Greg Ford - Understanding God's True Love
Okay, we’re in a series of messages right now called «Cover to Cover.» We’re looking at the Bible as a whole. We started the first couple of weeks just talking about what the Bible is and how we read it. If you weren’t here for that, you can go back, but we discussed what’s up with these 66 books of the Bible. Who decided that these are the Bible, or these are God’s word? We actually looked at the period from the moment Jesus resurrected to when we now have a Bible in our hands. What happened in that period of time?
So we talked about that. Then we’ve discussed the Bible as literature, history, and theology. Often, we look at it as just theology. You open it up, start reading it, and sometimes that’s okay to do. Some of it is straightforward, but often you have to keep in mind that these were written by people over a 1,500- year period, thousands of years ago. You’re talking about some very old texts that had their own nuance and culture. The more we can understand that, the better. We’ve been trying to give Bible study tips and resources along the way just to set you up for success on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and for the long haul. A lot of these conversations-even though we’re kind of going at a high level and talking about sort of meta-narrative high-level conversations-will set us up to keep deep diving over the years.
So today, we’re going to start getting into the New Testament. Before we do, I want to give a little bit of a summary and then mention a piece I left out of the Old Testament that I think will lead into this talk today. Okay, what we talked about when we started in Genesis is the way that God intended for the world to function. We see that in the story of Adam and Eve. You have a relationship, but you have people who are in a right relationship with God, right relationship with themselves, and each other. That’s what God intended.
In the garden, God created them in this beautiful environment, but He gave them free will, which means they can make decisions. Sometimes those decisions are good, and sometimes they aren’t. Bad decisions aren’t necessarily made from a place of knowing better. Sometimes you know better, and sometimes you don’t. There are times when, in my flesh and human limitations, I think I’m getting it right and later find out I got it wrong, or someone else’s decision impacts my life and I become part of the collateral damage of what they did. You see this early on, and there’s this brokenness. God is redemptive, and He restores them; He gives them a new opportunity.
Throughout the early part of Genesis, in the first several chapters, you see this story of humanity. As the population grew, all these people with free will created a chaotic situation. Yet God loves people. That’s why He created them: He loves people, and He’s always loved people. He says, «Look, I still love people, and I’m not giving up on humanity. I want to set it right.» He goes to Abraham and says, «Abraham, I’m going to make a covenant with you. I’m going to create a great nation from your family and set you apart in specific ways. I' ll give you unique laws. These laws will have different facets; some will be civil laws on how to function in community, some will be moral laws on how to treat the people around you — what’s right and fair and loving. There will also be ceremonial laws which will help you stay in right relationship with God. They will teach you how to say sorry when needed and foster a state of gratitude. I’m giving you laws and a promised land, and I' ll set you apart for a season, not permanently, so you can function the way humanity is meant to function. Then you’ll take that and bless the entire world with it. I’m going to send you into all the world to demonstrate that, because it’s just a better way to live. It’s the way I created for people to live.»
We see throughout the storyline of the Old Testament that God sets up prophets, priests, and kings in authoritative positions-not to exploit their authority but to help people stay in line and navigate life. It just doesn’t quite work out like that. You' ll see that throughout the Old Testament, sometimes it goes well, and a lot of times it goes badly. We ended last week looking at some of the wisdom literature, but what I left out that’s really important is that the nation in the Old Testament went through a split. Think of it like a civil war: there becomes a northern and southern kingdom, and they’re not a unified nation. Go ahead and bring up the timeline, and let me talk you through it real quick. This will help us understand the context of what Jesus walked into.
From about 1,000 BC to 862, you have King David. Right before that was the first king of Israel-Saul. Then you have David, and then you have David’s son Solomon who rules. When Solomon dies, he left the kingdom to his son Rehoboam, and eventually it splits. What do we know about Solomon? The first thing you think of with Solomon is his wisdom. He gives us a lot of powerful sound bites and great wisdom over time. When you look at his life, he talked a better game than he lived; his ego got a little out of control. You' ll see that Solomon builds this beautiful, extravagant temple to Yahweh, but he builds his own home, his own palace, bigger and more extravagant than the temple. That’s about a lot more than just square footage; it signals to the reader what has happened to Solomon’s mentality. He has started to think of himself as bigger than he ought, even bigger than God essentially.
So he did what a lot of rulers did at that time — they would try to prove their greatness through their architecture, through the size and intricacies of the buildings they built and their ability to take land. Solomon drove the nation; his ambition was outsized. When he dies, he leaves the nation to Rehoboam, his son. Rehoboam has the elders in one ear and the young leaders in the other. The elders say to Rehoboam, «Listen, man, people are exhausted. Your dad drove them into the ground; his ego got out of control. He pushed too hard. If you put the people first, they will appreciate that, be loyal to you, and serve you. But if you drive them, you’re going to do damage. It’s not going to go well.» That’s the elders in this ear. The young leaders say, «That’s old people’s talk. Go big or go home! They don’t write history about the guys who went medium. You gotta go big, dude!» So, Rehoboam listens to the young leaders and tells the nation, «My pinky is bigger than my father’s waist. My father beat you with whips; I will beat you with scorpions!» He goes into a souped-up version of his father, and the nation revolts. They end up with a fractured kingdom: a northern and southern kingdom just a couple of years after the split.
Most historians place that split around 931 BC. The northern kingdom falls to the Babylonians a couple of hundred years later. Basically, they’re the empire of the day, so you have a fractured nation picked off easily. The southern kingdom, by the way, when you’re reading in your Bible, the northern kingdom is referred to as Israel, and their capital is Samaria. The southern kingdom is referred to as Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital. When you hear Judah and Israel, we often think of them as synonymous, but at that time, they were separate. In some of the Old Testament books, for example, 1 and 2 Kings write about the kings from the perspective of the northern kingdom of Israel, while 1 and 2 Chronicles tell some of the same stories and kings but from Judah’s perspective.
You might be asking, «How in the world am I supposed to keep this all straight while reading my Bible? Am I reading about Israel or Judah?» Remember this guy I told you all about in January? This guy right here is your best friend: the Cultural Background Study Bible. Before you even get to Genesis 1, it has an amazing three-page timeline. The timeline shows where the nation fractures, and then it shows which books of the Bible apply to the northern kingdom and which apply to the southern kingdom. So get one!
The nation is divided. The northern kingdom falls to the Babylonians; the southern kingdom eventually falls to the Assyrians. Pretty quickly after that, they’re all going to fall to the Persians. This is where the Babylonians take the nation into exile -they take them off their land and to Babylon. If you remember the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, they’re able to gain the favor of the Persian king to return from exile. In Ezra, they go to rebuild the temple, and in Nehemiah, they go back to rebuild the city walls. Remember this?
So that’s all under the Persian Empire. Even though they’re back in their own land, they’re still a province of the Persian Empire. If you read into the intertestamental period, which is about 400 years from 400 BC to the birth of Jesus, you have the story of Alexander the Great and the rise of the Greek Empire. Of course, you know that story: Alexander starts trying to take over the world. He dies in his 30s without a succession plan, and the Greek Empire is divided between his brothers and generals. Now Israel is just being passed around from one empire to another. They eventually end up with the Seleucids and, ultimately, the Romans.
The reason this is important is that we’re trying to get into the mindset of the people into whom Jesus was born. If you are one of the children of Israel, part of the nation, you are thinking about these promises: there is going to be a king who will have a kingdom that will not pass away. There is a Messiah that will show up eventually. They are very messianic-minded, longing for a Messiah. Their idea of a Messiah involved experiencing victory over the Egyptians, Canaanites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Seleucids to finally having a king that will grant them national victory. It would be military, economic, and result in prosperity-the shalom that’s coming to them will be through a great king. In fact, the Davidic covenant-what God makes with David-is that through your lineage, David, there will be a king of all kings, and his kingdom will not pass away. That’s what they are looking for.
Then Jesus shows up in Matthew 4. It says in Matthew 4 that He came talking about the «euangelion,» or the good news, the gospel of the kingdom of God. Think about that! To the people listening, «euangelion» is a term — a Greek word that was about 400 years old by the time Jesus was using it-and it was used in literature to announce a new king and a new kingdom. If an emperor had a child, there would be an «euangelion.» In other words, «Hear ye, hear ye! We have some news for you! It’s big news! It’s good news! We have a new emperor! Good news! We won the victory!» So, when Jesus shows up, He talks about the «euangelion» of the kingdom of God.
It’s no wonder they couldn’t really hear or see anything other than their history of being passed around from one empire to another. Now it’s going to be their time, and here is their Messiah. What they long for is someone who would create an empire.
The gospel writers, by the way-let’s talk about them for a minute-there are four: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Just real quick, go ahead and bring up that slide to give you an idea of their motives. Their motivation was to present Jesus as the Messiah and to teach what He taught about the kingdom of God. These gospels were written in the second half of the first century when they were under the persecution of the Roman emperor Nero or Domitian, depending on where you date it. We’re talking about people who are really scared for their lives. Matthew is writing to a primarily Jewish audience; Mark, who' s writing for our Easter conversation, is writing to Roman Gentiles; Luke is primarily writing to Gentile Christians; and John is writing to a broader Christian audience, with an emphasis on Greek mentality.
When you look at these gospel writers, you’ll find that they embed many of the things we’ve looked at in the Old Testament into the New Testament. This is why we are in a unique position right now. We’ve spent 11 weeks in the Old Testament, so we’ve been examining a lot of these symbols. Certain things that you might have read over quickly or haven’t fully digested can now be understood in light of the Old Testament background. You can see the statements being made about Jesus and how He fulfilled these things.
Let’s look at Luke 4:16–21. It says that He (Jesus) went to Nazareth, where he was brought up. On the Sabbath, He went to the synagogue, as was the custom. He stood up to read. At that time, if you lived in Nazareth, most of the people would have been illiterate, but they set up their religious culture around reading the Torah. They had what was called the «parasha» reading. Imagine we are Nazareth. There’s probably about the same amount of people here as were in Nazareth-maybe a few more. We gather to read, and one of the literate people reads the text. They set it up to read from the Torah every week on a schedule so that they will read through the Torah once a year. Each year, they’re reading through it. Their children, teenagers, and grown-ups are hearing it.
They schedule themselves to read through the law and the prophets every three years. Jesus gets up to read the parasha reading for the day. They hand him a scroll, the prophet Isaiah, and unrolling it, He finds the place where it is written: «The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.» By the way, the word «favor» there means «acceptable» or «approved,» so to proclaim the year of the Lord’s acceptance.
Then He rolls up the scroll and gives it back to the attendant and sits down, which was a classic rabbi move. You would stand up to read the word of God; then you’d sit down and explain it. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him, and He began by saying to them, «Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.»
If you keep reading in Luke 4, you' ll see that nobody’s buying it. They’re all saying, «What are you talking about? Our vision of a Messiah isn’t that He would show up in a town of 500 people.» In fact, they say, «You’re definitely not the Messiah because we know who your dad is! That’s Joseph’s son!» They diminish Him. He doesn’t look anything like their idea of someone who would create a kingdom that wouldn’t pass away.
What Jesus does, and what the gospel writers do, is continuously reference back to the Old Testament to show how Jesus fulfills it. You' ll see things like the Passover Lamb in Luke 12. We talked about the Passover when Moses was going to lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. The death angel passes over the homes, and it’s said that to protect your family, you must take the blood of the lamb and put it over the door. The blood of the lamb will protect your home. Because of that moment, it became an annual tradition as they didn’t want to forget God’s protection through the blood of the lamb.
When you look at the crucifixion of Jesus-which is coming up shortly when we celebrate Easter-Jesus is crucified during the Passover celebration. He is referred to as the Lamb of God; that’s what John the Baptist says: «Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.» So, Jesus is presented as the ultimate Passover Lamb, and the blood of Jesus is what ultimately saves and protects us.
We see a new Exodus. In the Old Testament, the nation is in bondage to Egypt, and God leads them out. Well, Jesus leads us out of bondage too, but not to Egypt-instead from the penalty of sin. We’ve all been in that place where we’re saying, «I’ve got to get out of here. I have to quit doing this. I have to stop. This thing has me in bondage. I can’t think about anything else. I keep trying to quit, and I can’t.» It’s through Jesus that we find forgiveness, and where we find the power to leave Egypt. So, Jesus is ultimately our Moses in a new Exodus.
We see a new covenant. Jesus says, «When you eat this bread and drink this cup, this cup is a sign of my new covenant.» The wine represents His blood and what He’s about to do on the cross. Now, we talked about covenants a few weeks ago, and you remember when God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15. They go to seal the covenant by doing the blood walk. They create a trench filled with blood, and you have to wear a robe and stomp your way through it. The blood gets all over your robe, which is kind of gross. But the whole point is to say, «Look, if I don’t hold up my end of this covenant, that will be my blood. I swear on my life I will do what I say I’m going to do.»
Then the other person does the same thing. We can trust each other because we both said we’re putting our lives on the line. «My word is my life» is the covenant. God makes a covenant with Abraham, sets up the blood walk, and Abraham is scared to death because he thinks, «If I make a blood walk with You, I might be able to get away with messing it up. I could probably run away from You, but how am I going to get away from God if I don’t hold up my end of the deal?»
The vultures circle, the dead animals are there, and Abraham gets cold feet. He says, «I don’t think I can do this.» God, who understands Abraham’s fear, knows Abraham is wondering, «Is this the God who knows when to stop punishing? Is this a God who will destroy me if I mess up once?» God understands Abraham’s perspective. It says in Genesis 15 that God passes through the blood covenant all by Himself, essentially saying to Abraham, «I know you’re not going to get it right. I know you’re going to fail, but even when you fail, I will hold up my end of the deal.»
Take all this symbolism into the New Testament: Jesus taking the blood walk of Golgotha demonstrates His love toward us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us, knowing there would be times we are unfaithful. There are times our flesh gets in the way; sometimes we mess it up by accident, and there are a few times we do it on purpose. I’ve been unfaithful, but even though I’m not always faithful, He is always faithful.
So Jesus says, «This is my blood covenant. In my blood, I’ll take the walk by myself.» This Old Testament symbolism is vigorous in the New Testament. It’s no accident; the gospel writers make sure you can’t miss it.
Okay, here’s one: Have you noticed how many times Jesus calls Himself the «Son of Man»? It appears over 80 times in the gospels. The gospel writers ensure you can’t miss it. What is the Son of Man? Well, the Son of Man has two connotations. One is a human connotation; it’s just a way of referring to a human being. It would be common language. When you say so-and-so is the Son of Man, essentially you mean that’s a human born of a human. But to the Jewish people, it has a messianic and spiritual significance from the book of Daniel.
In the book of Daniel, there is a prophecy about the Messiah that will come to establish a new kingdom that won’t pass away. It says in Daniel 7:13, «In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man.» In other words, I saw before me someone- it wasn’t an angel or celestial being; it was a person. And in verse 14, «He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every language worshiped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.»
So, this is what they’re longing for: God’s going to send a person, a «Son of Man,» who will be given the authority of a king and establish an eternal kingdom.
When Jesus refers to Himself as the «Son of Man,» that’s an allusion back to Daniel 7. He is saying, «I am the fulfillment of this.» Over 80 times it shows up in the gospels!
The Old Testament is embedded in the New Testament. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface. The more you dig into the Old Testament, the more symbols you see in the New Testament and how Jesus fulfills them.
Speaking of Jesus, let’s talk a bit more about Him. In John 14:9, He says, «Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.» In Jesus' humanity and ministry, He’s doing a few things. One is He wants to answer the question: «What is Yahweh like?» Why we say Jesus is perfect theology is that if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. I saw this quote from Dallas Willard: «If your image of God is unhealthy, the more you worship, the less healthy you will be.»
This is what we talked about a few weeks ago with idols. Why would God care so much about Baal, who doesn’t even exist, getting credit for the harvest? No, God’s not that petty. The issue is that Baal represents an unhealthy, warped view of God. But, friend, we don’t need Baal to warp our view of God-some of us can do just fine on our own. Some of that even happens within our own churches if we don’t have an understanding of who God is through the person of Jesus.
If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. If we’re not careful, and if we don’t have the right, accurate view of God, then all of this praise and worship will only make us more sick. If we worship a God with a warped psychological image, it makes everything worse. Part of what Jesus came to do was present Yahweh in human form because He wanted you to see what God is truly like.
Then, He goes about His teaching. He teaches in parables. In Mark 4:34, it says that, in fact, in His public ministry, He never taught without using parables. When He got in front of a crowd, He always used parables. But afterward, when He was alone with His disciples, He explained everything to them.
You' ll see that, in the gospels, Jesus uses 30 to 40 parables to illustrate how God thinks and what we should do-things that God wants us to do. For example, there’s the parable of the sower, which talks about how God’s word-the seed of God’s word-is fertile, and there’s a lot of fruit in that seed. But if your heart is not fertile, it’s going to produce nothing.
You and I are responsible for the condition of our hearts- the receptivity of the seed of God’s word. That may fly in the face of everything we’ve ever thought we knew. It may challenge us tremendously and be very uncomfortable, but the fertility of my heart is my responsibility. And the sad reality is: God’s word is amazing, but if my heart’s not right, it won’t do what it’s supposed to. This is one of the parables Jesus uses.
He talks about the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is one of my favorites because He makes the anti-hero the hero. He makes the person who you really don’t want to be the hero. You wouldn’t even want to watch a movie about that person; you don’t want to hear a story about that person, nor do you want anything to do with that person. And He makes that person the good neighbor — the one with virtue and a heart of gold.
The bigotry is so thick that, at the end, when He asks, «Who was the neighbor to the man?» they can’t even bring themselves to say «the Samaritan;» they say, «the one who showed mercy.» Yet what is Jesus doing? He’s challenging their way of thinking, challenging their beliefs about God. He’s saying, «This is how God thinks.»
He does the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12, where you have a guy who tries to consume his way to fulfillment. He keeps building bigger barns to store more and more of his crops. Jesus says, «Man, what is wrong with you? You’ve missed the chance to be generous! You thought you could consume your way to fulfillment; you could die today, and what you’ve got stored in these barns — you can’t believe the joy you would experience from being able to share with others!»
And again, what is He doing? He’s helping us think like God. He’s helping us find true shalom and fulfillment. I think many of these things, like what Jesus is doing-especially if you look in Luke 15 -start with the depiction of a diverse crowd: tax collectors and notorious sinners, people with bad reputations. You also have Pharisees and teachers of the law-pious people.
He has this diverse group, and the Pharisees don’t like that these other people are there. They think, «What’s wrong with Jesus? He’s got all these bad people around him!» So you have this disconnect because they’re not on the same page and don’t want to be. Once Jesus notices this dynamic, He tells stories-narratives and parables. This becomes the backdrop for the trilogy of the lost sheep, the lost engagement ring, and the lost son.
I was thinking about this, and you know, Jesus does a little bit of breaking down of the Torah, like in the Sermon on the Mount, but He doesn’t argue people into theology. Instead, it says in Mark 4 that every time He did it, He used parables- something that’s logical but can circumvent your argument into something we all know to be true. They can think, «I get that!»
I was watching some reels on my phone. Some of them don’t add any value to the world; some subtract value, and some might make you dumber. Yet every once in a while, I’ll come across one, and I' ll say, «That’s the gospel!» I’ll text people, «Watch this; this is the gospel!» I' ve collected three that I think belong in Luke 15.
Here’s the first one:
[Video plays]
Keep your hands on something, Dad!
I mean, think about this! Some of you know reels can be petty, but they’re about to not be petty for a moment. No, this is the gospel right in front of your face, and you scrolled right past it! How many of you, without showing your hand, have felt like you were fighting with a blindfold on? Life feels like you’re throwing all these punches and don’t even know what you' re swinging at.
This boy’s dad comes back from war. He’s standing in front of him, and they tell him, «Hey, it’s his taekwondo class. You’ve got to learn how to fight because you never know — could be in a fight, and something happens to your eyes. You have to learn how to fight without it.»
He thinks he’s fighting his instructor, and he has no idea what he’s really fighting. I’ve been there, throwing these big punches and pouring so much energy into a fight without even understanding what I’m swinging at. And all of a sudden, in that moment, his dad says, «Keep your guard up.»
The voice is familiar, but he doesn' t quite know what’s going on. People are laughing, and he goes back to throwing haymakers. His dad starts encouraging him: «Keep going! Keep going!» All of a sudden, it’s like John 10: «My sheep know my voice.»
In John 10, there’s a contrast between bad leaders, which, by the way, comes up in the Old Testament such as in Psalms 23 and Ezekiel 34. In Ezekiel 34, God says these bad shepherds drive their sheep with fear, and He says, «Someday I’ll be the shepherd to my people and my sheep will know my voice.»
So, Jesus identifies Himself as the good shepherd -a bad shepherd has to drive the sheep with fear because that’s the only way he can get them to move; they don’t trust him. You have to spook them and scare them to make them run.
But the good shepherd-the one who in fulfilling the blood of the covenant has laid down His life for the sheep, the one protecting the sheep, the one leading them beside still waters -rooms the one who restores your soul. If He puts up walls, it’s to keep you safe — not to contain you but to keep the bad out.
Then, when He says, «Come follow me,» they hear your voice and they follow because they know they can trust you. That’s the good shepherd. My sheep know my voice.
You’ve got this boy throwing punches, not knowing what he’s fighting against. He hears his father’s voice, and in that moment, he has a revelation of his father. He takes off, looks at him, and instinctively dives into his chest. Nobody had to tell that kid what to do; nobody had to say, «You ought to go give your dad a hug right now.» He had a revelation of his father.
Let me tell you something: I don’t know that dad, but I feel like I can trust him. I know everything I need to know based on that interaction. The son knows he’s loved. Often, we start everything thinking we’re the ones holding this relationship together, as if our whole strength is how much we can honor God.
The whole thing is that He loved you first; His love is what holds this relationship together. When I have a revelation, and when you have a revelation of His love, nobody has to tell you what to do. You know what to do-you go right into His arms!
I think guys like myself, even I, apologize-I have done a disservice to people because I’ve sat here putting guilt on others over the years for all the things they’re not doing to honor God. What I should be doing is spending my time helping you to have a revelation of His love. When you have a revelation of His love, again we talk about the empire mentality. We took weeks to discuss that last year.
The empire mentality is built on the love of power and the power of fear. The kingdom of God is built on the power of love. When you understand God’s love, nobody needs to give you three or four steps to follow; you instinctively go right to His arms.
There are some of you today who aren' t going to remember this sermon, but you’re going to remember a kid with a blindfold on swinging at the air, because that’s how you feel right now. Today it’s about taking off the mask and having a clear understanding of your heavenly Father- of Abba- and going right to His arms. No one is going to have to tell you what to do; you will know what to do.
The second reel- go ahead and play it:
[Video plays]
You know how much I love you, right? Yeah! How much I always treasure the time I have with you? Yeah! Now you’re my world. I changed my last name! I’m now George Gway! Look at my jersey!
I love you so much, Dad! Oh God, I love you so much!
I’m okay! I’m okay!
So, I watched the backstory. Number 76 is 6'8», 350 lbs. That’s a lot of groceries! That’s like trying to feed three full-grown Rottweilers! He had no dad, no father figure, nothing until fifth grade. In fifth grade, his mom marries this guy, and they hit it off from day one. Suddenly, the kid who had longed for a father has a guy show up in his life who doesn’t care one bit that this is some other man’s son.
What does he say? «You’re my son! I couldn’t love you anymore if you came out of my own body!» So, he gets to playing football or whatever, and he says, «I’m changing my name.» Nobody had to tell him to do that! Nobody had to say, «You ought to change your name to honor that.»
The stepfather certainly didn’t say, «I’m the one who cooked you all those hamburgers! Where’s my name?» He wasn’t offended because when you have a revelation of love, you start changing your name. You come up with this stuff on your own!
When you have a revelation of love-if you see God as He really is. This is what Jesus was trying to do: If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father! «Hey, guys, I know you' re fighting about theology. I know you think they’re pagans, and you think you know the Torah better than they do. I know you don’t even like that I’m friends with them. I know that Samaritan thing turned you off so bad. Let me tell you a story about a father!»
Let’s just get past all that because not everyone can understand the 613 laws in detail. Not everyone can understand the 66 books in detail. But we all understand that. Jesus said, «I’m showing you Abba.»
Here’s the third one-go ahead and play it:
[ Video plays ]
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
You scrolled right past it, trying to find better lip gloss. The gospel was right there! It was right in front of you! That feels like Luke 15, doesn’t it? The son comes home after six years. We don’t know why he was gone. He might have been doing something good, or he might have been doing something bad. They could have known exactly where he was or had no idea.
All we know is he’s home. Dad turns around and doesn’t walk up saying, «You know, I need you to answer a few questions before we embrace. I’m going to need you to get a few things right before I…» No! «Why were you gone for six years?» It doesn’t matter! You’re home!
You’re home now! Went right for the embrace, friend! Why do I have a higher view of these guys than we do of Abba? Jesus came to bring the good news -Euangelion! The good news is that God loves you!
Jesus proved it on the cross. He proved it through His teaching. He proved it through His life, death, and resurrection. He proved His love! I don’t know much, but I know this: If you have a revelation of His love, you won’t need anyone to coerce you. You won’t need anyone to scare you. You won’t need anyone to manipulate you.
You’ll know what to do! You’ll take the blindfold off and go to His arms without question! He said, «I came to set the captive free. I came to restore sight to the blind. I came to provide for the poor. I came to help those who don’t have a clear view of God understand who He really is.»
So, the good news is that God loves you. My prayer is that you will see that clearly, unmistakably, and then you will know what to do.
Let’s pray. Thank you, Jesus!
Lord, so often some of the most powerful truths are simple but deep. They often sit right in front of our face. Just like the parable of the soil, sometimes the busyness of life or distractions cause us to miss this picture of You.
I pray today for the one who doesn’t understand all 66 books and the 613 laws and all the genres and the literature and history -who feels discouraged trying to figure it all out. Lord, I thank You that You can cut right through that to the heart of a Father we can trust-truly trustworthy.
We caught a glimpse of it through three earthly fathers who loved unconditionally. If we, being flawed individuals, are capable of that sort of love, how much more the omniscient, omnipotent, all-loving Creator of the universe! For it’s at the name of Jesus that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess He is Lord-not out of fear, but because perfect love casts out fear.
A revelation of love brings us to our knees and into Your arms! Lord, I thank You that You are the one who hears the cry and bridges the gap.
If you’re here today and say, «Greg, I have a lot of things I don’t understand-I don’t understand myself, and I don’t understand all the people in my life. I don’t understand the backstory. Some of it I’ll never understand. I don’t know that I have my brain fully wrapped around theology. I don’t know if I could win a debate. I don’t know if I got the right answers. I don’t get all that, but I get this: today I believe that the God who created humanity made covenants-ultimately a new covenant-and sent His son Jesus as a demonstration of love. Not so we would be forever ashamed but so that we would have the ultimate expression of love that would create the instinct to dive into His arms.»
If that’s you today, and you say, «I see it; I receive it,» would you lift your hand today? Just reach back.
Thank You, Jesus!
Oh God, thank You! You’re such a good Father! Lord, thank You for this glimpse into Your character. Help us to be so full of clarity and trust in who You are that even when we fail, when we fall, and when our flesh gets the best of us, we just go right back into Your arms.
We know when to come home. We know when to take the mask off. We know when it’s time to change our name. We come to You and keep coming back to You. You are a good Father.
In Jesus' name, and everybody said, «Amen.»