If God had a refrigerator, your photo would be on it.

Matt Heard:
If God had a refrigerator, your photo would be on it. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Matt Heard is a speaker, teacher, writer, pastor, coach, and the main guy behind ThriveFullyAlive.com

Matt Heard:
Thank you Matthew. Well, that quote.

If God had a refrigerator, your photo would be on it.

First heard from a friend, Max Lucado, and it immediately brings up the gap a lot of us have between religiosity and relationship. Most of us approach God in the context of going through religious motions until we actually grasp the gospel. And when we begin to grasp the gospel, front and center is God’s love. And when Max said that years ago, I think it was in a book called A Gentle Thunder, I smiled because I thought so many of us, we have such a low view of God and that translates into a low view of his love. I’m glad you’ve joined us this week because we’re unpacking a very obscure verse in the Bible, John 3:16. Just kidding. It’s the most popular verse in the Bible, but we’re unpacking it in the context of this conversation in John 3, that Jesus is having with a religious guy, a superior religious guy named Nicodemus. And Nicodemus didn’t know, but Jesus was inviting him from the realm of religiosity into the realm of relationship. And for that to happen, he says, you’ve got to be born again. You’ve got to come alive. And so, we’re talking this week, what does it look like to come alive? And part of it is a mindset of understanding the difference between religiosity and relationship. In a mental image, it’s the difference between treating my whole connection with God as a vending machine versus a table. And you can get food in both places, but the vending machine is transactional. It’s where I’m jumping through hoops and putting coins in. I’m doing all the religious things thinking, okay, God will give me something. But the table is where it’s laden with food, but on the other side is God who wants to commune with me, which is just incredible. And he wants to commune with me through his Son. So, the rest of this week, let’s unpack that table. You know, what makes that table sturdy? It’s got four legs, imagine that. And you can’t just have three legs. You’ve got to have all four for there to be some stability. And what we’re doing is we’re going to unpack John 3:16 in the context of four table legs of relationship. And it’s looking at each of those categories that you see in John 3:16.

For God so loved the world

So, the love of God is table leg number one.

that he gave his one and only Son

Table leg number two is the Son of God.

that whoever believes in him

Table leg number three is belief in God.

shall not perish but have eternal life.

So, let’s unpack them one at a time. First, this whole notion of the love of God. A lot of people, myself included, we look at the inadequacies of human love and we look at God’s love through that filter and a lot of times we can’t help doing that initially, but it’s understanding that God’s love is very, very different from our understanding of love. God’s love is not something that we earn, it’s something he lavishes on us. And I John 3 verse 1 says.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God.

That word great is a Greek word patapos, it means get a load of this. It’s surprising, it’s incredible, it’s over the top. Years ago, I cut and pasted a quote by A.W. Tozer, and he said.

From God’s other known attributes we may learn much about His love. We can know, for instance, that because God is self existent, His love is no beginning. And because He is eternal, His love can have no end. Because He’s infinite, His love has no limit. Because He’s holy, it is the quintessence of all spotless purity, because He is immense. His love is incomprehensibly vast, bottomless, shoreless, as a sea before which we kneel in joyful silence, and from which the loftiest eloquence retreats, when confused and abashed.

Or if you just want to say.

If God had a refrigerator, your photo would be on it.

Is another way to look at that. God’s love is what motivated him to begin this process of redeeming a dead planet, restoring it to what it was originally intended for. And that’s the process that we’re in. That’s the story that starts with the garden and the tree of life, and we’re going to end up there again at the end of Revelation, by the tree of life. And in the meantime, it’s God bringing us back to this zoe from which we’ve been exiled, this life of God from which we’ve been exiled, and at the epicenter of that life of God is His love, His love that cares, that assigns value to us. How much are you worth? How much is anything worth? It’s what somebody is willing to pay. And how much am I worth? Too often we view love in the context, it’s this Hollywood and Hallmark where it’s feeling emotions. Well, God’s love is something that assigns value.

While we were still sinners.

Paul says

Christ died for us.

And so, that moves us into that second table leg of how do you pronounce the love of God? How do you spell it? How about it’s either J E S U S, or if you want to get even more specific, it’s S A C R I Sacrifice F I C E.

For God demonstrated his love towards us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Ephesians 2

But because of His great love for us,

His great agape, love

God who is rich in mercy. He made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions, and it’s by grace that you’ve been saved.

This whole notion of the Son of God, I have to engage. If I’m going to be restored into a relationship with God, I’m going to be sitting at this table, which is probably one of the great places of relationship in our journeys. And that table has four table legs. The first is the love of God. And I’ve got to grapple with that, not put God’s love through the filter of all my earthly experience, earthly relationships, all the conditional stuff, but saying he actually loves me. He loves me more than I can ever imagine. People say that sounds too good to be true. Well, that’s why it’s called the gospel. But he demonstrated that love, Romans 5:8, I’ve said before that, wow, we were still sinners Christ died for us. So, it’s not conditional. He says, I want to love you back to life. And therefore Jesus, he’s much more than a mascot. He’s much more than just the token of my religiosity. He’s the epicenter of the means by which I can relate with God and be restored in the original purpose that I’m made for. I John chapter 4, verse 9 says.

This is how God showed his love among us, he sent his one and only Son.

There’s that same phrase, that monogeneous, that one and only. It’s the one and only, one kind. There’s no one else like him.

He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

That we might live, thrive, flourish, zoe, the life of God. This is love.

Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

So, there’s that spelling of love, S A C R I F I C E. How do I know he loves me? You look at Jesus. Colossians chapter one, verse 15 says.

And the Son, this one and only son is the image of the invisible God. He’s the first born over all creation.

There’s that whole notion of him telling Nicodemus you’ve got to be born again. He’s the firstborn in his resurrection, He comes out of death into life and he’s inviting us to follow him in resurrection life and restoration. But there’s Jesus, he’s not a little mascot. You know, our friend Pat Morley would often say. And I love the quote.

There’s a Jesus who is, and there’s a Jesus we want, and they are not the same.

This Jesus that we need, the one who is, Paul says to the Colossians.

For in him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He’s before all things, and in him all things hold together.

What Jesus did is He came and He said, I’m going to deliver something to you. And it’s the love of God. Now, what’s in the way is our imperfection, our sinfulness, and what Jesus did on the cross as God, what He did was infinite. But as a human being, what he did applied to each of us. He took our sin, that barrier, that curtain that keeps us back from relating with God in an all of life, beautiful, life giving, flourishing way. He took that sin and he paid the penalty for it. So, you and I, so often in our religiosity, we’re thinking, okay, we’ve got to pay for our sin. No, Jesus has already paid for it. As some say, religiosity, the big word of that is do, but in Biblical grace infused Christianity, the big word is done. Jesus has done it, and will I accept it? And as a result, will I not treat Him as a vending machine, but walk with Him and relate with Him across the table? And in light of that. I hope you thrive today.

Matthew Porter:
If God had a refrigerator, your photo would be on it. Well, that is just good stuff. Thank you Matt. We’re in a week long series with Matt called Coming Alive. And I trust it’s blessing you as much as it is me. More from Matt Heard tomorrow. So, do join us, won’t you? Well, we are so excited about the latest print edition of Key Life Magazine. A lot, a lot of work goes into this thing. And I think you will find it was worth it. Articles in this issue touch on perverting the gospel, the downside and upside of distractions, finding hope, and our tendency to wander. This issue is part of our year long celebration of Key Life’s 40th anniversary. Yeah, I said 40. So, claim your copy right now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to order the magazine. Or to mail your request, just go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Again, just ask for your absolutely free copy of Key Life Magazine. And finally, if you’re blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Giving is easy, just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.