Created to Love – Dr. Charles Stanley

… In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on In Touch, Created to Love. Have you ever pondered seriously why God allowed you to be born? Well, more than likely you’ve thought about it, but the question is, what kind of a conclusion did you come to? Or did you come to any conclusion, or did you just say, well, I just guess I was born and here I am and I’ll make the best of it.
Well, the reason God allowed you to be born is in order for God to express His wonderful love to you. You may not feel it. You may not even understand anything about the love of God, but that’s why you were created. Not only that He could express His wonderful love to you, but that you could love Him in return.
And you see, when man fell in the Garden of Eden and sin came into this world, it just really fouled up our capacity to understand the love of God, to receive the love of God, and to love Him in return. But that’s why Jesus came, to liberate us from the power of sin in our life so that you and I could love God Almighty with all of our heart and that we could receive His love for us.
And that’s what I want to talk about in this message today. And I want to begin a series entitled, Liberated to Love. And the title of this message is Created to Love. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Luke chapter 10. In Luke chapter 10, a familiar passage of Scripture, Jesus makes it very clear that you and I were created to be lovers.
And you recall this is the incident where they’re asking Him a question about the law. And in the 25th verse of this 10th chapter, the Scripture says, And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, what is written in the law? How does it read to you? And he answered and said, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, you have answered correctly.
Do this and you will live. Now, I want us to look first of all at this whole idea of the nature of love. It’s not my purpose to define love as it is this morning. It’s simply to say that in the New Testament, for example, there are two words for love. One of them is agape love, which is a sacrificial kind of love.
The other is phileo love, like we get Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Phileo love is an affection, an approval, a friendship kind of love. The other word for love, which is not found in the New Testament, is the word eros, from which we get the idea of physical love or passion or sexual love. The first two is found in the Scripture, the other one is not.
And of the 300 and some times that love is found in the Bible, 185 times of it is found in the New Testament, and of those times, 140 some are sacrificial love, agape love. So when we talk about the love of the New Testament, the love that God has for us here, when you talk about love, you’re talking about this kind of attitude, that love always asks what’s best for the other person.
Love asks the question, what can I be and what can I do in your behalf? What can I be to edify you and to grow you up into Christ’s likeness and to build you up? Love is always looking out for the other person. And love is gentle and kind. Love is forgiving and loyal and faithful and true. And love has many, many qualities, which we’ll come to in the series.
But just to get us started in this whole aspect of why God created us to be lovers, simply to say that love is always asking the question, What’s best for the other one? And what can I do and what can I be in your behalf? And so God created you and me to love us.
And what is He always asking us? He doesn’t have to ask us any question, but what is He always doing? He’s always expressing that love according to what we need Him to be for us, what our needs are at the moment. And He is faithful and loyal and loving and kind. And you see, true love doesn’t keep score. True love doesn’t have a book that keeps score.
You did this and this and this because, you see, true genuine love is a forgiving love. And God has given us the pattern by which we are to love ourselves and we’re to love others. And He’s given us the pattern. We never have to come to Him and ask, and He never has to say to us, please forgive me. But you and I have to ask that of Him oftentimes.
And yet God says He created us to love us, to express this awesome sense of love to us. Now, when we think about the kind of love that He has, this unconditional love of God that knows no conditions, it doesn’t make any difference who we are, what we are, where we’ve been, where we’re going. His love for us is absolute.
There are no conditions to his love, no ifs, no ands, no buts, no conditions whatsoever.When we experience the love of God, we are being absolutely, genuinely loved, penetrated, every facet of our being by a love that knows no limitations and that is absolutely complete and full and contenting. There’s nothing in the world like experiencing the love of God.
And whether you believe it or not, from God’s eyes, you are lovable persons whom God has chosen to love. Now, let’s look at that love for just a moment because he says we are to love him. He says, if you want to know what the whole law is all about, here’s what it’s about. It’s about loving God and then loving others as yourself.
So first of all, let’s look at this idea of loving God. Now, it’s interesting when you look in the scriptures that in the Old Testament, five times God says he’s a jealous God. He is jealous because God knows that whenever our allegiance and our loyalty and our devotion has any competitors in our life whatsoever, and we put other things and other people before we do Him, there is an idol in our life. All the idols weren’t destroyed in the Old Testament.
An idol can be anything that comes between God and ourselves, grabs our attention, and directs our thoughts, and dominates and controls our life. God hates it. He says, I created you for me. I created to express this wondrous, incomparable, indescribable love of mine, this forgiving love of mine to you in such a fashion that you would understand who I am, that you would know me as the one true God and knowing me that you would desire to worship me and desire to serve me, that you would praise me and honor me not only by your lips but also by your conduct. And so since we are created to be
lovers, if we miss learning to love God and being loved by Him and experiencing that, no matter what we accomplish and what we do in life, we’ve missed the whole purpose for living. And so God created you and me to be lovers, lovers, first of all, of Almighty God Himself. Secondly, He created us to love ourselves. You say, now, wait a minute.
Why don’t you say love others first? Why do you put yourself before others? Because look at this. Watch this. He says we’re to love God and love our neighbor how? Love our neighbor as what? As ourself. So the way I love myself is going to determine how I love my neighbor. And if I can’t love myself, I’m not going to love my neighbor.
If I can’t love myself, I don’t have the capacity to love my neighbor. So people who say, well, I don’t think much of me, but I love other people. No, you don’t. Because the way we treat other people is going to be determined by the way we value and see ourselves.
Now, when he says we are to love our neighbor as ourself, listen, if I don’t love myself, I’m going to use people, not love them. If I don’t love myself, I’m going to use people, not love them. If I don’t love myself, I’m going to use people. You see, if I don’t love myself, how do I have the capacity to pour something into you that hasn’t registered in me yet? It won’t happen.
And there are a lot of people who think they love themselves who don’t. But on the other hand, probably, most people would agree, well, no, I don’t think much about myself, this, that, the other, and so forth. It’s very important to God that you and I love ourselves. Now, I’m not talking about arrogance and pride.
I’m talking about a godly, healthy, spiritual, genuine value and worth that we pay to ourselves. Now, how do I know that you, how do I know that we know that all of us are lovable? Here’s how I know we’re lovable. You say, well, we can look around and see some folks not very lovable, and all of us see people who don’t act very lovable at times.
And you may not feel very lovable. You may not feel worthy of being loved. But my friend, this is the reason I know that you and I are really and truly greatly loved. Because when God the Father sent His only begotten Son of Jesus to the cross, and He died on that cross for you and for me, listen, we say He died for our sins.
He died for you and me, and in the process of dealing with that, He dealt with our sin problem. How do I know how lovable I am? He loves you and me so much that He paid the greatest price. And agape love is sacrificial love. It isn’t phileo love from God. It is a sacrificial love. What’s the best I have? He says that’s what He gave. He looked upon humanity, and here’s what He said.
What is your need? You need to be redeemed. He looked at humanity, and He says, what can I do for you? Save you, redeem you. Work in your life in such a fashion as to transform you into my own likeness. What do you need? You need my love. And so what is the message of grace? It is the message of a loving father reaching out, reaching down, reaching into the hearts of sinful, wicked, vile people and God saying to them, no matter what you’ve done, my, vile people, and God saying to them,no matter what you’ve done, my goodness and my kindness and my graciousness to you, in spite of,
listen, without regard to your worth or your sense of what you deserve, but because I love you, I take you, I receive you, I forgive you, keep no score, I will pour out my love upon you. Now think about this. If that’s the way God sees you, how ought you to see yourself? See yourself, as he says, persons of notable excellence.
Is that prideful and arrogant? No. Here’s what it is. It’s saying, if God thinks I’m lovable, I must be lovable. If God thinks I’m worthy of something, then it must be worth. If God says there’s great value in me, then it must be great value. He says you’re not your own. You’ve been purchased with a price.
So you and I belong to God. And for us to look at ourselves and be critical of ourselves and look down upon ourselves and place no value and no worth upon ourselves is to devalue God’s perfect evaluation of us, which is he says you are so worthy and so valuable. I love you so much. I’m going to send my only begotten Son, and He’s going to die in your behalf so you can become what I want you to be.
That is, you can receive my love, be loved by me, love me in return, and be conformed to my likeness. But you see, if you don’t love yourself, and probably most people don’t love themselves, they can think of a lot of reasons that they’re not lovable. And it’s amazing what happens in relationships with people who don’t think they’re worth loving, who don’t feel loving.
Now, there are lots of reasons they don’t feel it. We’ll get into that later, but they don’t feel worthy of being loved. And this is why, for example, they’ll meet people that they think are so much more important than they are. Listen, God loves every single solitary one of us the very same. The very same.
He wants you and me to love ourselves, to have a godly, holy, high respect for ourselves. Why? Because we’re the creatures of God. We’re the creations of God. You want to reflect on His creation? We’re the sons and daughters. Listen, listen to what He said. He says, you’re my sons. You’re my daughters. You’re my servants. You’re my ambassadors.
Don’t knock the servants of God, the ambassadors of God, the family of God. He loves us and He wants us to see ourselves as the recipients of a loving Father. It has nothing to do with what we deserve it or not. It has to do that God created you and me for the purpose of loving Him and being loved by Him.
And in the process, He knew that it was very important that you and I learn how to love ourselves. Then He said, if you’ll notice, he said, love our neighbor as ourself. Now, this is really important. For example, if I should ask you, which one of these three is the easiest, loving God, loving ourselves, or loving our neighbor? Which would you say is the most difficult? Loving our neighbor.
I wonder why that is. Well, I want you to remember something. Jesus must have thought the same thing. Now watch this. I want you to turn, if you will, to John chapter 13, and then we go on to 15. Look in John chapter 13, verse 35. Now this is the night before Jesus is going to be crucified. And so he’s telling his disciples the most important things now, these last moments.
and so he’s telling his disciples the most important things now these last moments and i want you to listen to what he said in this 34th and 35th verses of chapter 13 of john this is he just got through washing their feet and so forth now look a new commandment i give to you that you love one another even as i have loved you that you also love one another by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love one toward another. Look, if you will, in the 15th chapter and the 12th verse.
He says, this is my commandment that you love one another. 17, verse 17, this I command you that you love one another. Now listen, why would he say five times that night in just a brief period of time, listen, love one another, love one another, love one another, love one another, love one another. Why? Because he knew it was going to be difficult.
He knew they were going to run into situations and circumstances as they carried out the gospel. They were going to run into people that it was very difficult to love. He says, this is my commandment, that you love one another. Now, for example, Paul said in Galatians chapter 5, he says, love one another by serving them.
Paul said in Ephesians chapter 5, he says, walk in love. What was he saying? He says that our very lifestyle, we are to be characterized as people who love. We’re to be characterized as people who love. And above everything else, he says, this is the way they’re going to know that you’re my followers.
Not that you can preach and teach and sing. Not that you can do all these other things, that you have loveone toward another. That you’re able to ask someone else, what’s best for the other person? What’s right for the other person? What can I do to help you to become what God wants you to be? How can I edify you? How can I be a part of what God is doing in your life? How can I give myself away to you, to serve you? He says that’s the way the world is going to know whether we are true lovers or not.
Now, why all this activity about loving each other? In other words, he could have said a lot of things. He said, but we’re to love each other. Well, think about this. When are you and I acting the most like God? When we’re loving somebody. We’re acting the most like God when we’re loving other people.
Secondly, that’s the way God grows us into Christ-likeness. As you and I love the Father and receive His love and have the right view of ourselves and reach out to other people in service to them, what happens? We are being, listen, we are being shaped and conformed to the likeness of Christ. And that’s what He said He predestined for all of us.
He created us to be lovers. And the love process, learning to love Him and receive His love, learning to accept ourselves in a healthy fashion, and learning to reach out and pour out ourselves into other people’s lives and give ourselves away to them. He says that’s the way you best demonstrate what I am and who I am.
And that’s the best way. That’s the way you grow up into my likeness. It’s the best way for the body of Christ to function. You show me a church where people are loving each other, and I’ll show you a church where the Spirit of God is moving in the hearts and lives of people. Show me a church where there’s a middle aisle and the folks on this side don’t speak to the folks on that side, or people at each other and they don’t like each other and critically hate each other, and I’ll show you how the Spirit of God is stifled and stymied and the Spirit of God is grieved in any kind of fellowship, or whatever it may be, where there is no genuine
love each for the other. You and I can never excuse ourselves for not loving someone. We may not like their ways. We may not like a lot of things about them. And there are people that you and I will run into, it’ll be difficult for us to love. But he says, this is my commandment, that you love one another.
And he wasn’t just talking about Peter, James, and John loving each other and the other fellows loving each other. He’s talking about all of us. He says, this is the way the world will know. Listen, what is the most powerful way for you and me to attract the unbeliever to Christ? To love them, to give ourselves to that person, to ask, what is the best for that person? What does that person need me to be? How can I express the love of God to them? That is, how can I give myself away in service to that person? That’s genuine love.
And we’ll talk about in one of the messages how we express love toward other people. But he said to them, he says, you are to love one another. It is the greatest way of attracting attention to God.
And you see, it is by loving each other that God uses all of us to meet each other’s needs, emotional needs, material needs, physical needs, learning to love him and to receive it, loving ourselves. You see, if you don’t love yourself, you don’t have anything to give. Here’s what it’s like. It’s like, here’s your heart. And when you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, God came into your life and the love of God’s in there.
Now, if my whole life is wrapped up in getting me straightened up and checking out my sense of self-worth and my value and I don’t like myself, I don’t have anything to give away because it’s all locked up. But when the Spirit of God sets me free, when I am liberated by the Spirit of God and He begins to work in my heart, what happens? Then I am no longer the important one, but now what happens is my life is open to others and the love of God comes gushing out all over everybody around me.
And you see, that is the goal of God. He says, you are to love one another. That’s the way the church functions best. He says, now this love is to be all inclusive. You remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount? And people said, well, I just believe the Sermon on the Mount. Well, how many of your enemies do you love? I don’t love any of my enemies.
Well, you don’t believe the Sermon on the Mount. He says, we are to love our enemies. If we only are to love our friends, he says, then you’re no more than a Pharisee. We’re to love our enemies. And he says, we’re to love our neighbors.
He says, well, who is a neighbor? And you remember, following this passage in Luke 10, he gave us the parable of the good Samaritan. Here’s a man lying in a ditch being robbed. A Samaritan comes along. He sees him. He doesn’t ask what’s his nationality. He sees him hurting. He reaches down. You knowthe story. He takes care of him.
Genuine love doesn’t say, does this person fit my mold? Is this person like me? That is a like me, not liking me, is admiring. Is this person like me? That is, a like me, not liking me, is admiring. Is this person like me? That isn’t even the question. The question is that genuine love says, what’s best for that person? What’s right for them? What does that person need me to be and to do for them at that moment? And so, we must give our attention.
That is, love gives its attention. Now, let me just say something at this point. Once in a while, I’m talking to somebody either down here in front or standing over here, wherever it may be after the service, and somebody else comes along and jerks me on the arm and pulls at me, and I ignore them.
Now, sometimes I get the feelings hurt, but here’s the reason I ignore them. It’s because if I’m looking at you, and you’re pouring out your heart to me, and you’re telling me how you’re hurting, how would you feel if I said, well, hey, how you doing? Good to see you. And on and on I go. What does it say? It says to that person, I’m not important. They’re more important than I am.
So don’t jerk my arm. Just don’t do it because I’m going to ignore you if you do. Now, if you’ll stand there, then I’ll turn around and say, hey, wonderful. But until I finish with that person, I’m not going to do it. God, listen, whenever I’ve ever come to God in prayer, he’s never said, Charles, wait just a minute, somebody else is calling.
No, he doesn’t do that. You know what you and I have? We come to him undivided attention. You know why we have undivided attention? Because we have undivided, unconditional love of God. And he says we are to learn how to love. Listen, none of us came into this world knowing how. We have to learn to love. We learn to receive his love and to love him.
We learn to love ourselves, and then we learn to love other people. But you can’t give yourself away. You ask yourself the question, is it true that you’re selfish, that the primary things you’re thinking about is me, myself, and I? Or is your life really being poured out in other people’s lives? Now watch this.
I don’t mean doing something for somebody else to get their approval or to get something from them. I’m talking about true, genuine love doesn’t ask for anything in return. It just gives. And that’s what we know little about in this nation. He says, that’s the way we’re to love. Our love is to be all-inclusive. Now, it’s interesting that in John’s first epistle, 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, 1st John, listen, four times in chapter 3, he says we’re to love one another.
Five times in chapter 4, he says we’re to love one another. John knew that it was very difficult for some people to love other people. And I want to say again, if you want to be able to genuinely give yourself emotionally, mentally, physically, in every way that is legitimate in that relationship, if you want to be able to give yourself in true, genuine love, first of all, you’re not looking for anything in return.
Not doing it to impress anybody. Not trying to get their approval or their favor. You know what’s happening? When you’re genuinely loving someone, here’s what’s happening. Here is the dynamic of the whole love affair. That when you and I were created, we were created to be lovers. Then we received the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.
The love of God came into our life. He says He’s abiding in us and His love is abiding in us. The Spirit of God came in when you and I were saved. What is the work of the Holy Spirit? To release this awesome love of God through us. And so what happens? You and I are not to be closed, but until we learn to love, that’s what’s going to happen.
But when we learn to love God and love ourselves, we’re going to be open. And here’s what he desires. He desires that his love just flow through you and me to others. Always flowing. And it is flowing. Listen, if it’s genuine love, it’s not trying to impress, not looking for reward, not trying to get anything. You know why? Genuine love doesn’t come from the flesh.
Genuine love is the love, listen to this, it is the love of God placed within us, and it is the love of God that’s flowing through us. I mean, if it’s the love of God flowing through us, it isn’t because I want something, I deserve something, I’m looking for reward, I want to impress. None of that. What is it? It’s just the love of God flowing through.
So what does he say? He says, the fruit of the Holy Spirit released within us is first of all, what? Love. My friend, it doesn’t make any difference who they are. If the love of God is released in your heart, the love of God knows no prejudice. No prejudice whatsoever does the love of God know. And I would just say to you, until you learn to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you’ll never know Him.
And if you don’t know Him, you’ll never love Him.And if you don’t love Him, His’ll never love Him. And if you don’t love Him, His love will never be in your life. And here’s what you’ll do. You’ll go through life having missed the whole point of living.
And secondly, you’ll never be able to love somebody the way they need to be loved. And you’ll never be able to receive the other person’s love like you want to so desperately receive it, you will feel undeserving. And so what will you do? You will reject that person’s love. And no matter how desperately they want to love you and try to love you, you will turn it off.
You will shut it out. And you’ll turn them away. Because something inside of you can’t allow yourself to be loved. You don’t deserve it. And we’re going to talk about the things that stifle love in our heart. But I want to say to you, my friend, when you trust the Lord Jesus, herein comes the source of my ability, capacity to love anybody, no matter what.
And I want to challenge you to receive Christ as your Savior. Then you’ll understand who God is. Then you’ll understand the love of a loving Heavenly Father. Then you’ll understand what it means to be able to let yourself be given away and to risk your love and to risk rejection by someone else.
And even when you’re rejected, you can love them just the same. Why? Because it is not something that you pump up. It is something that flows through your life. And what is it? It is nothing else than the wonderful, inexhaustible, incomparable, immeasurable, indescribable, unconditional love of our Heavenly Father.