The Love of God

As we continue this series, Knowing God, we're gonna talk today about what is really foundational to our relationship with God. The foundation of why the universe exists, the foundation to why we exist, the foundation, the beginning of how you and I can even begin to have a relationship with God is through the love of God. And so we're gonna talk about the love of God today. Next week, our friend, Megan Marshman is gonna be teaching and continuing the series, and Chad is gonna be up the week after that, and we're gonna continue. Yeah, we can celebrate that. That's very exciting. And I would ask that you would just commit to going on this journey. A.W. Tozer says, what comes to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us. And so getting to know God, truly knowing God, will forever change your life. See, what we think about God will transform the way we think about ourselves. It'll transform the way we think about the people around us. It transforms the way that we see the world that we live in. What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. And Jesus says, when he's praying, he defines for us eternal life. And he says this in John 17, verse three,

and this is kind of our key verse throughout this series. Jesus prays and he says this, now this is eternal life. He's about to define for us what eternal life is. And if you think eternal life, it's about heaven, it's about streets of gold and pearly gates, Jesus has a different definition for eternal life. He says, now this is eternal life, that they, that's us, that they know you. The only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Jesus says eternal life is about knowing God. Which means eternal life isn't something that we just experience in the hereafter, it's something we can actually experience in the here and now. That you and I can know God because God has revealed himself to us and he's opened up relationship with him if we would choose to trust and to follow him. And like I mentioned before, at the very foundation of this relationship is love. Because love is the very nature of who God is. In first John, it says that God is love. Not that love is God, but that God is love. Meaning it is the very essence, it is the very nature of who he is. The Bible teaches us things about God. We can know things about God. And there are some things that are in the realm of mystery because we are talking about an infinite eternal spirit without any limitations or boundaries,

who has an intellect, personality, feelings, and a will. And so to wrap our minds around God would be impossible, but we can learn things about him because he has revealed things to us through scripture, through the person of Jesus and by his Holy Spirit. And one of the things we learn when we read the Bible on the very first pages is God is three and yet one. God is three and yet one. He is one and yet three. The theological term for this is Trinity. Think tri-unity. And if you're like, Robert, can you explain that for me, exactly how God is three and yet one? Not really, but it's what's revealed in scripture, which is why we came up with this theological term Trinity. And the best way, if you've been around Sun Valley, you've heard us describe it this way, the best way I could describe it is don't think addition. Addition is one plus one plus one equals three. That's not what we're talking about. There's not three gods, there is one God. Don't think addition, think instead multiplication. One times one times one equals one. Some of you did really good at math, I could tell. God is three distinct persons, yet one nature, one divine essence. There is one God expressed in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the reason it's important that we understand that

is because before the universe ever existed, God speaks the universe into existence in Genesis chapter one before the universe ever existed, love existed because God is love. And this God who is love creates everything that we see in this universe. And in the account of creation, Creation in Genesis chapter one, in verse 26, it says this, then God said, let us, who is the us? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. By the way, that word that is translated God, this was originally written in Hebrew. In fact, the very first line of the Bible, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, that word for God in Hebrew is Elohim, which for all of us, just a little quick Hebrew lesson, anything that ends in I-M, im, in Hebrew is plural. And so even the word that's used for God in the very first page of your Bible is this plural Elohim. God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And so this God who creates everything, he says, let us create man in our image. And he creates Adam and Eve, male and female, he creates them in his image, a reflection of who he is. And then in verse 28, it says, and God blessed them. God is a God of blessing. He is a God who is generous. This God who is love.

And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God gifts creation to mankind. Because God is loving, God is generous. He does all the work of creation and then he gives us dominion over it. He did all of the work of speaking the universe into existence and all the brilliance that we see when we study all that is around us, all of that God created and he just gifts it to us. In Genesis chapter one and Genesis chapter two of your Bible, it's the beginning of this love story of this God who already had love from the beginning of the universe, which means God didn't create us so that we would give him love so that he could receive love. He created us so that he could share this love that's always existed. You and I are created, you and I exist because God loves us and wants to share his love with us. And so Genesis one and two begin this love story between God and humanity, yet for there to be a relationship, there had to be choice. And even though God did all the work of creation and even though it was so good and he gifts it to us, he doesn't force relationship on us.

In fact, he says, you can choose to trust me or there's this option we could rebel against God. In fact, there was only one rule that was to be kept, not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That was the one rule God says, if you don't wanna trust me, go ahead, eat of that. You can reject relationship, he doesn't force relationship. And so what does humanity do? We eat of that fruit and now sin enters the story. And because God is holy, because God is righteous, because God is just, he cannot be in the presence of sin and he can't just ignore sin because he is just and he can't just destroy sin because now sin is a very part of who we are and he loves us. And so now this tension exists throughout the Bible. This tension of this sin that separates us from this God who is a God of love. And deep down, humanity, we know this. We sense this separation from God. And so we respond a couple different ways. Some people, they sense this gap between us and God and so they go the religious route. And the religious route is us doing everything that we can to try and work our way to God, everything we can. If we could just keep some of the rules, as long as we can kind of do better than some of the other people around us, maybe we can work our way to God. And for those that go the religious route, maybe they feel like they've advanced

a little further than other people. And so maybe there's a little bit of pride there, which by the way, the Bible says God opposes the proud. He gives grace to the humble. And in reality, those that go the religious route, we know that we haven't gone far enough. God's standard is perfection. And no matter how religious you are, no matter how religious you try to be, all of us fall short of perfection. And so what really happens if you go the religious route is deep down there's a sense of fear. I haven't done enough. How good is good enough? Have I done enough good to outweigh the bad or whatever other religious thought comes into our mind? And that's not how this relationship operates. Religion doesn't work. Religion is just advice trying to work our way to God. All of us fall short, even the religious. And some, they go, well, I couldn't make it as far as those religious folk. And so we're over here, and instead of maybe feeling like I gotta try and work my way to God, we go the rebellion route. And we go, yeah, I sense this separation, so I'm just gonna enjoy my life and do whatever I want. And I'm gonna try and make the most of every day. And so we do whatever feels good.

We just kind of follow our heart. And here's where that leads. Deep down, we know that what we're doing isn't right. And there's a deep shame that we carry with us. Ashamed of what we've said, what we've done, what we've thought. And this gap, no matter how much we try and fill our lives with things that we think will feel good, we still sense that there's something missing, that our soul was created for something that nothing in this world can satisfy. And so whether you go the religious route or whether you go the rebellion route, there's still this gap between us and God because of our sin. And yet the Bible reveals to us that there is this God who loves us. And God, in the ultimate acts of love, he begins to show up in the Bible. He shows up in the life of Noah, and then a guy named Abraham, and then in his descendants, Isaac and Jacob. His name has changed to Israel. And God continues to show up. And eventually, he works through this guy named Moses to free the people of Israel, the descendants of Israel, out of slavery, out of Egypt. And God continues to show up. He continues to manifest himself in the story. And then in this incredible act of love,

God says, I actually wanna be with humanity. Yet there's this problem of this sin that separates us. And so for God to be with sinful people who God is just, there has to be some kind of an agreement worked out. And so what God establishes is something called the tabernacle in the Old Testament. And the tabernacle, Chad shared this a few weeks back. The tabernacle, it means tent of meeting. This was the place where God's presence would be manifested with the people. Yet for that to happen, this sin problem had to be dealt with. And so as you would enter into this tabernacle, this tent of meeting, you would go in through the gates and you would enter into the courts, and then there would be this altar. And animals would be sacrificed, these innocent animals as a payment, as a temporary covering for the sin of the people. And through that payment, now this issue of sin, at least it was temporarily, it was dealt with. And so now the priests who would represent the people, they could go through ceremonial cleansing and they could enter into the Holy of Holies. And the Holy of Holies in this tent of meeting was the place where God's presence was manifested. You see that pillar coming out of, it looks like steam. It was smoked by day and it was fired by night. And there God's presence would interact with the high priest on behalf of the people. And so we learn from this, and you're like,

man, that seems kind of odd, this system that God establishes. We learn from this that sin that separates, this sin requires a sacrifice. That there must be some kind of payment made for the sin of the people to satisfy the justice of God so that God can share his love relationally with us. And we learn about God's love all throughout the Bible, that God is compassionate towards us. And that word compassionate, by the way, it means with suffering, that God is long suffering, that he is patient with the sinful people. Because the story of the Bible is God shows his love and he restores and he redeems and he wants us to put our faith, our trust in him. And eventually we rebel against God and he continues to pursue us. In fact, the story of the Bible is God again and again and again, when we couldn't work our way to him, he meets us right where we're at. And he meets us with a love that is unlike our kind of love. See, God's love is different than our love. Our love is conditional. God's love is unconditional. God's love is unconditional, meaning there is no God loves us because fill in the blank. See, human love is conditional. I'm gonna confess something to you right now. I love Peter Piper pizza. I don't care.

I know you guys are judging me hard right now. I don't care. I love it because I grew up with it. I like it. I actually like the taste of it. I love Peter Piper Pizza. I love the Phoenix Suns. I know it's been a rough ride my entire life of being a Suns fan, but I love them again. It was nostalgic. I love my family. I love my kids because they're my kids. Because I've been with them since they were first born and now they're entering into young adulthood. I love my family. I love my one and a half dogs because they're loyal. And I say one and a half because one's small. It's not a real dog, but the other one, it's a good boy. And these dogs that are loyal and they love to just cuddle with me on the couch. And I love that about them. Everything that I'm telling you right now, these are all conditional loves. I love blank because blank. God's love is different. God loves because he loves. Do you see the difference? God loves because he chooses to love. In fact, the Bible says when we put our trust in what Jesus has done for us,

that we are called children of God. God does not love us because we are his children. Hear this, we are his children because he loves us. It is unconditional. Even though we rejected God, even though we rebelled against him. Sometimes I'll talk to students and I love talking to our different students because they're reading their Bible and they're really trying to understand who God is and who he's revealed himself to be. And by the way, if you're reading your Bible, you're going to have questions. And so students will come to me with questions and they'll say, hey, can you help me understand, I'm reading this passage, what does this mean? And I've had this question, hey, Robert, there's some crazy things in the Bible. What's the craziest thing in the Bible? And they're like, is it this, is it this? And there's some wild stuff in there. Highly recommend reading your Bible. And I'll say, do you know what the craziest thing in the Bible is? And I will stand by this. The craziest thing in the Bible, Genesis one and two, God creates us. It's this love story of him creating humanity. Genesis three, it's our rebellion against God. The craziest thing in all of the Bible

is that there's a Genesis chapter four. The craziest thing in the Bible is that it didn't end in chapter three. You see, our Bible should have been a pamphlet. It should have been this. Hey, God created everything. He gave it to us, he created us in his image. He gave us dominion over everything. We rebelled against God and God was like, okay, the end. That should have been how the Bible went. The craziest thing is that God didn't stop the story there. That God in love and mercy and grace has worked his way to us again and again. His love has driven him, not because we have done anything to deserve it. We have not done any condition that would make God want to love us. He loves us because he chooses to love us. It's crazy. Even though we rebel against him, even though we run from God, he has pursued us. John chapter one, this is talking about Jesus. And talking about the word of God. And the word is capital W, it's talking about God himself. John one says, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God. And in verse 14, he writes this, and the word, this is talking about Jesus, God in the flesh, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And that word for dwelt is tabernacle.

God tabernacled among us in and through the person of Jesus. Jesus is God taken on humanity. Jesus is God with a bod. He is the tabernacle. He tabernacled among us and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. That word grace, do you know what grace is? Grace is love when it meets imperfection. That's what grace is. Grace is unearthly. earned unmerited favor. God's love is this grace that Jesus, the tabernacle, came full of grace and truth. See, when you and I, when we couldn't work our way to God, God in love and mercy and in grace worked his way to us and in through the person of Jesus. He's done all the work again. Yeah, he doesn't force relationship on us. He loves us, he offers relationship to us. A few months ago, I was flying back from an international trip. We're taking students this summer on mission trips to two different locations. And so I was working with a partner and I was flying back and we had to connect through Miami and I was exhausted and I was traveling with another one of the youth leaders. And so we were going from Miami to Phoenix. And on that flight, I just wanted to put on my headphones.

I wanted to watch a movie, maybe fall asleep. And I'm seated on the exit row. And in fact, I'm seated on the window because that's where I like to fly. And there's a seat next to me. And then the flight, the seat next to that was decommissioned for some reason. And the person I was traveling with was supposed to sit there. So they moved him to a different aisle seat. And so I'm sitting there and then this lady comes in, one of the last people on the plane. And I was thinking, oh, I'm gonna have an empty seat. It's gonna be great. And she sits down right next to me. And she leans over and she goes, I'm a little drunk. And I was like, oh, here we go. And she starts talking to me and I'm putting, I'm like, okay, there's a little pause. I'm gonna put my headphones in. And when the flight takes off, I'm gonna start watching my movie. And she taps me on the shoulder. So I pull out the headphones, she starts talking some more. Flight takes off and she's just talking, talking, talking. And eventually she gets up to use the restroom and the seat behind her in the center seat, that was her boyfriend that was traveling with her. And he literally, he leans over and he goes, I'm so sorry, man.

And then he just sits back down and he goes right back to his seat. And I was like, okay, here we go. So now I've got the movie going, sits down, taps me on the shoulder again. And she starts talking to me and then she goes, so what do you do for work? Which let me tell you, if you ever wanna end a conversation, you're talking to somebody, you're like, how do I get out of this? Just tell them you're a pastor. It usually just immediately kills the conversation. So I'm like, well, you know, I'm a pastor. I teach and she goes, oh, and she says, well, pray for me, expletive. Like she drops a bomb right there. And I'm like, I've been a pastor for over 20 years. I've never heard like that exact sentence used towards me of like, pray for me, bad word. And so I'm like, oh, okay, here we go. And then she says, oh, well, I can't really, I don't go to church. I kind of grew up going to church, but God doesn't love me. And what she was describing was she had this deep sense of shame. Because her life, she didn't do any of the things that she felt like God wanted her to do. And she just believed that God was mad at her. And so I said, hey, I wanna actually

tell you what the Bible teaches. So Bible doesn't teach that God is mad at you. In fact, God is, he's mad about you. He loves you. She goes, oh, well, you don't know what I've done. So I wanna quote a verse for you. In fact, I'm gonna share this verse with all of us right now. It's the most famous verse in all the Bible. And I said, I'm gonna share this verse. You're gonna recognize it. I'm gonna share the verse right after it. John 3, 16 says, for God so loved the world, what motivated God to pursue us? What motivated God to take on flesh, to walk amongst us, to live the perfect life that we couldn't live? Why would he give that life as a payment, as a sacrifice to pay the debt of our sin? Why? Because God so loved the world. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. And I said, we can personalize it. For God so loved, and then put her name right in there. In fact, you can personalize it.

I know it says God so loved the world, but that includes you. That includes me. For God so loved Robert, that he gave his one and only son, that if Robert would believe in him, He shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn Robert, but to save Robert through him. And as I shared this verse, she just started bawling. For some of us, we believe that God's mad at us. And we're dealing with the shame of rebellion. For some of us, we're religious, we're prideful, and deep down, we're actually quite afraid. Do you know the antidote to shame? It's forgiveness. Do you know the antidote to fear? It's the love of God. In fact, the Bible says that perfect love casts out fear. That God's grace and his mercy drives out our shame. It drives out our fear. God loves you. No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, no matter what's been done to you, God loves you. And he's done all the work for us to have a relationship with him, driven, motivated by his love. And he invites us, he won't force relationship on us, but he invites us to put our faith, to put our trust in him. Faith is God's love language.

If you wanna know how do I love God back, you trust him. You trust in the work that Jesus did. See, God worked his way to us in the person of Jesus, and you know what we did? We rejected him. He hung on a cross, and even on the cross, he said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. And on the third day, after his body was placed in a tomb by the power of the Holy Spirit, there's a resurrection, new life, conquering death. And Jesus made a promise that those who would put their trust in him, God who tabernacled among us, if we would put our trust in him, now he would send his Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of God would tabernacle within us. And do you know what the fruit of the Spirit in our lives is? The fruit of the Spirit begins with love. It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. God has invited us to relationship with him. If you're here and you've not put your trust in Jesus, I wanna invite you to do so right now. And so I'm gonna pray, and I'm gonna ask at all of our locations, if we would close our eyes, and if you're comfortable in a posture of receiving, just lift your palms up towards God.

Just open your hands, and would you just, you can use my own words, if you wanna surrender your life, if you wanna enter into this relationship that he offers you, you can use my words in your own heart and mind, and just tell him, God, I know that I've rebelled against you. And that creates a separation that needs a sacrifice. Jesus, thank you for coming to this world, God, because of your love for me, living the perfect life, and giving that life as payment of all of my sin. And God, even though we've rejected you and we've rebelled, God, you've continued to pursue us because of your incredible, amazing grace, your love. I believe in the resurrection, that you've conquered death on my behalf. Jesus, I put my trust, my faith in you. I wanna follow you from this day forward. Would you be Lord, would you be leader in my life? Amen. If that was you, would you let us know that you said yes to putting your trust in Jesus? We have a gift we wanna give you. We wanna celebrate that with you. If you would let us know, simply by texting the word yes, just Y-E-S in the message,

and send it to the number 48,000-48-000. And that lets us know that you've said yes to trusting Jesus. You're like, can I take out my phone in church? You absolutely can. And we have a gift for you. We wanna celebrate that with you. And church, for all of us, let this be a reminder that our relationship with God, it's made possible because of God's love. It's the foundation of our faith. He doesn't love us because we're his children, we're his children because he loves us. And so today as we celebrate baptisms, what we're celebrating are those that have been washed in the grace and in the love of God, forgiven, their debt wiped clean, paid for by the sacrifice of Jesus. And when they come up out of the water, that represents this new life, this life of faith. And so we're going to celebrate that as a church. And for all of us, may we be reminded that there is a God who loves us. If you hear anything, hear this, God loves you. He loves you just as you are, not as you should be. And that love changes everything. Let's pray. God, thank you for your grace. Thank you for your love in our lives. God, I pray that we would walk with confidence, not because we've earned your love, but because you have demonstrated your love over and over again. God, we don't have to live in fear because of your perfect love. We don't have to live in shame because of your forgiveness that you offer us through the work that you did on the cross. God, we trust you. Help us to walk by faith. God, as we worship you, would you be glorified in this place, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.