Created to Be Lovers - Part 2

Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. God is love. Christians would quickly agree with this, but do we consistently live like we believe it's true? Let's allow ourselves to embrace God's truth and be liberated to love. God could express His love to angels, but God wanted to express His love, that is, the essence of His love and the totality of His love.

And think about this. Oftentimes people say, well, why in the world, if God really loves us, why would He allow that to have been a fall? Why didn't He just keep Adam and Eve in the garden doing the wonderful things they were doing, loving each other and keeping the garden and no sin, none of that?

Why didn't He do that? Well, suppose, for example, there had been no fall. If there had never been a fall in the garden and no sin in the world, the most amazing, wonderful, awesome, inspiring, incomparable, indescribable aspect of the love of God, you and I would never have known.

And what is that? That this holy, righteous, pure, perfect God would be able to love sinners like you and me and so work in our life to make it possible for us to receive that love and be transformed by it. And in the process of doing so that we would be given the capacity to love Him back and at the same time recognize our own personal value and then also to be able to reach around others and to love them.

It is in understanding who God is and understanding His love that all of our life is affected by that. So what does He want? He wants to be the center of our life. He wants to be the heart and core of our life and that above everything else in life that we like, admire, enjoy, or love, He wants to be first, number one, and never number two. He wants us to love Him because He has loved us and it is His desire to express His awesome love to us and to the whole world. And so since we are created to be lovers, if we miss learning to love God and being loved by Him and experiencing that, no matter what we accomplish and what we do in life, we've missed the whole purpose for living. And so God created you and me to be lovers. Lovers first of all of Almighty God Himself. Secondly, He created us to love ourselves.

You say, now wait a minute. Why don't you say love others first? Why do you put yourself before others? Because look at this.

Watch this. He says we're to love God and love our neighbor how? Love our neighbor as what?

As ourself. So the way I love myself is going to determine how I love my neighbor. And if I can't love myself, I'm not going to love my neighbor. If I can't love myself, I don't have the capacity to love my neighbor. It's very important to God that you and I love ourselves.

Now I'm not talking about arrogance and pride. I'm talking about a godly, healthy, spiritual, genuine value and worth that we pay to ourselves. But my friend, this is the reason I know that you and I are really and truly greatly loved. Because when God the Father sent His only begotten Son to the cross and He died on that cross for you and for me, listen, we say He dealt with our sin problem. He loves you and me so much that He paid the greatest price. And agape love is sacrificial love. It isn't phileo love from God.

It is a sacrificial love. What's the best I have? That's what He gave. He looked upon humanity and here's what He said.

What is your need? You need to be redeemed. He looked at humanity and He says, what can I do for you? Save you. Redeem you. Work in your life in such a fashion as to transform you into my own likeness.

What do you need? You need my love. And so what is the message of grace? It is the message of a loving Father reaching out, reaching down, reaching into the hearts of sinful, wicked, vile people. And God saying to them, no matter what you've done, my goodness and my kindness and my graciousness to you. In spite of, listen, without regard to your worth or your sense of what you deserve, but because I love you, I take you, I receive you, I forgive you, keep no score and I will pour up my love upon you.

Now think about this. If that's the way God sees you, how ought you to see yourself? See yourself as He says, persons of notable excellence. Is that prideful and arrogant? No.

Here's what it is. He's saying, if God thinks I'm lovable, I must be lovable. If God thinks I'm worthy of something, then it must be worth. If God says there's great value in me, then it must be great value. He says, you're not your own.

You've been purchased with a price. So you and I belong to God. And for us to look at ourselves and be critical of ourselves and look down upon ourselves and place no value and no worth upon ourselves is to devalue God's perfect evaluation of us, which is He says, you are so valuable.

I love you so much. I'm going to send my only begotten son and he's going to die in your behalf so you can become what I want you to be. That is, you can receive my love, be loved by me, love me in return and be conformed to my likeness.

Now think about this. If you don't feel that God loves you, more than likely it's because you don't feel that you're worth loving. If God doesn't think you're worth loving, here's what's going to happen.

You're going to transfer that to other people. They don't think you're worth loving either. And it's amazing what happens in relationships with people who don't think they're worth loving, who don't feel loving. Now, there are lots of reasons they don't feel it. We'll get into that later, but they don't feel worthy of being loved. And this is why, for example, they'll meet people that they think are so much more important than they are. Listen, God loves every single solitary one of us the very same. The very same. He wants you and me to love ourselves, to have a godly, holy, high respect for ourselves.

Why? Because with the creations of God, you will reflect on his creation with the sons and daughters. Listen, listen to what he said. He says, you're my sons, you're my daughters, you're my servants, you're my ambassadors. Don't knock the servants of God, the ambassadors of God, the family of God. He loves us and he wants us to see ourselves as the recipients of a loving father. It has nothing to do with what we deserve it or not. It has to do that God created you and me for the purpose of loving him and being loved by him. And in the process, he knew that it was very important that you and I learn how to love ourselves. Then he said, if you'll notice, he said, love our neighbor as ourself.

Now, this is really important. For example, if I should ask you, which one of these three is the easiest? Loving God, loving ourselves or loving our neighbor?

Which would you say is the most difficult? Loving our neighbor. Wonder why that is? Well, I want you to remember something. Jesus must have thought the same thing. Now watch this. I want you to turn, if you will, to John chapter 13.

And then we're going to 15. Look in John chapter 13, verse 35. Now, this is the night before Jesus is going to be crucified. And so he's telling his disciples the most important things. Now, these last moments. And I want you to listen to what he said in this thirty fourth and thirty fifth verses of chapter 13 of John.

He just got through washing their feet and so forth. Now look, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples.

If you have love one toward another. Look, if you will, in the 15th chapter and the 12th verse. He says, This is my commandment, that you love one another. 17, verse 17. This I command you that you love one another.

Now listen. Why would he say five times that night in just a brief period of time? Listen, love one another, love one another, love one another, love one another, love one another.

Why? Because he knew it was going to be difficult. He knew that they were going to run into situations and circumstances as they carried out the gospel.

They were going to run into people that was very difficult to love. He says, This is my commandment, that you love one another. Now, for example, Paul said in Galatians chapter five, he says, Love one another by serving them. Paul said in Ephesians chapter five, he says, walk in love.

What was he saying? He says that our very lifestyle, we are to be characterized as people who love. And above everything else, he says, This is the way they're going to know that you're my followers. Not that you can preach and teach and sing. Not that you can do all these other things that you have loved one toward another. That you're able to ask someone else, what's best for the other person?

What's right for the other person? What can I do to help you to become what God wants you to be? How can I edify you? How can I be a part of what God is doing in your life?

How can I give myself away to you, to serve you? He says, That's the way the world is going to know whether we are true lovers or not. Now, why all this activity about loving each other? In other words, he could have said a lot of things he said, but we're to love each other.

Well, think about this. When are you and I acting the most like God? When we're loving somebody. We're acting the most like God when we're loving other people. Secondly, that's the way God grows us into Christ's likeness.

As you and I love the Father and receive his love and have the right view of ourselves and reach out to other people in service to them, what happens? We are being shaped and conformed to the likeness of Christ. And that's what he said he predestined for all of us. He created us to be lovers. And the love process, learning to love him and receive his love, learning to accept ourselves in a healthy fashion and learning to reach out and pour out ourselves into other people's lives and give ourselves away to them. He says, that's the way you best demonstrate what I am and who I am. And that's the way you grow up into my likeness.

It's the best way for the body of Christ to function. You and I can never excuse ourselves for not loving someone. We may not like their ways.

We may not like a lot of things about them. And there are people that you and I will run into. It'll be difficult for us to love. But he says, this is my commandment that you love one another. And he wasn't just talking about Peter, James and John loving each other and the other fellas loving each other. He's talking about all of us.

He says, this is the way the world will know. Listen, what is the most powerful way for you and me to attract the unbeliever to Christ? To love them, to give ourselves to that person, to ask what is the best for that person? What does that person need me to be? How can I express the love of God to them?

That is, how can I give myself away in service to that person? That's genuine love. But he said to them, he says, you are to love one another.

It is the greatest way of attracting attention to God. And you see, it is by loving each other that God uses all of us to meet each other's needs. Emotional needs, material needs, physical needs, learning to love Him and to receive it, loving ourselves. You see, the reason we don't love each other much is because we are so entangled with getting ourselves and our own sense of self-worth and value straightened out. We don't have any time to give. You see, we don't have anything to give away. If you don't love yourself, you don't have anything to give.

Here's what it's like. It's like, here is your heart. And when you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, God came into your life and the love of God's in there.

Now, if my whole life is wrapped up in getting me straightened out and checking out my sense of self-worth and my value and I don't like myself, I don't have anything to give away because it's all locked up. But when the Spirit of God sets me free, when I am liberated by the Spirit of God and He begins to work in my heart, what happens? Then I am no longer the important one, but now what happens is my life is open to others and the love of God comes gushing out all over everybody around me. And you see, that is the goal of God. He says, you are to love one another. That's the way the church functions best.

He says, now this love is to be all-inclusive. You remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mountain? People say, well, I just believe the Sermon on the Mountain. Well, how many of your enemies do you love? I don't love any of my enemies.

Well, you don't believe the Sermon on the Mountain. He says, we are to love our enemies. If we only are to love our friends, He says, then you're no more on a Pharisee.

We're to love our enemies. And He says, we're to love our neighbors. He says, well, who is a neighbor? And you remember following this passage in Luke 10, He gave us the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Here's a man lying in the ditch being robbed. A Samaritan comes along. He sees him. He doesn't ask what's his nationality. He sees him hurting. He reaches down.

You know the story. He takes care of him. Genuine love doesn't say, does this person fit my mold? The question is that genuine love says, what's best for that person?

What's right for them? We must give our attention. That is, love gives its attention. Now, whenever I've ever come to God in prayer, He's never said, Charles, wait just a minute. Somebody else is calling.

No, He doesn't do that. You know what you and I have? We come to Him undivided attention. You know why we have undivided attention?

Because we have undivided, unconditional love of God. And He says, we are to learn how to love. Listen, none of us came into this world knowing how. We have to learn to love. We learn to receive His love and to love Him. We learn to love ourselves. And then we learn to love other people. You ask yourself the question, is it true that you're selfish, that the primary things you're thinking about is me, myself and I? Or is your life really being poured out in other people's lives?

Now, watch this. I don't mean doing something for somebody else to get their approval or to get something from them. I'm talking about true genuine love doesn't ask for anything in return. It just gives.

And that's what we know little about in this nation. He says, that's the way we're to love. Our love is to be all inclusive. Now, it's interesting that in John's first epistle, four times in chapter three, he says, we're to love one another. Five times in chapter four, he says, we're to love one another. John knew that it was very difficult for some people to love other people. And I want to say again, if you want to be able to genuinely give yourself emotionally, mentally, physically, in every way that is legitimate in that relationship, if you want to be able to give yourself in true genuine love, first of all, you're not looking for anything in return, not doing it to impress anybody, not trying to get the approval of their favor.

When you're genuinely loving someone, here's what's happening. Here is the dynamic of the whole love affair, that when you and I were created, we were created to be lovers. Then we will receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. The love of God came into our life. He says, He's abiding in us and His love is abiding in us. The Spirit of God came in when you and I were saved. What is the work of the Holy Spirit? To release this awesome love of God through us.

And so what happens? You and I are not to be closed, but until we learn to love, that's what's going to happen. But when we learn to love God and love ourselves, we're going to be open. And here's what He desires. He desires that His love just flow through you and me to others.

Always flowing. If it's genuine love, it's not trying to impress, not looking for reward, not trying to get anything. Genuine love doesn't come from the flesh. Genuine love is the love, listen to this, it is the love of God placed within us and it is the love of God that's flowing through us. I mean, if it's the love of God flowing through us, it isn't because I want something, I deserve something, I'm looking for a reward, I want to impress. None of that.

What is it? It's just the love of God flowing through us. So what does He say? He says the fruit of the Holy Spirit released within us is first of all what? Love. My friend, it doesn't make any difference who they are. If the love of God is released in your heart, the love of God knows no prejudice.

No prejudice whatsoever does the love of God know. And I would just say to you, until you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you'll never know Him. And if you don't know Him, you'll never love Him. And if you don't love Him, His love will never be in your life.

And just what you'll do. You'll go through life having missed the whole point of living. And secondly, you'll never be able to love somebody the way they need to be loved. And you'll never be able to receive the other person's love like you want to so desperately receive it. You will feel undeserving.

And so what will you do? You'll reject that person's love. And no matter how desperately they want to love you and try to love you, you will turn it off. You'll shut it out and you'll turn them away because something inside of you can't allow yourself to be loved.

You don't deserve it. And we're going to talk about the things that stifle love in our heart. But I want to say to you, my friend, when you trust the Lord Jesus, herein comes the source of my ability, capacity to love anybody no matter what. And I want to challenge you to receive Christ as your Savior. Then you'll understand who God is. Then you'll understand the love of a loving Heavenly Father. Then you'll understand what it means to be able to let yourself be given away and to risk your love and to risk rejection by someone else.

And even when you're rejected, you can love them just the same. Why? Because it is not something that you pump up. It is something that flows through your life. And what is it? It is nothing else than the wonderful, inexhaustible, incomparable, immeasurable, indescribable, unconditional love of our Heavenly Father. And He says it's yours for the asking.

And it is. And Father, we love you and praise you for loving is the way you do. And we ask that the Holy Spirit would speak to every single person who feels unloved. I pray the Spirit of God would bring deep conviction and openness, transparency, and honesty within their hearts to say, oh my Father, I don't know how to love you. Oh my God, I want to love you. And so I receive your Son Jesus as my Savior and trust you to place your wonderful love in my heart so that I can love you and be loved in return and then pour my life out into others so that they too can discover what true love is about. But we ask it in Jesus' wonderful name.

Amen. Thank you for listening to Part 2 of Created to Be Lovers. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by and touch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.