You Are the One Jesus Loves

The promises from Jesus begin with the place where people actually hurt. Summertime can change routines, vacations can pull life in different directions, and even showing up to church can raise the question, “How did this person end up here?” Pain often sits underneath that question. Something was missing. Something changed. Something hurt. And Jesus has a promise that speaks directly to that pain.

John 3:16 gives the foundation for every other promise: “God so loved the world.” The promise of eternal life matters, but the reason behind it matters first. God loves his created people. God loves before they recognize it, before they deserve it, and before they feel like they belong. Augustine’s line says it clearly: God loves each one as if there were only one. Yet many people live like God must have favorites, and that favorite must be somebody else.

Jesus shows that love through the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to go after the one lost sheep. The wandering sheep is not forgotten, written off, or replaced. The shepherd goes after the one because the shepherd loves the one. Heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents, which means the person who feels too messy for church is exactly the kind of person Jesus came to find.

John’s own life proves what that love can do. John was not always the apostle writing love letters. John was one of the “sons of thunder,” the kind of man ready to call down fire when people did not respond the right way. Jesus loved John while John was still missing something, while anger and ambition still marked him. Over time, John stopped being known by thunder and started calling himself “the one that Jesus loved.”

The cross shows the fullest shape of that love. Jesus healed the sick, loved lepers, befriended outsiders, and then willingly walked into betrayal, torture, shame, nails, and death. Jesus looked at mockers and said, “Father, forgive them.” Only love can make someone do that. The empty tomb proves that the sacrifice was accepted, sin was paid for, and death was beaten.

God’s love is not finally measured by a feeling. Love is a promise. The first promise underneath every other promise is this: each person is deeply loved by Jesus, and that truth is meant to become the ground for life, transformation, and love toward others.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God loves before anyone deserves it [17:37] Christ does not wait for a cleaned-up life before giving himself. John did not deserve that love, and Paul did not deserve that love, yet Jesus moved toward sinners while sin was still real. Grace is not God rewarding improvement. Grace is God coming first, and that is what makes real change possible. [17:37]
• 2. The Shepherd goes after the one [10:52] The lost sheep is not treated as an inconvenience to the flock. Jesus describes himself as the shepherd who searches until the wandering one is found. That image cuts through the fear that failure makes a person disposable. The joy of heaven shows that repentance is not shameful to God, but precious to him. [10:52]
• 3. Love changes thunder into witness [14:39] John’s story shows that Jesus does not merely forgive a personality and leave it untouched. The “son of thunder” became the disciple who could write, “God is love.” Time with Jesus reshapes what anger, ambition, and wounded reflexes have built. A person loved by Christ can receive a new name, a new posture, and a new way to live. [14:39]
• 4. The cross makes love visible [21:04] Jesus did not define love as sentiment from a distance. Jesus carried betrayal, public shame, physical torture, and suffocating death without turning away from the people who mocked him. “Father, forgive them” reveals a love that is stronger than rejection. The cross says divine love is not fragile, thin, or easily exhausted. [21:04]
• 5. Love is promise, not feeling [25:01] Feelings can rise and fall, even in the deepest relationships. God’s love stands on what Jesus has done, not on whether a person feels loved on a given day. That promise gives stability when emotions are dull, faith feels weak, or pain is loud. The soul is invited to hold onto what is true before it can feel what is true.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [03:18] - A Different Sunday Gathering
• [04:33] - Promises from Jesus in July
• [05:38] - How Did This Person End Up Here?
• [06:39] - Jesus Speaks to Pain
• [08:19] - John 3:16 and God’s Love
• [10:52] - The Shepherd Leaves the Ninety-Nine
• [12:52] - Knowing God Means Knowing Love
• [14:39] - John the Son of Thunder
• [16:56] - Loved While Still Sinners
• [19:25] - Christmas Means Restoration
• [21:04] - The Cross Shows Love
• [23:30] - It Is Finished and the Tomb Is Empty
• [25:01] - Love Is a Promise

1. In John 3:16, what does God do because he loves the world, and what promise is given to the one who believes in his Son? [09:03]
2. What kinds of pain or missing pieces in life were named as reasons people may end up turning toward church or toward Jesus? [06:39]
3. In the picture of the shepherd and the lost sheep, what does the shepherd do when even one sheep is missing? [10:55]
4. What details show the change in John’s life from a “son of thunder” to someone known for speaking so deeply about love? [14:39]

1. John 3:16 begins with God’s love before it speaks about eternal life. Why is it important that God’s love comes first, rather than people first proving themselves worthy of him? [09:13]
2. The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine and goes after the one. What does that image suggest about how Jesus sees the person who feels far away, ashamed, or out of place? [11:41]
3. John was still impulsive, angry, and unfinished when Jesus loved him. What does that help explain about how real spiritual change happens in a person’s life? [17:24]
4. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them” while suffering on the cross. What does that reveal about the kind of love Jesus has, especially toward people who resist or reject him? [22:15]

1. Many people carry the quiet belief that God must love somebody else more. When does that thought show up most strongly in life, and what helps push back against it? [10:20]
2. Jesus goes after the one who wanders. Is there an area of life right now where it feels like wandering is happening—through sin, discouragement, distance, numbness, or hiding? What would it look like to stop running and let Jesus meet that place honestly? [11:46]
3. John moved from thunder to love over time in the presence of Jesus. What is one part of a person’s character that still needs that kind of change—anger, pride, defensiveness, harshness, jealousy, or something else? What might it look like to place that before Jesus this week? [16:44]
4. Christ died while people were still sinners. Is there a habit of waiting to “get life together” before coming close to God? What would it look like to come honestly now instead of later? [18:07]
5. The cross makes love visible, not sentimental. When suffering or disappointment makes God feel distant, how can the death and resurrection of Jesus steady faith better than changing emotions can? [23:39]
6. Love is a promise, not only a feeling. When the heart does not feel loved by God, what truths need to be spoken back to the soul? [25:01]
7. A person who knows he is deeply loved by Jesus begins to love others differently. Who in life right now is hardest to love, and how might receiving Christ’s love reshape that relationship? [26:16]