Merritt, Ashcroft, Cawston Opening Song: #309 I Surrender All
Scripture: 1John 4:10, Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be propitiation for our sins.
This is a classic story from the 1880’s which is taught in schools. A king had a public arena where crime was punished or innocence decided by chance. The accused person would enter the arena alone. The only way out was two doors, exactly alike, and the person on trial had to choose one door to open. Behind one door was a hungry tiger to tear him to pieces. But if the accused opened the other door, out came a person the king had chosen for him to marry, in honor of his innocence. It didn’t matter if the accused already had a wife and family; king’s word was law. Sometimes the tiger was behind one door, sometimes the other.
The king had a beautiful daughter and she would inherit the kingdom. Princess secretly loved a young man who was handsomest and bravest in the land, but not from a royal family. When King discovered their relationship, he put the young man in prison and set a trial date for the arena. Never before had a common man been brave enough to love the king’s daughter, so all people came to watch. As the young man entered the arena, he bowed to the king, but his eyes were fixed on his beloved princess next to her father. From the day her lover was jailed, the princess thought of nothing but this trial. She had gold, power, influence, force of character, and she made sure that she knew the secret of the doors. She also knew the lady the king had picked to stand behind the door. The lady was lovely and the princess had seen her talking to the young man a few times. So the princess hated the woman behind that door. She hated her with intensity of blood passed to her through long lines of royal power.
The young man looked at the princess who was paler and whiter than anyone in the sea of faces around her. His only hope was she had been successful to find the mystery; he knew she’d succeed. He saw she knew behind which door waited the tiger and behind which stood the lady. He expected and trusted her to know it. Princess raised her hand with sudden movement to the right so no one but her lover saw it. Every other eye was fixed on him. With firm, strong step he walked across the arena, and opened the door on the right. Now, did the tiger come out that door or did the lady?
It’s a study of the human heart. The passionate princess felt her soul in agony under fire of sadness and jealousy. She had lost her lover, but who should have him? How often in anguished terror she thought of her lover opening the door where waited sharp teeth of the tiger. How could she bear to see his blood spill? But how her soul burned in pain as she pictured him opening the door with the lady. How could she bear to see him married to another woman, while her own life stretched lonely before her?
Would it not be better for him to die suddenly, and one day they could be together in the awaited blessed heaven? And yet, that tiger, to hear her lover’s cries, his blood! Her decision had been made after heart-wrenching days and nights. She had known she would be asked. And finally she had decided what she would answer. It is not for me to set myself up as the one person able to answer, so I leave it with all of you. Which came out the opened door- the lady or the tiger?
Have you ever really, deeply loved someone? You ache for that person to love you, especially if you know he desperately needs you in his life. You could have everything, yet you feel heartbroken. To love is to make oneself so vulnerable even having unlimited power could not help. A king could force someone to obey or give something like a ‘love’ potion, causing illusion of loving him. True love can’t be compelled. If it involves force, chemicals, deceit or bribery, it isn’t love. Even unlimited power can’t cause genuine love, only to be loving and hope they respond. God’s infinite power cannot MAKE you love Him.
Suppose you had all knowledge. You knew before your child was born, that child would grow up to reject you, scorn your love, and murder you, would you give birth to that child? If I’m truly honest, I wouldn’t give birth to that child, knowing full well he’d grow up to be a murderer and never love me back. But God knew every sin you’d ever commit, every mistake you’d ever make, knew His children would reject, murder and nail Him to a tree, yet He gave us life. God loved us knowing absolutely ALL He knows.
SONG: YOUR GRACE IS ENOUGH
We’d be appalled if a man kidnapped a woman, trapped her cause he says he loves her. It’s abuse, regardless if he used force, threats or hypnotism. Love cares about the beloved, no matter how much it clashes with his own wishes, no matter if the person would benefit from lifelong intimacy with him. When we learn God wants us to love, honor and obey Him, we run away or back off in horror unless we know it’s to our benefit, and God, not us, gets the raw deal. By loving us, God got a death worse than the tiger. God loves you more than you love yourself; He sacrificed all for our eternal happiness. To scorn or disregard God who wants only our best doesn’t make sense! Any time we choose not to love, honor and obey God Who is devoted to our well-being, we lose out.
Every Christian is born into God’s family by His gift of love. This priceless gift is received simply by trusting Jesus who died in our place. Then we fall into the trap that after spiritual birth, rules suddenly change, and spiritual growth ceases to be a free gift, but comes from God rewarding us for good behavior. Apostle Paul said it is dangerous error to think we begin spiritual lives by grace through faith then proceed to maturity by works. We attain holiness from God, victorious living, spiritual blessings, and answered prayer the same way we get salvation, by grace through faith in Jesus.
God’s blessings are gifts. God gives us better than we deserve, or we’d each die the moment of our first sin. Any life is solely grace of God. We can give Him no item not already His. Anything we do for God would be done better, quicker and more perfectly if He did it Himself. Yet in extravagant love, God gives us abilities and opportunities. We can’t impress God with His own gifts. Just as a good dad is as proud of a helpless newborn as he is of the toddler brother and teenaged sister, God thinks no higher of levels of growth. God loves all His children!
But what is real Love? There are basically 3 types of love in the world. The most common love is called IF. I love you IF you do it my way, IF you put me first, IF you drive a red corvette, IF you’re a good cook, IF you keep the house clean, IF you don’t hurt my feelings. Schools teach children, “I love you IF you get good grades, IF you perform well, IF you wear your skirts a certain length, IF you wear your hair a certain length, IF you follow rules, IF you never talk back, question my authority, IF you don’t rock the boat.
The second love is called BECAUSE. I love you because you’re pretty, because you’re smart, because you’re seen and not heard, because of your money, because you’re at the top of the corporate ladder, you make a good impression, you make me look good, because you do it my way. Churches teach people, “God loves you because of your obedience, good works, because of your donations, stars in your crown, you don’t go to questionable places, work hard, because you’re sorry enough to change.”
How does God love? God loves EVEN THOUGH. God loves even though you mess up, stumble and fall flat on your face. Even though everyone calls you stupid, the black sheep, least likely to succeed. Even though you’re poor, not a happy camper, depressed, always getting into problems. Even though you were abused, bankrupt, divorced, failed. Even though your kids don’t visit, your husband doesn’t talk to you, parents never gave approval, friends betrayed you, siblings fight with you. Even though you’re a sinner, never feel good enough, and failed miserably to come up to expectations. God loves you even though your life falls apart, relationships fall apart, finances fall apart, your body falls apart.
SONG: IF THAT ISN’T LOVE
Jeremiah 31:3, The Lord has appeared of old unto me saying, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you. God’s love is everlasting, not if or because. Ephesians 3:18-19, And may you have power to understand, as God's people, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 1John 4:10, Herein is love, NOT that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be propitiation for our sins.
In Gethsemane, Jesus agonized as He faced the greatest choice. He chose love even though it meant humiliation, betrayal, suffering, mockery, torture and death. All for love, Jesus took our guilt, horror, and all the shame we ever deserve. He wants every trace of filth to be dumped on Him until it destroys Him – which it did – because in destroying Him, it loses power to destroy you. John 10:18, Jesus said, “No one takes My life from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I receive from My Father." Jesus chose to surrender or He could never have been taken! He went to the cross, or He could never be led there. He allowed the nails, and when He hung there, He could easily come down. They could not take His life; He laid it down out of love. Can anyone love you more than He loves you?
A young man called his mother and announced excitedly that he just met the girl of his dreams. Now what should he do? "Why don't you send her flowers, and on the card invite her to your place for a home-cooked meal?" He thought this was a great idea and arranged a date for a week later. His mother called the day after the big date to see how things had gone. “The evening was a disaster," he moaned.
“Didn't she come over?" asked his mother.
“Oh, she came over, but she refused to cook!" God’s love far surpasses our love.
Feelings and reality can be opposite. People who are perfectly safe feel terrified by a little spider. Some intelligent people feel stupid. Some greatly loved feel unlovable. Some very successful feel like failures. If you, through simple faith accept Christ, every trace of past failures, sins and shame are totally scrubbed out, leaving you purely forgiven, yet you can still feel guilty you can hardly live with yourself. As God’s forgiven child, you’re object of infinite love yet may feel unlovable. Regardless of how you feel, the Savior loves you, left heaven to die so you could be in heaven with Him. No matter what others think, there is only one Person whose opinion really counts. He alone knows everything. And the one Person whose opinion really counts truly loves you.
SONG: ABOVE ALL
Alex, your friend, inherits a huge fortune in diamonds. “I have some with me,” he says, “Could you put them in your safe?”
“Okay.” You open the safe. It’s crammed with stuffed toys and trinkets.
“You’ll have to remove your things to make room for diamonds,” Alex observes.
“What?” you exclaim, “and risk having my valuables stolen? Not on your life!” You show Alex the door. You later meet a friend and tell him.
“Alex approached me too,” your friend grins, “I gladly threw out my valuables for his diamonds!”
“You did? You took your valuables out of your safe, when he has enough wealth to buy a million safes of his own?”
“Alex didn’t want to use our safes! He wanted to share wealth with us.”
“You mean all those diamonds would have been mine to KEEP? If only I’d understood, I’d have immediately emptied my trash out of the safe!” Suddenly, what seemed so valuable now seems like trash! Most of us make that same tragic mistake when God offers His love to us.
Greater than anyone else, God is a giver, yet we mistake Him for a taker. We cram our safe full of trinkets like self-righteousness, self-pity, self-promotion, hoard these fake commodities, foolishly thinking them valuable. We don’t think God would give us genuine love, eternal treasures. We think God asks for sacrifices, when it’s lesser things to make room for priceless treasures! Most don’t realize by making room for God, we’re making room for eternal happiness, coming to life like never before. Trading trinkets for treasure; trading desires that end in despair for NEW life and fulfillment. When we’ve only known the inferior, it’s hard to imagine the superior. It seems sacrifice to swap darling trinkets for eternal Love.
When women were asked if the princess chose the lady or the tiger, most women said the princess chose the lady. We women like to BELIEVE we’re loving, we would do the most loving thing, we would consider our loved one’s happiness first. When men were asked which one the princess chose, most men said she chose the tiger to come out the door. That is a sad reflection of how men feel women love. In all our relationships, we show if we choose the lady or the tiger.
Bible says God made His choice from foundation of the world. Knowing full cost to Himself, He created us. Jesus counted cost of leaving heaven, knowing ALL. When God chose to love us, He knew enormous risk we might choose not to love Him. I read that God had no choice; God is love; He can do no other. The more I get to know Jesus, I see His almighty love. He made us in His image with free choice. So yes, God chose to love you no matter the cost! Jesus jumped into our arena, faced certain death behind the door and said, “I will die so you can live.”
Song: VIA DOLOROSA