The Love of God (PART 2) On the Offensive

The Love of God (PART 2) On the Offensive

The one thing I touched on briefly in part one, is my fear of under-serving people. Then of course, with the teaching comes the inevitability of offending people. But then I'm reminded that, that is something the truth does. The truth divides by its very nature. The gospel is offensive, maybe you don't agree with that statement, so let me help you with that, because you must not have read Jesus in Luke 14. Starting in verse 25, "Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?"--Luke 14:25-28 (ESV)

Or how about in John chapter 6 : "After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, 'Do you want to go away as well?'”

Yes, the Gospel can be offensive and it is certainly not the easy option in life that many would have you to believe, but we'll deal with false gospels and religion later. As the pages of this blog move forward we will endeavor to go through scripture uncovering its meaning without projecting onto the text what we (or I) wish it to mean. I'm reminded often of the words of Steve Lawson, “The preacher has nothing to say except, the Word of God." That is to say, what I write is not my opinion, but I persevere to stay strictly to what the scripture says. No one needs to hear my opinions, which are definitely infallible, but they need the Word of God. The Apostle Paul was of similar mind, when He went to the Greeks and Romans, to introduce the gospel to them. He spoke one of my favorite verses, "I am determined to know nothing among you except Christ and him crucified."
Finally the Apostle Peter said, "For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty."--2 Peter 1:16 

I hammered the point pretty hard just there because I think its important to note that as the pages and as the Blog moves forward in coming articles, and as some of these biblical truths are uncovered, they are hard to swallow. I want to remind the reader that it is my intention to stay close to scripture, and let God do the speaking, and God will be defending Himself. It is NOT my intent to offend, but exposite the truth. So lets jump in to some common phrases we hear concerning this Love of God.

Have you ever heard the phrase "Hate the sin, love the sinner?" Maybe you've heard it like this, "God hates the sin, but loves the sinner!". How about, "God is Love."? Maybe your view on God is that He is love. Maybe in your life you've experienced Him powerfully, and have loving memories in your life as a Christian until this point. Maybe you are just one of those really faithful people that trust God. Have you ever met someone who is just a ball of joy, and thought "wow, that's a beautiful thing, wish I could experience that kind of happiness."? Maybe you've said or heard it said, "My God is a loving God." Perhaps that was a response to someone casting a judgement on someone about something, or maybe it came out like this:"that's not the God I follow?"

 

Possibly your experiences are completely different. Maybe you've never experienced God in a way where you thought He was loving. Rather your life has been one tragedy after another, and you find that in your life God is an angry god; that God is a kind of cosmic killjoy that stomps out the fun among us mortals? Possibly, you were raised in a strict church environment or highly religious setting and had severe penalties for disobedience? Maybe, you were a young lady who was taught her place in a male dominated world? Maybe you had a good upbringing and church was just a necessary rite of passage that you had to go through and now most Christians just seem too judgmental and you'd rather not have anything to do with a church like that or even a God like that. There really are so many different experiences and so many more troubling backgrounds, and situations that there's hardly room to touch every example, but suffice it to say that perhaps God does not seem all that loving…at all. 

Maybe, life isn't too bad after all, but you don't understand what all the fuss is about, or life has been similar to that of the old man in the beginning?

So all that is to say, we are going to forge ahead in the next installment to really start digging in to what's going on and how God's love plays a role in our lives even when we may or may not be seeing it. I'd suggest you have a bible handy because we will be all over the scriptures.