Speaker: Pastor Diego Rodriguez
Message Title: To the Moon He Created and Back
Scriptures: Isaiah 64:6; Romans 8:28; Luke 15:20-24; John3:16
We often
hear parents tell their young children, “I Love You.” When the Child gets older
they return the phrase. As the child gets even older and among adults this
phrase gets added to with words like, “I love you more.” At this point it
becomes a playful banter of words. I love you more than Chocolate, I Love this
much, (with arms stretched out as far as possible. My personal favorite is, I
Love to the moon and back 10,000 times. We say these things to each other to
prove, in a playful manner, that our love is more than the person we are
speaking too.
If we
continue this conversation, and gets a little more serious, we might even start
giving examples of why our love is more. Examples like I always do…for you.
When you wanted…I got it for you. The problem comes when we start to keep track
of what we did in order to get something we want. Not that there is anything
wrong with doing these things for someone you love. However, we can be hurt by
the fact we’ve done something for a loved one and expected something in return
and did not receive it. We could feel that our work was not good enough, our
gift was not good enough, and eventually the person we are trying to be loved
by doesn’t think we are good enough to love us back. That will either cause us
to work harder or give up completely. If we work harder we become bitter about
every task, it is no longer done due to our love toward the individual but trying
to gain acceptance and love from the individual. So, when we burn dinner we
didn’t just burn dinner we burned a chance to be loved. Perfection equals love.
At least that what we tell ourselves. Although, we can admit that no one we
love is perfect. We must be perfect to be loved. This is how some of us look at
God also.
Lord, I read
my Bible I should have a great day. Lord, I’ve prayed, gone to church, invited
someone to church, now it’s time for my blessing. When the blessing does not
come, prayer not get answered, we become bitter and eventually stop going to
God. We base our gifts from God, on our
gifts to God. Worship, church attendance, bible knowledge, maybe even
tithing are our gifts to God. If their good, then God should be good back to us.
When in actuality God never bases his gifts on our good works or our love for
him. He bases this on his Love for us and his good works for us.
Isa 64:6 ¶ But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Therefore, if God looks at our good works as filthy rags, why would he
use those works to determine if he should bless us or not. In reality he
chooses to bless us due to his love for us.
And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose.
Ro 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Simple because we love God we follow Gods commandments. We pray to him.
We sing songs to him and about him. We attend church. Not out of obligation but
out of love.
When you love God you know this, that if God never did anything else but
to save us from our sin, he did more than we deserved. Goes back to when we
love someone. We spend time with, we buy for, defend, the list goes on and on
for someone you love. Without any tab of, now you do for me. As a result the
person we are loving is at liberty to love us back without feeling obligated as
there is beautiful harmony between the two, of give Love and receive Love. This
is where God really gets to show off. God will never be out loved by us.
Look at this biblical example:
·
The prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32
In The prodigal son story. The son
leaves his father. Spends all his inheritance. Realized he should have never
left his Father house. On the way back home the father in the story sees him a
far off and runs to him.
And he arose, and came to his
father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had
compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Luke 15:20kjv
21 And the son said unto him, Father, I
have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be
called thy son.
22 But the father said to his servants,
Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and
shoes on his feet:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and
kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.
And they began to be merry.
Luke 15:21-24 kjv
The rest of this
story was all done due to the fathers love for the son.
For God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe in him shall
not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
That’s God loving us
way before us loving God.
Music Worship Leaders:
JW & Sharon Peck
Songs:
