Sunday Service Recap

CG SUNDAY - Just Like Jesus

GOD WANTS YOU TO BE JUST LIKE JESUS. 

He wants you to have a heart like his.

If a sentence or two could capture God’s desire for each of us, it might read like this:

“God loves you just the way you are,

but he refuses to leave you that way.

He wants you to be like Jesus.”

GOD LOVES YOU JUST THE WAY YOU ARE.

If you think His love for you would be stronger if your faith were, you are wrong. If you think His love would be deeper if your thoughts were, wrong again. Don’t confuse God’s love with the love of people. The love of people often increases with performance and decreases with mistakes. Not so with God’s love. He loves you right where you are.

“God’s love never ceases. Never. Though we spurn him. Ignore him. Reject him. Despise him. Disobey him. He will not change. Our evil cannot diminish his love. Our goodness cannot increase it. Our faith does not earn it any more than our stupidity jeopardizes it. God doesn’t love us less if we fail or more if we succeed. God’s love never ceases.” –Max Lucado

GOD LOVES YOU JUST THE WAY YOU ARE, BUT HE REFUSES TO LEAVE YOU THAT WAY.

Here’s a good illustration:

            There is a father, Joel, who has a daughter. When his daughter, Jessica, was a toddler, he used to take her to the park at their taman in SS2. One day as she was playing in a sandbox, a Paddle Pop ice-cream man passed by. Joel purchased little Jessica a treat, and when he turned to give it to her, he saw her mouth was full of sand. Where he intended to put a delicacy, she had put dirt.

Did he love her with dirt in her mouth? Absolutely. Was she any less his daughter with dirt in her mouth? Of course not. Was he going to allow her to keep the dirt in her mouth? No way. He loved her right where she was, but refused to leave her there. He carried her over to the water dispenser and washed out her mouth. Why? Because he loved her.

God does the same for us. He holds us over the water dispenser. “Spit out the dirt, honey,” our Father urges. “I’ve got something better for you.” And He cleanses us of filth: immorality, dishonesty, prejudice, bitterness, greed. We don’t enjoy the cleansing; sometimes we even opt for the dirt over the ice cream. “I can eat dirt if I want to!” we pout and proclaim. Which is true—we can. But if we do, the loss is ours. God has a better offer. He wants us to be like Jesus.

REFLECTION

• What are you tempted to have "dirt" in place of "delicacy"?
• What delicacy does God want to give you?
• Why does God make such an amazing offer?

Philippians 2:5-13 (NIV)

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus”

Who, being in very nature God,

            Did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

But made himself nothing,

            Taking the very nature of a servant,

            Being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man

            He humbled himself

            And became obedient to death—

Even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

            And gave him the name that is above every name,

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

            In heaven and on earth and under the earth,

And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

            To the glory of God the Father.

• According to this passage, what does being like Jesus mean?
• What did Jesus do for you?
• How does that make you feel?