260315 God's Love After Wreckage

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His love overcomes their apostasy. He does not ignore their sin though, but He refuses to let sin do what sin wants to do. Sin wants to control the final outcome. You understand sin wants to control your final outcome, to stack the deck against you, to control the end and give you exactly the outcome that you deserve because you're favored by God and the enemy hates it. Sin always has an agenda, it's death. [00:21:28] (41 seconds)  #LoveOvercomesSin Download clip

They're not fixing themselves. They're not earning their way back to Him. No, they will not prove they're worthy to be my children. God says, I will do it. It's always Him. That's grace, that's the free gift. This points directly to Christ who heals our unfaithfulness through shedding His blood on the cross. I will heal their apostasy, their heresy, He said. I will love them freely. [00:32:26] (30 seconds)  #GraceHeals Download clip

As we started to describe this, I even felt the heaviness of it, it's like it's a broken heart. Because what does God do with strays? He doesn't replace them. He doesn't discard them. He doesn't say, You made your choice, live with it. He goes after them. He pursues them. This is what makes Hosea so stunning. God fully exposes their unfaithfulness, their spiritual adultery, and then responds with amazing love. [00:20:56] (32 seconds)  #GodPursuesTheLost Download clip

God's love pursues the one who has gone astray. His love restores not because the person deserves it, but because of who He is. That's the key here. God's actions flow from His nature, not our performance. He gives us grace. It's not about how big or noticed we can become or how much control we can have, it's how willing we are to become less so that Christ is clearly seen in us, less of me, more of Him. [00:22:42] (33 seconds)  #LessOfMeMoreOfHim Download clip

We cannot manufacture this kind of love on our own. Left to ourselves, we're spiritually drawn fruitless just like the Israelites in Hosea. And that's why we don't just need a person who is a good example. We need a Savior. You see, the only way we can love anyone is because Christ first loved us. If you truly love, truly love someone, it's Christ in you. You are doing it through Him. [00:30:13] (32 seconds)  #ChristFirstLove Download clip

Do we have the willingness to treat others the way he would treat them? To see ourselves not above them, not ahead of them, but as their servant. Not because we have to, not obligation, but because we really love them. Because I actually believe His love changes everything. That is the love that overcomes sin, overcomes brokenness, overcomes stray hearts. [00:27:27] (33 seconds)  #LoveThatServes Download clip

He cares more about the condition of your heart than where your feet are. He is after something deeper, much deeper. He's healing hearts that have wandered, healing people who have gone astray, healing a relationship that's been broken by spiritual adultery of turning away from Him, offering alms to false gods. Notice in Hosea though, who's doing the work, I will heal. [00:31:55] (32 seconds)  #HeartOverFeet Download clip

But here's also the reality, the honest truth, we don't love like that naturally, do we? No, we don't. We are impatient, we're self focused, we're self absorbed, we draw lines, we choose who deserves our time and who doesn't. We can categorize and group people who we prefer because we're a broken people. Every single one of us, broken people. [00:29:45] (28 seconds)  #WeAreBroken Download clip

It's all an empty game to see how to control you. Both are very cold. You see, without love, truth turns cold. Without love, service becomes pride. Without love, ministry becomes a performance and that should be a warning. That should wake us up to get over ourselves. We're not as smart as we think we are. The Scripture says, God says, I confound the wise. Who do we think we are? [00:29:09] (36 seconds)  #LoveBeforePerformance Download clip

You see, without that kind of love, even the best theologian becomes hollow. We can value traditions, spiritual gifts, talents, visible acts, slick presentations oftentimes more than love. It's possible to stand up here, speak truth, serve or even lead and still lack genuine love. Here's an interesting fact. Do you know the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath? [00:28:00] (33 seconds)  #KnowledgeWithoutLove Download clip

We could have the book of Concord memorized. We could have the knowledge of every Lutheran theologian. We could stand in prayer tents and pray thousands of people. We could give our time, our energy, lay down our lives for someone. But if we do not have love, what do we have church? Nothing. No love? Then I'm just up here making noise. [00:26:27] (29 seconds)  #NoLoveNoChurch Download clip

To a Christian ear, current day, that sounds like doctrinal failure, falling into false belief, heresy, that's probably the word that you identify most with when we hear that word apostasy, abandoning truth. But to the Israelites of that day and to Hosea, it carried the image of a drifting away, astray, a lost child wandering. God is not just calling them rebellious, He's calling them lost. And that matters because it reveals His heart. [00:20:17] (39 seconds)  #GodSeesTheLost Download clip

It is a love that serves, a love that sacrifices, a love that forgives, a love that does not give up on you or look down on you, and that same love is given to you freely, completely undeserved. And now because you are loved like that, you're free. Free to serve, free to forgive, free to love with a love that's not your own, but His. [00:24:13] (29 seconds)  #LoveThatFrees Download clip

Free to truly love others with that same love, doing so you are not earning anything, you already have everything you need in Christ. So you are free. Free to see the person in front of you as not an interruption, not in the way, but as a gift, to value them as He does. God's ways are far greater than ours, you see, because His love is far greater than ours. [00:24:42] (30 seconds)  #SeePeopleAsGift Download clip

Take more than a second and really look at them, really see them. Hey, this is like I say, it's gonna feel a little awkward, but it's okay. Now, say to them, you are a gift from God. Do you believe that? Amen. Do we live like we believe that? Because when we do, we begin to see people the way God sees them, created in His image, full of value, worthy of love. And here's the truth, God's love is far greater than anything we can fully understand. [00:17:27] (40 seconds)  #BelieveYouAreAGift Download clip

That is the same thing as false God in Hosea. And yet, God still says, I'm the one who provides for you. I'm the one who sustains you. I'm the one who loves you. A love that doesn't give up on strays, but brings them home. This shows us that, number one, God's steadfast love is demonstrated. Where? Ultimately on the cross. [00:23:44] (29 seconds)  #LoveOnTheCross Download clip

Do you guys remember? They were offering praises to Baal, giving credit to false gods for what the Lord had already provided. And yet, God said, I am. It is I, Yahweh. I am the one who fed you. I'm the one who gave you grain. I'm the one that sustained your life. Everything that you have, it all came from Me and still they turned away. In what we read, Hosea uses the word apostasy. [00:19:42] (35 seconds)  #YahwehIsProvider Download clip

You can't do anything good on your own intention because you are broken. Your intentions are flawed and broken too. As it says in Philippians, For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose. But here is some good news. God's love for you does not depend on how well you love others. He doesn't wait for you to get it right. He doesn't say, Come clean yourself up and then I'll love you. No. [00:30:45] (34 seconds)  #GraceNotPerformance Download clip

But I'm even more thankful that we are not waiting. We're not waiting to be, we're not waiting to do, we're not waiting to go, we're not waiting to bless others. We're out already out there where the people are and that's good. But let us never stop asking ourselves this, do we see people and see Christ in them? Do they see Christ in us? Do we treat people and treat them like Christ is in them? [00:15:34] (36 seconds)  #SeeChristInOthers Download clip

He is the source of life. From Jesus comes your fruit and my fruit. So let's ask ourselves these questions. Where am I looking for life or fulfillment apart from Christ? Do I believe God's love is truly free or do I try to earn it? Do I try to fix every little thing or do I trust Jesus with every little thing? Going forward, practice regular repentance. Forgive me, O Lord, oh my gosh, that's what shook me up in that song. Thank you, Roberto. [00:32:56] (44 seconds)  #JesusIsTheSource Download clip

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