The Essence!
Romans 8:35-39
KARL BARTH was a German theologian who dominated the theology of the 20th century. In 1962, 6 years before his death, he made his only visit to the United States. One night he lectured at a seminary in Virginia and after the lecture he met with students in the coffee shop for some informal dialogue. Someone asked him if there was any way he could summarize his vast theological findings. A student asked, “What in your judgment is the essence of the Christian faith?” Barth paused for a moment. No doubt the others waited for some profound insights from this theological giant. They got their pens and paper out and were poised. Then Barth answered, “Yes, I can summarize in a few words my understanding of the Christian faith. Let me put it this way: “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, for the Bible Tells Me So.”
Needless to say, these students were dumbfounded. They expected some deep theological statement and instead heard that which Barth learned at his mother’s knees.
I believe Barth was right. At the heart of the Christian gospel is this simple affirmation: JESUS LOVES ME!
John Wesley, in his young days took his sermons and read them to an old domestic servant. He told her to stop him every time he said something she didn’t understand. His manuscripts became masses of changes, alterations, erasures, and additions---but they were able to be understood by common folks.
And so it is with the childhood hymn, “Jesus Loves Me”---so much so, that if we’re not careful, its message can be overlooked. So, then, let’s take the time to carefully break down the first verse of this hymn.
1. JESUS LOVES ME, THIS I KNOW
One of our basic needs as humans is to know that we are loved. Why is that? Its because of what happens inside us. To be loved is to:
- be accepted
- belong
- be appreciated
- realize that you have value
How much more a blessing it is when we realize that we are loved by Jesus Christ. How do I know that Jesus loves me? I know it because…
- the Word of God declares it, as in Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
- The Spirit of God has convinced me
- He has forgiven me
- He has changed me---now I even love my enemies!
- His abiding presence is real: Its real, its real, oh I know its real. Praise God the doubts are settled for I know, I know its real.”
If you have trusted Christ to save you, let me remind you that there is nothing which can separate us from His love---not death, or the powers of hell or our fears of today or our worries of tomorrow.
One day, C.H. Spurgeon was walking through the English countryside with a friend. As they strolled along, the evangelist noticed a barn with a weather vane on its roof. At the top of the vane were these words: GOD IS LOVE. Spurgeon remarked to his companion that he thought this was a rather inappropriate place for such a message. “Weather vanes are changeable,” he said, “but God’s love is constant.” “I don’t agree with you about those words, Charles,” replied his friend. “You misunderstood the meaning. That sign is indicating a truth: Regardless of which way the wind blows, God is love.”
All through His life here on earth, Jesus was saying to people: “I love you.” When He healed the sick, touched the untouchable, loved the unlovely, He was saying, “I love you.”
When He endured the insults, the treacheries, and even the disloyalties of His followers, He was saying, “Nothing you can do will ever stop me from loving you.”
When He was flogged and nailed to the cross, He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for thye don’t know what they are doing.” You see, in that prayer He was saying, “You can flog me, you can crucify me, but it will not stop me from loving you.”
William Dixon was a widower who had lost his only son. One day he saw that the house of one of his neighbors was on fire. Although the owner was quickly rescued, her orphaned grandson was trapped in the blaze. Dixon climbed an iron pipe on the side of the house and lowered the boy to safety.
His hand that held to the pipe was badly burned.
Shortly after the fire, the grandmother died. The townspeople wondered who would care for the boy. Two volunteers appeared before the town council. One was a father who lost his son and would like to adopt the orphan as his own. William Dixon was to speak next, but instead of saying anything he merely held up his scarred hand. When the vote was taken, the boy was given to him. (#1939, Encyclopedia of Illustrations).
“Jesus Loves Me This I Know.”
2. FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO
I have yet to hear a sinner sing this song from his heart. Even though it is true for him, he feels a reluctance to declare it, for sin is in the way! In fact, the unbeliever asks, “How can you know beyond any doubt that God loves you?” He wants to debate it and put you down for your simple faith. And all you have to say is…”for the Bible tells me so.”
In a Gospel meeting a penitent woman was seeking salvation. The evangelist quoted to her anxious soul the assurance of \reference{Isaiah 53:6}{Isaiah 53:6}, and led her to simply take God at His Word, and to depend upon Christ for the remission of sin. She went home rejoicing, but the next morning came downstairs with tears in her eyes. Her little boy, who had been with her in the meeting the night before, asked, "Mamma, what is troubling you?" "Oh," was the answer, "last night I felt that I was saved. But now it seems like a dream. I fear I am deceived." "Mamma," said the little lad, "get your Bible and turn to \reference{Isaiah 53:6}{Isaiah 53:6}." She did so, and read, "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." "Mamma, is the verse still there?" "Yes, my son." "Then your sins were laid on Jesus," said the wise lad. The mother saw the truth. She took God’s Word without regard to her feelings, and then God’s peace came to stay. -- James H. McConkey
The Bible is the written revelation of God!
- it was not found somewhere under a rock written by God’s hand
- it was not dictated to Moses or David or Paul
- it is not a science text, though it does contain a great deal of accurate scientific information
- it is not an encyclopedia, though it does contain a vast amount of knowledge on almost any subject
- it is not an answer book or a textbook on psychology, though it does contain many truths regarding human personality.
The Bible is a book that has as its primary goal the revelation of God’s nature and plan for humanity. Its central message is: GOD LOVES YOU!
Robert Ingersoll and Lew Wallace were friends and they both scoffed at the Bible as being the inspired Word of God. They said it was just a human creation, full of mistakes and myths. One day Wallace said to Ingersoll, “I’m going to study the Bible and write a book that will destroy it.” As he studied the written word, the Living Word revealed Himself to Wallace. Wallace found Christ as his Savior and wrote a book called Ben Hur, a book that has led many to faith in Christ.
“Jesus Loves Me This I Know, For the Bible Tells Me So.”
3. LITTLE ONES TO HIM BELONG
Author Keith Miller tells of an out-going 40-year-old woman who was part of a sharing group he led. Here is her story:
“When I was a tiny little girl, my parents died and I was put in an orphanage. I was not pretty at all and no one seemed to want me. But I longed to be adopted and loved by a family as far back as I can remember. I thought about it day and night, but everything I did seemed to go wrong. I must have tried too hard to please the people who came to look me over and what I did was to drive them away. But then one day the head of the orphanage told me that a family was coming to take me home with them.
I was so excited that I jumped up and down and cried like a little baby. The matron reminded me that I was on trial and this might not be a permanent arrangement, but I just knew that somehow it would work out. So I went with this family and started to school. I was the happiest little girl you can imagine and life began to open up for me just a little. But then one day a few months later I skipped home from school and ran into the front door of the big old house we lived in. No one was at home, but in the middle of the front hall was my battered suitcase with my little coat thrown across it. As I stood there it suddenly dawned on me what it meant---I didn’t belong there anymore.”
Miller reports that when the woman stopped speaking there was hardly a dry eye in the group. But then she cleared her throat and said almost matter-of-factly, “This happened to me seven times before I was 13 years old. But wait, don’t feel too badly. It was experiences like these that ultimately brought me to God---and there I found what I had always longed for---a place, a sense of belonging, a forever family.
Have you ever felt as though you didn’t belong and that you didn’t have a place? You can belong to Jesus. If you are a Christian, you do belong to Him---“little ones to Him belong.” So when you feel small, take this as your hope and comfort.
4. THEY ARE WEAK BUT HE IS STRONG
2 Cor 12:9-10
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Moses, on the occasion of his call by God, made excuses. "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue" (Exodus 4:10).
The wording suggests that Moses had a speech impediment—perhaps he stuttered. But the Lord said to him, "Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?" (v.11).
Our impairments, our disabilities, our handicaps are not accidents; they are God-designed. He uses every one of our flaws for His own glory. God’s way of dealing with what we call "limitations" is not to remove them but to endow them with strength and use them for good.
In the New Testament, Paul the apostle referred to an unspecified "thorn in the flesh" that he repeatedly asked the Lord to take from him (2 Corinthians 12:7-8). But God said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (v.9).
Paul even learned to "take pleasure" in his troubles. "Most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me," he said (v.9). "For when I am weak, then I am strong" (v.10). (David H. Roper, Daily Bread, April 25, 2005)
All faithful saints who walk with God
Through weakness learn to trust His Word;
They’re not immune to pain or tears,
But learn to rise above their fears. —D. De Haan
God’s strength is best seen in our weakness.
An editor and career journalist known worldwide, Jean-Dominique Bauby saw his fast-paced life come to an abrupt end on December 8, 1995, when a stroke left him in a state of virtually total paralysis ("like a mind in a jar," in his own words).
Yet he persevered: Before long he learned to communicate by telegraphing series of long and short blinks with his left eyelid—the only muscle still under his control. In June 1996 he blinked out a letter to some 60 friends and associates to assure them that his mind still worked fine. His former editors were so moved that they convinced him to use the eyeblink method to dictate a book of memoirs about his condition. That 137-page book was published in France in March 1997, and Bauby died less than 72 hours later. One notable part of the book involves Bauby’s reflection on the possibility of future healing: "Is there a key out in the cosmos that can unlock my bubble? A currency valuable enough to buy my freedom? … I’m going there."
As Christians, we have the assurance that whatever earthly and physical restraints may hold us in "bubbles" today will be perfectly healed by our heavenly Father when we step into eternity.
“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong.”
A simple children’s hymn with profound spiritual implications. My prayer is that it will become your theme song---sung from the depths of your heart.
STAND PLEASE AND REPEAT AFTER ME:
I belong to God
My worth comes from Him
I am special to Him
I matter
I am set apart as His special possession
My greatest joy is found in serving Him
