The Day God’s Love Made the Universe Stand Still
There is a saying, “kids who are loved at home come to school to learn. Kids who are not loved at home come to school to be loved.” Is it any different in Sabbath School? Is it also true that God’s children (ages 0-125) who know they are loved come to Sabbath school to learn, and those who don’t yet know they are loved, come to Sabbath School to be loved?
I can still remember sitting at my desk in my 4th-grade classroom at Tulsa Adventist Academy, listening to my teachers, Miss Fisher and Mrs. Krueger, lecturing us about something. I don’t really remember exactly what it was about, but we must have been struggling with our grades, because all I remember is, both teachers told us, “If you only learn one thing this year learn this. We love you!” Now we were loved at home. We were loved at church and school, but as educated as my teachers were, they knew the most important thing is not money or a degree. It’s love. Without that nothing else matters, and when you know you are loved, nothing can stop you!
For the love of Christ controls and compels us, because we have concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died (2 Corinthians 5:14 Amplified Bible)
So while humanity tries harder, and reads self-help books and tries 12-step recovery programs, Paul says it is by looking at the cross and knowing we are loved that we get all our power to succeed. I remember John the Baptist telling everyone to “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John 1:29. He didn’t tell them to try harder next time. He told them to look at the Lamb. Let His love soak into you.
As legalistic humans we are always wanting to promise to try harder next time. But the answer is not promising to try harder. The answer is letting yourself be loved.
In Jeremiah God mentions how Israel had not kept the promises they had made, so He was going to make a better promise. His promise would be better because He is the the One making the promise instead of them. He is the perfect Promise-maker while we are lousy promise-makers!
“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33 NLT)
So God promises to do for us what we could never even promise to do for ourselves, much less even try harder to make happen. God is the One promising, and He is the One who is accountable to make it so. Please notice something very important though. Its in Jeremiah 31:3 NLT, several verses before He promises to write His law on our hearts.
I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.
Just like my teachers realized all the book knowledge in the world doesn’t mean a thing without love, God feels the same way. Knowing all the laws and having them memorized in your mind and knowing them all by heart doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t know how much God loves you!
Friends, there is no reason for you to promise God you are going to try harder and do better next time. He has already promised you! We don’t need to promise God what He has already promised us! What? I don’t have any work to do myself? Well yes, and I will let Jesus tell you Himself, exactly what your work is.
Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:29 NLT
Our work is to believe God’s promise that He loves us with an everlasting love, and He will place the principles of His love (also known as His law) in our hearts!
This is why John never told us to try harder! Just look at the Lamb and let His love soak into your heart till your heart is saturated with His love, which is also His law. You don’t need to promise God anything. Your work is to believe the promises God has made to you!
In 2017, I don’t need too many self-help books. I don’t need to try harder. I just need to look at the Lamb in 2017 and fall in love with Jesus! His love will change me in ways I could never change myself. After all, all the self help books and promises of better performance don’t mean a thing without love!
So just how good is God at keeping His promises to love and save us? For brevity, let me share one example. You can read about it in Joshua 9-10.
The Gibeonites used deceit to trick Israel into letting them in on the covenant God had made with them. Even though Israel was not supposed to make a covenant with anyone living as close as the Gibeonites, they did. Later when the Gibeonites were under attack, they called upon Israel to save them, and even though the Gibeonites had used deceit to secure this covenant, God was so relentless in keeping His promise of love, that He caused the sun to stand still until the Gibeonites were all rescued! God fought for Israel as Israel fought for the mischievous Gibeonites. Let that soak in. The Gibeonites were in no way worthy of any of God’s blessings, but God was still so loving and faithful to His promise that He made the sun stand still until they were all rescued! Talk about a love that moves heaven and earth! And this powerful love was given to the most undeserving people! So, scientifically speaking, the greatest power in the universe is not gravity or the suctioning power of the black hole. God’s love overruled all those powers and made the solar system stand still. Imagine what this love can do in your heart!
God’s powerful promises and love are also for you and me. In Hebrews 13:5 God promises to never leave us or forsake us, but the Amplified Bible is the only English version that even begins to grasp what God is actually promising.
for He has said, “I will never under any circumstances desert you nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless, nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you- assuredly not!” Hebrews 13:5 Amp version.
If we know we are loved we can come to Sabbath School to learn, and we can learn while we are loved, but we can’t learn without love.
If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2 NLT
—and the greatest of these is love.1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT
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Thanks William for this insightful post on love.I hear some preachers say once saved always saved which is a false theology. In the context of your post,does work have a role on love? Should I just sit back and watch now that I'm loved?
Thank you Simeon. When we truly appreciate God's love, His love works through us, but it's not our works, its His working in us. That is why Galatians 5 calls all the good deeds the fruit of the Spirit, while the works of the flesh, which are our works are only bad things.
Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT
In 2 Corinthians 12:9 its the power of Christ working, not me.
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 NLT
Galatians 2:20 says Christ is living in me, so He is living and working through me while I am crucified.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV
Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us, God’s grace gives us good works, but it is God's workmanship and not mine.My good works are a gift of God’s grace and I can't take credit for it. This is why Jesus says that the good things we do glorify God and not us.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16 NKJV
William,Your comment about when we truly appreciate Gods Love, has been a question for many years, and the question is, how do we understand and show Gods love with the same type of emotion that we display as our children and other humans? It seems to me that God deserves our love more than just lip service. Yes we can be aware of all the right reasons, but I wonder if there is a Heart problem some where? Perhaps a relationship problem also. The promises that you have discussed,I hope are answers to the questions I asked. The word truly I think may have been influential to the question.
Your question reminded me about Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ESV, let me also paste here the commentary given by someone about this verse
Matthew Henry Commentary
Philippians 2:12-18 We must be diligent in the use of all the means which lead to our salvation, persevering therein to the end. With great care, lest, with all our advantages, we should come short. Work out your salvation, for it is God who worketh in you. This encourages us to do our utmost, because our labour shall not be in vain: we must still depend on the grace of God. The working of God's grace in us, is to quicken and engage our endeavours. God's good-will to us, is the cause of his good work in us. Do your duty without murmurings. Do it, and do not find fault with it. Mind your work, and do not quarrel with it. By peaceableness; give no just occasion of offence. The children of God should differ from the sons of men. The more perverse others are, the more careful we should be to keep ourselves blameless and harmless. The doctrine and example of consistent believers will enlighten others, and direct their way to Christ and holiness, even as the light-house warns mariners to avoid rocks, and directs their course into the harbour. Let us try thus to shine. The gospel is the word of life, it makes known to us eternal life through Jesus Christ. Running, denotes earnestness and vigour, continual pressing forward; labouring, denotes constancy, and close application. It is the will of God that believers should be much in rejoicing; and those who are so happy as to have good ministers, have great reason to rejoice with them.
Thanks Maggie I like that!
Love is sufficient, but it is not the swoony heart-beat cheesy sort of love we are talking about here. It is the tough, grit your teeth and persist type of love. It is the stuff that drives patience and persistence.
Let me tell you a story. For most of my life I have been involved in teaching. I loved my students but that love had to be tempered by a get-tough, lay-down-the-law type of love. One of my students came to my office at the end of the semester. He had failed Mathematics comprehensively. He didn’t hand in some assignments; others were poorly done; and his examination results showed that he lacked a real understanding of what was going on. He was on his knees, bawling his eyes out and begging me to give him at least a conceded pass or let him sit a supplementary examination. Patiently I told him that there was a thing called academic integrity and that meant that if I said that a student had passed, I was confident that they had what it takes to go out into the real world and use what they were supposed to have learned in class. I could not say that about him
I told him about my experience as a student in my youth where I was failing for the same reason he was failing; lack of application. I took a year off my education and worked in a concrete pipe factory as a manual laborer (Technically I was a stripper – which always sounds good when I tell the story). At the end of the 12 months I had matured and returned to my academic studies and have not failed an examination or assignment since.
I advised my student to leave College and get a job. I told him he needed to face the real world and come back with an understanding of what it means to study hard, and why it is important. To his credit, he followed my advice and came back 9 months later determined to work. He graduated 3 years later and at graduation specially thanked me for giving him the best advice ever.
I could have just said that I loved this student and to encourage him, give him a conceded pass. It would not have sat well on my conscience and the only good it would have done him is that he would have had a number on his grade sheet. Instead I gave him the grade he deserved, a fail. That “fail” shows on his transcript as does the “distinction” I gave him a year later. He could show that to any prospective employer with pride, because it shows that he persisted.
Love is tough stuff. It must be. Jesus loved us while we were still sinners. If our love is in the right place, we will fight the good fight and run the race right to the end. There are two responses to such love; responding to it, and sharing it.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb 12:1,2
I think the lord grant our wishes according to his will. Way back 28 years ago as a graduating student in nursing I took an independent study which is a 3 credit unit the subject is Government Land Reform and Taxation. I need to complete and pass this subject and I can only take it thru independent study or like an online class at present, because I am training in a hospital far away from my school. The process is that I have to show up on midterm and final exam and take those exams physically on his presence. On the final exam I knew I sweat on every question since I'm not able to read the book he gave. I'm an A and B students and I could tell I probably did not pass the final exam. After checking my test sheets my professor came back to the room where I was seated and told me that I passed the exam. I dare not ask my grade but was really thankful, I'm thinking perhaps my professor knew that I really does not have any need to understand much about Land reform and taxation in my career in nursing and if I fail that subject I cannot graduate on time and will be delayed for a year instead. It happened and heaven permitted it. I got a B on that class and wether I deserve the grade or not. Only God knows.
Maggie, I have lived a great number of years and can say from experience, what ever the system is, it is determined to be of importance even if many times the information is not totally useful. We have to play by the rules because they are the rules. I look at our form of government for instance. Obsolescence has a way of cheating you and hindsight has been painfully accurate. Congratulation for perseverance.
Hello Maurice, You are right on the mark about love. It was love tougher than the scourge, mocking, nails and humiliation that sent Jesus to the cross. And it is love that sends us to the foot of that cross for the strength and courage to follow the path that God puts before us, especially with those we love. True love never fails – it strengthens and encourages principled action. Dysfunctional “love” cripples and weakens it victims, keeping them ever in bondage to self-deception and self-destruction.
beautiful! love is tough and gentle...
Thank you Maurice. Yes love is tough stuff. that is why Paul said in our opening verse, 2 Corinthians 5:14 that it is the love of Christ that constrains, or compels and controls us. When you know you are loved nothing can stop you.
You showed love for all your students, by dealing fairly with the one in question. Like you said about integrity, if you had given him an unfair grade then it would have been unfair for others to have the same grade he got, which would have made everyone's grades unfair!
It makes me think of this verse in Romans 8:3-4 "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
Christ did not just die for me, I died in Christ. Christ did not just fulfill the law for me, He fulfills the law in me. That is the only fair way for me to get a passing grade.
Back to 2 Corinthians 5:14 love must be the motivating power. Galatians 5:6 talks about a faith that works by love.
Maurice you said that you loved all your students. I am sure just as many of your college students needed love, just like my 4th grade class needed love. We never outgrow our need to be loved, and being loved encourages us to do our best. Thank you for spending a lifetime loving and teaching others. I can't imagine a better way to spend a lifetime!
William,
The post is super. You have included One of my favorite scriptures, that has been my rock for 36 years of being an SDA. ...“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself."Even this morning this verse spoke to me. God's love has sustained me even though I haven't had the love of family and have had only a few friends.
Out of necessity, I am a person who does read self help books, because I am still trying to put the pieces together in my life. You should see what has gone through my life since 1994 when I first went into therapy! Good thing for the library and now used books!!It's not about trying harder, it's about survival. I know Christians who are earnestly trying to do the same.
Through God's love, and by His grace, through knowledge and His power, He continues to lead me and others through the maze of life we find ourselves in.
Jane, though God's word is best, not everyone can read their own heart and understand His message of love without help. Use ANYTHING you can to get it in the forefront of your mind: God loves you and wants you redeemed. Be that self help or televangelists. God can use anything to pierce our stony heart. The follow-up is ours to choose.
Be bleased.pastor for the inspiring message of today i real appriciate the love Jesus regardless our sin He loves us always
William
This is woundful my friend you have open my eyes in loving aspects.
May GOD bless and help me to know much how his love working in me daily inorder to save his people always in my position as a church Elder.
And I beg you all my friends here to Pray for me always Due to the fact that I will be leading the Church of GOD in the 2017 as the senior Church Elder..
And we have a great mission to do for our God.Please remember me in your prayer.
God is my fortress and he is the only one that I trust . I m sure I be no here today is was no for his love for me.
GOD be with all of you.
Thank you GOD for your love.
What ever we read in the Bible is it applicable to everyone, or is the study of Gods Word more understandable because it is selective? Take the book of Genesis for instance. Would we look for all the begats if looking for a text, or texts that give us reassurance of forgiveness for repetitive sins? Do texts that we rush to find. Texts on everlasting Love and Grace, take presidents? Those texts will usually be first . We struggle with our failures on different levels. So one size does not fit all. The mind does not always grasp the reason for it's questioning. Undoubtedly others like Jobs friends, will be happy to assist with the correct answers. We are not satisfied by referring to Ephesians 6:10-18, the whole armor, when the armor has a sizable dent. The struggle continues for someone nearly every day. Who might that be?