No Matter Where You Go, He Will Love You!
I might have said: “He will find you!” on our sign out front (and God indeed will), but I didn’t want to scare the neighbors! Then, I almost titled today’s message: “He will love you regardless, but it helps to try!” But really, it’s more than that, when the greatest power in the universe loves you in spite of you, its not a time to play hard to get. Pluss life really begins when our relationship in and with Him begins. Additionally, there wasn’t enough room on the sign out front for a whole sermon. So: “No Matter Where You Go, He Will Love You!” … Won the day.
I almost said: “We will love you” in the title, but I shouldn’t speak what is in someone else’s heart (which is why I shouldn’t judge another too harshly), I only can speak for my own soul, and only on a good day at that. Maybe the theme should go like this: We know God loves His creation deeply, purely, and forever. …We in God’s family have dedicated ourselves to trying to be more like Him. Each in various degrees of success on any given day.
What is certain is that our God never ceases to bridge the canyon that lays in between His salvation of eternity, and what seems to be our reckless abandon of; selfishness, fear, ego, and mindless pursuit self-inflicted pain. Of things that do not praise, glorify, and magnify His Holy and precious name. Just the opposite of what the Psalmist instructed us to do in Psalm 66: 8-12;
8 Praise our God, all peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
9 he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
10 For you, God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
11 You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance.
This place of abundance is the here and now, this moment in time that initiates our actions forward. For we are the truly blessed of all of the Earth’s peoples. The hardest thing many of us had to do this morning was get out of bed. Not much of a test or refinement was required, and that merits thanks to Him, author of all our blessings.
In spite of that, many of us have gone through or are going through trials and challenges. Many have not dealt with adversity in the ways we would have liked to, but our God, the Lord of Faith, Hope, and Love has remained true to us. In fact, we have in our midst people who can directly relate to another passage in the same Psalm that instructs us in God’s faithfulness to His people. Reading from Psalm 66:18-20;
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
19 but God has surely listened
and has heard my prayer.
20 Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!
If I have been cherishing sin (all about me), and asking for stuff from God on that basis, I will get my answer. You see God will not add to my self-inflicted pain and misery unless it’s to get my attention. You know as a child needs discipline… He will do so to shepherd me out of the mire and into still waters and green pastures of righteousness. That is just an inkling of His love for you! Hence, today’s message title: No Matter Where You Go, He Will Love You! … He will find you; He will save you, nurture you, protect, defend, and yes sometimes chastise you! … And then once again love you and walk with you, if you will let Him.
For an expert’s opinion on my words today, hear what our Apostle Peter has to say about our God’s protection, and how our very being should reflect our Lord’s care and love for us. Please let me site Peters first letter to the children of God dispersed throughout the world two thousand years ago. Reading from 1 Peter 3:13-16;
13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.
*Interrupting Peter to say; so don’t act like the living, breathing, walking martyr of humanity’s existence, but revel in your choice of salvation my beloved! By the way, who can harm your soul if you do not relinquish it to sin, but reserve it for Him. Peter sounds like the Apostle Paul in this. Reading Paul letter from Romans 8:31-32;
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Who indeed? And that’s how much your God loves you regardless of where you come from, strayed through, or descending into. Peter and Paul get it, because they have been there and recovered. Continuing now with 1Peter 3, halfway through verse 14;
“Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
And you do not need to be a prize debater to share with anyone the joy you have found in your Lord and His family of God, the Body of Christ! Of course its hard when we are battling our own hypocrisy. Saying one thing and living another, but that’s why we are here today to help each other get well together in God’s hospital of life.
This is where we remind each other to call upon the Lord asking for His Spirit to come in and remain a part of our being. Does this request, or pleading of God mean that everything all of a sudden becomes easy? I wish! Well kind of wish. You see in our adversity; we learn strength and refinement as our Psalmist I read earlier instructed us. Reading again from Psalm 66:10-12;
10 For you, God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
11 You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance.
And through work and time, and practice my beloved family, we actually begin to feel the joy of being a part of something so wonderful, so incredible, so much bigger than our selves. I guess that’s when I am ready to share with anyone the joy I have, as a part of God’s family! Without being an expert of Bible recital, we have actually been reading scripture and enjoying the journey with the Lord’s Spirit guiding our way, both alone and with others.
Our new found freedom in God’s word and in His family, leads one to want to revisit the Call to Worship reading that Gary Gunderson read this morning with new found feeling and understanding. Revisiting it again, see if you pick up anything new this time around, by calling on God’s help when reading, listening, or reflecting on His Word. Reading Psalm 66: 1-6;
1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
2 Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious.
3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing the praises of your name.”
5 Come and see what God has done,
his awesome deeds for mankind!
6 He turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the waters on foot—
come, let us rejoice in him.
This passage is awesome. For the psalmist praises, glorifies, and magnifies, our God, His Holy name, and His wonderful acts of kindness in our lives. And making the Red Sea dry land for our ancestors to escape through (coming out of bondage in Egypt), … is just the beginning of His Majesty!
For our Lord Gives His Holy Spirit liberally through gifts of the Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit helps us understand His Word, and then apply it in our lives. Just look at what it did in Paul’s life. Saul was zealous for God, but had started to project his ignorance of mercy and grace, and God not only continued to love Paul, but found him in his lostness and walked with Saul as he rebuilt his life, making Saul, … Paul. A transformed life and a fearless vocation of service with his new found place in the Lord’s service. An Apostle to the Gentiles, people like you and me, working with God to form us into our family of God!
I want to show you Paul in action as he responds to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and takes God’s message right to the heart of antiquity’s mythology and pagan idolatry. Without precedent, Paul will preach the Gospel to the birthplace of Western philosophy, government, history, and metaphysics. Paul is at the Areopagus, the Greek civic meeting place adjacent to Mars Hill, the Pantheon complex in antient Athens Greece. Reading from Acts 17: 22-31;
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship – and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
*Interrupting Paul; its important to understand that saying someone was ignorant in Paul’s day would be like saying today: “Perhaps you haven’t heard that…” Today it’s considered by many as an insult or a dramatic assertion.
Paul has complimented the people on their religiousness and even went to the effort to look at their religious symbols. He has taken the time to know his audience, without watering down the Gospel. Paul is actually witnessing in a very positive light as we are directed to express the joy of the Good News before slamming someone else’s ideas on life and faith. Discernment and knowing people, I think is key in learning how to share your Good News! Paul goes on at verse 24;
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
**Cutting in again to say; I am made in His image; I better start acting like it! What a great and clear-cut lesson unfolded by Paul! On to verse 29;
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
Good News, God will do the judging (you don’t have to), bad news… I deserve death. Good News again, I can have forgiveness for the asking when I’m sincere and begin to work on my issues with our Lord! Making me think about what Peter instructed us earlier in saying in 1 Peter 3:13; 13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? Certainly not God when we are honest with Him and ourselves, and if God is for us, who can hurt our soul?
For sustenance and reassurance, we have our Lord’s teaching for our edification and growth in today’s Message Reading; John 14: 15-21,
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
*Please let me add at this point; that if we love our Lord, we will work at What the Prophet says in Micah 6:8:
- Acting justly
- Loving Mercy
- Walking humbly with God
And by doing so through practice we will grow and learn in Him. Which will help us to:
- Learn to love God with all our heart and souls and mind
- Love other people God places in our lives as ourselves!
These are the teachings of your Lord, but wait there is more! Continuing now at verse 19;
19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
And you show what you are made of my incredible family in God when you… live your faith! You may venture into the deepest darkest places at times in your life. I know where you go at those times of anguish, pain, and angst. More importantly, your Lord knows and still loves you and is willing to walk with you back out that door of despair.
For when you ask Him;
No Matter Where You Go, He Will find You!
And; No Matter Where You Go, He Will help You! Because; No Matter Where You Go, He Will Love You!
Even if it takes a long, long time… to learn God’s plans for your life.
My hope and prayer for you all this week is that you will enjoy the company of the one who has walked with you from before you were even thought of by your parents, and that you get a chance to thank Him in deep gratitude.
Amen!