Jesus Loves Me - Eph 3:16-19
August 20, 2023
how many have heard that song before… search Jesus loves me this I know and you get half-a-billion results… written in 1860 by Anna Warner (11 verses)… theologian Karl Barth was asked if he could sum up his whole life’s work of theology in one sentence… he responded… Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so…
very difficult to know how much Jesus loves you if you don’t know the bible…
John 13:34… “love one another just as I have loved you…”
John 15:9-13… “as the Father has loved Me… remain in My love…”
Rom 8:31-39… “who can separate us from the love of Christ… nothing…”
2Cor 5:14… “for the love of Christ holds us together…”
Gal 2:20… “I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me…”
Eph 3:16-19… “I pray… you may know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge…”
1Tim 1:14… “grace overflowed… along with the love that is in Christ…”
Rev 3:19… “as many as I love… I rebuke and discipline…”
remember our reasons for not experiencing abundant life…
Hos 4:6… “My people are destroyed by lack of knowledge… rejected knowledge…”
Eph 4:18… “excluded from life of God… by lack of knowledge… hard hearts…”
most of us want more grace and peace… most want more divine power… most want everything required for life and godliness…. look where it comes from…
2Pet 1:1-5… “may grace and peace be multiplied to you thru the knowledge of God and of Jesus… His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness thru the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own goodness…”
epignosis… precise and correct knowledge…
God is revealed by Jesus… bible gives us precise and correct knowledge of who Jesus really is… if you don’t know the Word… you’ll always question just how much God loves you… HS will help us put the puzzle pieces together… pray…
John 1:1… “in beginning was the Word… Word was with God… Word was God…”
Col 1:15-20… “He is image of invisible God… all God’s fullness dwells in Him…”
Heb 1:3… “the Son is the exact expression of God’s nature…”
Luke 24… “all things written about Me… in the Law of Moses, Prophets, Psalms…”
John 5:39-46… “the Scriptures all testify about Me… Moses wrote about Me…”
Col 2:17… “these rules are a shadow of things to come… Christ is the reality…”
John 15:26… “the Spirit of truth will testify about Me…”
John 16:13-15… “the Holy Spirit will glorify Me…”
1Cor 2:6-16… “God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit…”
Bible Society study… Lumino Research Project… mapped 20,000 people into eight categories based on their attitudes toward the Bible…
Bible Loving – 5% Conflicted – 5% Uncertain – 7% Infrequent – 8%
Nostalgic – 8% Cultural – 13% Indifferent – 23% Dismissive – 31%
researchers used data to determine about 25% are open to the bible and finding out more about it… came up with several points for churches to consider…
We have a crisis of biblical illiteracy on our hands. A third of children don’t know the Nativity story is biblical and a third believe Harry Potter is in the bible. We are creating a generation of postmodern biblical illiterates. —George Barna
Bible Confidence
many Christians have confidence problem with bible… uncertainty, skepticism, and even distrust is very common… only 5% loved it (older) while 31% dismissed it…
Psa 119… “I love your instructions… I love your law… I love your commands… your promises have been thoroughly tested, that’s why I love them… I love your commandments… I have obeyed your laws because I love them very much…”
John 17:17… “your word is truth…”
Is Bible Important
do we really believe the bible is essential to living an abundant life…
Psa 107:20… “He sent His word and healed them…”
Prov 4:20-23… “pay attention, listen close… my words are life to those who find…”
Matt 4:4… “man shall not live by bread alone… but by every word from God…”
2Tim 3:16-17… “all scripture inspired… to teach, rebuke, correct, train…”
Read for Yourself
29% of Christians never read their bible… 13% once a year… 82% only when in church… is it more than a textbook… does AL encourage reading yourself…
John 4:39-42… “believed because of what He said… heard for ourselves…”
Acts 17:11… “searched Scriptures daily to find out if these things were true…”
ETP Issues
71% of people were not at all interested or not very interested in discovering more about the bible… why… previous bad experiences with church or Christians…
Matt 15:6… “you have nullified the Word of God because of your tradition…”
Rom 14:13… “decide to never put a stumbling block in the way of others…”
Reason for Hope
most common words about bible were… outdated, contradictory, judgmental, homophobic, anti-woman… 37% said bible wasn’t relevant to them… how do we answer with mercy and truth (Bryan)… and show them bible is our only hope…
Psa 25:10… “all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth…”
Psa 34:8… “taste and see that the Lord is good…”
Rom 1:16-17… “not ashamed of the gospel (joyful news of kindness and blessing)…”
1Cor 2:2… “determined to know nothing except Jesus and Him crucified…”
2Cor 5:17-21… “we’re ambassadors for Christ… we plead, be reconciled to God…”
1Pet 3:15… “ready at any time to give a reason for the hope that is within you…”
Establishing Identity
research concluded we have a crisis of identity that shows desperate need for a meaningful narrative about who we are… revealed by bible, only in Christ… pray…
Gen 1:27… “so God created mankind in His own image… male and female…”
Psa 139… “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”
Isa 43:4… “you are precious in my sight and honored… I love you…”
John 1:12… “to all who receive… gave right to be children… to all who believe…”
Eph 1:6… “to the praise of His grace… He has made us accepted in the Beloved…”
Eph 2:10… “we are God’s masterpiece… created anew in Christ Jesus…”