The Cost of Discipleship - The God of Love

The Discipline of Getting to Know the God of Love August 10, 2014 “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He gave His only begotten (unique) Son, that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not come to destruction, and be lost but have eternal (everlasting life)” (Amp.). The Word of God has a lot to say about God and His love. I John 4:16 tells us that, “God is love.” Love is part of His essence, His DNA. Everything about Him is loving, (whether we think so or not). His thoughts and plans for us; His provision; His protection and deliverance from evil; His discipline and all He does toward us are because He loves us with an everlasting, unconditional love. Since He is the omniscient, all seeing God, and He sees and knows what is best for us, He will always act in loving mercy and grace toward us and all our circumstances. Mercy is God’s restrained justice that we deserve. His mercies are new every morning, and they are everlasting (Lam.3:22-23; Ps.100:5). Grace is God’s gift to us that we do not deserve (Eph.2:8-9). Oh, what love, what matchless love!! God loves all of His creation, even the insignificant sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31 tells us that in the time when sacrifices were made two sparrows were sold for a penny. But even one sparrow could not fall to the ground without the Creator’s consent and notice, so we should not be concerned about God’s love for us, because we have more worth than all the sparrows. He even has the hairs of our head numbered. WOW!! What love!! Since He is the omniscient, all seeing God, and He sees and knows what is best for us, He will always act in loving mercy and grace toward us and all our circumstances. Mercy is God’s restrained justice to us, which we deserve. His mercies are new every morning, and they are everlasting (Lam.3:22-23; Ps.100:5). Grace is God’s gift to us which we do not deserve (Eph.2:8-9). Oh, what love, what matchless love!! The love chapter, I Cor.13, tells plainly what God’s Agape love looks like – what it is and what it isn’t. Verse four says that love endures long and is patient and kind; it is never envious nor jealous; it is not boastful or vainglorious and does not display itself haughtily. Verse five says that God’s kind of love is not conceited; it is not rude and does not act unbecomingly. God’s love in us does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it (it pays no attention to a suffered wrong). It tells us in verse six that God’s love in us does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Verse seven tells us that God’s love in us bears up under anything and everything that comes; it is ever ready to believe the best of every person; its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances; and it endures everything without weakening. Love never fails, it never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end. The most known scripture demonstrating God’s love in an amazing way is, John 3:16, (the text verse). We can’t comprehend such love; we just in faith have to believe it. God proved His love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom.5:8). He does not love us just when we are “good,” but He loves us all the time with an unconditional love – His love is everlasting (Ps.100:5)! One of the scriptures God tells us of His love is in Isaiah 43:4-5 which says, “Because you are precious in my sight and honored, and because I love you, I will give men in return for you and peoples in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid for I am with you.” And in Psalm 147:3, 6, 10, 11, the Psalmist tells us how our God delights in us who truest in Him, “He delights not in the strength of the horse, nor does He take pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord takes pleasure in those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy and loving – kindness. He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds (curing their pains and their sorrows). The Lord lifts up the humble and downtrodden” (Amp.). Sometimes the Father’s love comes as a “refining fire.” The Lord said, “See, I have refined you like silver; I have tested you in the furnace of adversity” (Isaiah 48:10). “ I will refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold I tested” (Zech.13:9). Job in all of his great adversities proclaimed his faith in the great Refiner, “When He has tried me, I shall come forth as refined gold, pure and luminous” (Job23:10). How is gold and silver refined? The process may be quite different now, but many years ago I read how gold was refined to be made pure. The raw ore was put into a vat and placed over a very hot fire, and heated very hot to loosen the impurities from the gold. As the ore heated the impurities were liquefied and would rise to the top, this was called “dross.” As the dross rose to the top the refiner would skim it off and discard it. After much “fire and skimming” the refiner’s test to see when the gold was pure was when the refiner could look into the vat and see his perfect image reflected back. What a perfect spiritual analogy – God is the Refiner, we are the rough ore. Through the fire of adversity (discipline) the impurities in our character are brought to the top. We submit to the Refiner “skimming” them off, and one day the Refiner will look at us and say, “He/She is looking more like Jesus every day,” and “when we see Him we shall be like Him” (I Jn. 3:2). One of the most important responsibilities that a father has is to discipline (train) his children. If he does not take that responsibility seriously, he is negligent and does not love his children as he ought. When you were a child playing around dangers, your parent would warn and command you “don’t do that,” because your parent loved you and didn’t want you to be hurt. Do you think a parent that never said “No, don’t run into the street,” or “Don’t play with matches,” would love his child by not trying to protect him/her? Because God loves us He has given us His Word that contains His commands (boundaries) to protect us from hurting ourselves and others, to bring us comfort and security, to instruct us in the way we should go, to teach us history and examples of how people in the past obeyed them and were rewarded, or those that disobeyed were disciplined and had to suffer the consequences of their own disobedience. He know and sees the pitfalls and snares so He has put down guidelines (commands) throughout the Bible to show us where and how to walk to keep us holy (clean from sin), so He can fellowship with us. Of course when we as His children walk against his loving commands, He then must discipline (correct, train, teach) us because He is a righteous and Holy Father and must teach us the way we should go. “My son, do not despise or shrink from the correction by punishment or suffering: and don’t be impatient or loathe His reproof. For whom the Lord loves He corrects the son in whom He delights” (Prov.3:11-12 Amp.). That is why God inspired the prophets of old, through the Holy Spirit, to write down all the scripture. "Every scripture is God breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose and action)” (II Tim.3:16 Amp). In our best interest we should choose to read, study, and then hide the Word of God in our hearts, and then choose to obey it because we love Him and want to walk in fellowship with Him. Love and discipline go together – like a hand in glove. Without love there is no discipline, without discipline there is no love. In John 16:33 Jesus Says, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation, trials and distress, but be of good cheer and take courage! For I have overcome the world and deprived it of power to harm you and I have conquered it for you.” When we are disciplined or when life is very hard at times, we may wonder, “Does God really love me?” When that thought comes to us we must know that, “God is love” – love is His nature and His love is perfect. He will never make a mistake in the way He loves us, and He will always treat us with His unconditional love. Because of the Agape love is why He calls us His children. Because of His infinite, unconditional and magnanimous love is the reason Jesus came to earth as an expression of the Father’s love to give His life on our behalf. He did what no one else could do. God’s love engenders hope in us, and hope engenders joy and peace. God loves you too much to ever let you go on as you are!! O the Deep, deep Love of Jesus S. Trevor Frances O the deep, deep love of Jesus – vast, unmeasured, boundless, free! Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me. Underneath me, all around me, is the current of His love. Leading onward, leading homeward, to my glorious rest above. O the deep., deep love of Jesus – spread His praise from shore to shore! How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore. How He watches o”er His loved ones, died to call them all His own. How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!