WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.339 You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:10.500 ! Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us. 00:00:11.939 --> 00:00:19.859 If you could, you can turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 12, verses 28-34, but I will be honest about our sermon this morning. 00:00:20.400 --> 00:00:29.280 You will be turning in your Bibles at least five other times, four other times, and turn back to Mark chapter 12. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:42.299 And the reason is, is because what we wanted to do, what I wanted to do is invite our congregation into what we've been doing across the street. 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:48.140 And on Wednesday nights with our middle school students, we've been talking about the love of God. 00:00:49.060 --> 00:00:54.400 We did it for 10 weeks, and so I wanted all of us to work together. 00:00:54.399 --> 00:01:00.460 And the reason why is because one of the things we can do sometimes is invite our kids into what we're doing, 00:01:00.539 --> 00:01:05.819 but we want to invite our adults and all of us here into what we're doing with our students. 00:01:06.420 --> 00:01:14.319 And I want to take a moment to remind you and tell you, because not everybody is a parent of teenagers right now, 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:17.359 and not everybody sits in our parents' meeting. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:27.799 I want to make sure I remind you of why we're looking at this passage and how it's relevant to your kids and to you, I think, ultimately. 00:01:28.539 --> 00:01:32.959 And it's this, it's because the goal of the youth ministry and ultimately also our children's ministry 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:39.939 is that as much as you may be blessed by it, our goal is not to make nice little well-behaved kids. 00:01:39.939 --> 00:01:43.060 I'm sorry, that's just not our goal. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:48.179 We love if you have a nice, well-behaved blessings on you. 00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:50.359 Blessings on you for what you're doing in your house. 00:01:50.439 --> 00:01:51.539 Come help us teach a class. 00:01:51.819 --> 00:01:52.759 We love that. 00:01:53.579 --> 00:01:55.519 But we have a different goal. 00:01:55.659 --> 00:01:59.659 We have a, what we think is a biblical and kingdom-minded goal for your children. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:05.560 And so what we tell parents when they enter into the youth ministry, 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:13.860 and we repeat it year after year is this, is that our goal for your children is that they would be lifelong followers of Christ. 00:02:14.580 --> 00:02:23.080 That in their teenage years, as they follow after Jesus, it would not be a phase or something they did as an extra thing in their lives, 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:26.439 but it would be something that they did with all of their lives. 00:02:26.439 --> 00:02:33.879 So that they would be followers of Jesus in their teenage years, their 20s, their 30s, their 40s, their 50s, their 60s, 00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:37.759 throughout all their lives until they meet Jesus himself many years from now. 00:02:38.579 --> 00:02:48.000 And so our hope is that they would have a relationship with God through Christ now and forever. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:55.219 And so we want them, and when we teach the scriptures across the street, when we teach them these things, 00:02:55.319 --> 00:02:56.819 we want them to understand it. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:58.759 But I want to make sure you also hear this. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:01.060 Understanding is too clinical. 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:04.300 So the title of the sermon is Understanding God's Love. 00:03:04.699 --> 00:03:09.939 There are a lot of people who can give me a lot of really good answers from the scriptures 00:03:09.939 --> 00:03:14.000 that answer the question about what God's love is like. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:24.060 But we as people who follow Jesus, there is something spiritual and real and transcendent happening amongst God's people. 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:28.180 It is not just us understanding information. 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:33.639 Please know we are not trying to help your kids understand information about God. 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:36.039 That is true that that happens. 00:03:36.699 --> 00:03:42.659 But we really want them to know and love God all their lives. 00:03:42.659 --> 00:03:48.780 And so when we talk about understanding God's love, we are not talking about it in a strictly knowledge way. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:53.139 We are talking about it in a spiritual, holistic, real way. 00:03:53.939 --> 00:03:56.699 And I think that is true of what our kids need. 00:03:57.340 --> 00:04:00.060 But I think it is true of what we need as God's people. 00:04:01.180 --> 00:04:04.259 I don't think it is just something that is for them. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:05.780 I think it is for us. 00:04:05.780 --> 00:04:13.180 And so I want to make sure that we are answering these questions and understanding these things. 00:04:13.180 --> 00:04:20.680 And we are seeking after God himself because we are called to love God and love our neighbor. 00:04:20.680 --> 00:04:24.400 And so that is kind of our focal point. 00:04:25.019 --> 00:04:31.879 But we are going to be bouncing around scripture for a little bit in the hopes that we can see a bigger picture of God's love. 00:04:32.060 --> 00:04:37.579 And kind of give you a view of what we have been trying to communicate with our children across the street. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:44.500 So if you will read with me from Mark chapter 12 verses 28 through 34. 00:04:44.500 --> 00:04:47.680 We will start there and we will read through that passage. 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:54.480 So one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another. 00:04:54.579 --> 00:05:00.620 And seeing that he answered them well, asked him, Jesus, which commandment is most important of all? 00:05:01.319 --> 00:05:04.259 Jesus answered, the most important is, hear, O Israel. 00:05:04.660 --> 00:05:06.460 The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:05:07.100 --> 00:05:12.259 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:15.319 And the second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:17.040 There is no commandment greater than this. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:18.100 Than these. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:19.840 And the scribe said to him, you're right, teacher. 00:05:20.140 --> 00:05:23.740 You have truly said that he is one and there is no other besides him. 00:05:23.939 --> 00:05:27.660 And to love him with all the heart, with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the strength. 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:33.340 And to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 00:05:34.020 --> 00:05:38.060 And when Jesus saw the answer wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:41.960 And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. 00:05:42.620 --> 00:05:45.280 Let's pray and we'll dive in. 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:55.219 Father, we're grateful for your word that you teach us about what it means to love you and to be loved by you and to love one another and to love our neighbor. 00:05:55.959 --> 00:05:58.579 Would you help that be real to us today? 00:05:58.579 --> 00:06:10.399 Would you help us to understand our goals are not necessarily just strict understanding in a kind of educational sense. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:21.439 But that our goals are that your truths would reach deep into who we are and transform us by our understanding and knowing the truth. 00:06:22.019 --> 00:06:26.179 So that we might know you more deeply and walk with you more closely. 00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:31.259 And therefore love our neighbor as we respond to that love you've shown to us. 00:06:32.179 --> 00:06:34.779 Father, we love you and we thank you for all these things. 00:06:34.839 --> 00:06:35.959 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:06:35.959 --> 00:06:36.759 Amen. 00:06:37.799 --> 00:06:47.299 So we open with this story of Jesus being questioned by a scribe and he is asked, what is the greatest commandment? 00:06:47.339 --> 00:06:50.099 And Jesus answers correctly, obviously, and he's Jesus. 00:06:50.519 --> 00:07:01.859 And so you have this, him answering with the Shema from the Old Testament, this truth of who God is and our call to love God with our whole selves. 00:07:02.779 --> 00:07:03.919 Everything that we've got. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:09.060 And so that's where I wanted to draw the picture to what we're trying to teach our students. 00:07:09.580 --> 00:07:11.900 And we're trying to teach all of us. 00:07:11.980 --> 00:07:13.580 And we're trying to understand ourselves. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:19.939 Is that it's not just that we're trying to help your, the kids across the street know some truth about God. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:23.660 It's that they would love God with all of who they are. 00:07:23.819 --> 00:07:25.300 Heart, mind, soul, strength. 00:07:25.300 --> 00:07:34.759 Holistic, holistic, all of life where it cannot, you cannot help but see that it bleeds out of every area and square inch of who we are. 00:07:34.759 --> 00:07:42.219 And so knowing that this is what Jesus calls us to and then says, we want to love our neighbor as ourselves, right? 00:07:42.779 --> 00:07:48.819 So there's a, there's an, it happens where we are called to love God and then there's a call to love others. 00:07:48.819 --> 00:08:00.300 And, and we've taken for weeks and weeks and weeks, different looks at the scriptures, trying to help our students understand love itself. 00:08:00.300 --> 00:08:04.699 And so we, we can't, we want to make sure we start with where love begins. 00:08:04.840 --> 00:08:06.500 Where, where does love come from? 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:07.379 Where's its origin? 00:08:08.540 --> 00:08:13.800 And so we want to make sure that we know that its origin comes from God himself, right? 00:08:13.840 --> 00:08:21.900 So in order for us to really understand what does it mean for me to know and love God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, where does love come from? 00:08:22.780 --> 00:08:29.259 And, and in 1 John, and so this is where, if you want to turn with us, I'll read it to you also, but if you'd like to. 00:08:29.259 --> 00:08:37.679 In 1 John chapter four, the, the apostle John, the disciple John, he, he tells us where love comes from. 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:40.899 See, we live in a world where we like accomplishment. 00:08:41.059 --> 00:08:42.879 This is, this is what we like to do. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:45.779 We like to own that we can do a lot of things. 00:08:45.779 --> 00:08:51.299 And we like to, to say that we're in charge or we're the center or we're in power or we have it all together. 00:08:52.980 --> 00:08:55.080 But we did not create love. 00:08:55.659 --> 00:08:58.319 We did not create this affection for others. 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:01.700 We did not create this idea of caring for people. 00:09:03.020 --> 00:09:08.240 Though our intention, our, our hearts and intentions often are, we've done, we've created this thing. 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:09.879 We've made this idea up. 00:09:09.879 --> 00:09:23.059 God in his kindness reveals to us in scripture that it is from him, that he, in the Trinity, long before creation, loved one another. 00:09:23.059 --> 00:09:28.759 There was an affection for the triune God within himself that existed long before we were created. 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:39.679 And that he himself gives us this love as something we could even, let alone come up with a word, but that we could experience and know. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:48.319 And so John tells us this, beloved, let us love one another for love is from God. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:52.239 And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:10:02.100 He reminds us that the love that we walk in, the love that we walk in, in this world is not something that we created. 00:10:03.299 --> 00:10:06.360 Though we are very human centered, though we are very me centered. 00:10:06.360 --> 00:10:11.940 This is where love comes from, God himself. 00:10:12.800 --> 00:10:14.320 It is not a human invention. 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:19.300 Which then begs the question of what, what in the world is happening? 00:10:19.500 --> 00:10:20.919 How, how would we even know about it? 00:10:21.139 --> 00:10:29.259 It's a reminder though, even in this one sentence, that is a gift of God's grace to us to even know love in any form. 00:10:29.259 --> 00:10:41.399 Because God could have kept these kind of realities from us, but God in his infinite love for his people, gives us this idea of love and this ability to love him back. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:48.319 In a way we could have never fathomed or understood before, had he not been the creator and the originator of it. 00:10:49.419 --> 00:10:54.399 And that's a beautiful thing that we even get to love others and love God. 00:10:54.399 --> 00:11:03.799 But because he's given us this gift, we get to experience it and know it and live it out in our daily life. 00:11:03.899 --> 00:11:06.939 And we want you to know that this is not something that we've created. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:09.919 This is not something that we made, but it's something that God gives us. 00:11:10.319 --> 00:11:16.500 And what's insane also in this is if you think about the Genesis account and how God is the creator of all things. 00:11:16.500 --> 00:11:27.360 God in his power, his authority and all that he is, and he's the one who's created love and given it to his people to know and live it out with others. 00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:31.960 This affection for him, this worship of him, this care for him. 00:11:34.759 --> 00:11:35.799 He's given it to us. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:39.159 And so what it reminds us is that it humbles us. 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:41.959 It ought to humble us. 00:11:42.519 --> 00:11:50.679 That God gifting his love to his people is an act that would humble us to remind us that we are not in charge. 00:11:52.600 --> 00:11:56.959 God with his creative power, his authority, he's the one who's made it. 00:11:57.100 --> 00:12:01.539 And so it should remind us of, oh, God is perfect and holy. 00:12:01.539 --> 00:12:09.919 And even the love that I express is small and imperfect compared to this massive and big and incredible God. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:18.279 And then it goes on to say, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 00:12:19.139 --> 00:12:25.360 It's a reminder that God has, in his grace, gifted us this ability to be known by him. 00:12:25.459 --> 00:12:28.639 He says we'll have been born of God to be his child, right? 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:39.279 So we see that God and his infinite love for his people, he gives us this love because it's from him. 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:43.000 And here's the thing where it pivots later on in 1 John. 00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:46.240 You don't have to turn there if it's in the same chapter in verse 19. 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:51.179 It tells us that we're able to love. 00:12:51.460 --> 00:12:55.939 We're able to even share love with others because he loved us first. 00:12:55.940 --> 00:13:04.660 And so this God who is all-powerful, who creates this idea of love, this reality of love, 00:13:05.940 --> 00:13:11.500 he, in his grace, bestows on us the ability to love him and others. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:21.400 This gift of grace enables us to speak with confidence to loving others, to loving God, 00:13:21.399 --> 00:13:25.340 to making God the very center of our lives. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:30.059 And so we go back to the words of Jesus in Mark. 00:13:31.319 --> 00:13:35.620 It's to love the Lord, our God, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:44.179 We could not do it had not God given us this as a gift to even be able to return love to him. 00:13:44.179 --> 00:13:55.779 So God, in his infinite power and wisdom, he gives us this love to worship and show our affection and our appreciation for him 00:13:55.779 --> 00:13:58.019 because he loved us first. 00:14:00.059 --> 00:14:02.500 And so this love, this is where we were kind of walking. 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:08.979 So I'm hoping this is somewhat of a linear sermon today in kind of our study of this 00:14:08.980 --> 00:14:13.200 because we want to walk through kind of what we've been going through in our Wednesday nights. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:18.340 And so we start with understanding that God's, that love comes from God first. 00:14:18.460 --> 00:14:20.080 And then who's it for? 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:21.039 Who's it aimed at? 00:14:21.539 --> 00:14:23.560 And so we've said this in a million different ways. 00:14:23.659 --> 00:14:26.580 I had to take like two or three lessons that we've tried to condense down. 00:14:26.659 --> 00:14:30.399 But we want to make sure that God's love is aimed at his people. 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:36.700 But I want to make sure we're even more specific in Romans chapter 5, right? 00:14:36.700 --> 00:14:44.120 In Romans chapter 5, we're reminded about how God shows his love and who he shows his love to. 00:14:44.900 --> 00:14:48.420 In Romans chapter 5, it says God shows his love for us. 00:14:49.500 --> 00:14:53.320 That while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:14:54.140 --> 00:14:58.640 And I think this is one of the harsher times that we often have when we're teaching 00:14:58.640 --> 00:15:04.520 is that there's a prerequisite of understanding our own self and identity 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:08.460 to really understand the power of God's love. 00:15:10.299 --> 00:15:12.779 There's something we have to know about ourselves. 00:15:13.439 --> 00:15:16.779 We have to own it and we have to live in it. 00:15:17.100 --> 00:15:22.939 And really, it's not fun to just name ourselves as sinners. 00:15:22.940 --> 00:15:30.880 It's a tough place to live because I think we want to believe we're good people at the core of who we are. 00:15:31.260 --> 00:15:36.980 We do good things and we'd like to believe we've got enough together that we're not that bad. 00:15:38.380 --> 00:15:46.420 But we have to come to grips that God is showing his love to people who are undeserving of that love. 00:15:46.419 --> 00:15:50.039 Sinners far away from God. 00:15:50.319 --> 00:15:54.139 The Bible speaks in other ways that we are enemies of God, objects of wrath. 00:15:54.339 --> 00:15:59.120 There are harsh ways that God describes who we are in our state before we know Christ. 00:15:59.579 --> 00:16:03.459 And this reality is that his love is aimed even at sinners. 00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:09.459 That he has not forgotten or forsaken the broken and hurting people. 00:16:09.460 --> 00:16:18.379 See, God's love is willing to intervene on our broken and sinful lives. 00:16:20.519 --> 00:16:26.960 And so what God does is he aims his love at broken sinners in need of him. 00:16:29.700 --> 00:16:32.840 And so what could we do to win God's love? 00:16:32.900 --> 00:16:34.580 What we could do is nothing. 00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:37.280 There is nothing we could do. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:38.519 Nothing we could do to earn it. 00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:40.419 Nothing we could do to accomplish it. 00:16:40.500 --> 00:16:41.759 Nothing we could do to make it happen. 00:16:43.179 --> 00:16:48.419 But we have to live in this reality that we are sinners in need of a savior. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:55.179 And God shows his love for us that he sends a savior to these sinners. 00:16:56.740 --> 00:17:01.539 He sends his son, Jesus Christ, who died for us. 00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:05.039 So we understand where God's love comes from. 00:17:05.079 --> 00:17:05.759 And who's it aimed at? 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:08.139 It's aimed at sinners in need of saving. 00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:11.299 We all have failed. 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:15.160 We all are in desperate need of someone to intervene. 00:17:16.279 --> 00:17:23.839 In God's love, he actually sends his son for those who are undeserving. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:34.579 I want to make sure you hear that I'm not advocating for all of his music catalog. 00:17:34.579 --> 00:17:40.519 But, and maybe I've mentioned it in a sermon before. 00:17:41.159 --> 00:17:44.000 But there is a line from an Eric Church song. 00:17:44.679 --> 00:17:47.579 He's not a wise theologian or philosopher, I promise. 00:17:48.460 --> 00:17:51.439 But sometimes he sings a lyric that makes sense to me. 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:59.279 He says, on the day I die, it's the name of the song is Sinners Like Me. 00:18:00.820 --> 00:18:03.240 And on the day I die, I know where I'm going to go. 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:04.900 I'm not going to sing it for your sake. 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:07.539 Me and Jesus got that part worked out. 00:18:07.539 --> 00:18:09.940 I'll wait at the gates till its face I see. 00:18:10.379 --> 00:18:13.119 I stand in a long line of sinners like me. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:26.919 And so what even the world, even in country music, right, understands is that the prerequisite, the reality that God's love is poured out on people. 00:18:26.919 --> 00:18:27.899 Not who have it all together. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:29.159 Not who have everything right. 00:18:29.399 --> 00:18:31.639 But it's poured out on people who are sinners. 00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:33.439 In need of a Jesus. 00:18:33.579 --> 00:18:35.539 Because I don't like the way he says it. 00:18:35.579 --> 00:18:36.879 Me and Jesus got that part worked out. 00:18:36.979 --> 00:18:38.659 I mean, Jesus got it worked out. 00:18:38.660 --> 00:18:45.040 But I do like that he understands that he's a sinner and he needs Jesus. 00:18:46.800 --> 00:18:50.779 For salvation, for eternal life, for cleansing. 00:18:53.240 --> 00:19:02.320 And I think that's really important for us to remember because people, we need to remember that God's love is aimed at broken people who are in need. 00:19:04.779 --> 00:19:06.220 And we need Jesus. 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:08.540 For he's the only way. 00:19:09.660 --> 00:19:12.600 And so it's this love that God is revealing to his people. 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:17.380 It's not just that it's for sinners, but it was a very costly love, right? 00:19:18.360 --> 00:19:22.380 And so we're going to look at the whole passage right there in Romans chapter 5 just really briefly. 00:19:23.540 --> 00:19:25.160 And so I'm going to read it to you. 00:19:25.220 --> 00:19:25.360 It says, 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:49.740 We were not worthy. 00:19:49.740 --> 00:19:52.200 We were not able. 00:19:52.200 --> 00:20:00.420 And God sent his son to die in our place for our sins. 00:20:00.420 --> 00:20:12.660 And what's incredible about this is that God loves you and God loves me with such a costly love. 00:20:12.660 --> 00:20:15.120 And I know that's an over-exaggeration in a sense. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:18.959 There's so many better ways to express that. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:26.159 But it costs the son of God his own life for the penalty of our sin to be paid for. 00:20:26.619 --> 00:20:29.059 For the reality of our sin to be paid for. 00:20:29.059 --> 00:20:44.700 It was a heavy cost that God would send his own son for you and for me so that our sins would be cleansed and forgiven and we would be made right before God. 00:20:44.700 --> 00:20:59.360 And so God's love actually does more than just exist, but it does something and it accomplishes salvation for sinners at the great cost of Jesus. 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:08.639 But we don't stop there, which is why, which is one of the things that I really appreciate about what we're trying to accomplish with students often. 00:21:08.740 --> 00:21:21.699 But I think we all struggle with this too, is that though we understand that God's love poured out on us brings sinners into sainthood, brings salvation into the lives of believers. 00:21:21.700 --> 00:21:30.240 It does something even more and it rearranges our identity and makes us something different. 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:33.580 It gives us a new identity in Christ. 00:21:33.740 --> 00:21:37.840 And so the power of God's love, it actually has transforming power. 00:21:38.259 --> 00:21:41.660 So it would be one thing to say, yes, we are sinners, it's true. 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:47.580 But what God's love actually does also is it transforms us into his own children. 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:51.160 And in 1 John 3, it says this, 00:21:51.160 --> 00:22:01.340 The reason why the world does not know us is they did not know him. 00:22:01.420 --> 00:22:09.920 And this verse reminds us that men and women who have placed their faith in Christ, they are now children of God. 00:22:10.660 --> 00:22:12.220 They have a new identity. 00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:14.140 Yes, you have been cleansed. 00:22:14.140 --> 00:22:18.519 Yes, you have been made righteous before God because of Jesus's righteousness. 00:22:18.519 --> 00:22:23.599 Yes, you have been transformed from sinner into his own people. 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:30.480 But more than that, there's this beautiful, intimate, familial language. 00:22:30.740 --> 00:22:33.219 Sorry, family style language. 00:22:33.379 --> 00:22:35.319 I said it so fast, it didn't even sound right to me. 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:39.939 Family language used in the Bible over and over and over again. 00:22:40.899 --> 00:22:44.399 That reminds us that you're not, this love doesn't just bring you forgiveness. 00:22:44.539 --> 00:22:47.199 Sins, you're now seated with God at his table. 00:22:47.299 --> 00:22:49.859 You are united to Christ in his righteousness. 00:22:49.859 --> 00:22:58.419 You are known by the living God because you are so loved and cared for that you are now no longer sinners, but you are brought into his family. 00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:04.919 And it is by God's own power that he transforms you from enemies to his people. 00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:12.700 From sinners into children of God seated at his table. 00:23:15.100 --> 00:23:20.840 Our status before how God sees us has changed because of the righteousness of Christ. 00:23:21.100 --> 00:23:24.279 And you are no longer seen as just a sinner. 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:27.000 You're seen as his beloved son and his beloved daughter. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:29.000 It doesn't mean that we're done sinning. 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:34.339 I want to make sure that you understand that this is, we still live in a broken, fallen world. 00:23:34.740 --> 00:23:40.180 And we will still struggle from now till we see Jesus against the sin of this world and the flesh. 00:23:40.740 --> 00:23:50.880 But it does mean that when God sees you, and he does see you, he sees you as his beloved son and daughter. 00:23:52.220 --> 00:23:54.000 You are a part of the family. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:59.480 You belong to the king of the most high God. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:02.640 You are no longer foreigners and strangers. 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:06.059 You are no longer wandering and alone. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:09.079 You are now in God's family. 00:24:11.380 --> 00:24:16.539 And so now that you've been brought into this family, that the love of God has brought you into this family. 00:24:16.539 --> 00:24:21.759 You have other, you suddenly realize that, yes, I'm not alone. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:22.379 I have an identity. 00:24:22.539 --> 00:24:26.960 Suddenly you have other people that you are called to love yourself. 00:24:27.779 --> 00:24:31.779 That the love of God moves us towards his people. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:34.379 That we now have others. 00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:38.119 And you can just be awkward right now and look around. 00:24:38.299 --> 00:24:38.859 That's who. 00:24:39.339 --> 00:24:40.720 We're called to love. 00:24:41.079 --> 00:24:42.579 We're called to love our people. 00:24:42.579 --> 00:24:44.779 Those who have called on the name of Christ. 00:24:44.919 --> 00:24:48.399 Those who are committed to him and his church and his work in this world. 00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:52.079 We are called as brothers and sisters both here and across the street. 00:24:52.259 --> 00:24:56.419 And in churches across this city, we have brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:24:56.519 --> 00:25:00.460 We are now a part of a family that belong to our God. 00:25:00.460 --> 00:25:07.559 And here's what we're reminded to do. 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:13.940 Jesus, after he has inaugurated the Lord's Supper. 00:25:15.100 --> 00:25:19.299 After he has washed the disciples' feet. 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:22.880 He tells them, a new commandment I give to you. 00:25:23.400 --> 00:25:24.720 That you love one another. 00:25:25.420 --> 00:25:27.240 Just as I have loved you. 00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:30.400 You also are to love one another. 00:25:31.019 --> 00:25:33.680 By this, all people will know that you are my disciples. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:35.880 If you have love for one another. 00:25:36.900 --> 00:25:39.359 And this is very difficult to do. 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:44.259 Because all of us here know families. 00:25:45.019 --> 00:25:49.240 Some of us have walked away from tough family situations in the past week. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:51.880 Families are complicated. 00:25:53.120 --> 00:25:54.180 Families are difficult. 00:25:55.880 --> 00:25:57.099 Families are beautiful. 00:25:57.240 --> 00:25:59.039 And good. 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:02.400 And we're called to one another. 00:26:03.220 --> 00:26:06.720 To love and serve the way Jesus served his disciples. 00:26:06.839 --> 00:26:09.539 We're called to love and serve one another. 00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:14.960 And I know this is a daunting task. 00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:18.940 Because we all carry burden and baggage and hurt. 00:26:18.940 --> 00:26:25.000 But we are called to love one another. 00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:27.519 And we can do that by serving one another. 00:26:28.120 --> 00:26:31.559 This is a great opportunity to plug if you're not in a grace group. 00:26:31.720 --> 00:26:36.799 You can join a grace group and learn to love a small community of members at Southwood. 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:41.579 You can love one another in your fellowship, your encouragement. 00:26:42.779 --> 00:26:43.940 Here's one that we hate. 00:26:44.019 --> 00:26:44.680 Here's one I hate. 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:48.359 We can love one another by correcting and helping one another. 00:26:48.359 --> 00:26:51.159 I hate being told I'm wrong. 00:26:51.659 --> 00:26:53.019 I'm being honest. 00:26:53.139 --> 00:26:56.359 I don't like when someone says to me, yeah, well, you're wrong. 00:26:56.699 --> 00:26:58.779 And I don't love correction. 00:26:58.779 --> 00:27:05.859 I do love when my brothers and sisters do it in a way that loves me. 00:27:07.319 --> 00:27:12.480 And even though we love calling, there's this, we can love one another by calling out our sin and our struggle. 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:20.440 And I don't know the reality of what my brothers and sisters are doing when they are correcting me is not saying, look at what you're doing wrong. 00:27:20.900 --> 00:27:23.440 They're saying, look to King Jesus. 00:27:24.940 --> 00:27:28.120 They're not telling me how I've fumbled the ball. 00:27:28.200 --> 00:27:36.220 They're telling me how I need to keep my eyes and my whole heart, mind, soul focused on Jesus and loving him and worshiping him and giving him. 00:27:36.220 --> 00:27:43.640 And it's not just that I've messed up, it's that I have lost sight of the one whom all my affections are for. 00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:55.279 And so there are realities of loving one another that are difficult in the context of the family, of our church and our people. 00:27:57.400 --> 00:28:00.779 And so, but that doesn't change. 00:28:00.779 --> 00:28:17.960 Unfortunately, Jesus' call to us, our command to us to love one another, to walk with one another in hard times, in easy times, celebrate victories, care for one another, comfort in hurt. 00:28:19.639 --> 00:28:29.980 We're called to love one another because we've been loved so greatly by our God that it moves us and motivates us towards one another. 00:28:29.980 --> 00:28:37.099 And then Jesus, at the end of this passage, he says, they will know you are Christians. 00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:40.740 Those outside of our fellowship will know that you are Christians by your love. 00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:43.039 Like they will see the way you love one another. 00:28:43.180 --> 00:28:53.599 And so that kind of pivots us to where we kind of want to at least end our sermon in this sense is that I want it to be something that reminds us that God has called us to our neighbors. 00:28:54.940 --> 00:28:58.339 And the ways we do that are always very diverse and different. 00:28:58.339 --> 00:29:00.639 Some of us get involved in our school. 00:29:00.980 --> 00:29:03.379 Some of us get in our neighborhood HOA. 00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:09.119 Some of us get involved in our teams and clubs and the different things that we're involved. 00:29:09.179 --> 00:29:17.740 There are lots of places that we're called to carry this good news of God's love for us people that is so powerful that it transforms us from sinners into saints. 00:29:17.740 --> 00:29:22.359 And this whole thing that we're trying to communicate to all of us. 00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:25.680 There are lots of places that you can take it. 00:29:26.339 --> 00:29:30.680 But it doesn't change that we are called to love our neighbor. 00:29:32.359 --> 00:29:34.740 To love our neighbor as ourself. 00:29:34.740 --> 00:29:37.279 And that takes us back to Mark chapter 12. 00:29:38.460 --> 00:29:44.200 Because Jesus says that we're called to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. 00:29:46.460 --> 00:29:50.720 And this is the love that we should have as our primary love in our lives. 00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:54.700 And then it says to look to our neighbor. 00:29:54.700 --> 00:30:08.860 And so our goal, like we said from the beginning, our goal with our children across the street and our youth ministry, children's ministry, is not to see them be people who are nice to their neighbors and nice about coming to church. 00:30:09.539 --> 00:30:14.779 We want them to be people who holistically love God with all that they are. 00:30:14.779 --> 00:30:27.759 And that love is so transformative, so powerful that it can't help but move them to others, to their friends, with the good news of who Jesus is. 00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:35.619 There's a verse in Acts chapter 4 that has become one of my favorite verses over the past probably 10 years. 00:30:36.180 --> 00:30:41.139 And it's when Peter and John are before the Sanhedrin and they've been rendered a verdict. 00:30:41.140 --> 00:30:44.900 And they said basically, don't stop talking about Jesus. 00:30:45.560 --> 00:30:46.259 Just stop. 00:30:48.140 --> 00:31:00.200 And they answer and they say, whether that's right before God or not, we cannot help but speak about what we've seen and heard. 00:31:01.500 --> 00:31:09.060 And so when we've been so loved by God and our love for God, we offer back to him our worship and our love to him. 00:31:09.059 --> 00:31:17.460 And we cannot help but talk about and speak about how God has transformed and made us into the men and women that we are. 00:31:17.899 --> 00:31:22.000 And we can't help but share the good news that we've experienced and know and love. 00:31:22.059 --> 00:31:25.220 We can't help but bring it to our neighbor in word and deed. 00:31:25.679 --> 00:31:34.179 We can't help but go to those places with that kind of confidence and that kind of understanding of God's love for us. 00:31:34.180 --> 00:31:37.980 It's so much bigger and it's eternal. 00:31:41.880 --> 00:31:44.940 So I want to ask you, how are you engaging with your neighbors? 00:31:46.759 --> 00:31:48.060 How do you know them? 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:49.539 How do you ask them questions? 00:31:50.600 --> 00:31:56.400 Not just so that you can introduce them to Southwood, but so that you can introduce them to Jesus. 00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:00.180 How can you meet their needs? 00:32:03.240 --> 00:32:11.720 And before we can ever do that, we have to, before we can love our neighbor rightly, we have to, let's recenter ourselves on things we've already talked about today. 00:32:13.460 --> 00:32:14.600 We love others. 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:17.600 We love our neighbor because he loved us first. 00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:24.359 We love others because Jesus loved us first and gave his life for us. 00:32:25.379 --> 00:32:30.339 We're not sharing, I'm not, I'm not sharing Bill's saving love. 00:32:30.399 --> 00:32:31.839 That does not exist. 00:32:33.419 --> 00:32:37.419 I'm sharing Jesus's saving love. 00:32:37.420 --> 00:32:47.700 And that is one of the best ways that we can love our neighbor is by sharing with them the truth of what Jesus's love does. 00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:54.240 And so what we're really trying to do is, and I think I've used this in a sermon before and we use it a lot. 00:32:54.340 --> 00:32:58.200 So it's, if it's a beat up, it's a very beat up example. 00:32:58.200 --> 00:33:08.720 But we say it across three lots that the love God has shown upon us, the love God has shared with us is the way the moon reflects the sun's light, right? 00:33:09.319 --> 00:33:11.640 Like the moon doesn't give off its own light. 00:33:12.180 --> 00:33:15.120 I, as a sinner, don't give off my own light. 00:33:15.660 --> 00:33:23.299 But Jesus, when he, when he has shown his light in my life, it reflects into the lives of others. 00:33:23.299 --> 00:33:31.460 And so the love that God gives to us and pours out on us is reflected into the world as we love and walk with our neighbors as well. 00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:37.259 And that's all rooted in this thing that Jesus has called us to first and foremost. 00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:49.859 It's, it's a picture that we cannot even begin to fathom, but we're called to love God first and above all else in our lives. 00:33:49.859 --> 00:34:01.699 That he would take top priority, that there would be no square inch as an old theologian used to say, there's no square inch where Jesus does not say, this is mine. 00:34:02.759 --> 00:34:12.139 And so we, as God's people, are called to reflect that love and to share that love with others. 00:34:12.139 --> 00:34:18.420 And in a moment, we're going to, we're going to talk about God's love reflected in this table. 00:34:19.759 --> 00:34:31.359 And how God himself sent his son to show us, to show us a picture through his death of his great love for us, his costly love for us. 00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:36.779 And that's the love that has transformed us. 00:34:37.259 --> 00:34:39.259 It's God's love for his people. 00:34:39.260 --> 00:34:56.160 And so we, as his people, take that love out these doors, into Huntsville and beyond for the sake of seeing Jesus magnified, lifted up, and for his love to be reflected into a world that needs it. 00:34:56.660 --> 00:34:57.340 Let's pray. 00:34:59.220 --> 00:35:05.260 Father, we're grateful that we can know your love in any sort of way. 00:35:05.260 --> 00:35:17.840 Lord, we're grateful that you care deeply for us, that your affections have been poured out on us, your people, that you would dare to step into this world. 00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:30.780 And as we've just celebrated Christmas, we're reminded that that's, what an incredible picture of your love there, that you would put on human flesh, that you would show up, that you would tabernacle, that you would dwell with your people. 00:35:30.780 --> 00:35:36.620 And so, Lord, we just pray that you would help us to love you. 00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:42.460 Would you break our idols and our hurts and our sin so that we might love you? 00:35:43.240 --> 00:35:47.180 And Lord, so that we might be reflectors of your great love to others. 00:35:48.480 --> 00:35:54.220 Would you bless us today as we seek to honor and glorify you in all that we do? 00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:56.920 We love you and pray this in Jesus' name. 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.700 Amen. 00:35:57.699 --> 00:36:02.480 For more information, visit us online at southwood.org. 00:36:02.480 --> 00:36:02.480