Longings, Wk 4 - Love

Hosea and Galatians 3:23-29

I’m starting to believe that Love is one of the more useless words in the English language. Don’t get me wrong - I like the word, I use the word - but it’s just that we use it so often and for so many things - we just blur it all together. Other languages have more than one word for the different types of affection, but in English we squish it all together. I love my wife. I love my children. I love my church. I love tacos. I love music. And we all know that those are massively and completely different things, and yet it’s all just the same word. Love. Sometimes you’ll hear people throw around a phrase “love is love” and it just doesn’t make any sense. The way I feel about my children and the way I feel about tacos is not the same thing. [pause]. You guys know, I am very, very fond of tacos. But let me give you some language this morning that I think is helpful. We want to be loved, but what we mean when we say that is - we want to be known and still cherished. Like Brian talked about last week, for so many of us, the way we present ourselves to the world - we want affection. We want people to like us, to approve of us, be proud of us, to respect us, to love us. But there is a fear that the more people know us, the less they will love us. So we hide pieces of ourselves. Whether it’s with makeup or fancy clothes, a new backpack or a loud personality. There’s lots of little tricks we use in life to hide our imperfections. This shirt I’m wearing has a hole in the sleeve, but if I roll the sleeves up - you won’t see it. And the reason we do that is because there is a lie deep in the human heart that if people really knew us - knew the real us, who we are underneath all the layers - they would run away from us. They would not cherish us anymore. We want to be known and still cherished. We want people to see us, the real me, and not run away. Today we are in part four of our series called Longings - where we are walking through what we really want for Christmas using the framework of the Advent Candles. We’ve touched all the different parts of life that pull on our hearts. Hope, Joy, Peace - and now finally love.

So, to get into this - we are going to spend some time in the book of Hosea. I’m going to tell the whole story, but if you want to follow along I recommend you open up in your bible, or bring it up on your phone - flip over to Hosea chapter 11. Now I’m going to warn you - Hosea is a very strange story in the bible. Hosea was a prophet in Israel, way back in the Old Testament. If you’ve been with us in this series all along, you might remember - we’ve talked about prophets before. Hosea was God’s messenger to the people. God would talk to him, and then Hosea would talk to the people - usually to warn them about something bad that was coming. But with Hosea’s life, God did something really unusual. God told Hosea, your life is going to be a metaphor for my relationship with the world. Your family is going to be a symbol for how I relate to the world. You’re going to get married, and you’re going to have kids - and it’s all going to reflect and represent God and the world. So then God tells Hosea - Go marry a prostitute. A woman named Gomer. Hosea is going to be like God, and the woman is going to be like the people in the world - who are unfaithful to God. Go marry a prostitute, and then try to get her to quit her day job. Now, I don’t know about you - but this already seems like a bad idea to me. This is a very dysfunctional family. Hosea the prophet, the man of God, marries Gomer the prostitute. But then it gets worse. Hosea and Gomer have three kids together. And Hosea names these kids the WORST names you have ever heard. The first child, Hosea names “Jezreel” - which is the name of a place where a disaster happened in Israel’s history. So it’s kind of like naming your child “Hiroshima” or “Chernobyl” or something like that. 

Now, if I’m Gomer - I’m furious with Hosea. You just named my child after this horrible thing that happened in the past - what were you thinking. In our family, for our first born we went with a family name, William, and we call him Liam - after my grandfather. But I wonder what would have happened if I tried to convince Sara that we should name him “Epic Disaster.” Then, the second kid comes along - a daughter this time and Hosea names that child Lo-ruhamah, which means “You are not loved.” [pause]. I guess that one’s not really funny, now we’re crossing a line here. And then they have another kid, a second son, and they name him, “Lo-ammi” which means “not my people.” This is all in chapter one of the book. We have this really weird set up, a strange metaphor/reality story. Hosea, your life will represent, it’s going to be like a metaphor, like a symbol for me and my people. And then at the end of chapter one, he says, “One day, we will change the names of the children” - but I’m getting ahead of myself. 

So then we jump up to chapter 11. The rest of the book is really unpleasant - it talks all about wickedness, and people being unfaithful and untrustworthy, and it talks about punishment and all the bad things that are going to happen - consequences for actions, all that kind of stuff. But when we get to chapter 11, and the metaphor shifts. It was a husband-wife relationship, but it moves to a Father-son relationship. So now God is the Father, and the people are the son. [read v.1-2]. Okay, let me pause there for a second - does this sound familiar? Not the sacrifices and idols thing, but that first part. He says, “the more I called to him, the farther he moved from me.” Have you ever had that in a relationship in your life? The more you reach out to a child, or a co-worker, or a friend, the more they scoot further away? It keeps going, [read v.3-4]. I don’t know what it is, but those verses, I read them over and over and I just never thought about God that way. I mean, yeah - sure - God is our Father. We say “Our Father” when we read the Lord’s prayer, but the image of God teaching a child how to walk. It says, “I myself taught Israel how to walk, leading him along by the hand” And in the Hebrew, the image there is actually of putting your hands under someone’s arms - supporting them, just like when you teach an infant to walk. You know what I’m talking about? Where you sort of hold the kid up by the torso, and then let go and they sort of wobble around? And remember the metaphor - we are the child, God is the Father. [read v.3] God teaches us how to walk.

Then the tone shifts, [read v.5-7]. Now I’m not going to get into all that history - but he’s talking about what’s actually, historically about to happen to Israel. Literally, the Assyrian Empire is about the crush and destroy Israel. When we make mistakes, there are consequences. And as the parent, as the Father, God has this frustration - his children are leaving, they are abandoning all the right things he taught them. They’re not listening, they’re not obeying. We are not listening, we are not obeying the Lord. And he knows that’s going to hurt us later. He knows what is coming. He sees the consequences of our lives coming back to hurt us. He says, “My people are determined to desert me, they call me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor me.” You can feel the parental frustration. The anger. But I want you to hear the pain in verse 8. Imagine for a moment, being the parent of a toddler, one who is just learning to walk. Let’s imagine that it’s been one of those nightmare days. The kids are just being horrible. They don’t listen. They don’t obey. They don’t learn - they’re not even TRYING to be good. And it’s been a long day - a long, frustrating day. But when, finally, the kid’s asleep. And I don’t know what it is - but I can attest that it happens with every single one of my children. As a parent, when you are standing over the crib. That little face, that face that was beet red and screaming and snotty and drooling just like 20 minutes ago - when they fall asleep, something magic happens. Sleeping babies, no matter what they looked like before, they look like little angles, don’t they? And you’re standing over the crib, looking at the child, and I hear the words of verse 8. [read v.8-9]. A God who has every right to destroy us, to wipe us off the earth for all the pain we have caused - looks on us and says, “How can I give you up? How can I let you go? My heart is torn within me.” Do you see who God IS in these verses? In the moment of pain, God chooses forgiveness, God chooses hope, and love - instead of giving up on us. God never gives up on us. God our Father stays with us. 

The last two verses turn to the future. [read v.9b-11]. And so we have this victory, right? This tone of power and might. And it’s supposed to be kind of scary. Anybody here a fan of C.S. Lewis? The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe? Remember Aslan the Lion - this is where he gets it from. There’s this image of God, roaring like a lion. Maybe, if you don’t know C.S. Lewis - you’ve seen the Lion King, right? After all the pain, and darkness and desolation, and it’s raining and it’s miserable, and Simba climbs to the top of that mountain. And it’s slow motion and the music swells and he’s in the rain and he just starts roaring. Maybe part of it was crying out in pain, in sadness at what happened, but eventually it turns into a roar of victory. God calls his people, and they come home. Literally, in history, this happened. Assyria came and conquered and they get deported for a while, but God brings them home eventually. 

So we’ve got all these metaphors and images, but it’s all connected to the real world. Let’s go back to Hosea. Hosea married Gomer, a prostitute. Because a prostitute abandons her husband, just like humans abandon God. And it’s a terrible idea - right? Why would God bother with humans who will hurt him? If God is all powerful, why does he keep giving us free will? Why doesn’t he just come in and force us to be good? Why would a man give a prostitute a chance, someone you know is going to be unfaithful? You know they’re going to make mistakes. Do you remember what Hosea named his kids? Disaster. You are not loved. And you are not my people. Because the children of this weird dysfunctional family are going to be disasters who feel like they are not loved and feel like they don’t belong. The reality of the situation is a mess. Both in Hosea’s real life, but in God’s connection to people - it’s a dysfunctional mess of a family. But then, at the end of chapter 1 - God changes the picture, he changes their names. Literally, they rename Hosea’s children. It says, [read v.10b]. Do you see it? You used to be called “not my people.” You used to be called “disaster.” You used to be called “unloved.” But NOW it will be said, you are children of the living God. So, let’s bring it home. There are going to be times in your life when you feel like a child of a broken relationship. You will feel like a disaster. You will feel like you are not loved, you will feel like you do not belong. But when God roars like a lion, out of the dysfunction - God brings redemption. So we have this dysfunctional family mess, and God turns it into a dysfunctional family love. It’s still dysfunctional. The world is far from perfect - but with God, we catch a glimpse of the love that our souls are truly longing for.

See, the good news this morning is that God parents us. God’s action in the world, God’s love for us is not some far off judge, or commanding Father who doesn’t care about his kids. God parents us. God guides us, teaches us, despairs when we turn from what he shows us, and then he watches in pain and anguish while we cause problems and reap destruction on ourselves. And then God steps in roaring like a lion to bring us home in the end. God loves you, and that love is the love of every Father and mother on earth, but even better. Such parental love is creative - it brought us into this world. Such love is instructive - it teaches a child to become a better person. Such love is tolerant and patient - it allows mistakes and accepts children in forgiveness. Such love is corrective - it intervenes when a child strays too far. And most importantly, such love is healing - it brings us back to wholeness. God parents us. 

Now, here’s the important part. You heard the passion and pain and anger and love and hope in the way God parents us, with the story of Hosea. You saw that. If that is real… if God parents us, if God is our FATHER - what does that make you? This morning I want you to claim your identity as a child of God. I am a child of God. You are a child of God. We are children of God, beloved by the creator and he is rooting for us. Remember Hosea’s children. “At the place where you were told, “You are not my people,” it will be said, “You are children of the living God.” This is our identity. This is our hope. This is our reassurance. You are a child of God. God is your father. God is your mother. God is the ultimate parent. Teaching, guiding, rooting for you, supporting you. God sits next to you and puts his arm around you every time you are hurting. God jumps up and down with glee every time you celebrate a big success. God cries bitter tears when you lose something, when you hurt. God encourages you when you are feeling depressed or out of place or abandoned. God is always there. More than anyone else ever could be. God is there for you. God parents us. You are a child of God.

And where better do we see this than in the Christmas story? Over in the New Testament, in the book of Galatians, chapter 4 verse 4 says, [read v.4-7]. When the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman. Jesus of Nazareth, born to the virgin Mary in a stable in Bethlehem - to redeem us. To adopt us. The major teaching that I want you to see today from God’s word is that the whole point of Jesus coming all those years ago, of being born in a manger while shepherds watched over silent flocks by night - all of this was to bring us into God’s family. To give us a connection to the God that is out there. To give us a new spirit, a spirit that cries out to God - you are Abba, Father. You are no longer a slave, you are God’s child. I think about the names of Hosea’s children. Disaster. Not loved. Not my people. I wonder - what names have you worn before you met Jesus? Does your nametag say “unloved”? Does your nametag say “disappointment’? Does your nametag say “unworthy” or “damaged”? Does your nametag say “prostitute” or “alcoholic” or “abuser” or “prideful” or “liar”? And more important than whatever’s written on the nametag - are you ready this morning to peel off that old nametag - to crumple it up and throw it in the fire? Are you ready to receive a new spirit?

The deepest desire of every human is to be loved. And what I mean by that is that every single one of us wants to be fully known and fully cherished at the same time. And what’s beautiful about our adoption into God’s family is that it is unconditional. I know this will shock you - but sometimes my children will misbehave. And when they misbehave, they will get in trouble. There’s a consequence of some sort. I’ll tell you - they don’t like that at all. And there’s a developmental stage, around about 4, 5, 6 years old where they start to associate getting in trouble with being hated. You know what I’m saying? They’ll get in trouble and have to sit in time out or something and they’ll say “You hate me.” Like, when they’re really little - they just deny all the time. If a two year old gets caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and you’ll call it out. Did you just put your hand in the cookie jar? They’ll look you right in the eyes and say, “No.” Because they can’t handle getting caught. They can’t handle being seen as naughty. Children learn to lie because they can’t handle losing mom and dad’s love. Because they assume, like we all do, that love is based on us being good enough. But then they get a little older, and it shifts a bit. It becomes - Oh no,  I did something wrong, and you know about it, and I know you know about it, and so you must hate me. And it’s kind of strange, it used to break my heart - when my kids would get in trouble and say “you hate me” - but now I sort of love those moments - because it is my joy to wrap my child up in my arms and say, “Oh no, I don’t hate you. Even when you’re in trouble, I still love you. I don’t love you because you’re good, I love you because you’re my son.” This is what it means to be adopted into the family of God through the birth of Jesus. God doesn’t love you because you’re good. You’re not that good. God loves you because you are his child. If you have called on the name of Jesus, if you have received the spirit of adoption that comes from confessing Jesus as lord. If you have made the profession in baptism, and you have told the world, “I am all in for Jesus.” If you have joined God’s family, then you are a child of God. You can’t hide your sin from him, you can’t put on a brave face or trick him into thinking you’re a good person. He’s knows all about you - you are fully known, and still cherished. And THAT is the definition of love that we want to hold onto. And I want to say, if you have not done that. If you are here this morning and you’re questioning - you’re wondering, what would it look like to go all in for Jesus - can I just give you that challenge this morning? Please, give your life to Jesus. Make a decision to follow him. Come talk to me about it - I’ll walk you through the next steps.

So, coming out of all that - I have a question for you. Where does your value come from? What makes you valuable to the world? There was a youth speaker named Bob Lenz who used to ask this question. Where does your value come from? And the thing I want you to realize is that you are not valuable because of your boyfriend. You are not valuable because of your grades. You are not valuable because of your sports teams, or your friends, or your instagram following. You are not valuable because of anything that comes on the outside of who you are. You are valuable because of something on the inside. [pull out $100]. This is a $100 bill. As a pastor, I don’t get to see very many of these - so this is very exciting for me to hold this today. Now I wonder - could you spend this $100? Is this valuable to you? [Crumble it up] What about now, is it still valuable to you?  Well, but I crumpled it up. What if I throw it on the ground? What if I stomp on it? Would you still want this $100? Does it still have value? What if I TELL you that it’s worthless? What if I break up with it? What if I give it an F? What if I don’t let it into the college that the $100 bill wanted to go to? What if I cut it from the sports team? Would you still want this $100? Did that decrease its value one penny? What if I tell you that it is garbage, that it is not worthy of love? What if I put it in a home with only one parent, or what if I give it a drug addiction? What if I tell you that the $100 bill sometimes gets depressed and doesn’t know how to talk about its feelings? Would you still want this $100 bill? Is there still value? Is this child still important? [Pause] You are not valuable because of something on the outside. Nothing that happens in the world changes your value when you are a child of God. You are valuable because of something on the inside. For every mistake, for every abnormality, for every awkward, weird piece, for every loneliness, for every heart-break - there is a God who cries out in Hosea 11, verse 8 “How can I give you up? How can I let you go? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows.” When we are longing for love - the only thing that can satisfy the deepest longings of our heart - it’s not going to be anything on the outside of who you are. It’s going to come from your identity as a child of God.

And I’m not going to tell you that’s going to fix all your problems. I’m not going to feed you some cheesy line about how “It’s all a part of God’s plan” - because I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. Becoming a child of God doesn’t fix our circumstances. I don’t know how God is going to turn this twisted world all around. All I know is that you are fully known, fully seen, and still cherished by God. I read this text, and I see a loving parent who will not give up on his children. A God who will one day roar like a lion, and we will come home again. All I know is that there is hope, there is joy, there is peace, and there is love - even in the darkest day. 

And so what I want to do now - here at Center Church we have a few songs that are sort of our favorites. I was looking at this message and the incredible Good news that God’s word has for us - and there was only one song we could ever end with. We introduced this song over the summer, and it’s just so good. And as we jam out to this song - I want to give you an opportunity to respond. Up front here I’ve got some name tags. I think some of you walked in here this morning wearing a nametag on your heart. Like we were talking about before, maybe you’re like Hosea’s kids - and your nametag says “unwanted” or “unloved.” Or maybe it just says “weary” or “broken.” While we sing this song, which I hope lifts your spirit - while we sing, I want to invite you to come up and lay down the nametag the world gave you. Lay down the burdensome nametag stuck to your heart. And I want you to take one of these name tags, and we’ve got some markers up here and I want you to write, “child of God” or if you want, you can write, “beloved.” Because that is the name Jesus gives you today.

Because here’s the thing - the world is going to call you a lot of things. They are going to give you a lot of names. They will try desperately to define you. Sometimes I think when we are feeling unloved. Maybe we’re feeling exposed or vulnerable. But over the years what I’ve realized is that in that moment, when we are scared and alone and feeling unloved - in that moment, we feel like kids again. We feel helpless and weak and afraid. And in that moment we don’t want answers - we don’t want explanations or excuses. We want a parent. We want someone we can trust. We want to turn to our Dad, our father in heaven and lean on his strong arms when we cannot stand it any longer. So this morning, if you want to make a choice to follow Jesus - come get a new nametag. Or maybe you’ve been following Jesus for years but you have let the world cover up your true name with a lie. And you need to peel off the false identities of the world and reclaim your true name. Beloved. Child of God. Please, come.