God's Valentine
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Will you be God’s Valentine?
Will you be God’s Valentine?
Happy Valentine’s Day! Yes..it is Valentine’s Day. For those of you who had forgotten that…and are now just realizing this truth…there will be a special prayer meeting in the back you just after the service.
But yes, happy Valentine’s Day to all of you…And Happy Valentine’s Day to my wonderful wife…she is currently in Cincinnati visiting with her dad and step mom…both who are recovering from this virus. They’ve both had a very rough time with it. Both being hospitalized. And like many of you have experienced, she will be visiting with them through a screen door because of the quarantine situation.
I know I can speak for Peach that she very much appreciates all of your prayers for her dad and step mom.
But yes…Valentines day. A day when many of us will admit…like me…I don’t deserve the love my wife has given me. I’m sure many of you can say the same of your spouses and significant others as well.
Valentine’s Day…where did it come from?
Well, this bit of history plays right into the theme for the day today.
I looked into Catholic history…and it looks like there were three Saint Valentines, all who lived their faith out loud in a very difficult time, even to their imprisonment and death.
The one that seems to be at the center of the celebration we have today is of St. Valentine, who lived in the late 200’s AD…the late 3rd century.
The emperor Claudius had outlawed Christianity…and he had stopped marriages of those young men who were of age to enter his army.
Valentine, however, moved ahead, continuing to share the knowledge of Jesus and also…knowing that marriage is of God, and secretly married couples anyway....fully knowing that living publicly as a Christian and performing marriages would possibly lead to his death. He was arrested and eventually killed for His faith.
This picture of living and loving is actually perfect for what we’re going to briefly touch on today. Today will be scripture heavy. The only reason I say that is because … in speaking about love…i think it is good to go to the book that defines what true love is.
Many textbook definitions of Love begin like this…A strong feeling of affection and concern towards another person.
We use the word to describe a relationship between a husband and wife/boyfriend and girlfriend, how much you like your favorite sports team…or even your favorite candy bar. For many in the world today, love is that thing that simply helps keep the human race alive…a means of producing the next generation.
On one website I was looking at…someone described love this way…”A word used by many, but understood by few.” Isn’t that the truth?
So we need to be careful how we use this word. I think the best way to understand and live it out well is to go to the source of “Love.”
In two short sentences we have someone say, “I love my car.” And then turn quickly to their fiance and say...”Oh and I love you too.”
The English language really has a tough time with the idea of love doesn’t it. Other languages do better justice to the idea of love…but we have a bit of trouble.
Now if we go to the source, here are some things that we’re going to find out…It isn’t just a feeling. It’s not just an emotion. And I think many of us …deep down…know this to be true.
Down in Kentucky… where Peach and I went to college, we were involved in a ministry called Love In Action…we would gather together groups of college students who would then go out to area towns....burgs…now what this looked like in KY was much what North Industry looked like 100 years ago. A street with 15-20 houses on it. That’s the town… And we would go out to spend time with kids…share Jesus with them. Play games, help with homework, get to know their families. Love .....in action. Meaning more than just a feeling…there was something that flowed from that feeling…from that emotion. Incidently that’s where Peach and I met. On one of those little trips to a little burg to spend time with kids.
So we know that Love is also shown in how we serve and give to someone else.
So love is much bigger than what much of society understands.
Let’s look at some scripture …some passages ....where God’s word describes and defines love for us.
Now remember, we’re called to Love God with everything we have…everything. And then we’re called to love our neighbor…those around us…with everything as well.
Now, in reality…we do this in response to a love that we’ve received. Let’s look at this Love…capital L....who came to us.
The first Big Idea:
This is Love: The Creator Came to Us
This is Love: The Creator Came to Us
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This one was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and apart from him not one thing came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of humanity. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
Here we have the Creator coming to us. Leaving everything He had. Coming into this imperfect world…where His creation failed Him. Now that’s hard to hear isn’t it? It’s hard to say out loud…we failed our Creator. We failed God. But it is the truth. And even in that truth…He still came to be with us…to walk and talk and spend time with us. And there was a purpose in it…we’ll get to that in a second.
Philippians 2:5-7
Think this in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider being equal with God something to be grasped,
but emptied himself
by taking the form of a slave,
by becoming in the likeness of people.
And being found in appearance like a man,
The Creator came to us. His Valentine Card to us. Telling us He loves us enough to leave behind where He was....location based…from there to here. To be near us…
The disciples and many others in Jesus’ day were looking for Him to become like the leading Jedi Knight…where he might raise his hand and destroy the Roman Army and the Roman Emperor. They wanted Jesus to be a powerful warrior…defeating Israel’s enemies.
Jesus had a completely different way of defeating His enemies. He had a completely different way of freeing His people. He had a completely different plan of how to bring us, back to Him. He came to us because He loves us.
What do we see? We see Jesus spending time with people. Walking with them. His power wasn’t seen with a sword, but with the healing of a child. Fixing the legs of a man who couldn’t walk. Crying with friends who had lost a loved one. And then His power was seen in bringing that one, Lazarus, back to life.
His power was seen , even by His enemies…through His presence and wisdom. The demons recognized Him…that he was here walking the planet…and called Him the Righteous son of God. The religious teachers of His day said that He was wise beyond anything they had seen or heard.
His idea of showing power was through humbly serving us. His people. He left Heaven for us…but as the Creator He showed us power through His love for His people.
He owned nearly nothing. He didn’t have a home. He lived fully on the reliance of the Father. The creator of the universe was showing us a different way of life that would point back what was in the beginning.
The world loves in a certain way…JHesus, the Creator, came to be love and show us real love.
This is Love: Jesus Died for Us
This is Love: Jesus Died for Us
Our Creator didn’t just come to be with us here…but He was making a way to be with us forever.
Now, there’s a problem here. We know what the problem is. There’s a separation between He and us because of sin. We live in a broken world. We’re broken.
Now think about that…originally created in perfection…in a close relationship with God. Remember Adam and Eve could hear God walking in the Garden. But sin broke that relationship.
Ironically…even though we broke the relationship…that perfect relationship with God…we can’t go back and fix it.
And so it was in this brokenness that Jesus came to us…knowing there was one thing to do.
Let’s look at our next verse…leading to the way that Jesus loved us.
1 John 4:10-16
In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we reside in him and he in us: that he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God. And we have come to know and have believed the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him.
Wow that passage is packed with stuff to remember isn’t it.
Incidently…in the next few verses there in 1 John…John writes that “We love because God first loved us.” And when we are in this True Love…God’s Love…we then conquer the world. Now that encouraging right!? Amen?
This next passage you’re all familiar with....
John 3:16-17
For in this way God loved the world, so that he gave his one and only Son, in order that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world in order that he should judge the world, but in order that the world should be saved through him.
God sent Jesus to die in our place. Our sin against God, against the Creator, need to be justified. We know our own justice system is based on this. The simple fact that we have a judicial system kind of shows that there is this idea of right and wrong…of righteous and sin. Humanity operates like this don’t we. If someone does something wrong, something needs to be paid…a punishment needs to be handed down.
The punishment for sin was separation from God…death. Now in our limited view of things each day…it’s hard to feel the weight of this isn’t it. It’s hard to think of things like this…in view of spending some place in eternity.
There’s an evangelist/apologist named Ray Comfort who does some incredible work. He’s pretty much the best street corner evangelist I’ve ever seen. He loves to talk with people about God. So what he usually does is help people simply think about the idea of sin. Many of the people he talks to don’t have church background and might have never ever considered the reality of God.
Anyways what he does is help them see the possibility of sin and separation. He simply asks them…if God is real and sin is real then have they sinned.
Most responses are …well I’ve been a good person. I think I’d go to heaven.
He then just uses the 10 commandments and the passages that say that only the righteous..meaning only the forgiven will be with God forever after death.
So he helps them to think about their death…and then to think…what if there is something after.
He goes through some of the easier commandments to understand.
Have you lied?
Have you stolen?
Have you used God’s name in a bad way?
So....right now you just admitted you’re a liar, a thief and one who blaphemes the name of God…can God admit you?
But right then he jumps in …because in many cases you can see the weight of reality heavy on their minds....
He’ll say…but do you know that Jesus so desperately wants you to be with Him…that he took your punishment for you?
Most walk away saying that they will continue to think about this.
This is what Jesus did. He came to die…to take the punishment for our sin…to justify us. Forgive us.
Now that sin isn’t there to separate us.
And now God gives us His spirit…God can be as close to us as He can be this side of Heaven…this side of eternity.
Jesus came so that He can begin to recreate us…to be more like Him.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13
Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous, it does not boast, it does not become conceited, it does not behave dishonorably, it is not selfish, it does not become angry, it does not keep a record of wrongs, it does not rejoice at unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
And now these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Jesus came to us, to save us…to begin the recreation of our hearts and minds. So that we can have life like it was intended. To see life from His point of view. To realize what our sin does to our relationship with Him and each other.
This is the story of His Kingdom.
Jesus saves us! Amen?
The best Valentine gift ever. He came as a loving servant. ....as my daughter would say....literally…he literally came from Heaven…literally.
We were literally in our sin…and He literally died for us AMEN?
And now…and this is the coolest part…we literally can Have His Heart....and all of those things Paul wrote that describe Jesus’ heart.
If you look to circumstances in your life to determine if God loves you, you will continually wonder. But if you look to the cross, you will have no reason to doubt. ~ Garrett Kell