This week's Bible Study - March 16, 2008
It's All About Love
 Background Scripture:
John 3:16, 1 John 3:16-20, 4:15-18; 5:2-5
Quote of the Week:
“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”
Mother Teresa
Familiarity often leads us to take things for granted. If you live on a beach and see the ocean each morning, you may begin to lose perspective of what a beautiful site that is. You almost forget that it is there. Living in St Louis, I've seen the Arch several hundred times - driven past it - saw it in the skyline - I don't often notice it anymore. People who have never been to St Louis are amazed by the Arch. When I really think about it and go down to see it - I am more amazed as well.
Some churches say the same passage aloud week after week - or sing the same song. If you go to another church, you can sometimes hear and sometimes understand, but often it is just mumbling - may as well be a different language. Growing up, our church always sang the Doxology each Sunday - Praise God from whom all blessings flow…. I know I didn't know the words for a long time. And, then after I knew them so well, I probably just mouthed them.
It's one thing to mouth words or not think about things in church sometime, but if we've lost sight of God's love for us, we've missed something huge. It is so easy for our perspective to flip around and everything becomes all about us. As you read this lesson, think about God's love for you and let it impact you once again. At the writing of this lesson, we are nearing Easter once again. As we approach this holy day, let us be reminded of the love that God has for each of us, and let us be thankful for his most precious gift.
For God so loved. How does God love? He loved such that he gave his only begotten Son, so that those who believe in Him would have eternal life. When God loved, he gave. How do we love? If you had to answer that phrase for yourself - what is it that you do to show others that you love them? God so loved you that he did what he did. What would you say if you had to answer the following - You so love God that… what would you be willing to do?
God gave the most precious gift that could be given. He gave his only Son for our redemption. He gave what was closest to him, only because it was necessary to us. The summation of the gospel is truly in this one verse. Because God loved, he gave his son, and if we believe, we have eternal life. It seems sometimes so easy for us. People want to do so much more (but really it is only what they want to do that they do - less of what God has asked, usually). God's love enabled us to receive eternal life.
Most of us, as humans, are not the best gift givers. I can at least speak from experience. Whereas God gave something very special to him and to us, we, especially men, often are looking to 'check the box'. Sometimes, we give because we know we are supposed to give - and that gift really isn't what is desired from others. When we give, we need to think of how special the recipient is - and not just fulfill a duty.
How do we know love? There are many movies and TV programs and books and stories about love, and how to know what love is. These are superficial - the only way we can really know what love is comes by realizing what Jesus Christ did for us. He laid down his life for us. This is another one of those things that we can become too familiar with and forget the significance. This same type of love is what we should be willing to do for our brothers. Obviously, we aren't being called to die the death that Jesus did, but we are called to take a step out of our own comfort area at times so that we can be there for others.
Are we showing this type of love, or does it start to become more about me? How can we tangibly show our love? We live in a society that has most any thing that anybody could want, materially. Most of us are able to afford the things we need and then some. Sometimes, while we are feeding our own desires, above and beyond what we really need, there are others who are in legitimate need. If we have what can help, yet we choose to do what we want instead of helping another, are we showing the love of God?
It is easy to go to church each week and mouth the words - maybe answer the questions and listen to God's words, but then leave the church without being impacted. How much different would our lives have been if we would have allowed the words we spoke to become actions and truth in our lives?
How do we know that we are of the truth? How can we set our hearts at rest? I believe there is at least a part of each of us that desperately wants to be right with God. And, we know that, despite all that we do, we can never achieve that on our own. It is a moment by moment way of living. As we allow the truth of God to come into our lives - impacting our hearts and our thoughts, we know when God is speaking to us. Too often, we choose to ignore that voice or that tug that is in us. To live in truth, we should seek to live by truth each day, in all that we do. It's not so much just what you do, but also why you do it. As rules based people, we want the checklist - God wants us to lose the checklist and live based on the intent.
As an aside, I work for a large company that develops software. Over the past several years, there has become a rage at documenting processes and achieving specific levels that indicate mature processes and capabilities. Companies scurry to get artifacts in place so that they can prove to be a level 3 or a level 5 or whatever (5 being the highest). Audits occur and companies celebrate when the reach that level. However, over time, it seems that the companies are more interested in the level number attached, rather than the intent behind the leveling. Our customers want to deal with companies that not only have mature processes, but that also follow them. The level number indicates what has been tested. They wanted the capabilities behind the level number - wanted us to do what we said, rather than getting caught up in the numbers themselves. Sound familiar? Many Christians are trying to move from level 0 to level 5. This isn't what God wants - he wants us to be real with what we say we do.
What does it take to be a child of God? In one sense, all of mankind is part of God's creation. However, to be a believer and enter a relationship with God, we must acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God. Some people think that simply means that a person walks an aisle at a church to join a church. They may utter words, but it is less the utterance of the words and more the true belief in one's heart. For those who have truly acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God, the Holy Spirit of God lives in them and they are in God. We rely upon the love of God for our salvation.
To say that we are a child of God and to not live in love is to deny that we are children of God. The love of God should permeate our life in our actions and the way we live, so that we will become more and more conformed to the love of God. Because of the love of God, we can have confidence on the day of judgment. Some folks view God as a strict taskmaster that is demanding unrealistic things from his people. When we strive to follow the rules, we will have fear when that day of judgment arises. Did we do enough? Was there more we should have done and have we made mistakes that will cause God to turn on us?
You can see how this kind of thinking can lead to fear. There is no fear in love. Fear involves punishment. Perfect love drives out fear. In many tangible ways, you can see this in how people treat one another. Some parents are very much taskmasters and their children obey only because of fear of retribution, if they disobey. The same scenario takes place with some employers and their employees. When life involves fear and avoidance of punishment, there is no love. Certainly, no parent wants their children to do the wrong things, but even when they do err, the parent still loves the child. That love allows the child to walk in freedom, rather than in chains. Perfect love has no chains.
In this lesson, we've seen how God loves us. We've seen that God does not want us only to hear and talk about love, but he wants us to truly live in love. We've seen that, as children of God, we can walk with confidence, rather than fear, because of the love of God. But, a question that always comes to mind for many people is how they are to do this tangibly. It is one thing to say I will live in love, and another thing to know what that means.
This passage says we should love the children of God - by loving God and carrying out his commands. What does it mean to love God? Well, you can probably do a quick self assessment and ask yourself how much of you do you give to God? How much time do you spend in prayer and reading his word? How much time do you spend listening to what God is telling you and seeing how he is working in and around your life? How much do you support efforts in which God's love is shared with others? How much of your life involves fellowship with other believers? For many Christians, if they are truthful, the time they give to God is about two hours on Sunday. They may do a blessing before meals, but more out of ritualism and less out of speaking to God. But, for most, their Bibles remain in the same place throughout the week and they spend little time in prayer. Certainly, this isn't true for all believers - but you know it fits for many. I would contend that if we don't spend the time with God, showing him that we love him, we won't really know what it means to obey his commands. I don't think a person would even know what that means, if they don't spend the time with God.
When we think of rules, many people think of burdens. As if the rules are created to suck the fun out of life. Some rules do get that way. The pool rules at many hotels do not allow diving or jumping in, floats, balls to be tossed, food or drinks, and so forth. Some of that seems a bit much. When some people think of God's commands, this is how they think. Don't dance. Don't drink. Don't smoke. Don't use this word or that word. Don't….. All about don'ts. However, God's commands are not burdensome. When we really see what he has commanded - from the 10 Commandments and throughout Scripture, they are to make life fulfilling. Certainly, the Jewish people added a ton of rules to God's commands, and they did become very burdensome. This is why we need to spend the time with God, so that we can know what is expected. When we see what God asks, we see that our lives become more healthy and fulfilling, our relationships are more solid, many societal problems would be solved and life would just be at a different level.
As we live in love, we begin to see what it means to overcome the world. It is very easy to get caught up in what the world says. If you think again about your self assessment of the time with God - and replace God with number of hours watching TV, or number of hours reading the paper, or number of hours browsing the internet - you can start to see how you can very easily be swayed by the world. That is where your primary stimulus and input is coming from. When we are swayed by the world, we are not overcoming the world. We are just in the world, with a different mindset, somewhere in our heads - but not evident. God has loved us so much that he has given us a new spirit to live within us. Through faith in God through Jesus Christ, we can become overcomers in this world. It doesn't mean that everything will always work out as we intended, and it doesn't mean that we may not make mistakes, but it does give us a different perspective that drives everything else.
Closing
You have what you do in life - it's different for all people. It is largely age dependent and life situation dependent. But, ask yourself - in what it is that you do - school, work, recreation, whatever - are you defined more by what you do or by who you are? Are you a student that happens to be a Christian - or are you a Christian that is a student? When those around you see you, what do they see? Is it evident? God gave us so much, so that we would have true life - both here and eternally. I know that we were never called to be closet Christians - one way on one day of the week and another way altogether on other days.
God loves you. So much. Can you truly say that you love God and his ways? And, do you love God's children? Truly, he wants to give us life fulfilling. Are you fulfilled by God's love? If not, what needs to happen?
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