Worthy of Supernatural Love

Hello folks! This week I’m sharing with you the message I presented today at North Tryon Church in Prince Edward Island. There will be a video posted later (which I will link here when it comes out), but if you just can’t wait, you can read below. Also, this is still Hebrew Word Lessons, so as you will note (if you continue to read on), the Hebrew word for THE is “Ha”. Ha, however, never stands on its own. It is always added to a noun or adjective as a prefix. Hebrew, therefore, is very good at saving space on the page.

Worthy of Supernatural Love

So the title of my talk today is “Worthy of Supernatural Love”. And maybe the word “supernatural” makes a few of  you uncomfortable. It shouldn’t. We live in the natural world. Anything outside of the natural is supernatural. If you follow the word of God, whether you like the term or not, you believe in the supernatural. There is a God. There is an Opposer to God. There are angels and demons. And so we’re going to talk about some of that today. But first, I have two questions for you.

Take a look at this picture that I came across on social media this week:

This little diagram fits in well with the Biblical narrative. The Bible says we are of immeasurable worth. So why do we often feel unworthy of love?

Tuck that little question away, and let me ask you another one:

What if someone came up to you and said, “So, what’s the Bible really all about?” What would you say to them?

If we’re going to understand every story in the Bible and every word and action that Jesus said and did, we ought to have a good grasp of the meta-narrative, the overall arching story, of the Bible. 

You may remember a lot of stories you learned in Sunday School… Noah and the Ark, Jonah and the Whale, Joseph and his Sparkly Dreamcoat… but those stories have much more to say when you see how they fit into the overarching story of the Biblical text.

So let’s do a basic Bible recap (broad strokes), starting at the beginning.

In the beginning God created the heavens & the earth. On the earth He created a garden. And God created humans to live in the Garden, not to dominate them but to to partner with them. He called these humans His Image-bearers, His reflection on earth. They were to be His coworkers, helping  to nourish this world so it would flourish and grow. Humans were to be the caretakers of this planet… not the users and abusers… the caretakers.

The first two beings were called Eve (which in Hebrew means Life) and Adam (which in Hebrew means Human), and their job was to help the world flourish, and to walk with God in the garden. God only asked one thing of them. Do not be tempted to take power for yourselves. Do not ingest the poison that will (ultimately) kill you. But this Creator is not a Machiavellian control-freak. He gives humans freedom of choice… and they chose poorly. The Tempter, that snake, sounded too good. They saw and they took. They succumbed to their desires for autonomy and control, and they ingested the poison. 

Once they bite into the fruit of their desire, and try to become gods of their own making, they can no longer stay in the garden. God would love for them to stay, but the garden is no place for power struggles and dominance. For the sake of the garden, they have to leave. So, they head out into the wilderness as a result of their own defiance and desires.

But this Creator God, whose name, He tells us, is YHWH,  makes an announcement. He will find a way to bring humanity back. They will go into the wilderness, but (using a cast of human characters) He will lead them home… back to the Garden to be with Him.  

Now, shortly after Eve and Adam walk into the wilderness the first murder (Cain killing Abel) takes place. Not long after that, a king (Lamech) rises up and demands power. He takes two wives instead of one; he leads with violence and revenge and a deep sense of entitlement. Within a few generations, nationalism twists neighbour against neighbour and the first war strikes the earth.

This is Chaos… Wilderness wandering in the Dominion of the dragon (which in Hebrew is the same word for snake). The Adversary, which in Hebrew is ha-Satan… (or as we often say in English, “Satan”)… is a tempter. He tells you you’re no good. He tells you that your joy will come from taking. He tells you you’re a slave to your body. He tells you that what you fear is true: all the negative thoughts you have about yourself are valid. He tells you you’re not worthy of love. 

You’re not worthy.

It seems that the world is doomed; doomed to wander in the wilderness forever, enslaved under the Adversary’s power. But then steps on the stage Jesus and he rebelliously changes the narrative. 

Jesus claims he is the Good Shepherd; the Light that illuminates in the darkness; the Bread of Life; the One who frees the captives (emotionally & spiritually)… He is reclaiming the Eden potential!

John 10:10

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.”

Jesus is throwing the gauntlet to the Adversary… You celebrate death, I celebrate life; you live in the shadows of darkness, I live in the light; you celebrate the greedy and the wicked, I champion the needy and the weak; you tear people down, I raise people up.

Jesus is awesome, folks!

Let’s briefly take a look at the great Opposer, supernatural agent of death and darkness… the anti-creator. We’ve given him the name “Satan”, but in the Bible, Satan is not a name. It’s a title. In Hebrew, ha-Satan means: “ha” the, “Satan” Adversary. And if the name “Lucifer” is coming to your mind, well, that word is nowhere to be found in the original languages of your Bible. It’s a Latin translation of the Hebrew word Helel, a title (not a name) meaning “shining one”, and that word was translated as “Lucifer” 400 years after the time of Jesus. 

Satan is not a name and lucifer is not a name. God’s Adversary is never given the respect of a name in the Bible. He doesn’t deserve one. 

It’s like when someone murders a child for notoriety. The best thing to do is to not name them in the media. The child should be remembered, the murderer should not.

A name is something to be respected. By giving the Adversary a name, we have given him power. And how does that dark force operate? Does he find the world leaders and lead the world to destruction? We might think so with our neighbours to the South. But I think you’ll find that his most effective dark “army” is the mind of the everyday individual. You see, the Adversary’s greatest goal is to drag humanity down into death. He wants us to become so consumed with ourselves that we forget our mandate to “love one another” and to be God’s image-bearers as caretakers to this aching planet.

We believe there is Cosmic Good and there is Cosmic Evil… and this evil is really efficient at creeping into the human mind as an Accuser. Here are some of his best lines:

You’re not worthy of love? What good are you? No one cares about you. You’re so stupid. Look at yourself! What a pig! Did you just say what I think you said? That was dumb. No one would miss you if you were gone.You’re useless. No one likes you. God doesn’t even like you. You’re such a screw-up. Do you really think the Creator of the Universe cares about you? Get over yourself. Maybe this world would be better without you.

Have you heard any of these words in your own head? Or, God forbid, has someone said these things to you. These words do not come from God, the Creator of life and love. This is a dark force working hard to bring you down to death’s door. Don’t buy into his crap. You are worthy of God’s love. Let’s take a look at what YHWH says about you:

Jeremiah 31:3

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” 

Isaiah 43:1b

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name. You are mine.” 

People can try to tear you down.  The Adversary can do its best to break you. But here is what God says about you: you are Mine and I have your back. I see you. I validate you even when the world around you rejects you. You matter to Me… because I LOVE you. I created you for a purpose. You have immense value… Let NO ONE tell you otherwise.

There’s a woman in the Bible who was an Egyptian slave and her slave owners called her Hagar, which means: ha (the) Ger (Foreigner). They don’t give her the respect of using the name her Egyptian parents gave her, they just refer to her as “the foreigner”. And she is treated so horribly that she runs away. But YHWH confronts her in the wilderness, calls her by name, and tells her that He is going to reward her with a child and she should call the baby Ishmael, meaning “God hears”, because He heard her cries in the wilderness. And in her response, she gives God another name:

Genesis 16:13a

Then she called the name of YHWH, who spoke to her, “Elroi” (meaning, ‘the God who sees me’). 

Hagar was called “the Foreigner”, the one who didn’t belong. And God said, “No. You DO belong. You belong to me. I see you. I recognize you as my child, my Beloved”. He feels the same about you, folks! God sees you, He calls you by name, He feels your pain, He wants to hold you, and help you, and heal you.

The Adversary wanted Hagar to believe she was worthless and he used her (so-called) owners to bring her down, and those people were Abraham and Sarah.  Abraham and Sarah were followers of YHWH, but they clearly struggled with the influence of the Adversary just as much as we do. If the Adversary could use the celebrated patriarch and matriarch of our faith to tear other people down, how easy is it for him to use us as well.

We have to be on our guard that every harsh word that we say, every time we’re judgemental, every time we gossip to tear someone down, we are doing the work of the Adversary. Every time we, by our words and deeds, express that someone is not worthy of love, we are pushing forward the agenda of God’s Opponent.

Jesus was the perfect Son of God, the pure reflection of His Father and He lived His life telling the people that they were, indeed, worthy of God’s love. This was Jesus’ message, over and over: we are the daughters and sons of God, and we are of immeasurable worth, regardless of what the world tries to tell us.

Here’s a familiar story to highlight this truth:

Mark 5:25-34

A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse— after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that power from Him had gone out, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be cured of your disease.”

In ancient Hebrew law, when a woman was menstruating she was seen as ritually “unclean”. Yep! We’re talking about menstruation in church, folks! Huzzah! 🙂 The shedding of blood was a reminder of death, and death was to be avoided. So, during menstruation, women were to be left alone. Now, truth be told, many women were happy to be left alone at this time, but think about this woman who was bleeding for TWELVE years! In her culture, she was literally “untouchable” for twelve years. So what does she do? She hears about this Jewish Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth, who is a healer and she seeks him out to touch him.

Culturally this is a BIG no-no! A woman touching a rabbi was bad enough, but a bleeding woman touching a Rabbi and making him ritually unclean would have been considered shameful, and in the ancient days, worthy of great punishment. But her faith drives her to do it, regardless of the consequences.

And what was Jesus’ response? He lovingly seeks her out and calls her “daughter”. He calls her “His child”… because He wants her to understand that she is worthy of belonging to His family.  

Jesus was radical in His treatment of women. He challenged the cultural narrative. Any other Rabbi would have chastised her and her actions, but Jesus recognized that this woman understood His Kingdom mission… that the weak would be raised up, the needy would be satisfied, the hurting would be healed, the untouchables would be touched… and all of them given respect and love.

Jesus was a freedom-fighter whose arsenal was LOVE:

John 15:12-13

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends…”

Jesus lived His word “out loud”. He would lay His life down for His friends. He would save the world, not by judgement or shame-pointing, but by love and humble servitude.

But this message of love and forgiveness and humility, was not well-received by the religious leaders of the day.

John 8:12-15

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” 

So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.” 

Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I am testifying about Myself, My testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.”

Like the Pharisees, we humans are a really judgemental bunch.

Here’s another way the Adversary works to drag us to death’s door. He tells us things like this: You’re the centre of your universe. You need to look after #1. If someone has hurt you, hurt them back. They don’t deserve your love or forgiveness. They don’t care about you, so why should you care about them?  They’re just a bunch of freaks. If they’re a burden to you, drop them. It’s okay if you wish they were dead. They deserve that. 

You see, at first the Adversary is all about tearing us down, but then he turns the table and uses us to tear other people down by appealing to our own insecurities. It’s a terrible circle to be in the middle of!

Jesus said,

Matthew 5:43-45a

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”

We do our best to raise ourselves up and when we fail we try to blame everyone else. We try to prove our own worth by sacrificing the worth of others. We’re either calling ourselves worthless and or we’re calling everyone who is against us worthless… If that’s the case, then who in this world has any worth at all?

This is what the world has reduced itself to: BLAME. Blame yourself, or better yet, blame others. Or blame the situation, or blame it on bad luck… or what about this:

According to the Bible, no matter how much we fail, we all have great worth in God’s eyes. 

Do you remember the parable Jesus told about the Prodigal son? This son took his inheritance, flippantly and disrespectfully abandoned his father, and squandered his life savings on “wild living”… but eventually he spent everything, and had nothing to show for it. He had no friends, no help, no support, and so his only course of action was to return home penniless and deeply ashamed. And he said to his father:

Luke 15:21-24

“‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and now he is alive again! He was lost and now he is found!’”’

God sees us as absolutely worthy! With God’s love we change from the walking-dead to the truly living.

The Adversary also knows you are worthy in the eyes of God, so he will do his absolute best to convince you otherwise. He is the prince of lies. He is the darkness trying to snuff out your light. He is doing everything he can to destroy the daughters and sons of God with blame and shame.

Shaming people is not the work of God, but I have to say, the “historic church” has been a driving force in this cultural movement of shame. That, in itself, is… shameful! Crusades and witch-hunts in the name of Jesus, is absolutely opposite of what Jesus taught. 

The Apostle Paul really understood Jesus’ message. He said, in his letter to Titus:

Titus 5:2-5a

…Speak evil of no one, avoid quarreling, be gentle, and show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.

He saved us simply because He saw us as worthy to be saved.

And how did He save us? He sent His perfect image-bearing son, Jesus, to go to the grave, on our behalf, and defeat death. It’s what we celebrate, every Easter. Jesus paid the price for us, so we owe nothing to no one!

Jesus’ sacrifice made us all worthy to enter into the Presence of God, when our time here is over. But all those worthy people have a choice to come to the Kingdom, or not. The beauty of having a Creator God who doesn’t control us, but gives us the choice to make our own decisions, is that we don’t have to go anywhere we don’t want to go. But who wouldn’t want to step into the heavenly Garden Kingdom of God, prepared for us? 

Well, a lot of people have made that choice primarily because the global reputation of the “church” is that it is a place of judgement and shame-pointing. They do not see the church bearing the image of God… and if the church is bearing the image of God, then they don’t want anything to do with that kind of self-righteous, high-seated, judgemental, cosmic deity.

2 Corinthians 4:4

The god of this age [aka the Adversary] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

It’s time to re-frame our reputation. We are called to be righteous… and that literally means having “right-relationship” with one another. YHWH constantly told His people to care for the orphan, the widow, the refugee, the poor, and the hungry.

Christianity was never meant to be a religion of rules and rituals. It’s a social movement based on LOVE.

Matthew 22:35-40

One of them [the Pharisees], an expert in the law, tested Jesus with a question: “Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in the Law?”

Jesus declared, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

All of our motivation in life should be love-based. Our lives should be lived out as love-in-action.

Micah 6:8

What does YHWH require of you? Do justice, love lovingkindness, and walk humbly with your God?

Under the Adversary’s power we are like the walking dead, slowly destroying ourselves and everyone around us, but if we walk humbly with our God and be followers of the wise teachings of Jesus, we will experience life as it was meant to be. 

Unfortunately this does not mean life becomes easy-peasy. Jesus never promises that we won’t carry burdens in this world. As this world is under the dominion of the prince of lies, we are affected by its pain. Jesus just says, “pick up your cross [whatever burdens you], and follow me”.

We are not immune to those harsh words that the Adversary screams in our ear.  If you’re hearing words of shame, and destruction, and death in  your head, then please, seek the kingdom of God, but also, find someone to talk to! A friend, a parent, a therapist, a pastor. Don’t let the Adversary drag you down into self-loathing hell. You can be set free. Life and freedom are there for the asking. You just have to make a choice. Who do you follow?

Jesus can’t make that decision for you, but he did often raise His hands and say, “over here!”… “follow me”… “Come to me!”

Matthew 11:28

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” 

“So, big question. What’s the Bible really all about?” 

Boil it all down, and it’s about a rescue.  A rescue that is available to ANYone (let me repeat, ANYone) who wants to be rescued from death, self-loathing, anger, and all the things that tear us down. It’s about taking all the chains that the Adversary has wrapped around us… and breaking free because Jesus paid the price for us to be as free as the birds.

I’m a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and one of my favourite moments in the film is when the witch king faces Eowyn and arrogantly says, “no man can kill me”, to which Eowyn replies, “I am no man”. 

We can say the same thing. We are no mere human with the Spirit of God alive in us. Jesus broke the chains of death and stripped the power of the Adversary. God’s Opposer has no power over us, but he still tries really hard to get in our brains, so that’s why it’s important to constantly study the wisdom of Bible and  have a relationship with God through prayer. It’s an arsenal against the one who wants to tear you down.

Always remember: You are worthy of the supernatural LOVE of the God of the Universe

We can try to do life on our own, or we can acknowledge that there are forces out there that are supernaturally good and supernaturally evil.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be on the side of the one who rescues the world with love.