Staying connected to the Vine
Have you ever stopped to consider love? Most people think of love as an emotion. A warm feeling. But what is love, from a scriptural standpoint? How does the Bible define love?
Defining love is essential to understanding the manner in which God loves us, and how we are to show love to others.
Let’s jump in!
First Corinthians chapter thirteen is the famous ‘love chapter’ that speaks of love being the principal characteristic of Christian life. For many people the words of the chapter create a desire to conjure up more love for God and others around us.
Yet, as we read the context found in chapter thirteen, and the chapters surrounding it, we can see a different idea emerge. The typical perception focused on mans’ efforts begins to fall away as we see that the writer is more focused on a different subject.
Today we explore what it means to have love, and find a source of strength that we may have never known existed.
How many times have you heard that you need to love God? This popular phrase is often heard when referring to Christian living and the Christian life, and is used in an attempt to conjure up reciprocal love for God.
However, when a person is trapped in legalism, with the burden of religion weighing them down, this phrase “you need to love God” takes on a heavy meaning which causes people to be introspective and focused on their own ability to love, rather than focusing on the root of the issue, which is God’s love for them.
I’ve spoken with a great number of people (and been one in the past as well) who were so consumed with trying to love God, that they completely missed His love for them – and in reality, the only way that we can truly love God at all, is by receiving His love for us in the first place!
So today in this study, we will be exploring the topic of how to truly love God, not by trying harder, but by receiving His love for you.
Welcome back again to our series on how your healing in unstoppable. Last week we saw how the fact that we exist in a sinful world, cannot really stop or hinder our healing in any way because of the fact that we have been placed into a New Covenant, and we have been given a new status and title – even the right to approach the Father in the Name of Jesus. And we ended last week by looking at the verse of 1st John 4:17, which tells us that even our very identity and nature has been changed; which many people are not even aware of.
Today we are going to explore this fact in more detail, as we continue seeing how because of the finished work of Christ, your healing is indeed unstoppable.
Most people who have read the book of 1st Corinthians, are familiar with the phrase from chapter 13, stating that if you do not have love, nothing else matters. Most people and most preachers for that matter present this in a way which makes it seem as though this verse is saying you must work up love, and do your best to love others – and most people tend to accept and believe that to be true.
However, what I want to share with you today is a different perspective. As we take a look at 1st Corinthians 13, through the lens of Grace and the finished work of Christ, we begin to see something different than what is generally assumed. Something less focused on our efforts to try and work-up love within ourselves, and something more (properly) focused on Christ, His finished work, and His love for us. By seeing this, you will have a new appreciation and application of the love of God in your daily life.
In my past, I lived a life in deep fear. It was crippling, it was debilitating, and it caused me to miss out on many things, many pleasant experiences, and many years with family and friends. Things that I couldn’t enjoy because of my fear. Fear that was totally and completely irrational – but it didn’t seem to be so at the time, because I was believing a lie instead of the truth.
Jesus said, in John 8:32, that you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free. And we have studied that in the past before; but many misinterpret that to mean “you shall know things about the law” – when the people that Jesus was speaking to were Jews… they already knew the Law – and while the Law was true, it was not “the Truth” that would make them free.
The truth that will make them (and us) free today is not about religion, rules, traditions or the laws of the old covenant. The truth that will make us free, is specifically the truth of Jesus Christ, what He has accomplished, and your identity in Him today. That is an identity of His beloved, an identity of His perfect righteousness, and holiness, an identity completely safe and secure in Christ. That is your identity today. And what I want to share with you in this study, is how knowing the truth of His perfect love, can shatter your fears today.
Psalms 91 is one of the greatest Psalms for those who believe on Jesus Christ, because it is a detailed list showing us all of the many ways in which God demonstrates His love for us – and what the finished work of Christ has given to us, even in this life.
In Part 1 of our study, we looked at the foundation: our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, our connection to Him, our oneness with Him – as mentioned in verse 1.
In Part 2 last week, we looked at the many gifts and blessings that are included in that relationship in verses 2 through 14.
Now today, in this third and final part of our study on Psalms 91, we conclude by completing the circle, as this all returns once again to our relationship with Jesus Christ, our personal connection with Him, as we see the final blessings and marvelous promises for us, found in the final verses of the chapter, verses 15 and 16.
In last week’s study (part 1), we looked at the foundation of receiving everything mentioned in Psalms 91, by looking at the first verse. If you have not yet seen part 1, I highly recommend that you view that study first as again, it lays the proper foundation for everything that we will be examining today in this study – the foundation of course, is Jesus Christ and His finished work; and the relationship that is possible because of it.
Today we examine the blessings themselves… and hold on tight, because this is a fantastic journey beyond even your wildest dreams. Ephesians 3:20, mentions that Christ is able to do exceedingly, abundantly far above all you can ever ask or imagine – by His power that works in us! And we are going to be seeing exactly what that looks like today, in Psalms 91.
Psalms 91 is one of the more well-known Psalms in the Bible… or I should say it has a well-known reputation. It is often thought of as a “Messianic” psalm, meaning that it applies to Jesus Christ Himself, and there is certainly that aspect to it. However, I believe that there is another layer to this Psalm; a layer that is in the text that has largely been forgotten in Christian circles today.
This layer, as you may have guessed from the title of today’s study, has to do with our position in Christ Jesus today, and the many blessing that come with that. There is an entire treasure-trove of blessings here that have for the most part, been left unclaimed, for no other reason than no-one is being told about them! An issue that I am going to solve today in this study.
The book of Proverbs is many things to many people. Some see it as a book of wisdom. Others see it as poetry. From one standpoint, it is both a book containing wisdom and poetry; many of the wisdom verses are written using Hebrew poetry. However while all of that may be nice, in the long-run, to be quite honest, it doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t save anyone, or change anyone’s life, to know that Proverbs is considered a “wisdom book” or a “poetry book” – at the end of the day, it is just an interesting fact, just another piece of what I call Bible trivia.
Reading the Bible is more than just absorbing facts, scriptural knowledge or Bible trivia. The focus should never be on raw data retention or interesting tidbits . It’s not a what that we should be focusing on, but rather a who… it is Jesus. All of the scripture reading in the world, is all meaningless if we do not see Jesus in it; because He is the one who gives it meaning.
So today, I want to share with you, some beautiful aspects of Jesus, directly from Proverbs 15, and by seeing Him, you have a new way to appreciate and savor Jesus, in the book of Proverbs.