Vyacheslav Goncharenko. God's love
04.12.2011
The Holy Spirit has put it on my heart to talk about God's love, and throughout the month I will preach on this topic.
I am so glad that there is faith and hope, but still love is the greatest. Without love, all our deeds, all our sacrifice are nothing. God wants to see love in our lives, in our hearts. In the Book of Revelation, the Lord says to one of the churches: “I know all your works, both patience and labor.” He lists the virtues of this church. But in conclusion, God says: “What I have against you is that you left your first love.” The Lord is jealous. Today I will not talk about how we need to love God, but about how God loves us.
1 John 4:8, second hemistich: “God is love.”
Ephesians 3:18-19: “...that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
“...To understand the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” The love of Christ surpasses our understanding. But God wants us to understand the love that surpasses understanding. This is interesting. Many people in this world do not believe that God loves them.
Recently I came across the film “Zeitgeist”; someone gave it to me to watch. From the very first frames I realized that this was a very scary film, a bad film. It shows how people fall into hell, and behind the scenes there is a blasphemous voice: “But God loves you!..” It ridicules God, Jesus Christ. Do you know what non-believers think about Christians? We base our gospel on delivering the message of God's love. We say to an unbeliever: “God loves you.” This is such a familiar phrase. And in the circles of unbelievers, Christianity looks like this: we preach about God's love, we carry the message of God's love. And in this film they mockingly say: “But God loves you!..” - and show how people are falling into hell.
Christians often have the following thoughts: how can God’s love be combined with the fact that God sends people to hell? How can this be combined?! Yes, there really is hell. But the Bible says that hell was created and prepared for the devil and his angels.
Matthew 25:41: “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Remember, hell was never prepared by God for man. God never planned hell for man! If a person ends up in hell, it will be only by his own will. And no one will be there by God's will. Nobody!
1 Timothy 2:4: “…Who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Have you heard God's will, His desire? God wants all people to be saved. All! God did not determine: “These go to hell, these go to Heaven.” The blood of Jesus was shed for all people. And if people go to hell, then it is only their own choice. These are the people who said: “We don’t need God!”
Matthew 18:14: “It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”
It is not the will of God for anyone to die. People go to hell of their own free will. Non-believers paint an incorrect, perverted image of God - cruel, bloodthirsty, sending people to hell. Satan is still spreading slander today. In the Garden of Eden, he insinuatingly said to Eve: “Did God really say?..” He still acts in exactly the same way: “Is God really the way He says He is, the way He says He is?”
You and I must be strengthened in God's love, come to know God's love. Knowing God's love is very important. Believers must necessarily know God's love. If they do not know God's love, they will not have true faith. I'll explain why. You can only trust the person whose love you are sure of. Imagine a picture that your soul hurts, you are worried about many problems, incomprehensible things are happening in your life, you want to trust someone and tell about it. They tell you: “Tell this person.” But you know that this person does not love you, has a negative attitude towards you, or is simply indifferent to you. Will you go to him with your story about your problems? Never. Why? There is a danger: if he doesn’t love you, then tomorrow all the secrets of your soul will be known to the whole village. You will definitely look for a person whose love you are 100% sure of. Why? Because love does not harm one's neighbor. You need guarantees, you must be sure that he loves you, that he will not harm you, that he will understand you and will not judge you.
When you believe in God’s love, when you have a revelation about it, then you have faith, then you have trust in God. If you don’t have an understanding of God’s love and no revelation about it, then you don’t have faith. This is why many people cannot trust God. This is why many people cannot surrender to God. This is very similar to the relationship between a guy and a girl: in order for them to become the bride and groom, in order to trust each other, they must know that they love each other. Is not it? It’s unlikely that anyone will say out of the blue: “Let’s get married!” - and so they went to the registry office. This doesn't happen. This is a very subtle and complex process when people check: “Does he love me?”, “Do I love him?” And as soon as they are convinced that love lives in them, then, trusting each other, they go to the registry office arm in arm.
Many people think they have faith. But if they do not think of God as a God of love, then they are unlikely to have this faith. Distrust of God occurs even among believers. Many Christians live in tension; any deviation from the usual flow of life plunges them into panic and despondency. Some sisters cry bitterly: “I’m pregnant with my third child! Horrible!" What is it? Is this how you trust God?! I constantly hear about strange things that happen in the lives of believers. This suggests that they do not believe and do not trust God. If the Lord gives life to a new child, don’t you really trust that He can give him clothes, food, and everything he needs? Why don't you trust? Because you have no revelation of God's love. You don't believe that He loves you.
God's love is an important component of our Christian life. If it is not there, our life will go the wrong way. The life of a child who has not experienced parental love is arranged crookedly. In the same way, Christian life cannot be organized correctly and beautifully if a person does not receive revelation and does not know God’s love in its entirety. This is why Paul writes in Ephesians: “...so that you, being rooted and grounded in love...” All believers need not only to come to God, but they need to take root in God’s love and be established in it. Establish yourself so that you do not shake, even if a million voices tell you that God is full of hatred, that He does not accept you, punishes or punishes you. You must have the right idea about God: who is God and what is He like?
Our Lord reveals himself to us in this way. The Apostle John says: “God is love.” The love of Christ is so deep and incomprehensible!.. It is written about it: “the love of Christ that surpasses understanding.” Our brains are not enough to comprehend. But Paul says, “Try and understand the surpassing love of God.” I repeat, this is a very important component of our Christian life.
What is God's love like? How did it manifest itself? That's what God did.
1 John 4:9: “In this this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might have life through him.”
God showed His love for us by sending His only Son into the world so that thanks to Him we would receive life.
John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
God did not come into the world to judge, but so that the world might be saved through Him. It's becoming such a tired phrase. Let's assume that you have an only child who is very dear to you. Would you give him up to die for any reason? We won’t even give up our life, much less the life of our child—it’s a million times more terrible and difficult.
But God gave His Son to die for people, for a sinful world. Sin in the eyes of God is a terrible thing. It is written: “The wages of sin is death.”
(Romans 6:23). For a full reckoning for sin and for the triumph of justice, death is necessary. Sin = death. In order for us to realize this, we need to understand that God is holy. We allow a lot in our lives and adapt to many things, even sinful ones, because we are human. But God is not a man. His ways are higher than our ways, His holiness is higher than our holiness. God is superior to us in everything. And so God gives His Son for the salvation of sinful people. Would you give up your son or your only daughter? I'll tell you frankly, I would hardly give it away. If I had such a choice before me, I would choose my child over some sinful people unfamiliar to me, moreover, those who also slander me, rebel, and cause me harm. I would choose my child.
But how did God choose sinful people?! This is where our brains begin to boil. We understand that God's love in question is not human love, it is not love on our level. When we say to a person: “I love you,” there is often nothing behind it, even if we do some good. God's love is of a completely different quality. God gives the Son by choosing sinful people.
Romans 5:6-7: “For Christ, while we were still weak, at the appointed time died for the ungodly. For hardly anyone will die for the righteous; perhaps someone will decide to die for a benefactor.”
No one would even give their son for a righteous man - except perhaps for a benefactor, for a very, very kind person, maybe someone would decide to die.
Romans 5:8-10: “But God demonstrates his love toward us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more therefore now, having been justified by His blood, we will be saved from wrath by Him. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.”
What did God do when he died for sinners? He bought us. This cannot be done at any price - neither gold nor silver - although gold and silver are precious currencies in this world. This was done only by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the pure and spotless Lamb. What did the blood of Christ do? She paid for our sins. The blood paid for our sins so that God's wrath and God's justice would no longer fall on us, so that we would be free from sin and from evil, so that our hearts would be pure. God redeems us. The blood of Jesus became the payment for our sins. The payment was the life of the Lord. By shedding blood, He gave His life. We had to die, but He died, giving us life, giving us freedom.
There was a case in history when one man came to the slave market and said: “I want to buy this slave.” The slave said: “If you buy me, I will not be your slave, I will not serve you. You can beat me, but I won’t serve you.” The buyer paid the money and, not paying attention to his words, ordered his people: “Untie his ropes, remove his chains.” When everything was done, he said: “I did not buy you to be my slave. I bought you to set you free. You are free!" The slave fell at the man's feet and said, “I will serve you all my life.”
This is God's way: He gives us His love, and you decide whether to give your love to Him in return. God doesn't even force you to serve Him. God touches people with His love - and then the person decides for himself what to do.
American preacher Bill Wilson gathers about 40 thousand children in his church on Sundays, who are brought from all areas of New York. These are children of drug addicts, alcoholics, street children. Sergei Vashkevich and I were in this church. Amazing. Tens of thousands of children bused in, and Pastor Bill Wilson ministering to these children in the worst neighborhood in New York - Brooklyn. The service is called "Metro". When Bill Wilson himself was 14 years old, his mother left him on the street with the words: “Sit here, I’ll be back soon.” He waited for his mother for three days, but she never came. Then one man came up to him and said: “Son, I’ve been passing by for the third day now and I see you sitting here.” The boy replied: “I’m waiting for my mother, she said she’ll come back.” This man was the pastor of the church, he took this boy and took him to a Christian children's camp. Of course, Bill felt very lonely there at first because he didn't know anyone. He sat, all squeezed, offended, angry, rejected. But in the midst of everything that was happening there, the boy suddenly felt that there was Someone there who loved him. Suddenly his heart melted, he began to cry and cry - and was completely healed.
Imagine, one day in his life this boy experienced God's love that changed everything. It seemed to him that no one cared about him, that everyone was busy with their own affairs. Maybe you feel the same way. You may feel like no one cares about your life. Maybe you think that it is unlikely that God will ever forgive you for all the sins you have committed. But whoever you are and whoever you are, God has enough love for you too! God has enough compassion for you, enough forgiveness. There is no sin that He cannot forgive. No matter what you are going through in your life, no matter what you are going through now, in the midst of this dark time, this emptiness, there is God’s love. You were created in the image and likeness of God. You are the firstfruits of God's creation. God watches over His creation and makes people feel His love throughout their lives.
Who can say about God that He is evil? Look at the flowers. God is the author of this beauty. Sometimes you look at a person who has composed music or some beautiful poetry, and you get the impression that he is kindness itself. Isn’t it God who sends us His poems? Doesn't God tell us about His love through His Son Jesus Christ? Doesn't He make this world feel His love? He just wants us to know that He loves us. He wants us to believe in this love. Then our life will change and go in a completely different direction.
But as long as we have enmity towards God, as long as our hearts are pumped up by the devil with rebellion against God, resentment towards Him, as long as we blame God for all the things that don’t go well in our lives, for all disasters, in all wars, – it will be difficult for us to experience the touch of His love. Know that God is not the author of wars and disasters occurring in the world. Man is the author of all destruction. People often ask questions: “Why is there so much evil in the world? Why is our nation becoming an alcoholic? Where is God looking? etc. Sometimes people ask stupid questions. With one hand they do good, with the other hand they do evil. What are they doing with their children? My daughter’s friend, a little girl, told me how her mother forced her to drink alcohol at her birthday party. The girl cried: “I don’t want to!” And my mother said: “A little bit is all right.”
Someone gave impetus to this huge snowball that is rolling on the ground today and which was once a small snowball in human hands. And then people ask: “What happened to my children?!” People deprived of God and God's wisdom perish. But what joy and what hope there is for those who believe in Jesus Christ!
I want you to believe in God's great love. Look at the beautiful words written by the Apostle John.
1 John 3:1-2: “See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God. The world does not know us because it has not known Him. Beloved! we are now children of God; but it has not yet been revealed what we will be. We only know that when it is revealed, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is.”
We have become God's children. We were once strangers, but today we belong to God. Once we were far from Him, we did not know Him, but today we are His people, His children, called by the Lord to live in love, to know God’s love, to discover God’s love, all these facets, all the grace of God, all the kindness.
If you have met a very kind person in your life, I want to tell you that the Lord God is a million times kinder.
Isaiah 49:15-16: “Shall a woman forget her suckling child, lest she have compassion on the son of her womb? but even if she forgot, I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on [My] hands.”
Imagine that your name is written on the palm of the Lord, He knows you by name. He knows everything about you. Sometimes you think: “God, if You know everything, then why is my life so hard?” Answer yourself: do you trust this God in whom you say you believe in Him?
One man fell off the cliff, but managed to grab onto some root and hung on with his last strength. This man was an atheist, but he shouted: “God, no one will help me now! If You exist, help me, and I will believe in You and serve You!” He heard a voice: “You are lying.” - “I’m not lying, I will actually believe and serve You!” God said, “Then let go of your hand.” The atheist was indignant: “Are you crazy?” It’s the same in life: you worry about some things, worry about something very much. But do you know when the silence comes and the answers come? When you trust God.
One man walked on a tightrope back and forth across Niagara Falls. A crowd of people had gathered, everyone was staring at this spectacle. The brave tightrope walker took the stroller and said that he could transport anyone in it. "Do you believe it?" - he asked. Seeing how freely he walked the tightrope, the people said, “Yes, we believe you.” - “Then go and sit down.” - “No, no, we’ll stand here.” Do you know who got into his carriage? His mother. Son and mother are a relationship based on love. His mother believed in his love; she knew that a loving son could not throw his mother into the abyss.
Knowing God's love, you will gain confidence that God cannot do you harm, God cannot throw you into the abyss, or reject you. I once had a friend. I recently told him, “We used to be such friends. What happened now? What's the matter?" He says: “God gives friends for a while, then He gives new friends. So you’re not the same friend anymore.” God is not a man. Sometimes we measure Him by human standards. God says, “I am not like that.” What is He like? John writes: “God is love”
. Amen.
Breaking news! On February 17, the forced eviction of the New Life Church from the building took place.
Cause and history of the conflict:
About love for God and neighbors
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt
In the Gospel read today (Luke 10:25-37), our Savior, God, solved a very important question for all of us: what should we do to inherit eternal life? This question was put to the Lord by some Jewish lawyer, who said: “What must I do to inherit eternal life”? The Lord pointed him to the law given to the Jews by God through Moses: “What is written in the law? How do you read? He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said to him: “You answered correctly; do this and you will live,” that is, forever. But he, wanting to justify himself, that is, considering himself, like the other Pharisees, a righteous person who fulfilled the law as he understood it, one-sidedly, incorrectly, said to Jesus: “Who is my neighbor?” - believing that only a Jew should be considered a neighbor, and not every person. With the parable of the man wounded by robbers and the Merciful Samaritan, who took the most heartfelt and active part in him, the Lord showed that every person should be considered a neighbor, no matter who he is, even if he is our enemy, and especially when he needs help.
So, this means that in order to receive an eternal life, you need to diligently fulfill two main commandments: to love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. But since the whole law consists of these two commandments, it is necessary to explain them so that we know well what love for God and neighbor consists of? So, with God’s help, let’s begin the explanation.
Love
љ
Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind,
that is, with all your being, surrender yourself to God with all your strength, devote yourself entirely to Him without any lack, do not divide yourself between God and the world;
Do not live partly only for God and His law and partly for the world, for the multi-passionate flesh, for sin and the devil, but devote yourself entirely to God, be all of God, all holy, in your whole life. Following the example of the Holy One
(God)
, be holy in all your actions,
says the holy Apostle Peter (1 Pet. 1:15).
Let us explain this commandment with examples. Suppose you are praying to God. If you love God with all your heart, then you will always pray to Him with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind, you will never be absent-minded, lazy, careless, cold in prayer; During prayer, you will not give room in your heart for any worldly cares and worries, you will put aside all worldly cares, you will cast all your sorrow on the Lord, for He cares for you, as the apostle says. Try to understand prayer, God’s service completely, in all its depth. If you love God with all your soul, then you will sincerely repent to God of your sins, you will bring Him deep repentance every day, for every day you sin a lot. You will repent, that is, condemn yourself for your sins with all your heart, with all your strength, with all your mind; you will expose yourself with all merciless severity, with all sincerity; You will bring a full confession to God, a sacrifice of a complete burnt offering of sins, so that not a single sin remains unrepentant or unmourned.
Thus, to love God with all your heart means to love His truth, His law with all your heart and all your strength, and to hate with all your heart all unrighteousness, all sin; with all your heart and with all your strength to fulfill the truth, to do good and with all your heart, with all your strength, to shun evil, that is, all sin, not to give room in your heart for any sin even for one minute, not for one moment, that is, not to agree to him, not to sympathize with him, not to put up with him, but constantly, eternally to be at enmity with sin, to fight with him and, thus, to be a brave and victorious warrior of Christ God.
Or let’s take another example: let’s assume that you are being persecuted for piety, for truth, for virtue; if you love God, then you will not for a moment deviate from piety, from truth, from virtue, even if this devotion to truth entails the loss of any benefits; since truth itself, or fidelity to God and His truth, is the greatest benefit for us and God can reward fidelity to His truth a hundredfold both in this and in the next century. An example of this is Joseph the righteous, the son of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob, and many righteous people in the New Testament. So, to love God with all your heart means to fight according to God, according to His truth with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind. Thus, according to God, according to His truth, the holy fathers and holy martyrs fought, especially in the fight against heresies and schisms. This is zeal for God. Also, to love God with all your heart means to direct all people with all your might to God, to His love, to His glorification, to His eternal kingdom, so that everyone would know Him, love Him, and glorify Him. This is also zeal for God!
Having explained the first commandment to the best of our ability, let us now explain the second: Love your neighbor as yourself.
What does it mean to love your neighbor, that is, every person, as yourself?
This means honoring another as you would like to be revered, not considering anyone a stranger, but your own, your brother, your member, and a Christian and a member of Christ; consider his good, his salvation as your good, your salvation; rejoice at his well-being as if it were your own, grieve over his misfortune as if it were your own; try to save him from trouble, adversity, poverty, sin, just as I would try to save myself. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep,
says the apostle (Rom. 12:1)
.
We must bear the strengths of the weak, not please ourselves; Let every one of you please his neighbor for good to build up ( Rom. 15: 1-2).
Pray for each other so that you may be healed
(James 5:16).
љTo love your neighbor as yourself means to respect him as yourself, if, however, he is worthy of it; not to think about him unworthily, basely, without any reason on his part, not to have any evil towards him; do not envy him, but always be kind, condescend to his shortcomings, weaknesses, cover his sins with love, as we wish for them to condescend to our shortcomings. Bear with each other with love,
says the apostle (Eph. 4:2), “
not repaying evil for evil, or annoyance for annoyance
(1 Pet. 3:9).
Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you
(Matthew 5:44).
If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, says the Old Testament Scripture (Prov. 25:22; Rom. 12:20).
To love your neighbor as yourself means to pray for the living and the dead, relatives and non-relatives, acquaintances and strangers, for friends and enemies just as much as for yourself, and to wish them as much good, the salvation of the soul, as you do for yourself. This is what the Holy Church teaches in her daily prayers.
To love your neighbor as yourself also means to love everyone without partiality, regardless of whether he is poor or rich, good-looking or not, old or young, noble or simple, healthy or sick; useful to us or not, friend or enemy, because it is all the same God, all in the image of God, all are children of God, members of Christ (if Orthodox Christians), all our members, for we are all one body, one spirit
(Eph. 4:4), there is one Head for all - Christ God. Let us understand this way and try to fulfill the two main commandments of the law of God - and we will inherit eternal life by the grace of Christ God. Amen.
