Where’s the Love?

5th Sunday after Pentecost, 6/19/16
Zechariah 13:7-9


Where’s the Love?
I. In the God who sacrificed himself for you
II. In the God who refines you


Have you ever felt unloved?

Most of us have at one or more points in our lives. As children who are old enough to think things through, we may have come to the conclusion, at least momentarily, that we were not loved by our parents. In fact, in a fit of irrational emotion, we may have even loudly accused them of hating us. But in most cases, as time passes, saner heads prevail.

When we reach adulthood, we may have difficulty finding that person who will be our other half in a loving relationship. And when that unsuccessful streak stretches on with no end in sight, we come to the conclusion that there is no one in the world who will love us.

Even worse, it’s a tragedy when what began as a loving, life-long relationship ends because the love is gone. And the recent words and actions of the person who is now your ex-spouse are evidence of it. That can make a person emotionally raw.

Perhaps none of those situations hits home with you. But how about this one? You feel unloved by God. Now why in the world would you ever feel unloved by God? The answer is easy. Because of what has happened or is happening in your life. And we think we have good reason to feel that way. With God, nothing is impossible. God states that very thing in his word. If he can do anything, then why didn’t he do something to prevent that tragedy in my life? If he can do anything, why doesn’t he do something right now to make my life better?

Those are good questions, but their basic premise it all wrong. Our God does not hate us. He loves us. So where’s the love?

Our God knew we’d be asking that question, and therefore he shares with us this portion of his word from his prophet Zechariah. Let’s find out what his answers are.

Part I.

The Memorial Day weekend put the nation’s spotlight on this corner of our state. More exactly, on the Cincinnati Zoo. I’m sure you heard about it. A young boy enters the gorilla habitat and is immediately grabbed by an aggressive gorilla. His mother screams instructions at him. The zoo’s staff reacts almost immediately according to their disaster training. The gorilla is shot and killed. And the national debate about that killing begins immediately. Nationally recognized animal experts insist the zoo’s staff made the correct call and took the appropriate action. But some people weren’t satisfied. They continued to advocate for the gorilla.

Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion on that matter, but what about this one? Instead of a child and a gorilla, how about a shepherd and one of his sheep? What owner of sheep, when faced with a choice between saving the life of the shepherd or saving the life of one of his sheep, would ever think about that choice for more than a nanosecond? That’s an easy call. As valuable as the sheep is, the shepherd is far more valuable. It’s likely the shepherd has many sheep to care for, so you’re going to lose one sheep and not the shepherd.

You would…unless you were God.

When given the choice, God decided to kill the Shepherd. Listen to him describe it through Zechariah. “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!” God decides to kill the Shepherd even though the Shepherd is close to him. By now you’ve picked up on enough clues to know that God isn’t speaking about just any shepherd; he’s speaking about the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. By calling Jesus “close to him,” he’s understating the fact. As we know from the rest of Scripture, this Good Shepherd is, in fact, God himself. That means God does the unthinkable: he sacrifices himself for the sheep. He kills the shepherd in order to spare the sheep. Does that make any sense?

Not at all, especially when you come to grips with the spiritual condition of the sheep. In his letter to the Romans, Paul states, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). Of course we were and we still are sinners. But don’t fail to grasp what that means. That means we are objects of God’s wrath and punishment. Would you congratulate the thief who burglarized your home? Would you buy a gift certificate for the person who mugged your wife? Would you sing the praises of the employer who just severed your employment? Of course not! So, why would God sacrifice himself for sinners, for people who have violated his holy law, for people who by nature are against God and all that is holy, for people who innately bow to the god of self and reject the God of grace? It’s certainly not because we were lovable. We’re absolutely not.

The only reason is that God is so loving. Where’s the love? In the God who sacrificed himself for you.

Without a doubt, that’s the greatest act of love in all of history. God takes on human flesh and blood (imagine that!) so that he can sacrifice himself for sinners. And there’s nothing in it for him. All the benefit is for us—eternal benefits such as the full and free forgiveness of our sins, a loving, right relationship with God as his dear child, and the guarantee of eternal life. As recipients of those gifts through no merit of our own, it doesn’t get any better than this. How could it? But we’re dealing with sinners here—you and me. And there are far too many times in our lives when that simply isn’t enough. We conclude that out God isn’t doing and hasn’t done enough good for us. We desire better employment, less pain, more money, lasting happiness, peaceful contentment, less stress, more ease—in short, we want a little heaven on earth. And we’re certain that, if God loved us, he would give it to us at least in some measure. But your God loves you so much that those desires of your heart will not take place. Instead, he calls for you to bring your misplaced, sinful desires to the cross of Jesus and see how Jesus paid for them and all your sins by sacrificing himself so that you can enjoy real heaven—with your God whose heart is filled with love for you.

Part II.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Have you heard that statement before? Have you ever said it yourself? Actually, it’s a healthy way of dealing with an unfortunate situation. Adversity has the potential of bringing blessings into our lives, but that depends on having the right attitude about adversity.

An honest evaluation of life is that it’s full of adversity. Afflictions are a part—sometimes an overwhelming part—of our daily lives. What afflictions are you currently facing? Do you think you’ll be facing the same ones six months for now? What afflictions might be part of your life a year from now? Which ones will never go away this side of heaven?

The people to whom Zechariah originally spoke these words were all too familiar with afflictions and adversities. The time is about 520 BC. These Jewish people had come back to Israel after 70 years of exile in Babylon. You would think they would be overjoyed to be back home. But joy was not a part of their lives because they faced afflictions. Things in Israel were a mess. They had trouble rebuilding the temple. Their enemies hounded them night and day and plotted against them.

But here’s what their loving God declared to them, “In the whole land, two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”

As bad as things may get, the Church shall never perish. God always guards and protects his people. That doesn’t mean their lives will be carefree. Just the opposite. He promises to refine his people. In other words, he will allow afflictions to come into our lives and he uses them to refine us. In what way? God wants every hardship that comes into our lives to be an opportunity for us to recall the promises our God has made to us, promises that can never fail. He wants us to exercise our faith and hold onto those promises tightly. He wants us to take him at his word. He wants us to realize that what we already have with our God is far more important and valuable than anything this life has to offer. He wants us to know and believe that everything can be taken from us, but if we still have our faith in Jesus, we’re OK. In fact, we’re far more than OK. We’re eternally blessed. When the afflictions of this life train our focus on our Savior and the life he has won for us, then we’ve been refined.

Where’s the love? In our God who refines you.

We’re not fond of whiners, wimps, and people who think no one has it worse than they do. I’m not minimizing what you’re facing in your life. I know that your troubles are real and they are painful and they can sap the joy out of living. But how are you viewing them? As afflictions simply meant to make you miserable? Or, as divine refinements in your life? Are your troubles driving you away from your loving God or drawing you closer to him as you long for a bliss-filled life with him? Listen to these words of St. Paul, “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Rom. 5:4). That hope is the certainty of life in heaven which Jesus won for us when he died and rose again. That’s how much your God loves you! See it in the cross of Jesus! See it in every affliction that comes your way! There’s the love! Amen.