Is the Lord Truly With Us? Living God’s Love

The question, “Is the Lord truly with us or not?” runs through Israel’s thirst in the wilderness, Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians, and Jesus’ confrontation in the temple. Israel’s grumbling is not treated as beyond the pale, because thirst, hunger, and fear can ask a real question: Where is the Lord in all of this? God does not abandon the people who complain. Christ goes before them, gives them water from the rock, and leads them through the wilderness.

Jesus’ authority is questioned in a sharper key on the Monday of Holy Week. Jesus has entered the temple, flipped tables, driven out the money changers, and overturned the whole economy of the place. Jesus then returns to the temple as the true sacrifice, and the chief priests ask, “By what authority are you doing this?” Jesus answers with the picture of a father and two sons, a pattern that runs all through Scripture: one and then two, the old and the new, the first son and the faithful Son.

The father’s command begins with “Son.” God is not merely a judge handing out commands. God speaks to children in love. God’s love does not search around for something already worthy or attractive. “The love of God creates. It does not find that which it thinks is pleasing.” God’s love finds enemies and makes reconciliation. God’s forgiveness finds sinners. Christ finds the lost and becomes their way through.

Christ is the rock from which Israel drank, the one who went ahead of them in the wilderness. Christ is also the rock struck in anger, from whose side comes the water of salvation. Jesus goes ahead toward the cross, where humility, mercy, and sacrifice reveal the heart of God. Tax collectors, prostitutes, and those called unsavable are not merely permitted to enter behind the religiously respectable. Jesus says they are going ahead.

Paul’s call to have the same mind means that religion cannot remain words, intentions, or mouthing the gospel. The contrast between hating sin and loving sinners becomes searching: does the person who is disagreed with actually experience love, mercy, support, and safety? Augustine’s image of the heart curved inward exposes the concern for reputation, recognition, and being right. Christ turns that heart outward toward another person’s need.

God’s presence is not merely an answer given at a distance. Christ is present among his people, and Christ’s love must take flesh in their lives. Every person bears a worth that comes from God’s creating love, and Christ willingly goes to the cross as the propitiation offered in their place.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God’s love creates the beloved God’s love does not wait for beauty, usefulness, or moral improvement before it gives itself. God creates worth in those who cannot establish their own worth before him. Christ’s reconciliation therefore begins with enemies, sinners, and the lost rather than with the already impressive. [28:05]
• 2. Christ goes ahead into salvation Christ goes before Israel in the wilderness as the rock that gives water. Christ also goes ahead toward the cross, becoming the struck rock from whose side salvation flows. Christ’s presence is not abstract reassurance but costly, forward-moving mercy. [29:50]
• 3. Outcasts may lead the procession Jesus shocks religious opponents by saying that tax collectors and prostitutes are going ahead of them. Grace does more than make room at the back for the despised. Grace can expose that those who know their need may be nearer to Christ than those guarding their own status. [30:27]
• 4. Love must be felt, not claimed The phrase “hate the sin, love the sinner” becomes empty when the sinner cannot actually find mercy, guidance, or safety. Christ’s love presses beyond correct language into real presence for those who are wounded, opposed, or dismissed. The question is not merely whether love is professed, but whether it can be trusted. [32:05]
• 5. Christ turns hearts outward Augustine’s curved-inward heart seeks its own reputation, needs, and recognition. Christ turns attention toward another person’s need for mercy and love. Christian obedience takes shape when God’s extravagant love moves from words into the actual life of the world.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [18:55] - Is the Lord With Us?
• [20:54] - Jesus Questioned in the Temple
• [21:44] - Holy Week and Cleansing the Temple
• [22:49] - A Father and Two Sons
• [24:28] - God Calls His Children in Love
• [27:26] - The Love of God Creates
• [28:46] - Christ the Rock in the Wilderness
• [30:13] - Outcasts Going Ahead
• [31:16] - More Than Words and Intentions
• [32:05] - When Love Must Be Real
• [33:21] - The Heart Curved Inward
• [34:54] - Christ’s Humble Sacrifice
• [35:10] - God Present Among His People

Bible Reading

Matthew 21:23-32
“And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the second and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”

Observation questions

1. What question do the chief priests and elders ask Jesus when He returns to the temple, and what recent actions of Jesus give that question its urgency? [21:44]
2. How does Jesus respond to their question before telling the parable of the two sons?
3. What does each son initially say to his father, and which son ultimately does the father’s will?
4. Which groups does Jesus say are entering God’s kingdom ahead of the religious leaders, and what response did those groups have to John the Baptist’s message? [30:13]

Interpretation questions

1. Why might the religious leaders’ question about Jesus’ authority be more than an honest request for information, especially in light of what Jesus had done in the temple? [22:05]
2. What does the father’s address to each son as “son” suggest about the relationship between God’s command and God’s love? [24:57]
3. Why does Jesus emphasize doing the father’s will rather than simply giving the right verbal answer? How does this challenge religion that remains only words or intentions? [31:29]
4. What does it mean that tax collectors and prostitutes go “ahead” of the religious leaders, rather than merely being allowed into God’s kingdom? [30:34]

Application questions

1. When have hardship, fear, disappointment, or unanswered prayer led to the question, “Is the Lord truly with us or not?” What would it look like to bring that question honestly to God rather than pretending it is not there? [35:17]
2. Is there an area where a person has said “yes” to God outwardly but has been slow to follow through in action? What small act of obedience could move that response from words into practice?
3. God’s love creates worth; it does not wait to find someone impressive, useful, or already lovable. Who is someone that is easy to overlook, avoid, or quietly judge, and how might this truth reshape the way that person is seen? [28:05]
4. Jesus says that people often treated as moral outsiders may be going ahead in faith. Are there people whose need for grace, honesty about failure, or dependence on Christ exposes pride in others? What can be learned from them? [30:34]
5. When there is disagreement with someone about sin, beliefs, or behavior, would that person describe this group member as safe enough to seek help, guidance, mercy, or support? What concrete habits help love become something another person can actually feel? [32:05]
6. The heart often curves inward toward reputation, being right, recognition, and self-protection. In a current relationship or conflict, what might it look like to turn outward toward the other person’s need for mercy and care? [33:24]