about who we are…our freedom in Him defines everything about the way that we live our lives…and our freedom in Him defines everything about the reason for which we live our lives.
You see, freedom doesn’t mean that we can just enjoy life and do whatever we want to do. Our freedom in Him means that we are finally free to live the life that we were created for, the life that HE intended us to live.
We are not the masters of our own lives. We are stewards, or caretakers of the life that comes from HIM.
So if that’s how it is, then what is your life about? Where should you focus your energy to live a life that really matters?
No matter what this year brings, you need to know that God will never forsake you. As long as you have breath in your lungs, you have a Father who will love you relentlessly, who will never take His eyes off of you, who will never fail to keep His promises to you, who will pursue you and walk with you and carry you. And He won’t stop until He has brought you finally and safely home.
He might disappoint you by not doing things the way you want Him to do them….but He will not FAIL you.
Christmas is so nice. We put shiny, colorful decorations everywhere. We fill the air with special music. We spend lots of money to buy special gifts. We put on our smart new suits and our beautiful new dresses and we all enjoy a big celebration. And it is wonderful.
But we don’t live in a world of parties and holiday cheer. We live in the real world. And in the real world, life is tough. This world is filled with disappointment and frustration. It is filled with anger and hurt. It is filled with loneliness and betrayal. Failure and shame.
That is the world we live in, a beautiful world, but a world that is scarred by sin. And Christians are not vaccinated against the pain of this world. We live right in the midst of it, and we experience the effects of it.
But as we walk through life in this very difficult world, we can do so with the confidence that God Himself is walking through it with us, every step of the way.
“The word became flesh and dwelt among us.” It was the goal of creation. It was the promise of Christmas. It is the hope of today. And it is the hope of every tomorrow - the simple but beautiful reality that He is Immanuel, “God WITH us.”
Everything about the scene in Bethlehem seemed to make it the wrong setting for the Messiah to be born. And it tells me something about how deep the heart of God really is, a big, majestic God who humbles Himself in love and stoops low to enter fully into the worst of this world.
It makes me think that if God can enter the world like that, then maybe, just maybe, He would be willing to come and live in the midst of the messy circumstances of my existence, too.
He is more than willing. And that baby in the manger is a perfect picture of just how far this wonderful, all-powerful God will go in order to turn your life inside out with His love. It’s a relentless love, a heroic love, a “no matter what” kind of love. That’s the heart of Christmas.
The Bible tells us that the sweet little baby lying in a manger in Bethlehem 2000 years ago was actually God in human flesh, invading the world of His creation so that He might take His place as King. When God invites us to Bethlehem, He is saying, “Come with your worries, your cares, your uncertainties, your weaknesses, your sins, your dreams, your desires, your life, and lay it all at His feet.”
When everything is in His hands, there is peace…and when there is peace, you will have the freedom to live as God intended.
But this is where it can get difficult. When you realize that He is a King and not just a sweet little baby….when you realize that it is GOD in that manger.
Herod didn’t want the peace of Jesus….he wanted the peace of Herod. So Jesus was a threat to his rule, both in his kingdom and in his life. And we’re not so different from Herod…
It’s not always easy to welcome a new king. Because when a new king comes, that means the old king has got to go. In order to give you His peace, He has first got to disturb your peace, the false peace that comes from trying to maintain control of your own life.
How you respond to His coming depends on the state of your heart.
This was much more than a simple random visit from some foreign wise men. It was God orchestrating the lives of men and women, and the events of entire empires, in order to announce Himself to the world.
But He is not just a God who came at the right time…He is not just a God who will come at the right time…He is a God who is here…NOW…always at the right time – Immanuel, “God WITH us.”
And the God who orchestrates the events of human history so that He might reveal Himself and His love to the world is at work in the events of your life. He was at work in your life long before you ever recognized it, and as long as you have breath in your lungs, He will never stop working in your life. He will pursue you in love to the farthest corners of the earth. He will patiently, skillfully, and sovereignly orchestrate the events of nations in order to work out His purposes, not only in your life but through your life.
We were created to bear fruit, the fruit of a life that is filled with Christ. But we don’t have to try to produce the fruit. We simply need to continually surrender to Him, resting in His faithfulness and allowing His life to flow through us as we walk with Him. And He says that this WILL result in much fruit, the fruit that He desires…guaranteed.
He promises us that as we walk with Christ, as we surrender our wills to His will, as we live for His glory, that He will freely supply whatever we need in order to do it.
He is giving us absolute assurance that as His children, we do not have to work to try to make ourselves like Christ. Because Christ lives in us. We don’t have to accomplish God’s will. We surrender to Him and He accomplishes His will through us. The pressure is not on us to try to become something for Him. We can rest in what He has become on our behalf. We don’t have to try to become strong. We trust in Him and walk in HIS strength.
Today, we look at the third mark of a true disciple, according to what Jesus Himself told us. In John 15, verse 8, Jesus says very clearly: “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so PROVE to be My disciples.”
Jesus gives us here a picture of the world as a vineyard, and God as the Master Gardener who plants His vineyard for one reason. He wants FRUIT, the fruit of a life filled with Jesus, a life lived in obedience to God’s purposes, and a life that is filled with the love of Christ.
But it isn't about your ability to produce fruit. It's about His work in you. He is a skillful Gardener. He is a loving Gardener. His plan for you is life.
And whether you are weak or strong, failing or thriving, walking closely with Him or struggling to see Him,
He will do whatever is necessary, whether lifting and healing, or cleansing and pruning, in order to make a way for His life to live in you in all of its fullness.
Last week, we heard Jesus say in John 8, “If you hold to My teaching, then you are REALLY My disciples.” In other words, “If you say that you are My followers, then you will actually FOLLOW Me.”
And now, here in John 13, He makes it simple again. He is about to go to the cross. He is about to leave them. So He wants to leave them with what is most important, He wants them to understand what it really means to be like Him. And what defines the life of Jesus more than anything else? He LOVES.
LOVE is the clothing that we wear. LOVE is the mark that really proves we are His disciples.
But not just any kind of love. He says very clearly, “Everyone will know you are My disciples if you love one another IN THE SAME WAY that I have loved you.”
So the important question is: “What does the love of Jesus look like?”
1 John chapter 2, verse 6 says that if we claim to abide in Him, if His life really is in us, then we will “walk in the same way that He Himself walked.”
It isn’t saying that if we are Christians, then we should try to behave like Him. It says that if we are really abiding in Him, then we WILL live like He did. Why? Because the true Christian life is not an effort to follow Jesus. The true Christian life is the overflow of the very life of Jesus living in us and through us.
The proof that we are His disciples is simple: the life of Jesus is clearly on display in our lives. And what does His life look like?
Jesus says that if we are really serving Him, we will follow Him. In other words, we will go where He goes and do what He does. And what does Jesus do? He goes into the midst of a broken world and offers LIFE.
So how do we do that? We DIE. And not just once, but as the apostle Paul says, “I die DAILY.” In every decision. Every relationship. Every budget. Every schedule. We take all that would honor and glorify us in the eyes of the world, and we lay it at the feet of Jesus and say, “Here I am, Lord. Take my life and plant it in this world as You would choose, as a seed that exists only for your glory.”
And whoever does that…whoever serves Him by laying down his life for His purposes, offering his life as a seed through which the Lord can multiply His life in the lives of others, receives an honor that is infinitely greater than any honor this world can offer. Jesus says “the Father will honor him.”
If Christ is not at the center of everything, then it is not Christianity. It might be religious. It might be loud and powerful. It might be exciting. It might seem spiritual. It might even be helpful. But if Christ is not the message, if Christ is not the focus, if Christ is not the goal, then it is not the church at all.
Because the church - the community of all who have repented of their sins, put their trust in Christ, surrendered their lives to Him and received His life from Him – the true church is absolutely filled with Christ. And the one reason simple reason why the church exists is to be a community who lives together in such a way that it gives a powerful witness to the reality of Jesus Christ. We preach Christ, because everything is wrapped up in who He is…not in our superior religious structure, not in our preferred style of worship, not in our doctrinal system, but in CHRIST.
It’s what we’ve been seeing throughout the gospel of John. Jesus didn’t call people to a religion or an idea or a doctrine or to an organization. He called them to Himself.
We were created for life. We know it. We feel it. It is part of who we are. We all have a sense that we were created to connect to something much larger than ourselves. We hunger and thirst for something that lasts, something that is real, something that is perfectly satisfying. Deep down, we all know that a feast has been prepared, and that we were all created to enjoy it.
That hunger for life comes from God. That hunger was meant to be satisfied. And it can only be satisfied in Him, through the very real Presence of a very real God whose love is much deeper than any circumstance could ever touch.
Jesus offers a life that is completely satisfying in the midst of the pain, a joy and a peace that are perfectly alive, even when our problems are at their worst. He points us beyond the problems to Himself! The message is always the same: “Life and hope are found in ME.”
A river. Never empty, but always full of life, no matter what the circumstances. And not full of life for its own sake, but impacting life and giving life wherever it goes.
There is a life like that. Life that has a neverending supply. Life that can’t be taken away. Life that makes a difference in this world. People are thirsty for life, and they are constantly searching for a source that will give it. And we have heard Jesus telling us again and again that we are searching in the wrong places. But He doesn’t offer to show us where to find the source. He just keeps saying, “I AM the Source.”
We have been told our whole life that we will be satisfied when we get certain things. Jesus keeps telling us that we’ve believed a lie.
“Don’t work yourself to death just for the purpose of feeding yourself with food that is here today and passes out of you tomorrow, leaving you hungry again,” He says. “There is a greater food, food that comes from God, and that food will give you life that lasts forever.”
Even if we don’t get any of those things that the world says are so vital to our happiness, Jesus promises us that in Him we find everything that we have been looking for in everything else. We don’t get it from Him. We find it in Him. It comes simply by being in relationship with Him, the perfect union with Him that we have through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Life is found there. Thirst is quenched. Hunger is satisfied. It’s not found in a thing, or in an experience. It’s found in a Person, Jesus Christ the Son of God.
She was obviously thirsting for life. She was just looking for it in all the wrong places. But her life was changed in an instant when her soul took in a big drink of the love and grace of God. Here He was, the Messiah, the Holy One of God. He knew everything about her life. And He loved her anyways. Someone like Him offered eternal life to someone like her.
And when her eyes were opened to see Jesus, when His love touched her heart, when the brokenness of her life encountered the reality of His life, it changed everything. It wasn’t about who she was or what she had done. It was all about understanding the Source.
It is our spiritual nature that enables us to connect with God, to know His love and to be in relationship with Him. It is our spiritual nature that was damaged by sin, separating us from the life and love of God that we were created to walk in. And therefore, it is the spiritual nature that must be renewed and restored.
It is not passed on genetically. It can’t be learned or earned. There is nothing in your natural state of being that can qualify you for life in the kingdom of God. If you are going to have life in Him, you have to first be restored to God’s original design. You have to be remade in the image of God. You must be born again.
If you want to have life in the kingdom of God, Jesus says, then something new, something different has to happen to you. You need a new nature, a completely different heart, a brand new life…and there is nothing you can do to make it happen. It has to come from God.
Jesus didn’t come to take people to the temple. He came to them as the true Temple. He didn’t come to clear the physical temple in order to make it ready for worship services. He came so that He could purify our hearts, making us ready to be a place for His presence to dwell. God promised through Ezekiel that He would once again cause His glory to fill the temple. In Jesus, that prophecy has been fulfilled. “The Word became flesh, and made His tabernacle among us.”
The temple only has meaning because of the presence of the God for whom it exists. If Christ is not at the center of everything, then it is not Christianity. It might be religious. It might be loud and powerful. It might be exciting. It might even seem spiritual. But if Christ is not the message, if Christ is not the focus, if Christ is not the goal, then it is simply not the Christian faith.
In Jesus, we see a clear picture of that life, the life we were all created to have breathing in us. In Jesus, we see a man who was filled with the very real Presence of a God whose life and love run much deeper than any circumstance could ever touch.
A man who was absolutely free from the bondage of human cares and concerns, not because He was sheltered from the darkness of this world, but because He was filled with a light that shines in the midst of the worst darkness.
A man who loved in the face of the worst hate, a man who was filled with an unshakable hope even in the face of threats, betrayal and ultimately death itself…because His life was perfectly united with and filled with the life of Almighty God.
“The Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.”
Not just to show us the beauty and power of His life, but to offer it to us…forever.
The Bible is not a religious handbook full of rules and regulations. It’s not a treasure map that shows you how to find earthly blessings in your life.
It’s a passionate story of love and betrayal and redemption – a God of love who walks among His people and offers them a life beyond anything they could ever imagine…a people who continually reject Him and walk away from Him…and a relentless love that continues to pursue them and come to their rescue because He wants to pour the fullness of His life into them, and because He refuses to let them go.
God loves us with an everlasting love, with the heart of a perfect Father. But sometimes love has to be painful. Whatever God does, whether blessing you or inflicting pain in direct judgment of sin, whether healing pain or allowing pain for reasons only He understands, you can be completely sure that it is an act of great love. His discipline is not the discipline of an angry man who is rejecting you, but rather the discipline of a Father who wants you to find real life, a life that lasts forever, a life that can only be found in HIM. His discipline is never about rejection….it’s always about the RETURN.
You see, our lives are not defined by how well we have achieved the goals that we set for ourselves. Our lives are defined by who we are in Him. He is our God. We are His people. Through Christ, He has set us free. And our freedom in Him defines everything about who we are…our freedom in Him defines everything about the way that we live our lives…and our freedom in Him defines everything about the reason for which we live our lives.
We are not called only to enjoy our freedom we have in Him, but to live our lives in light of the gift of that freedom, and to take very seriously the responsibility that comes with that freedom.
So if that’s how it is, then what is my life about? Where should I focus my energy to live a life that really matters?
It’s not a burden to obey God…if you know His heart, and you love Him, then it’s a delight. If He really is the God we have been seeing in His word, if His eternal purposes never change, then we have to understand everything, including His law, in light of His love, in light of His plan for a worldwide family, in light of His desire to plant His life fully among His people and in His people, and then to live it powerfully through His people.
God knew that we couldn’t keep the Law on our own. We needed new hearts. And that is exactly what He has done through the death and resurrection of Christ. This wasn’t God’s reaction to a plan that had suddenly gone bad. It had been His plan all along. Long before the first commandment had ever been broken, God had already planned the way of forgiveness. Long before Israel rejected God and went their own way, God had already planned the way of redemption. Long before sin entered and the world and ruined the hearts of men, God had already planned the way to give them new hearts.
God is among His people. God wants His people to have life in Him to the fullest. He wanted that reality to be unmistakably clear to all of Israel, and to all of His people today. And since He knows we are so prone to forget and be led astray from even the most wonderful truths and realities, He fills our lives with reminders that He is our God, and that we are His people.
At the very heart of the tabernacle, which resided at the very center of God's people, the ark of the covenant resided as a clear reminder of the presence of God among HIs people. And throughout the history of Israel, the ark reminds us that the presence of God is not a magical tool to be used for personal gain...the presence of God is not to be taken lightly...and the presence of God brings LIFE.
The tabernacle wasn’t on the edge of the camp, or up on a hill, far away from the camp. It was right in the middle of the camp. God wanted it to be unmistakably clear to all of Israel. The King is here, in the midst of His people…and the King is here to stay. He’s a King whose kingdom will never end…a King who cares about us immensely…a King whose deepest desire is not only to share His greatness with us, but to pour every bit of His life into our lives…a King whose deepest desire is to walk among us and to be perfectly united with us…forever.
Without the presence of God, the staff of Moses would have just been another ordinary stick. Without the presence of God, the ark of the covenant would have just been a decorative box. Without the presence of God, Israel would have just been a tiny, irrelevant tribe of shepherds wandering in the wilderness. And without the presence of God, you and I would be just like anyone else on this planet. But with His presence, we have fullness of life and fullness of joy, and in His presence alone, we have the complete satisfaction of everything our hearts could ever desire.
We know Moses as a great man of God, a great leader of His people. So it makes sense to us that God would call him to lead His people out of Egypt. But when God called Moses, he wasn’t such a great man. He was just a shepherd, and not only that, he was a fugitive, hiding from Pharaoh because he had killed a man. But that didn’t stop God from using Moses.
The issue wasn't what Moses could do or could not do. The issue was who God is and what He could do. And the same is true for you. It’s not the beauty of the instrument…it’s the touch of the Master’s hand. It’s not the quality of the building materials…it’s the heart and skill of the Builder.
So here we are at the end of Genesis 11. We have the heart of Father God, who wants to fill the world with His life, and we have a world of people who are in rebellion against God, because they are so full of themselves.
The rest of the Bible, Genesis 12 - Revelation, is the story of the unfailing love of a God who is on a mission to redeem the world, a love that refuses to let His people go, a love that will not quit until He brings them back to Himself, back home in His presence, where they belong.
And God simply did what He had always done. Just as He had done with Adam…just as He had done with Noah…He chose ONE man – Abraham. He called Him to Himself. He revealed Himself to him. He loved him. He poured His life into him. And then He sent him out to multiply, to share the life of God with others, to prepare for Himself a people where His presence would dwell forever.
After everything that had happened, after the whole world had completely rejected Him in every way, His heart was still turned toward them. Though they deserved judgment long before the flood, God in His mercy patiently called them and invited them to come to Him and live.
Because of His love and mercy, before God judged the world, He first spent 100 years offering them a way to be saved from it. And it wasn’t only an opportunity to escape judgment…it was an invitation to find life, real life in Him.
Before God sent a flood of worldwide judgment, He repeatedly offered them a flood of worldwide mercy. And here is yet another preview of the cross, another early preaching of the gospel: God in His love and mercy, pursuing a selfish and sinful world who deserved nothing but death, and providing a way of escape, a way that leads to life.
Before sin entered the world, man & woman lived in complete freedom and in perfect peace. The idea that they would actually need anything never entered their minds. It was simply part of life with God.
But now they were out on their own. When everything about life was simply found in Him, they were free from all care. But sin had separated them from His presence and stolen that freedom. And the result was insecurity, greed, fear, jealousy, anger, competition, stealing, murder, and war.
The world is a mess. It points us to the need to run to the One who holds all things together. The pain of this world is deep. It invites us to come to the Great Physician of our souls. The sin of this world is dark. It beckons us to come to the light. Our failures are so many. It invites us to drink of His mercy. Death is everywhere around us. It invites us to come to Him, so that we might find life.
Life is tough. The Apostle Paul says we “groan.” We groan under the weight of the pain that fills this world, and we groan with hopeful longing for the day when our redemption is complete, when we will enter into the fullness of what He paid such a high price to purchase – life with God, unhindered by the presence of sin, enjoying the infinite pleasure of being sons and daughters of God.
That is our hope. We don’t see it now. But Paul says if we can already see it, then it is not really hope. We groan, painfully, but we groan patiently and eagerly…because we have a hope that is absolutely certain. We are His sons and daughters through Jesus Christ, and we WILL live in His house, as treasured members of HIS family, forever and ever, without end.
“Does my life really have any meaning?”
“Am I really forgiven and accepted by God?”
“Is there really hope for me beyond the grave?”
At the cross, God took the worst thing that has ever happened, and turned it into the best thing that has ever happened. At the cross, I know for certain that my life is not meaningless....at the cross, I know that my failures will not condemn me....at the cross, I know for certain that death will not have the final word over me.
At the cross, I know that I have a Father. At the cross, I know that I have an identity that can never be taken away. At the cross I know that I am a child of Almighty God. At the cross, I know that it my life is safe and secure in His hands today, tomorrow, and forever.
Because of Adam & Eve’s rebellion, sin was now woven into the DNA of every human being. And life in this world was subjected to become a picture of how things just don’t work when we try to get life for ourselves apart from God.
It was an act of judgment. But it was also an act of great mercy, because God could have rightfully destroyed Adam & Eve and all of creation completely in an instant. But in love and mercy, He allowed them to live, because His desire was still for them to be alive in Him, and for the whole world to be filled with His goodness and His presence. He loved them too much to destroy them, but He also loved them too much to let them stay in the garden like this forever.
God sent them away from the Garden, but at the same time He was beginning His plan of redemption, His plan to draw them back to Himself. And He uses the pain and difficulty in this world to invite people to come home, to give people a longing for life, life that can only be found in Him.
Every day, you’ve got a choice to make. You can believe the lies that you can have control and dominion over the circumstances of your life, or you can surrender to the One who holds all dominion in His hand, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. You can be led astray by the father of lies down the path that leads to death, or you can walk closely with the One who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” You can dedicate your life to the pursuit of the temporary joys of earthly prosperity, or you can dedicate your life to the pursuit of the kingdom of God and live in the perfect joy of His presence forever.
“Choose this day whom you will serve,” Joshua said to God’s people. But you can’t have it both ways.
The history of mankind has been marked by a sinful distortion of our God-given dominion. God gave Adam dominion in order to make sure that every living creature would have what they needed as they multiplied and spread the glory of God throughout the earth. But instead, mankind has continued to scheme and work and fight for domination so that they can have more and more for themselves!
God’s people have been given dominion on the earth, but not possession of it. Stewardship of its resources, but not ownership of them. Authority over all living things, but not sovereignty over them. It’s not a personal dominion to accomplish my agenda, but a delegated dominion, for His agenda.
All the things of God's creation -- food, wealth, land, relationships, work, everything we have, all of it is given by God, and we have been given the responsibility (and the privilege) of managing them and using it all to serve, worship, and glorify God.
When you recognize the reality of His living presence in you, it doesn’t just excite you on Sunday. It changes everything, every day. It changes the way that you view your life…it changes the way that you live your life…and it changes the reason for which you live your life. His presence transforms every moment, every situation, every action, and every word.
Everything you have and everything you are becomes holy ground, the place where God dwells. And every moment of every day becomes an opportunity to serve Him and to glorify Him. And in doing so, you enjoy Him immensely, and you experience the greatest joy there is, the joy of walking daily with God.
Jesus says that whenever a lost son or daughter comes home to the Father, when they find complete satisfaction and fullness of life in His presence, heaven throws a party to celebrate. That’s the joy of the Father. And the call to “be fruitful and multiply” is an invitation to share and experience the same joy that God Himself experiences when His love invades a broken life and makes it whole, when he takes a life that is empty and fills it with Himself.
If that is what excites God, if that is what gives GOD the greatest joy, then that must be the greatest joy that we could ever experience! The greatest blessings are not the temporary riches that God can give to us. The greatest blessings are the eternal riches that God will give to countless numbers of people thru us.
We are created in the image of God. Living billboards that are meant to cause others to thirst for the reality of the God who lives in us…pictures that are meant to give people a pretty good idea of what God is like, drawing their hearts towards Him and giving them a desire to encounter Him in real life…"idols" that are meant to be visible representations of the invisible God, images through whom God makes His presence made known in this world…and icons that are meant to represent the God application, invitations to encounter the real thing, the presence of God Himself who lives in us and through us.
His goal wasn’t just to save you from punishment so that you could go to heaven when you die. His goal was to redeem you so that you would be able to live a life that reflects His glory TODAY, a life filled with the presence of God so that when people look at your life and the lives of people who call themselves followers of Jesus, they would see the resemblance and say, “Like Father, like son.”
The full manifestation of His living Presence is the goal of everything. It was the beauty of the Garden of Eden, and it will be the joy of Heaven. It is the goal of redemption AND it is the means of redemption - God entering our world, invading time and space in order to redeem us and restore the relationship between Creator and creation so that we could walk with Him in perfect intimate fellowship
God won’t satisfy for anything less. He loves you, and He wants to give you the best. And the best thing He can give to you is Himself...His very presence.
Why does He do it? He doesn’t have to. He doesn’t need to. He does it because He WANTS to.
That simple truth should be enough to make you stop everything you are doing, and to fall on your knees and worship Him for all of eternity. Isaiah says it should cause us to shout aloud and sing for joy, because “great is the Holy One among you.”
God is not some kind of divine Santa Claus who comes from far away, filling our lives with gifts and then disappearing. He is a God who comes to stay, to DWELL among His people. Jesus says in John 14:23, "My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them."
He is offering you so much more than temporary solutions to temporary problems. He is offering you Himself...forever.
From Genesis to Revelation, from before creation and throughout eternity, God has one agenda - He wants His life to be fully alive among His people, in His people, and through His people.
It’s been His plan from the beginning. It will be His plan for all eternity. And it’s His plan for you….today.
When we feast at His table, it won’t matter if we were rich or poor during our years on this earth. It won’t matter if we lived for many years or for few. It won’t matter if we earned master’s degrees or if we stopped studying after P1. It won’t matter what anybody said about us, thought about us, or did to us. The things that seemed to be so important on the journey will fade away quickly like a distant dream, because we will be overwhelmed by His majesty, consumed by His love, and filled with His joy.
It’s easy to lose sight of that, because this world is not always a very easy place to live. It can be confusing. It can be frustrating. It can be painful. And it can be so exhausting. Sometimes we get so distracted by the details of just trying to make it through this life, and we forget why we’re here at all.
We need to be reminded that this world is not our final destination. We are on a journey. We need to be reminded that this world is not our home. We are on our way home. We need someone to point us to the Father’s house, to remind us of the joy that is waiting just up the road. When we know that, it changes everything. It fills us with hope. It gives us strength. It makes us free to really live.
Nobody in heaven will be impressed by the high position you attained in your company or the status and respect that you had in your village. They are only impressed with the One who sits high and exalted on the throne of the universe. The angels will not be impressed with your stories of temporary victories in athletics or politics. They are too busy adoring the One who has defeated Satan, sin and death. Moses will not say, “Wow, that car you drove was awesome!” or “Your house was amazing!” Peter won’t be in the least bit awed by your TV, your fashionable clothing or anything else that the rest of this world is enamored with. They are amazed by His grace. They stand in awe only of HIM.
“So what DOES matter?” It reminds me of an old saying that hung in a frame on the wall at my grandma’s house:
“Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Following Jesus is not a call to duty. It is an invitation to joy. It isn’t something you do. It is the overflow of who you are. And who are you? If you are a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ, it means that you already have everything in Him! And if you already have everything, you are free. Free to love. Free to lead others to life in the Father’s heart. Free to point others to healing in the Father’s love. Free to usher others into the freedom of life in the Father’s house.
Loving. Giving life. Bringing healing and freedom. It’s the Father’s one and only business. It was the one and only business of Jesus. And as an adopted son or daughter of Almighty God, it is meant to be your one and only business as well. When you are filled with the Father’s love, you are free to be about the Father’s business. It gives the Father great pleasure to accomplish His business in you. It brings Him even greater joy to accomplish His business through you.
We find it easy to walk in religious devotion to God. Religion is predictable. We do the right things, avoid the wrong things, take part in the required activities, say the right words, sing the right songs, read the right books, perform the right rituals, and then we expect God to reward us in return. We like the idea of earning our way into the party.
It feels safer to stay outside of the party and work for the Father than to go inside. Because inside it is all about Him. I have to depend on His mercy. To enter into that party, I have to leave myself at the door: MY desire to control, MY trust in my own goodness, MY lust for recognition and credit.
It is possible to be in the Father’s house, with the Father’s people, doing the Father’s things, and in the process completely missing the joy of the Father’s presence. And if you miss that, you miss everything…even if you can recite Bible verses backwards and forwards….even if you can sing with the voice of an angel…even if you have a Phd. in theology…even if you give your life to take care of orphans…
The father in Luke 15 wasn’t calling the older son to perform…He was just calling him to “come.”
The party is not about rewarding faithful sons and daughters for the great things they do for the Father. The party is a celebration of the Father’s love. It’s an invitation to experience fullness of joy…HIS joy. It’s not a result of anything we have earned. It’s because of who He is.
The great promise of God to you and I that we find throughout His word is this: “I WILL BE WITH YOU…I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU….I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE.”
Here is where we see the heart of God the Father more than anywhere else, in His relentless faithfulness that pursues us, draws us, works in us, always calling us, always molding us and shaping us…the love of a Father who simply refuses to leave us alone, the love of a Father who will not rest even for a moment until He has accomplished His purpose in our lives.
As long as you have breath in your lungs, you have a Father who will love you relentlessly, who will never take His eyes off of you, who will never fail to keep His promises to you, who will pursue you and walk with you and carry you. And He won’t stop until He has brought you finally and safely home.
That’s the security of being on a journey with Him, the deep peace that comes from knowing that Dad is ALWAYS there. The love of the Father who runs out to meet His rebellious son and welcome him home is the same love that will work without sleep to keep that son at home forever…He will go all the way with you - whether day or night, whether coming or going, from this day forth and forever.
So here comes this boy in Luke 15, limping down the road to what used to be his home...until he took everything and left to try to live life his way. Everything fell apart, and now here he was, coming to beg for a place as a hired servant.
He was dirty, penniless, and covered with shame, deserving of the worst kind of judgment.
However, just around the corner is what I believe to be the largest word in all of Scripture, the word God loves to throw in when everything is hopeless, the word that God loves to use when we know for certain that the next sentence contains death and judgment. It is just a tiny 3-letter word, but it represents the power of the cross of Jesus Christ, the ability of the love of God to radically transform your life in just a moment.
Every time you seek your fulfillment, your joy, your acceptance, your value, your life in anything other than the love of God, you are taking a step away from home.
What we think will give us life – a university degree, a successful career, a relationship with that guy or that girl, marriage, money, status, popularity, even religion - none of it will never able to satisfy what your heart is hungering for.
Whatever pleasure and satisfaction we think we can find on our own will always run out and leave our hearts empty, because our hearts were created for one reason and one reason only - to be at home with God, and it is IN HIM where we find everything that life is about.
To be at home with the Father is to know that your security, your peace, your value, and your hope comes from only one source – understanding the simple truth that you are LOVED DEEPLY BY GOD.
When Jesus says, “Follow Me,” He is inviting you to hear something much more powerful than the voice of even the best earthly father. He is inviting you to come and hear the voice of your Father in heaven speaking to you. He is inviting you to come and find the same love, the same security, and the same perfect confidence that He Himself found in the heart of Father God.
He invites us to hear the Father’s voice for ourselves. And the Father’s voice is the most powerful voice on earth. Based on the work of Christ at the cross both for you and in you, He speaks the powerful words of the Father over you: “This is My beloved, in who I am well-pleased.”
Every day, He wants to speak those words to you. And every day, He wants to speak those words to others through you.
If you have put your trust in Christ, you are not a victim who has had everything taken from him. You are a child of God who has had everything given to him! If you have everything in Him, then you don’t need to hold on to anything else, including your pain. You are free to forgive, to release your fathers from blame. By the power of your Heavenly Father’s love, you no longer have to live under the power of your earthly father’s pain.
I don’t know why He allowed certain things to happen. I don’t know why He didn’t stop it from happening. But I do know this–whatever has happened in the past, He is here with you now. And He is offering you deep healing and complete freedom. He is offering you His heart.
He has never stopped fighting for your freedom. Through every painful moment, through every heartache, through every disappointment, He has always been there as Father–loving you, holding you, and inviting you to come home and be free in His love. It’s all that He’s ever wanted. It’s all that you’ve ever needed.
You will never stop needing His forgiveness, and He will never stop giving it. We are called to do the same for those who have wronged us and for those who continue to wrong us.
The call of Jesus, based on what He has done for you and for them at the cross, is always to forgive. It’s not at all easy, but it’s the only way for your heart to really be free.
The forgiveness of Jesus is radical. It’s life-changing. It comes straight from the heart of God. It’s based on the cross…it is immediate…it is complete…it is offered before we ask…and it is offered repeatedly.
We can forgive like that, because that is how we have been forgiven. There is no reason to be in bondage to the pain of your past. You are a product of your past, but you don’t have to be a prisoner of your past.
“Meditate on this day and night,” Andrew Murray says, “until you have the assurance: He loves me unspeakably.”
When you really know it, when you have that assurance, then as a true son or daughter of the Father, you are free. Free from accusation. Free from condemnation. Free from the power of sin. And, as we will look at next week, it sets you free to be able to forgive.
No more need for striving, because at the cross, He has done it all on your behalf. It is finished. You are acceptable. Your value doesn’t depend on what anyone thinks about you. Your value comes from who you are. You are no longer the same person you used to be. You are a new creation, with a new identity and a new heart. You have His name. You are His child. You don’t have to perform for it. You don’t have to earn it. It all comes from His heart. And it all belongs to you.
Someone with an orphan heart is someone who has not really understood the love and security of having God as their Father. Trust was supposed to be created at home, when a child from the very beginning finds safety and love. But for countless people, that safety and love hasn’t been found. Those who were supposed to make us feel secure made us scared. Those who were supposed to provide for us neglected us. Those who were supposed to give us a sense of identity made us feel like we were nobody. Those who were supposed to fill our hearts with love broke our hearts instead.
But pain was never meant to be the end of the story. I don’t talk about all of these things just so that you will feel pain in your heart. I talk about these things because I know the power of the truth. I don’t know exactly where you came from, and I don’t know exactly what kind of father you had, but I do know this – Psalm 103:4 says that He is the God “who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with love and compassion.”
And He wants to raise you to a new understanding of what life is all about. He wants you to be fully at home in the heart of the Father who loves you perfectly. I’m not talking about getting saved again. I’m talking about complete healing. I’m talking about being free. I’m talking about fullness of life, the way that God designed it to be.
Since we came to Uganda in 1997, I have counseled with so many people who just cannot understand the love of God, because of a lifetime of being rejected. They think that every time they sin, He rejects them and pushes them away…just like their father did…just like their mother did….or their grandmother…or their uncle…or their auntie. They wonder how God could possibly care about the details of their lives, because their own father had abandoned them. They can’t believe that God’s desire for them is to have life, because all they ever received at home was pain.
We don’t have to try to cover the pain or pretend it isn’t there. There is another option…healing. We can be free.
And the first step towards healing and freedom is to recognize the lies, to see how our family lives have affected our view of God, our view of ourselves, and our view of others.
Some of you, if you could be totally honest with God, would say, “Lord, I am tired. I’m tired of trying to fit into the system. I’m tired of trying to live up to all of the expectations. I’m tired of pretending. I’m tired of trying to please everyone. I’m even tired of trying to please You.”
Jesus says, “If that is you, I have a great invitation for you. Come to Me, and I will give you rest from all of that. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
It is easy because it fits….it is what we were meant for, to walk with Him, with HIS life filling our lives. It is light because He doesn’t call us to do things and then expect us to find the strength and the wisdom to do them on our own.
He simply calls us to walk with Him, allowing Him to take us where He goes, yielding to His strength and resting in His love, as He works out His purposes, revealing the heart of the Father in our lives and through our lives.
The burdens of religion often weigh us down so much that we aren’t even able to look up long enough to see the truth. People live with a constant feeling that God is displeased with them. Why? Because every time they fail, their pastor shows that he is displeased with them…because every time they sin, the gossip in the church begins to flow…because every time they fall, their brothers and sisters in Christ push them away.
The result? People have a hard time believing that they can run to the Father with confidence, unless they are sure that they have a clean record to present to Him. But if something has gone wrong, if there is any blemish on their record at all, legalistic religion has led them to believe that they are not welcome in God’s presence.
That kind of thinking doesn’t come from the hearts of sons who know the love of their father. It comes from the hearts of slaves who are terrified of their master.
But if we are children of God through Jesus Christ, the Bible says that we don’t need to live in fear. 1 John 4:18 says: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.”
We don’t sleep in the servant’s quarters. We have a safe and permanent room in the Father’s house. Because we are not slaves…we are His sons and daughters!
The lies of the devil say that God is not enough, that you need something more. And how do you fight a liar? With the truth…
And the truth is this. You have a Father. And when you know the heart of the Father, you already have everything.
Therefore you are free to give yourself completely to Him, and trust Him completely both to provide what you need and to decide what you need. It’s a kingdom worth living for…even a kingdom worth dying for.
And in the full pursuit of His kingdom, we find the freedom to finally and fully live as we were created to live, and to enjoy the fullness of your inheritance as a child of the Father through Jesus Christ, an inheritance that can never be taken away from you.
We long to be accepted, recognized, and admired. And the world tells us that if we find this acceptance, recognition, and admiration, we will find life. So we spend our entire lives trying to establish our worth and value, doing whatever we can to earn the approval of others. It is never enough, but we keep trying…because we have believed the lie.
But God doesn’t accept you because of anything you have achieved. He accepts you because of what He has achieved at the cross for you! He doesn’t love you because you are lovable. He loves you because you are His.
When we know the truth of the Father’s heart, there is no room for the devil’s lies. Even the best of his tactics will fail, because the truth of God’s word is a powerful defense…and an even more powerful weapon. That power is rooted in the assurance that Christ has forever purchased and sealed our place in God’s family as His beloved children.
The devil will never stop lying. But when you recognize his lies, their power to keep you in bondage is gone. When you stand firm in the knowledge of His complete and final victory at the cross, the stronghold is destroyed. The devil can no longer blind you to the reality of the truth of God’s love. You are able to see His heart clearly. And you are free to experience the joy of walking in obedience to Christ.
We need to expose the lies, so that we can lay hold of the truth.
When He decides to be our Father, He intends to be our Father forever. And when the devil comes along with his lies and accusations, telling you that you are not good enough to be part of God’s household, that the Father has rejected you because of your sin, the Holy Spirit steps forward as your witness and says to you, “Don’t listen to this false witness. I was there when this adoption was planned. I was there when this adoption was paid for with the blood of Christ. And I can testify that this adoption is genuine. And this adoption is final. You are a child of God…FOREVER.”
Adopted as true children of God forever. The Father planned it. The Son purchased it. The Spirit makes us certain of it.
You don't adopt someone to be a slave. Adoption is about family. Adoption is about fatherhood. Adoption is about love. In adoption, God takes us into His family and fellowship. He establishes us as His children, as those who will inherit everything that is His.
It is an amazing journey that God invites us to take - from convicted rebels and condemned criminals to beloved sons and daughters of God Himself.
But it sounds too good to be true. How can it be that God Himself wants to have you and me as His own children? How can we be certain? How can we be absolutely sure?
Because it all began in the heart of the Father. He chose you. Why? Because He loved you. He made a way for you to come home to Him. Why? Because He loves you. No other reason. It doesn't have anything to do with what you have done or haven't done. It all depends on His heart, on His love, on His choice. It's a gift of hope from a loving Father.
Let the Spirit of God plant this reality deep in your soul – as long as you have breath in your lungs, you have a Father who will never give up on you. No matter what happens, He is fully committed to walking with you all the way. Because He wants you to know His love...He wants you to be filled with His peace...He wants you to experience the fullness of His joy.
He could have just condemned you. But condemnation is not His plan for you. His plan for you is LIFE, and He will not rest until you are fully at home where you belong.
He wants to give you life. He wants it so much that it hurts. The pain is so deep because His love is so deep, love from the heart of a Father who wants only one thing for you and for the world – that you would know the depths of His love.
He longs for you to experience that love to the fullest. He longs for the world to experience it through you.
The Father's love and delight are relentless. He longs to give you life. Not because of anything you have done to deserve it, but because of His intense desire to give it.
And whoever you are…no matter what you have done…no matter what kind of person you have become…no matter how many times you have come to Him for forgiveness and then stumbled and fell again…His desire for you remains the same. He wants His life to be continually birthed in you. He wants it to be nurtured, and to grow, so that in Him you would find satisfaction for the deepest longings and desires of your soul.
It’s been His plan since before the beginning of time, and His heart doesn’t change. He wants to give you life. It’s always been that way. And it always will be that way.
The Bible tells us in 1 John 2:6 that if we claim to have the life of Jesus in us, then we will walk in the same way that Jesus Himself walked. And Jesus said in John 5:19 that He only does exactly what He sees His Father doing.
So the big question we have to answer, the question that gives meaning to all other questions, is this: “What is the Father doing?” And not only do we need to understand what He is doing, but more importantly, we need to discover the goal behind all of His activity.
Why does the Father do what He does? What is in His heart? What motivates the Father to do what He does? The answer to this question is the most foundational piece of truth there is, because if we are going to be the people that we were created to be, then we must know the heart and the purposes of the One who created us.