The Loved World

In this episode we continue our journey in John 3:16. We look at the word 'World' the object of God's love. We see what the world is defined as and what that has to do with the Great mystery Colossians 1:27 speaks of. 

Transcript

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Thank you for joining with us. This is the Learn To Be Loved podcast. My name is Shannon and I'm going to be your host today. We have been taking a deep look at the verse one of the most famous verses john 3 16 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life we have maybe repeated this verse many times heard it seen it on bumper stickers and things like that But this verse is very powerful. We looked at putting your name in the place of world for God so loved you, your name. And this brings it personal, it brings it real. It's not just the world and possibly not me, but it brings it right to home. God loves me. And then we looked at the word love, the word agape, and how it means to regard with strong affection, to esteem, to prize, to be content with, to love. And this is part of our journey as we are learning to be loved. Learning to be loved by an awesome, loving God. How God's very... nature and definition of his character is love. And this is what Jesus came to show us. This week, we're going to take a look at the word world. For God so loved the world. The Greek word that's used here is the word cosmos. It has some interesting flavors to its definition. Yes, we get our word cosmos from it, and we think of stars and planets and the earth, and that's the cosmos. But this word is a little richer. It's deeper than that. See, Greek words were picture words. And they don't translate well directly into English words. That's why we have so many different Bible translations. So this word cosmos, it means to take care of. It means order, something being ordered, or a regular disposition of, or an arrangement of. It also can be used... as the word decoration, or ornament, or adornment. It could be something that you put on as a clothing or as a decoration. And so this makes a very interesting picture here. 1 Peter 3.3 uses this same word, and it says, Your adornment must not be merely external, braiding the hair, wearing the garments, gold jewelry, or putting on apparel. So here we have this word used in this other context of something that you put on or something that you take care of. Here we have a picture of the universe, yes, as something that the father takes care of, something that he orders, he arranges, and he even wears like a garment or an ornament. Have you ever had a favorite t-shirt or maybe a dress that you just loved? God does and that's you. God lives in you and you are the clothing that he chooses to wear when he walks on this earth. God loves you and he takes care of you. He puts you in order. He arranges you. And he arranges the world from the inside out. See, God is not living in the sweet by and by. He's not in the clouds, in the air. God is promised and has stated several times through scripture that he lives inside of you. He wears you like a t-shirt as he walks about the earth with you. Here are several scriptures that... Talk about Christ or God or the Father living in us. John 14, 20, New American Standard says, On that day you will know that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. John 14, 23 says, John 14, 23 says, Here we have the order out of chaos. God brings us to unity with himself. See, at the Garden of Eden... Sin was introduced into the world and sin is the lie. Sin is the lie and that lie created a division in our hearts and painted a false picture of who god is and since that point we have been in disunity but when christ came up into the cross and when christ came he broke that lie and he created and re-established that unity with the Father. Ephesians 3.17-19 says, So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge." that you may be filled to all the fullness of God. Here we have the fullness of God, and it is a fullness that we can't even comprehend its dimensions. We cannot comprehend this love and this unity, but through faith, we understand that this God that created the universe lives inside of us. perfect harmony he's not mad he's not angry but he's loving and he's bringing us to a place where slowly day by day we learn to comprehend this unity and this love Galatians 2 20 says I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer i who live but christ lives in me and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself up for me see this is a powerful truth here christ lives through us in us through us and as us see i used to believe and i was taught that yes god loves me and he forgave my sin but if i sin again then god cannot stand to be in my presence and so he leaves until i repent and then he comes back and so i had this revolving door thing going on where god was in my heart one day and then not in my heart and if i messed up then he was gone and he packed up his bags and left but then when i repented and just really cried out and started reading my bible again then he would reluctantly come back into my life but that is not absolutely not what the scripture says it says that christ is living in me the father is living in me and He continues to live in me when I mess up. And he says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Colossians 1.26 and 27 says, That is the mystery which had been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to his saints, to whom God willed to make known what the wealth of of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles is, the mystery that is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So this verse, John 3, 16, it has a deeper meaning, the words of Jesus when he said, for God so loved the world. He's meaning much more than anything. When you say, I love someone, he's saying, I have unified myself with them. I've identified with them. I have taken them and I clothe myself with them. I live inside of them like a temple and I live life through them. I take care of them. I order them. I arrange them. I focus my will and my love and my attention towards them. God took care of the problem of sin, which is disunity, and he created a unity with his creation, and now he lives in them and lives life for them. through them, caring for and keeping them in perfect love. So this is the first step, few steps, in learning how to be loved. It's first you gotta understand that God is good. God is love, and this love is directed towards you, that God is happy and content to live in you. He is not ashamed to be associated, but he is overjoyed to be with you. This is the mystery that was revealed, the hope of glory, Christ in you. Well, thank you for spending time with us this week. And I hope this journey is one that brings you peace and joy. God, I pray right now that you would reveal this truth to us. God, that you would live inside of us and you are happy to be there. God, help us to know deep in our hearts and to have the understanding of this mystery that God, We are perfectly loved and perfectly taken care of by you, Father. And I pray that you build this into our hearts, that we can comprehend this amazing mystery. And God, bring us this week into a closer knowledge of you. And we thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.