“Love Hurts!”
* Years ago, before our politically correct society came about, there was a boy who was always in trouble. He was forever breaking the rules and getting into trouble at school. His father could not understand why. He provided a good home, he spent time with him fishing and going to his ballgames, and he showered him with his unconditional love, but the father just couldn’t figure out why the boy wouldn’t mind. He had been raised in church and had even been in Sunday school for five years. His father was consistently reading the Bible to him and had never provoked him to anger. His son’s behavior was a mystery to him.
* One day when his son was upstairs playing around with his baseball, which he’d been told repeatedly not to do, he ended up breaking one of his bedroom windows. The boy was ten year’s old and certainly knew better because his father had told him time and again to not play ball in the house. The father headed upstairs and took off his belt. The boy knew what was coming so he voluntarily bent over and kneeled next to his bed but the father said, “Son, here, take this belt” which his son did. Then his father took off his shirt and kneeled down on the bed and said “Son, I want you to give me seven lashes with this belt across my back.” His son started to cry and said that he couldn’t do it. His father kept insisting until the son finally relented and started hitting his father across the back with the belt but it wasn’t hard enough. He said, “Harder son, harder!” When the boy finally lashed the belt across his father’s back seven times with greater force the father asked him “Son, do you know why I had you do this?” The son said “No.” The father said, “When Jesus went to the cross for us, He took the worst punishment that has ever been inflicted upon any man. He was pummeled, He was beaten, His beard was plucked out, and He was punished like no one has ever been punished. Who do you really think did this to Jesus?” The boy, still whimpering, hesitated and finally said he thought it was the Jews or the Romans but the boy’s father said, “No, it was God the Father Who punished Jesus for everything that we have ever done wrong and or will ever do wrong in the future (Isaiah 52:14-15; 53:1-12). He took the punishment that He didn’t deserve to save those who didn’t deserve saving. That is how much the Father and Jesus loved us” (John 3:16). It was God’s love most gloriously displayed for us who deserved actually His wrath.
* The boy was shaken deeply by this lesson and from that day forward, the boy never seemed to get into the same amount of trouble again… not perfect but changed. Maybe it was because he wasn’t sure how his dad would react again. Whatever is was, the message of God’s love displayed on the cross by Christ forever changed this young man and it has forever changed us. The boy was not perfect after that, by no means, but neither are we after being saved but that doesn’t take away what was accomplished at the cross.
* If we are to share God’s love, it must be action oriented love – tangible! To love is a decision we make directed by the Holy Spirit, not so much a feeling we choose to have. Is there any greater love than one that was displayed on the cross? Jesus said that “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” John 15:12-13. The opposite of love is not hatred because in hatred there are at least some emotions but the opposite of love is indifference. If we are to teach about God’s love, we should focus on what God does more than what God feels, not that God doesn’t feel love for us but it is God’s loving action that saves us. It cost Jesus His life and that cost must be acknowledged with the express desire that we will “love one another just as Christ loved us”. And that type of love…the agape love…comes with a high price but a price that is every bit worth it, wouldn’t you agree?
* God’s love be with us all! Your pastor, Rev. Don Sonntag
* Years ago, before our politically correct society came about, there was a boy who was always in trouble. He was forever breaking the rules and getting into trouble at school. His father could not understand why. He provided a good home, he spent time with him fishing and going to his ballgames, and he showered him with his unconditional love, but the father just couldn’t figure out why the boy wouldn’t mind. He had been raised in church and had even been in Sunday school for five years. His father was consistently reading the Bible to him and had never provoked him to anger. His son’s behavior was a mystery to him.
* One day when his son was upstairs playing around with his baseball, which he’d been told repeatedly not to do, he ended up breaking one of his bedroom windows. The boy was ten year’s old and certainly knew better because his father had told him time and again to not play ball in the house. The father headed upstairs and took off his belt. The boy knew what was coming so he voluntarily bent over and kneeled next to his bed but the father said, “Son, here, take this belt” which his son did. Then his father took off his shirt and kneeled down on the bed and said “Son, I want you to give me seven lashes with this belt across my back.” His son started to cry and said that he couldn’t do it. His father kept insisting until the son finally relented and started hitting his father across the back with the belt but it wasn’t hard enough. He said, “Harder son, harder!” When the boy finally lashed the belt across his father’s back seven times with greater force the father asked him “Son, do you know why I had you do this?” The son said “No.” The father said, “When Jesus went to the cross for us, He took the worst punishment that has ever been inflicted upon any man. He was pummeled, He was beaten, His beard was plucked out, and He was punished like no one has ever been punished. Who do you really think did this to Jesus?” The boy, still whimpering, hesitated and finally said he thought it was the Jews or the Romans but the boy’s father said, “No, it was God the Father Who punished Jesus for everything that we have ever done wrong and or will ever do wrong in the future (Isaiah 52:14-15; 53:1-12). He took the punishment that He didn’t deserve to save those who didn’t deserve saving. That is how much the Father and Jesus loved us” (John 3:16). It was God’s love most gloriously displayed for us who deserved actually His wrath.
* The boy was shaken deeply by this lesson and from that day forward, the boy never seemed to get into the same amount of trouble again… not perfect but changed. Maybe it was because he wasn’t sure how his dad would react again. Whatever is was, the message of God’s love displayed on the cross by Christ forever changed this young man and it has forever changed us. The boy was not perfect after that, by no means, but neither are we after being saved but that doesn’t take away what was accomplished at the cross.
* If we are to share God’s love, it must be action oriented love – tangible! To love is a decision we make directed by the Holy Spirit, not so much a feeling we choose to have. Is there any greater love than one that was displayed on the cross? Jesus said that “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” John 15:12-13. The opposite of love is not hatred because in hatred there are at least some emotions but the opposite of love is indifference. If we are to teach about God’s love, we should focus on what God does more than what God feels, not that God doesn’t feel love for us but it is God’s loving action that saves us. It cost Jesus His life and that cost must be acknowledged with the express desire that we will “love one another just as Christ loved us”. And that type of love…the agape love…comes with a high price but a price that is every bit worth it, wouldn’t you agree?
* God’s love be with us all! Your pastor, Rev. Don Sonntag