Confidence in God's love. Christian Sermons Online

Thirty-five years ago God put it on my heart to open an orphanage for boys in Amityville, Long Island, New York. I had a genuine feeling that God was behind this matter. However, after one and a half years of existence of this house government authorities imposed such restrictions on it that we could no longer exist. They said that we should have a psychiatrist on our staff, as well as a Catholic priest or rabbi, in case we take in boys from Catholic or Jewish families. We simply could not exist under such conditions and had to close our doors.

In that short time we were only able to take in four boys, and after we stopped our activities I lost contact with them. I have always believed that this incident was one of my biggest mistakes in life. For over thirty years I kept wondering why God allowed us to open it in the first place.

Last week I received a letter from a man named Clifford. He said the following:

“Brother David, I was one of those four boys sent thirty-five years ago to your home in Amityville by the Children's Agency.

My mother and father were Jews, but they separated and my mother remarried someone else. She was such a rebel that she sent me to Catholic school. I was sprinkled in a Catholic cathedral at the age of 11.

Soon after this, our family stopped functioning normally. I myself had to clean the whole house completely, cook food, look after my little brother, take care of my mother and, at the same time, deliver newspapers in the morning. One day I had to break down the door to my mother's room, where I found her lying on the floor, foaming at the mouth. There were empty pill bottles lying around.

I visited a huge Catholic cathedral, went to confession, bowed down, fingered my rosary - but I only feared God. I was sure that He didn't care about me.

Neither I nor my mother knew that a social worker from the government office would soon come to place me in your shelter. But I so wanted to get away from my stepfather’s bullying, from poverty, from my mother’s suicide attempts, that I agreed and ended up in your shelter.

The shelter workers were so loving and good people. They studied the Bible with us and took us to church. One day they took us to a small church where a tent revival meeting was taking place. I was so sad inside and so sad. It was there, in this little church, in this tent, where the Holy Spirit began to knock on my heart. One evening I could no longer hold on. All those years of pain, confusion and helplessness were coming to the surface. I was out of breath.

Then I heard the preacher say, “Jesus loves you.” I fell to my knees and prayed, “God, I’m not sure that You really exist or that You can hear me. But if You really exist, please forgive me and help me. I want someone to love me because I feel so rejected, wronged by fate and lost.”

At some point, I felt as if someone had poured warm molasses on my head and it began to spread throughout my body. All my resentment melted away. From that day on, the Lord completely took possession of my heart.

Brother David, that was thirty-five years ago. Now God is calling me to preach and giving me the opportunity to become a minister. I found you on the Internet. This gratitude has been bubbling inside me all these thirty-five years. I just want to say thank you for your concern. I now know what God’s love is.”

This man's letter proves to me that absolutely nothing we do for Christ is in vain. The orphanage was not a failure—at least one lost, confused Jewish boy discovered the meaning of God's love. He knew only the fear of God until he came to the altar.

How sad it is to think that many millions of people, like Clifford, grow up knowing nothing of God's love. They never knew loving parents, that’s why they don’t know what God’s love is. They live lives filled with fear, confusion and rejection.

However, it is also tragic to realize that many believers who have tasted God's love have never learned how to enter into the fullness of God's love. They know the doctrine of God's love, they have often heard it preached, but they do not know what it means to be kept in His love.

The Holy Spirit has recently stirred my spirit regarding His love. He reminded me of this passage from Jude:

“And you, beloved, building yourselves up most holy faith yours, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourself in the love of God, expecting mercy from our Lord Jesus Christ, for eternal life.” (Jude 20-21).

As I read these verses, I heard the Holy Spirit quietly whisper to me:

“David, you have never entered into the fullness and joy of My love. You understand everything correctly theologically, but you yourself have not yet experienced the pleasure and peace of preserving yourself in My love. Until now you've only been in it up to your ankles. But there is a whole ocean of love in which you can swim.”

The Bible is filled with truths about the love of God. But sometimes I allowed myself to think about how God could possibly love me. It is not that I doubted His love, but that there was a deficiency on my part in keeping myself in the knowledge and assurance of His love for me.

This was the reason for writing this sermon. I want us all to learn how to keep ourselves in the love of God.

The love of God must be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.

Part of the revelation of God's love comes when we are born again. If you ask most Christians what they know about God's love for them, they will answer, “I know that God loves me because He gave His Son to die for me.” They will quote you the passage of John. 3:16:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

It is wonderful when you begin to understand this truth. You suddenly begin to understand: “God loved me when I was lost, imperfect, a complete stranger to Him. And He proved His love by sacrificing His Son for me.”

However, only some Christians learn how to keep themselves in the love of God. We know something about our love for God, but we rarely seek the revelation of God's love for us. If you asked most Christians to find passages in Scripture about God's love for them, they could name only a few.

However, a proper understanding of God's love is the secret to a victorious life. Many believers become cold and lazy because they do not know about God's love for them. They do not know that their most powerful weapon against Satan's attacks is to have complete confidence in God's love for them through the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

1. God loves His people with the same love that He has for His Son Jesus, who sits at His right hand.

In His last prayer on earth, Jesus said, “Father... because (You) loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). What a wonderful thought: Christ was loved by God before the foundation of the world. Before there was anything in space, before any planet was formed, before there was a sun, moon or stars, before the creation of the earth, before the creation of man, Jesus was loved by His Father.

Then Jesus prayed this wonderful prayer: “Father... You have loved them as you have loved Me” (vv. 21-23). He also prayed: “...that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (v.26). Jesus was simply saying, “Father, I know that You will love those whom I make My Body, just as You have loved Me.”

According to Jesus, in God's eyes Christ and His church are one. The Apostle Paul uses an illustration human body. He says that Christ is the head, and we are members of His Body, bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh:

“(God) put all things under His feet and made Him above all things, the head of the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Eph. 1:22-23).

“For we are members of His body, of His flesh and His bones.” (Eph. 5:30).

What is meant here is that if the Father loved Jesus from the beginning, He loved us too. In fact, when man was still a thought in the Lord’s mind, He already knew all our members and provided a plan for our salvation:

“For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love” (Eph. 1:4).

I believe in God's unlimited foreknowledge. I believe that the Father knew from the beginning all those who would respond to His call to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. In his psalms, David writes that he was loved by God in his mother's womb:

“But You brought me out of the womb, You placed hope in me at my mother’s breasts. I was left to You from the womb; From my mother’s womb You are my God.” (Ps. 21:10-11).

“Thy eyes have seen my embryo; in Your book are written all the days appointed for me, when not one of them was yet.” (Ps. 139:16).

In essence, David was saying, “Before I was formed in my mother’s womb, You knew all my days in advance.”

God has always loved His Son and you and me - because His love is eternal, just like He Himself:

“...I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3).

“Our God and Father, who loved us and gave us everlasting comfort...” (2 Thess. 2:16).

Jesus did not earn the Father's love by going to the cross, or by His obedience, or by His love for the Father. No one can deserve God's love in any way or good deeds. On the other hand, God did not begin to love you from the day you repented and accepted Christ as your Lord. He did not suddenly begin to love you when you began to obey His word and walk in the Spirit. You have already been loved by Him, from eternity.

How long has God loved you? He has always loved you - because He is love. This is His whole essence. He loved you while you were still a sinner. He loved you in the womb. He loved you before the foundation of the world. There was never a beginning to His love for you and there will never be an end.

When will God stop loving you? He will stop loving you when he stops loving His Son, which is impossible. Christ said: “...having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” (John 13:1).

Now we can better understand what Jude means when he instructs: “Keep yourselves in the love of God...” He says: “Get hold of this truth and never lose sight of it. You need the knowledge of God's love in order to have comfort and strength. It will set you free and keep you free." The Apostle John adds:

“This is love, that we did not love God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ...Let us love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:10,19).

2. Keeping yourself in God's love means knowing and completely entrusting yourself to His love, even in times of difficulty.

Anyone can rejoice when they are in the presence of the Holy Spirit on the heights of God, beyond temptations and enticements. But God wants us to keep ourselves in His love at all times - especially in our moments of temptation.

The Apostle John explains to us very simply how we can keep ourselves in God's love:

“And we knew the love that God has for us and believed in it. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16).

In short, if we “abide in the love of God,” we abide in God.

The word "abide" in this place means "to remain in a state of anticipation." In other words, God wants us to expect renewal of His love every day. We must live every day knowing that God has always loved us and will always love us.

In reality, most of us constantly slip away from God's love, depending on our emotional ups and downs. We only feel secure in God's love when we walk right. But we lose confidence in God's love whenever we fall into trials or temptations, especially during our falls. However, this is the time when we must be especially confident in His love for us. In these passages He says, “No matter what trial comes your way, you should never doubt My love for you. If you truly trust My love, then you will live the way I want you to.”

Maybe you are going through some kind of strong test right now? Or maybe some old lust is starting to take over you? Or is your marriage on the verge of collapse? This is exactly the time when you need to keep yourself in the love of God. You must remember that your eternal Father loves you no matter what.

You may be thinking, “Are you saying that God, out of love for me, overlooks my wrongdoings? Maybe He turns a blind eye to my sins? Of course not. He will chastise you with His staff - but He always corrects His children with great love.

“For the Lord disciplines whomever he loves...” (Heb. 12:6).

One of the reasons why God shows His love for us in our times of weakness and failure is because He wants to turn us to Himself.

Chapter 31 of the prophet Jeremiah shows us wonderful illustration God's love. Israel was in a state of apostasy. The people began to prosper and grew fat, carried away by all kinds of uncleanness. They turned to idols and began to commit adultery and fornication. Israel completely forgot all the mercies God had shown them.

Then suddenly all their lusts became disgusting to them. They have lost all pleasure in fulfilling their sinful inclinations. Very soon they began to cry out: “Lord, we are lost. Turn us to Yourself." The Lord heard their cry of repentance, and He loving heart addressed them. He began to punish them with His rod of correction, and Israel cried: “You have punished me, and I am punished... convert me, and I will be converted. When I was converted, I repented...” (Jer. 31: 18-19).

Listen to the words of the Lord at this moment: “...as soon as I speak of him, I always remember him with love; My inmost being is indignant for him; I will have mercy on him, says the Lord.” (v. 20). “...therefore I extended favor to you.” (v.3).

This is what we need to know about God's love - the Lord spoke this to His people: “I had to punish you and tell you hard words of truth. But even then you sinned against Me, despite all the goodness and mercy that I extended for you. You have turned against My love, rejecting Me. Despite all this, My insides are indignant for you. I always remembered you during all your difficulties and struggles and, of course, I will show you My mercy. I will forgive and restore you."

In chapter 3 of the prophet Hosea, the Lord compares backsliding Israel to a harlot. He says to Hosea:

“...go again and love a woman who is loved by her husband, but who commits adultery, just as the Lord loves the children of Israel, and they turn to other gods.” (Hos. 3:1).

God told Hosea to give Israel a pictorial message of His love for them, even though they were committing fornication. He said this: “You sinned against Me very brazenly, you became like a harlot at a street corner. But you still remain married to Me, and I love you. I will be for you and you will be for Me."

We see an image of such unconditional, restorative love in a letter we received recently from a dear sister in Christ. She wrote: “A year ago, when I was in fornication, I wrote you an anonymous letter asking you to pray for me. I was in a terrible state because of this deception in my life. I was born again and the Holy Spirit worked on me.

Now my relationship with my husband and with my wonderful Lord is restored. We had a lot of areas in our lives that needed restoration after 43 years life together. Your sermons convicted me and at the same time helped me to trust the love of God even more. I was convinced like never before how much God loves me.”

God's love had a powerful effect on this woman. At the same time, ignorance of God's love can have the opposite effect. Look what another woman writes:

“I felt so often that God only wanted to hit me and punish me for everything I did. That's why I was so cruel and unfriendly towards others, trying to guide them on the right path with a rod. But now I just want to run to Him to receive love and mercy from Him and show it to others. I'm tired of being the judge of other people." Thank God, she now wants to abide in God's love.

3. God's love is given to us only through Jesus Christ.

According to the words of the Apostle John, all the perfection of God's love resides in Jesus. He writes: “...we have all received Him out of His fullness.” (John 1:16). How did we receive the Father's love? We received it through our abiding in Christ.

But, you ask, why is it so important to know that God's love comes to us through Christ? What impact does this have on our daily lives?

Knowing this fact is not just a biblical concept. On the contrary, knowing that God's love is given to us through Jesus Christ has a direct bearing on how we keep ourselves in His love. You see, it is not enough for me to just know that God will always love me and will never stop loving me in all my experiences. He also wants His love to have a certain effect on me.

What impact does God's love have on our lives? Here we cannot take a person as an example. Many Christians have responded to the revelation of God's love as a license to sin. They convince themselves: “God loves me unconditional love. He must love me, despite all my drunkenness, fornication and pleasure-seeking. His mercy is greater than my sins." Such people trample on God's love.

We must follow the example of Christ. Jesus has already told us that the Father loved us in the same way that He loved His Son. So what impact did the Father's love have on the Son's life?

The fruit of the Father's love in Christ was His desire to present Himself as a living sacrifice for others.

John writes: “In this we know love, that He laid down His life for us...” (1 John 3:16). This is the fruit of God's love in His Son: He gave His life as a sacrifice for others.

The second half of this verse tells us what influence it should have in our lives. It says: “...and we must lay down our lives for our brothers” (v. 16). God's love leads us to present our bodies as living sacrifices.

Have you ever wondered what it means to actually lay down your life for your brothers and sisters? Paul is not talking here about us becoming martyrs for the name of the Lord in a foreign land. Nor does he talk about becoming a donor of his organs. Nor does he mean that we should replace some criminal sentenced to death penalty. Christ is the only One who made this sacrifice.

No, only that Christian can bring life and hope to his brothers who has died to himself; who died to this world, his self, his pride and ambitions; one who has submitted himself to the holy will of God.

This “dead” Christian allowed the Holy Spirit to take a spiritual inventory of his soul. He sees the imperfection and sinfulness of his heart. And he, of his own free will, goes to God's altar, crying out: "Lord, cleanse all this." He knows that only by being cleansed through the Blood of Christ can he lay down his life for his brothers.

This is the only, most important truth that gives me the opportunity to continue spiritual warfare. When I have full confidence that God will always forgive and restore me, I have the strength to resist every temptation. I know that He is with me in everything I encounter along the way, and that He will love me to the end. I may fall sometimes. But I know that He is waiting for me at the end of my struggle - and I will be restored and loved by Him.

Keep yourself in God's great love for you. This will be your strength in all trials. Amen!

In the Gospel read today (Luke 10:25-37), our Savior, God, solved a very important question for all of us: what should we do to inherit eternal life? This question was put to the Lord by some Jewish lawyer, who said: “What must I do to inherit eternal life”? The Lord pointed him to the law given to the Jews by God through Moses: “What is written in the law? How do you read? He answered, “You shall 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.” Jesus said to him: “You answered correctly; do this and you will live,” that is, forever. But he, wanting to justify himself, that is, considering himself, like the other Pharisees, a righteous person who fulfilled the law as he understood it, one-sidedly, incorrectly, said to Jesus: “Who is my neighbor?” - believing that only a Jew should be considered a neighbor, and not every person. With the parable of the man wounded by robbers and the Merciful Samaritan, who took the most heartfelt and active part in him, the Lord showed that every person should be considered a neighbor, no matter who he is, even if he is our enemy, and especially when he needs help.

So, this means that in order to receive an eternal life, you need to diligently fulfill two main commandments: to love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. But since the whole law consists of these two commandments, it is necessary to explain them so that we know well what love for God and neighbor consists of? So, with God's help Let's start with the explanation.

Loveљ Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, that is, with all your being, with all your strength, surrender yourself to God, devote yourself entirely to Him without any lack, do not divide yourself between God and the world; Do not live partly only for God and His law and partly for the world, for the multi-passionate flesh, for sin and the devil, but devote yourself entirely to God, be all of God, all holy, in your whole life. Following the example of the Holy One who called you(of God) and be holy in all your actions, says the holy Apostle Peter (1 Pet. 1:15).

Let us explain this commandment with examples. Suppose you are praying to God. If you love God with all your heart, then you will always pray to Him with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind, you will never be absent-minded, lazy, careless, cold in prayer; During prayer, you will not give room in your heart for any worldly cares and worries, you will put aside all worldly cares, you will cast all your sorrow on the Lord, for He cares for you, as the apostle says. Try to understand prayer, God’s service completely, in all its depth. If you love God with all your soul, then you will sincerely repent to God of your sins, you will bring Him deep repentance every day, for every day you sin a lot. You will repent, that is, condemn yourself for your sins with all your heart, with all your strength, with all your mind; you will expose yourself with all merciless severity, with all sincerity; You will bring a full confession to God, a sacrifice of a complete burnt offering of sins, so that not a single sin remains unrepentant or unmourned.

Thus, to love God with all your heart means to love His truth, His law with all your heart and all your strength, and to hate with all your heart all unrighteousness, all sin; with all your heart and with all your strength to fulfill the truth, to do good and with all your heart, with all your strength, to shun evil, that is, all sin, not to give room in your heart for any sin even for one minute, not for one moment, that is, not to agree to him, not to sympathize with him, not to put up with him, but constantly, eternally to be at enmity with sin, to fight with him and, thus, to be a brave and victorious warrior of Christ God.

Or let’s take another example: let’s assume that you are being persecuted for piety, for truth, for virtue; if you love God, then you will not for a moment deviate from piety, from truth, from virtue, even if this devotion to truth entails the loss of any benefits; since truth itself, or fidelity to God and His truth, is the greatest benefit for us, and God can reward fidelity to His truth a hundredfold both in this and in the next century. An example of this is Joseph the righteous, the son of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob, and many righteous people in the New Testament. So, to love God with all your heart means to fight according to God, according to His truth with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind. Thus, according to God, according to His truth, the holy fathers and holy martyrs fought, especially in the fight against heresies and schisms. This is zeal for God. Also, to love God with all your heart means to direct all people with all your might to God, to His love, to His glorification, to His eternal kingdom, so that everyone would know Him, love Him, and glorify Him. This is also zeal for God!

Having explained the first commandment to the best of our ability, let us now explain the second: Love your neighbor as yourself. What does it mean to love your neighbor, that is, every person, as yourself? This means honoring another as you would like to be revered, not considering anyone a stranger, but your own, your brother, your member, and a Christian and a member of Christ; consider his good, his salvation as your good, your salvation; rejoice at his well-being as if it were your own, grieve over his misfortune as if it were your own; try to save him from trouble, adversity, poverty, sin, just as I would try to save myself. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, - says the apostle (Rom. 12:1) . We must bear the strengths of the weak, not please ourselves; May every one of you please your neighbor for the good of creation(Rom. 15, 1-2). Pray for each other so that you may be healed(James 5:16).

љTo love your neighbor as yourself means to respect him as yourself, if, however, he is worthy of it; not to think about him unworthily, basely, without a reason for it on his part, not to have any evil towards him; do not envy him, but always be kind, condescend to his shortcomings, weaknesses, cover his sins with love, as we wish for them to condescend to our shortcomings. Bear with each other with love, - says the apostle (Eph. 4:2), - not repaying evil for evil, or annoyance for annoyance(1 Pet. 3:9). Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you(Matt. 5:44). If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him something to drink - says the Old Testament Scripture (Prov. 25, 22; Rom. 12, 20).

To love your neighbor as yourself means to pray for the living and the dead, relatives and non-relatives, acquaintances and strangers, for friends and enemies just as much as for yourself, and to wish them as much good, the salvation of the soul, as you do for yourself. This is what the Holy Church teaches in her daily prayers.

To love your neighbor as yourself also means to love everyone without partiality, regardless of whether he is poor or rich, good-looking or not, old or young, noble or simple, healthy or sick; useful to us or not, friend or enemy, because it is all the same God, all in the image of God, all are children of God, members of Christ (if Orthodox Christians), all our members, for we are all one body, one spirit(Eph. 4:4), there is one Head for all - Christ God. Let us understand this way and try to fulfill the two main commandments of the law of God - and we will inherit eternal life by the grace of Christ God. Amen.

22 / 11 / 2003

About love for God, neighbors and yourself

The sermon of our venerable father Arseny speaks of love for God and neighbor.

Blessed is the man in whom there is the love of God, because he carries God within himself.

He who has love does not boast before anyone, does not become arrogant, and does not slander anyone. In whom there is love, he does not compete, does not envy, does not look with a hateful eye, does not rejoice at the fall of others. In whom there is love, he fulfills the will of God. Blessed is he who acquires it; he will be the companion of the angels. Through love a person is reconciled with God. We must use all our strength to instill in ourselves this feeling of love, the basis of salvation, the source of bliss.

How blessed is the one who has acquired love, so unfortunate and pitiful is the one who is far from it. Whoever does not have the love of Christ is an enemy of Christ. Whoever wants to be saved must certainly acquire it within himself, because, according to the apostle, it is an excellent path to salvation (Corinth. 12). Love occupies such an important place in the matter of salvation that all the deeds of a person, all his virtues without it will serve nothing.

About the love of God. In order to grow in oneself love for God, a person needs to remember more often the blessings that he received from Him. God is the beginningless, highest, uncreated, infinite Good. Just as the sun always shines, just as fire always warms, so God always does good. The Lord also does good when He punishes, for He punishes in order to correct and have mercy; brings sadness in order to truly console.

About the creation of man. God is the Creator - He created man out of nothing, not like other creatures, but by His special Divine Council. Man is created in the image and likeness of God. What wonderful goodness of God to man! God loves him so much that he sent his Son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. Love must be repaid with nothing other than love and gratitude. God is our Provider, He provides for man and takes care of him, providing clothing, food and shelter. Man is surrounded on all sides by His blessings, love, and cannot live for a minute without Him. Everything around was created by His creative hand.

About the signs of love for God. Nothing deceives a person so much as in love. He who truly loves God tries to keep His commandments and avoids everything that is contrary to God. A clear sign love for God is heartfelt joy in God. A person usually rejoices in what he loves, and God’s love cannot exist without joy. This spiritual joy, heavenly, is a foretaste of eternal life. Truly loving God remembers him, constantly keeps in mind His love and benefits. This can also be seen in human love - whom we love, we often remember. Likewise, whoever loves God often thinks about Him and strives for Him with all his heart.

About love for one's neighbor. He who loves God also loves his neighbor. The source of love for one's neighbor is love for God; but love for God is known from love for one's neighbor. The root and beginning of love for one's neighbor is Divine love. God undoubtedly loves every person, love for neighbors is constantly commanded in the word of God. We must try to love our neighbor not in word, but in deed.

About a person's love for himself. A person's love for himself is inspired by nature itself. Loving yourself means seeking goodness, happiness and prosperity. It belongs to man to know himself, his nature and purpose. If he loves himself as he should, then with all his might he tries to save his soul. A person who loves himself with the right love values ​​his peace of mind, not being embarrassed by any vicissitudes, trying to cleanse his heart of filth and malice. A humble heart will never want that which leads it away from God.

About reading the Word of God. I need to read more often Holy Scripture, in this way a person will better know and notice his shortcomings and more deeply root humility in himself. Especially the study of God's Word helps to remove pride. Prayer disposes a person to communicate with God and at the same time arouses love both for God and for neighbor, and purifies a person’s love for himself.

About the Calvary plagues of Christ. During the first and second appearances to the apostles, the Lord Jesus Christ showed them His wounds on the Resurrected Body. And this action of God contained an edifying and mysterious meaning. The wounds of Christ on the Cross are signs of boundless Divine love, a source of abundant grace and a certificate of our condemnation. The plagues of Jesus are nothing more than eternally shining fiery letters, proclaiming to the whole world how much the Merciful Lord loved man. The wounds of Christ not only preach about highest love Lord, but are also a source of rich mercies of God for believers, because from them they pour into the hearts christian world and gracious consolations. Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacraments of the Church revealed to man the inexhaustible heavenly spring of Grace, from which all regenerated humanity draws eternal life in God.

Zhanna Zakharova 2012

He who knows how to love is a creator

Scripture Passage: Colossians 3:14

Today, taking advantage of the opportunity and honor given to me by God to stand at this pulpit, I will affirm that he who knows how to love becomes a creator. He can create everything new in himself and around him.

Is there anyone in this room who needs a word of love? Someone may not feel that he is loved, who feels a lack of love in his life.

I'm counting on your best Active participation in today's meeting. If your heart responds to what I say, say “Amen” out loud, raise your hand, nod your head.

Today we will not just analyze the word, we will work on ourselves together. This is what we come here for. Glorify God and change according to His word. And if you have questions, write them down and we’ll discuss them after the service.

I know that some believers are embarrassed, to put it mildly, to see a woman in the preacher’s place. Someone may be thinking now: “Well, this woman, in the spring she was drawn to romance, is going to talk about love.” Those who think so are in for a surprise.

Meanwhile, love is one of the three Christian virtues. And the main one. What are the other two? Any ideas?

1-CORINTHIANS 13

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, then I am a sounding gossamer or a clanging cymbal.

2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but do not have love, then I am nothing.

3 And if I give away all my goods and give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, it is not proud,

5 He does not behave unruly, does not seek his own, is not easily provoked, does not think evil,

6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth;

7 He bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails, although prophecies cease, and tongues are silent, and knowledge is abolished.

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;

10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will cease.

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; and when he became a husband, he left behind his children.

12 Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; Now I know in part, but then I will know, even as I am known.

13 And now these three remain: Faith Hope Love; but LOVE is the greatest of them.

God always has order in everything. If only we knew and understood this order. He tells us about three Christian virtues: faith, hope and love. They are interconnected, but still they are not the same thing.

Each has its own peculiarity. Faith is different from hope. Hope, for example, does not heal. If you say, I hope I get well, it will be a long wait. Maybe until the end of my days. If you say, I hope there is a God, then it is said of you that he who doubts is like sea ​​wave and let him not hope to receive anything from God.

It is another matter when we say: “I believe that I am saved by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,” “I believe that by His stripes I am healed,” “I believe that my name is written in the Book of Life in Heaven.” You cannot please God with hope. The only way to please God is through faith.

But this does not mean that hope is a useless thing; it should be treated with disdain. No. She is also from God. In what cases should we hope and for what? Let this be your homework.

Despite the fact that believers, non-believers, romantics, skeptics, poets, writers have written volumes about love. But there is still no clear answer to the question of what love is. Believers already habitually, somewhere even casually say God is love. Well, the most savvy will give a bunch of quotes from the Bible about love, fortunately there are a lot of them. Someone counted, it seems like 76. I didn’t count.

People manage to justify their mistakes, their stupidity with love; they try to justify fornication and adultery with love. After all, someone thought of this, to say: “Love is evil, you will love and...” I don’t even need to continue, everyone already knows. Love is evil... Yes. Is love evil? The World Health Organization has included love in the register of diseases under the name “disorder of habits and impulses.” Some people wonder if this love even exists? It's like asking, is there a God?

One philosopher wisely noted: “It is much easier to love all of humanity than to love your nearest neighbor.” Look at your next door neighbor. Ask yourself, do I love him? Only honestly. There is no need to say anything out loud. It's like that for yourself. Will come in handy a little later.

Many people want to walk in love, they want to love people, they know that a Christian must love, must cover everything with love. And how to do it? Does not work. Can't I love him? Well, why should I love him? It doesn’t suit me to force myself... Well, I don’t feel love for him. That's right that you don't feel it. Because the biggest misconception is to mistake your own for love. own feelings. Because feelings can come and go, we often cannot control them.

"Serve one another through love" says in Galatians (5:13), and in Romans (12:9) he warns us: “Let love be unfeigned.”

Whether you like or not really the one sitting behind, on the side, in front. That's good, leave him alone and take care of yourself.

Now let's make a breakthrough in understanding why we can't love. There is no use in forcing yourself. Let your love, as it is said, be unfeigned.

God proved his love for us by the fact that he gave his one and only Son Jesus Christ for us. The Lord Jesus proved His love for us by giving His life for us.

BUT WE CAN ONLY GIVE TO OTHERS WHAT WE HAVE OURSELVES.

We get irritated, offended, talk to others like ticket inspectors on a train, offend someone, then repent, get upset, feel guilty, ask for forgiveness, feel sorry for others, and in the end feel terribly sorry for ourselves. We prayed, suffered, recovered…. And we went in a new circle. And all because there is no love in the heart. There should be, but there isn’t. Why does one have it and the other doesn't?

A breakthrough in my understanding of the question of why some people have love and others don’t came when I realized I MYSELF DID NOT REALLY BELIEVE THAT GOD LOVES ME. BECAUSE I NEVER SERIOUSLY, TRULY ACCEPTED HIS LOVE FOR MYSELF. I have heard thousands of times, God loves you, God is love. But this word did not become my flesh, I did not put on it. That's why I chose from many Bible quotes about love - this one: “Above all, put on LOVE, which is the sum of perfection.” She calls for action. Put on your clothes, get dressed.

If you cannot accept a person today as he is, then you have not fully realized and accepted that God loves you, despite what you have done. God doesn't always love what we do, but he always loves us.

If you cannot forgive a person for his imperfections, it means you have not yet realized that God accepted and forgave you, not for your merits, and therefore He cannot help but love. If you have not accepted this, then you have nothing to give. You haven't received anything, so you have nothing, and therefore.... Let's look again at Corinthians chapter 13,

The way you treat people shows how you think God treats you. Not how He actually treats you, but how you think He treats you. And we must see ourselves through the eyes of God, then we will look at others differently.

By believing that God truly loves you personally, you, as God, will hate sin but love sinners. And try to do for him what God did for you. He covered your sin with his love, He placed love above judgment.

We read in Corinthians chapter 13, verse 2: “If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”

You can imagine the level of faith that can move mountains. 4th, 5th... And God says, anyway, without love I am nothing... Tell yourself loudly - without love I am nothing. If a person comes up and tells you: “You are nothing,” it’s offensive. But when God says - you are nothing, then this must be accepted as a manifestation of His love and desire for you to become everything. Can a person who grows in faith remain nothing? Maybe. This is very well illustrated in the sermon series “Spiritual Love” by Pastor Jaerock Lee.

Faith grows by hearing, it is strengthened by seeing signs and wonders. Remember, they won't believe it until they see it. And spiritual love can grow when we put effort into it. The Word of God says that faith works through love. Love must work. Look how much work it takes to be merciful, patient...

Ask yourself now, in what situation are you most irritated? Are you shouting or quarreling? In what situations are we afraid? I will tell you a short parable. Fear knocked on the door, love asked: “Who is there?” But no one answered. Then she opened the door and saw that there was no one there.

Perfect love casts out fear.

The problem of fear, depression, conflicts in the family lies in the lack of love in us. We can walk by faith, affirm that you and your house will be saved, proclaim, believe that the husband will be the priest in the house, and every knee in the family will bow before the Lord.

But tell me honestly, doesn’t it happen that we simply pester our unsaved relatives and friends with obsessive, edifying conversations. They're already shying away from us, once again They don’t want to communicate with us, they don’t invite us to visit. They don’t listen to us, and even if they listen out of politeness, they don’t hear. And it happens even worse - they insult, threaten, kick out. Do you know why they don’t listen to us? Why are they still not here with you, although you believe that they will come and hope. If we do not act in love, then our faith is unfruitful!

IF WE HAVE NOT ACCEPTED GOD’S LOVE, THEN THERE IS NO POWER OF THE CREATOR IN OUR WORDS.

Before ascending to heaven, the resurrected Jesus Christ said to his disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18)

When Pontius Pilate told Jesus that it was in his power to crucify him or to release him, Jesus answered him: “You would have no power over Me if it had not been given to you from above.”

What is the connection between power and love? Very simple. GOD HAS ALL POWER AND GOD IS LOVE This means that if you put on God’s love and accept it, then it enters into you along with power. One of the criteria of power is responsibility.

God doesn’t just reign, He sits on the Throne. God is not a wedding general. He works. He moves among us. He performs miracles, heals, changes people, saves. Look how responsibly God approached creation. He first prepared everything necessary for man, and even more, and then he created man himself. He did not create it when there was still darkness on the earth. Wander around in the dark as you please.

The easiest way to believe that God loves you is to look around you. God's love for us is demonstrated at every step. God could have created one type of tree, one type of flower, one type of butterfly. This would be enough for the biological balance of the planet. After all, he wanted to please us. He decorated this planet the way parents decorate a room for their baby, making sure that it was not only safe, but also cheerful and beautiful.

GOD CANNOT NOT LOVE, BECAUSE THIS IS HIS NATURE OF THE CREATOR.

Look how creatively He approached the creation of our home, our universe. He who knows how to love is also a creator. He creates and transforms everything around him, like a god. He is a creative person. For example, when we bring people to God, we participate in God’s work of creating a new man - he was an unbeliever, but was born again from the old, sinful man to become righteous. New person is born. Who is not the same now as he was before?

God, loving us, used his power and changed us. He said, “He who loves me keeps my commandments”. If we ourselves do not want to be subject to God's commandments, do not be surprised if others do not obey us.

Jesus was given all authority. People around noticed that He taught not like the Pharisees, but as one who had authority. He just did it with love. The Father knew that the Son's main motive was love for people. If the motive of your words and actions is love, then speak, act. Then your words will have power and they will bear fruit. If not, it's better not to say anything. Those who do not know how to love open doors for the devil into their lives. First put on love, which is the sum of perfection. Build your homes with love, build your relationships on love at home, in church, at work. Because we have a responsibility for this before God and before people.

John 13:35 “By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Have you accepted this word about love today, has it fit within you? Then

Sow love and you will reap more love. Sow now, you can stand up, walk up to someone, or turn to your neighbor and tell him with love what you yourself would like to hear. Pass on what you received. You have a couple of minutes, and then we will pray together.

30. About love for God and neighbor

Our Lord Jesus Christ, when asked by one teacher of the law, what commandment is the most important in the Law of God, answered: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself; On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” From these words of the Savior it is clear that the one who fulfills the commandment of love, that is, learns to love God and neighbor, will fulfill the entire Law of God. Therefore, everyone who wants to please God must constantly ask themselves the question: am I fulfilling these two most important commandments - that is, do I love God and do I love my neighbors?

How can we determine if we love God? The Holy Fathers indicate signs of such love. If we love someone, says St. Silouan of Athos, then we want to think about that, talk about that, be with that person. If, for example, a girl falls in love with some young man, then she constantly thinks about him, and all her thoughts are occupied with him, so that even while working, studying, eating or sleeping, she cannot forget him. Let's try to apply this to ourselves: here we are, Christians, who must love God with all our hearts, with all our souls and with all our strength - how often do we remember God? Do we think about Him while we work, eat or sleep? Alas, the answer to this question will be disappointing - we do not remember God very often, or even, one might say, rarely. Our thoughts are almost always occupied with anything but God. Our mind is attached to the earth, to earthly worries, to earthly vanity. Even when we pray or attend a divine service, our mind often wanders unknown where, along the crossroads of this world, so that we are present in the temple only with our bodies, while our soul, mind, and heart reside somewhere far beyond its borders. And if this is the case, then this is a sure sign that we love God little.

How else can we check whether we are fulfilling the first commandment, that is, whether we love God? To do this, we need to pay attention to how we fulfill the second commandment - to love our neighbor. The fact is that these commandments are inextricably linked, and it is impossible to fulfill the first without observing the second. If someone says: “I love God,” but does not love his neighbor, then such a person, according to the word of the apostle, is a liar. So we, if we think that we love God, but at the same time do not love our neighbor, that is, we quarrel, do not forgive offenses, have hostility, then we are deceiving ourselves, for it is impossible to love God without loving our neighbor.

We should also clarify the question of who our neighbor is. Of course, in a broad sense, our neighbors are all people in general, without exception. However, in a narrower and more important sense for us, neighbors are those who are constantly close to us, who surround us every day: members of our family, immediate relatives, friends and colleagues at work. In first place, of course, we should put our family. It is them that we first need to learn to love as ourselves. Show your love first of all in your home and in your family, say the holy fathers.

There are people who loudly declare their love for man and humanity, but at the same time are in a state of misunderstanding, hostility, and even open hostility with their closest relatives. This state, of course, is self-deception, in which what is desired is accepted as reality. After all, before we talk about love for humanity, we need to learn to love the people closest to us - relatives, friends, neighbors and co-workers. And we must certainly learn to do this, otherwise we will not fulfill the second of the two most important commandments, and if we do not fulfill the second, then we will not fulfill the first, for it is impossible to love God without loving our neighbor.

So, first of all, we must learn to love our neighbors, no matter how difficult it may seem to us. And sometimes this can indeed be very difficult, because our neighbors are not always angels. Many, for example, can say: the neighbors want to drive me away from the world - how can I love them? Or: the boss at work eats me up, constantly finds fault with everything - how can I love him? Or even about my family, many will say: my husband is a drunkard, and there is no way to live from him... my daughter wants to get rid of me, send me to a nursing home... I am raising a drug-addicted grandson, and there is no relationship with him. Is it possible for us to love such people?

However, if we want to be true Christians, if we want to imitate Christ and the saints, we must learn to love these people. Of course it's difficult. But Christianity is not some easy, simple and convenient thing. Christianity requires heroism. Is it a joke to say: after all, the path of a Christian makes a person a son of God, the owner of His ineffable blessings, an immortal inhabitant of heaven, an heir to the eternal glory of the saints. After all, this is not a small matter at all. In the book of the Apocalypse, the Lord promises to seat true Christians on His throne next to Him. Let's just think: to sit next to God on His throne - is this a small matter? Doesn't it surpass in its grandeur everything that can be imagined? And if the reward promised by the Heavenly Father is so great, is it any wonder that it is not always easy for us to fulfill His commandments? After all, even in ordinary earthly life, victory is not given without difficulty, without persistent struggle, without extreme exertion of strength.

The Lord, who gave the commandment to love our neighbors, of course, knows that these neighbors are different, that they often do not love us and treat us badly, and sometimes outright hostile. And therefore the Lord, as it were, reinforces the commandment of love by commanding us to love those who are hostile to us, to love our enemies. He says: if you love only those who love you and treat you well, then what is your reward? Why reward you then - after all, both pagans and those alien to the true faith love those who love them.

It is easy to love those people in our circle of acquaintances who are rich, strong, polite, witty and good to us. This is easy because communicating with them is pleasant and brings pleasure, and often some practical benefits. But such love, if you look deeply, is unreal, insincere and untrue love, because real love always disinterested, she, according to the word of the apostle, does not seek her own and loves not for some pleasant and advantageous qualities, but disinterestedly - when there are no such qualities and there are even opposite qualities. Only such love is Christian and true, only it is a sign that we are following the path of Christ. This is how God loves - after all, He loves us not for some great merits and virtues that do not exist, and not for the benefits that we bring to Him, for what can we give Him? - but loves us as we are - fallen, indecent and sinful. Such love is perfect love, and it is the destiny and sign of the perfect.

The Lord calls us to such perfection: be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect, He says. And one more thing: be holy, because I am holy. According to the Monk Silouan, the main sign of the truth of the path for a Christian is his love for his enemies - for those people who do not love him, who annoy him, from whom he suffers. And often such people are our close relatives. After all, if a drunken husband is dead, or a slutty daughter is kicked out of the house, or a drug-addicted grandson has sold all his things, then these are precisely the people to whom the commandment of love for enemies applies. For in a sense we can say that their behavior has become more like enemies than relatives. And by virtue of this commandment, we must love them if we want to be true Christians and achieve perfection. Yes, these relatives behave like enemies, but we received the commandment to love not only relatives, but also enemies, and to be perfect, as our Heavenly Father is perfect. Christ prayed on the Cross for His crucifiers, and therefore even if our neighbors begin to crucify us, then, imitating Christ, we must love them and pray for them.

Of course, this is not easy, and such a test is truly a fiery test of our faith, patience and Christian love. It is impossible for a person to accomplish this on his own, but with God everything is possible, and if, in spite of everything, we try to love these people close to us, patiently endure the sorrows they cause, if we force ourselves to pray for them, feel sorry for them and treat them kindly, good, then we will become imitators of the Lord God Himself in His perfections, and then the Lord, seeing our struggle and patience, will Himself help us in bearing the cross and will give His Grace and spiritual gifts already in this life. As for the reward in the Future Age, it will be so great that we will not remember at all the sorrows that we endured on earth from people, and if we remember, we will thank God for them, for we will see that it was for our patience that we were honored we are of eternal glory in heaven.

Of course, examples about which we're talking about, are extreme, but even in such cases we must love those who cause us a lot of grief. Moreover, we must love all other people. After all, very often we do not know how to love even those of our neighbors who have not done anything bad to us. We treat them with hostility, we don’t love them, we condemn and slander them. And by such behavior we undoubtedly serve the demons and become like them. Saint Silouan directly says that if you think evil about people or treat someone with hostility, this means that an evil spirit lives in you, and if you do not repent and correct yourself, then after death you will go to where they are. evil spirits, that is, to hell.

And it must be said that such a danger threatens some of us, people who seem to belong to the church, who confess and receive communion. Imagine, brothers and sisters, what a nightmare, and horror, and shame it will be if we, baptized people, visiting the temple, knowing the commandments of God - in a word, having everything we need for salvation - if we end up in hell ! After all, those who are there - atheists, God-fighters, Satanists, debauchees, villains - will laugh at us, they will say: oh well, we didn’t know anything, we didn’t go to church, we didn’t read the Gospel, we lived without God and without the Church - that’s why you ended up here, but what about you? How did you end up here? After all, everything was given to you to fulfill the will of God in your life, and despite this you ended up in hell?..

Holy Scripture reveals to people that God, the Creator of the universe, is love. And it calls us to become like our God, to become like Him. Since God is love, then if we want to come to Him, we must learn to love. Christian perfection is love, selfless love, not for something good that people do to us, but love for everyone, even for enemies. The Monk Isaac of Syria says that the sign of those who have achieved Christian perfection is this: even if they are given up to be burned ten times a day for love for people, they are not satisfied with this and do not calm down, but would like to be burned another hundred or thousand times for the sake of love. As an example, Saint Isaac pointed to Abba Agathon, who, having once seen a leper, said that he would like to take his decaying body and give his own to him. And you don’t need to think that this leper was some kind of ideal suffering swan. No, most likely, he was an ordinary tramp, perhaps a very sinful one, perhaps a drunkard or a thief - and it was to such a person that Abba Agathon wanted to give his holy body! And undoubtedly, I would give it if I could.

Such love is Christian perfection; God, the Creator of the universe, loves with such love. Christ walked the path of such love in our world - after all, this is exactly what He did with the fallen and corrupted human race: He united with its nature, took His body, leprous by death, and gave Himself to him, the fallen and sinful one - His nature, His Divinity, His glory and immortality. And we, Christians, must imitate Christ in this, we must learn from Him perfect Divine love, strive for it, achieve it. “Achieve love,” says the holy Apostle Paul. And let us not be embarrassed by the fact that this ideal seems infinitely distant to us, that we do not feel such love within ourselves and do not have the strength for it. The Lord would not have given us the commandment about love if it were impossible to fulfill it. Yes, our selfishness, our pride, our inability and reluctance to love, our constant and deep tendency to hostility - all this, like insurmountable mountains, weighs us down, and it often seems that no force can move these mountains from the soul. However, we must remember that it is to us that the words of Christ are addressed that what is impossible for men is possible for God. And therefore, let us not be lazy, brothers and sisters, but let us try, albeit in a small measure, but still to do deeds of love, we will strive for it, we will, according to the words of Elder Paisius of Athos, try to move from the soul the mountains of passions that prevent us from loving, - no matter how huge they may seem. And then, seeing our efforts and faith, the Lord Himself will move them, and in their place will light the flame of perfect love, which makes man a new creation, sanctifies, elevates to heaven and likens us to the Lord God Himself, for God, our Heavenly Father, is love. Amen.

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