Alluring Love

What we see in this allurement is not to entice to trick, but this persuasion is to radically suggest a different option to the way we are living. What’s some of the qualities of alluring love… let’s look at two things.. Alluring Love never forces itself on others. I’ve always loved the Emmaus road story. and in that story, two men were walking away from Jerusalem and found themselves not only walking away from Jerusalem but also walking away from thier group.

Because the story they tell a Sojourner with them, is that they sent the woman, and then sent the men and instead of hearing the two testimonies, and believing, they began to walk away. And the word tells us that Jesus was present but hid their eyes from seeing him. This is that humble love that never forces itself on other. Jesus, comes along side of them… but he doesn’t overpower them.

Even after defeating death at the grave, Jesus still is humble and meek. He had every reason to boast and be like come on guys… you had two witnesses, but instead of putting them down, he simply showed them in the scriptures on how the word of God, points to Jesus. So, God doesn’t force himself upon the one He pursues… He simply, and freely offers a different option than the one we’re chasing after…

Those men had a choice, and the choice came when they realized that their hearts were burning… and so they turned and walk back to the 11 disciples and their group. God reaches out to the heart allured by sin and shame, and He allures the heart to himself by his love. And he simply says, would you be willing to consider something different? Would you be willing to see my goodness as greater than whatever it is, that you love more, than me.

In this moment Jesus, comes up along side of those men and walks with them, even in the direction away from Jerusalem… I often wonder about this.. I imagine sometimes, Jesus even walks those turning and walking away all the way to the gates of Hell trying to allure and persuade us to turn, repent and come back with burning hearts before it’s too late. But hat leads to another thing we realize about God’s alluring love…

Is that, Alluring Love never gives up. You’ll see that all throughout the book of Hosea… He never gives up, he’s faithful. In the love chapter of I Corinthians, Paul affirms this kind of “persevering love” Its a love that never gives up..… Paul writes, "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." And what Paul is teaching to the people of Corinth is that God’s persevering love requires relationship.

Think about Emmaus road.. an those two guys were in a relationship and walking away from relationship with Jesus and the relationship of the group. I think of my marriage often. Alicia and I have had many battles in our marriage. And I confided to you about how, 7 years into our marriage we hit a tough patch and divorce was on the horizon. We discovered that we were complete opposites.

We had love in common, but there was a lot things that we had uncommon… For instance, I’m an extrovert and she’s more of an introvert. I’m more physical in my love, touchy feely and she’s more practical, like doing and serving. What we learned during this time of hardship was, was that there was a lot of wrong and broken and selfish things in our lives, and so we were going to be determined to make this marriage work….

Not just for the kids, but because we do loved each other, and we love our kids, but more importantly, we both agreed that we love Jesus more. So, We had to learn to sacrifice for one another, and honestly what we learned was that we had to “grow up.” There’s a lot of Christians out there who’s been christians for 10, 20, 30 or more years into their faith, and their still infants in Christ.

Just because they have the years, doesn’t mean they have spiritual maturity. There is a difference between longevity of time and the deepness of intimacy when it comes to relationships. Alicia and I had to grow up, physically and spiritually. Especially since we both knew I was called to pastor a church. And although our struggles never stopped, we kept on loving, and forgiving, and showing grace to one another in our struggles.

We learned to communicate with one another. And above all… we learned we had to have Jesus as the head of our marriage. Have you ever wondered what the purpose of relationships are for? This might be foreign to you.. But Relationships are meant for holiness… It’s true. Holiness is Christ in me, but it’s also a testament to the fact that God doesn’t give up on us. Paul says: being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Alicia and I, we’re going on 18 years of marriage this May.. and here’s the thing about relationships and marriage… just because we’ve been married for 18years, that doesn’t mean we’ve gotten it all figured out. We had to learn a lot of things in 18 years… One thing we had to learn in our marriage was how to love one another in our diffenrces. We had to learn that our relationship to one another wasn’t just to make “me" happy.

If marriage was just to make me happy, then love becomes selfish, not selfless. If church is only about coming into a building and having things my way, so that I can be happy. I’ve not made my worship or church about Jesus, I’ve made it about me. I’ve not made it about relationships, but rather about my own desires and preferences. True worship and church should be centered around serving and glorifying God, and building meaningful relationships with others in the community.

And any times selfless loves is overcome by selfish love, we find at the root, a heart that becomes indifferent. Phillipaisn says, ”Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." When we make our faith about indifference rather than relationships with one another.. we risk losing the true meaning and purpose of what relationship means.

Relationships require effort, let me just add.. intentional effort, It requires compromise, and a willingness to put the needs of others before our own at times. When we prioritize our own happiness over others, and we become indifferent to the needs and feelings of others, we risk damaging or even destroying the relationship. But When we make relationship and persevering love about others, we’ll find that we can, in fact truly love without ever giving up because the one who loved us first, still hasn’t given up on us.

I think that’s the greatest example of persevering love. Did you know that there is a secrete to long marriage… do you know it? Have any of you figured it out yet? The secrete is the fact that there is no secrete…. The key to a faithful marriage is the willingness to let God’s love flow through you so that he can love others. The secrete to a long marriage is sacrifice.

Paul tells the Phillipians: “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” what’s the attitude of Christ? Love. Compassion. Humility. Sacrifice. Imitation love, will only last for so long. If we keep trying to fix marriages with imitation, and earthly love, at some point it’s going to wear out. That’s why we need Jesus’ love in us so we can offer lasting love to others. But We first have to open our life to him; then he can love others through us.

We’re called to pursue that love… it’s called holiness, we pursue holiness through relationship. Relationship with Jesus, and relationship with others. That’s why we call it, Radical Love. Look with me in the next line, because once we’re persuaded, or allured as the text reads, God does what? “He leads her into the wilderness and speaks tenderly to her” So, Speaking of relationships, the wilderness is more than just a place of trials and hardships.

It’s actually…. a place of intimacy more than anything else. But the truth is, at first.. we never see the wilderness as a place where intimacy grows… do we? Sometimes our wilderness is learning to make new friends, or finding new traditions. I think of the many times our family had to move with my job and how many times we had to make new friends, and recreate a new circle of stability where we were living.

I remember when we first moved to Colorado and we had plans to join this Baptist church, but I listened to a sermon from them on how woman are inferior to men, I decided that wasn’t a place where my family should worship. So by God’s grace, God sent us a flier from a church that happened to be a Nazarene church, which jump started my calling to become a pastor.

It was a wilderness moment for us, I didn’t really have any desire to go to church. We only went because Alicia wanted to go to a Christmas service. When we come into a wilderness moment, usually the first response is that we want out. Many times, our attitude is: when will this end, When will the sun shine once again on me, or my situation. When will you bring me through this, God?…

The problem with focusing on ourselves in the wilderness fuels this indifference while we are in the wilderness.. Think about Exodus chapter 15 and 16. Turn with me to exodus 15 and 16. The Israelites grumble about Moses’s leadership. Fresh on thier mind is thier captivity… thier bondage, thier old way of life. And once they crossed the red sea and make it to the other side, once they stepped into the wilderness…

they began to complain. Three days into the wilderness of shur, it says, in chapter 15 verse 24: The people grumbled to Moses. That means they brought thier indifference to him as thier leader. They were unsatisfied, they were unhappy. I serve on the Help net board, the compassion ministry in Ashland, PA, and I shared with our team this week, that the Pandemic EBT funds have been eliminated from those receiving extra benefits…

And I warned our team to make sure we’re prepared for an increase need for food compassion. Because for three years, those receiving these extra benefits, are going to begin walking in a wilderness. Thier way of life for three years is about to be tested, and just like the Israelites, I suspect there to be an influx of the need for food assistance, at places of compassion ministries. Now, the Israelites brought thier concerns to Moses, but then very quickly they begin to murmur and complain, and look with me verse 2, of chapter 16.

The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. They went from coming to Moses, to now coming against him. And what was Moses response? He tells them in verse 7, who are we that you complain about us, And he reminds the Israelites, your complaints are not against us, but against God. They were complaining against God. And while they complained, If only we would have died but he Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat around pots of mean and ate all the bread we wanted.

Church, they were… They were focused more on getting OUT of the wilderness than what God would do for them IN the wilderness. The wilderness was there they experienced, Intimacy with God - God wanted to make a covenant with them. Greater understanding of ourselves (Most times our selfishness and hard heartedness is fleshed out in these wilderness moments.) Community and relationships are built in wilderness moments (God wanted the people to learn to rely on one another and support one another as they came and worshiped him.

It was a place where they had the opportunity to share the journey with one another. Grace is always best lived out in community. And it was a place of Clarity and perspective: the wilderness, is a place where we can be stripped of distractions and forced to confront our priorities and values. Jesus tells us, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” When we come into he wilderness…

God’s radical love doesn’t force himself on us, we can reject him and walk out… but it does bring us to moments where when e seek him first.. he does promise that we will find him. And I Love this part, he speaks tenderly to her… I thought about this for awhile…. Why didn’t God speak to her when he was alluring her at first? The only time God speaks, he does so tenderly, but only in the wilderness…

And I’ve come up with this… Tenderly means gentleness and kindness.. it means it’s tender, easily to cut and chew. I think this… Those who God is alluring,… are people who wouldn’t of known or trusted his voice in the first place. So he needs to be tender when he is speaking to them in the wilderness… Jesus tells us, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me..

You see, those of us who are deeper and already trusting in the masters voice, we willingly walk in the wilderness because we know and trust our shepherds voice… We know wilderness means deep intimacy and we desire to know our Master more. But those who do not know him, those who have been unfaithful, and unforgiving and unrepentful…Those still walking in sin, those who love the darkness, they don’t know his voice as, being good or loving.

Once they hear the masters voice, there’s a high chance they would turn from him… because of their shame. It’s the same reason why we hide our shame… because we don’t want others to know it. That’s why God allures us at first with his radical love at first. God’s love is his language. He tells Jeremiah, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13, New International Version) This tenderly tone in God’s voice, has the meaning of speaking to her heart, to the very core of her being.

That although, like the Israelites we deserve judgment, we deserve wrath, we deserve God coming in and saying, I told you so. We don’t deserve the allurement of a holy God. We deserve the judgment of a holy God. We don’t deserve to be spoken tenderly to by a holy God who hates sin. We deserve to be cast out and condemned forever. Yet God in His grace and in His mercy, chooses to allure us.

To bring us aside from the stuff of this world that destroys us and to speak tenderly to our hearts. And here’s what is so beautiful about this truth… This is the gospel. We deserve eternal judgment before a holy God. But in his rich love, He has sent His son Jesus, God in flesh, to bear our judgment in our place on a cross. To rise after dying for our sin from the grave to make it possible for us to be forgiven of all of our sin.

Him, united with him, in relationship with him forever lasting life. Forever and ever and ever. Let’s stand together… My final question for you this morning is this… are you being allured, or are you still running away? *