7/27/08 - Pentecost 11 - Romans 8:35-39

WE ARE INSEPARABLE
- Christ's love creates a bond
- Christ's love cannot be broken

Love creates a bond. And wherever love is, there the bond is as well. You may love your spouse and children and parents and relatives and friends and brothers & sisters in Christ in different kinds of ways, but there is still love. And that love creates a special kind of bond between you and those different individuals. And that connection you have with those people you love is different than the connection you have with anyone else. There may be people I get along with very well, but I don’t love them like I love my wife. There may be children whom I like a lot, but I don’t love them like I love my own children. There may be many Christians with whom I have a lot in common, but I don’t love them like I love you. I would do anything short of sin for my wife and for my children and for you. Because love creates a bond - a bond that is not easily broken.
Christ loves you. He loves you more than you love your spouse or children or parents or relatives or friends of fellow Christians combined. Christ loves you more than anything. And so there is a special bond between you and him. Not because you give back the same kind of love that he shows to you, but because his love for you is so powerful. It is so firm and sure. The bond that has formed because of Christ’s love for you is inseparable. The Apostle Paul speaks to us in this same way about Christ’s love: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” No. Of course not. No trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword can break the bond of Christ’s love for us. Because he has already gone through each one of those things to prove that his love is true.
Just think of all the trouble he went through because he loved you. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law and all the unbelievers during his life gave him all sorts of trouble. They tried to trap him and trick him and accuse him of anything they could think of. But Christ dealt with all of those troubles perfectly to prove his love for you. Think about the hardships he experienced. He was tempted by Satan himself his whole life. His brothers and sisters didn’t believe him at first. His hometown rejected him. His own disciples doubted his clear words time and time again. And his own countrymen treated him like an enemy. But Christ took all of those hardships in stride to prove his love for you. Think about the persecutions. Think about Holy Week when he was beaten with a staff, hit with fists, punctured with thorns, scourged with metal tipped whips, and posted to a wooden beam with iron stakes. But he gladly welcomed those persecutions, which were the ultimate fulfillment of his love for you. Think of the famine he endured when he went 40 days without food or water before being tempted by the devil. Think of the nakedness of the Savior as he hung on the cross stripped of his clothing. Think of the dangers he faced as his enemies plotted his death on numerous occasions. And think of the sword, held by a Romans centurion, piercing his flesh even after he had died. Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword separate us from the love of Christ? How could they? The Lord has already gone through them all himself - and those things have proved his love! And if we happen to go through any of those things in our lives, they will in no way change Christ’s love for us. His love for us will remain unbroken. Christ and those he loves are inseparable.
Sometimes a dog and his owner might be called “inseparable.” The dog will follow him around wherever he goes and the owner wouldn’t want it any other way. He loves the dog’s loyalty; it’s an endearing quality that makes the relationship work. Sometimes a child and her favorite blanket might be called “inseparable.” She carries that thing with her day and night, even after it is tattered and ratty and soiled. She loves the comfort that her blanket brings because she has become so familiar with it over the years. What that blanket provides makes the relationship work. A young man and woman who are dating might be called “inseparable.” They are rarely seen alone. They are always walking arm in arm. Their attitudes and their actions towards each other make the relationship work, and love for each other grows.
Christ loves you but not because of what you do for him. Not because of what you provide. Not even because of your faithfulness. You cannot affect Christ’s love for you in any way. Even the “good” things you do have no influence on the Lord at all. He may be pleased if you do things to his glory, if you follow his commands, but that doesn’t mean he loves you anymore than he did before. He can’t! He can’t love you more than 100%! He cannot love you any more than he already does. You cannot influence his love for you no matter what you try to do for him. And on the flip side: no sin that you commit will make him love you any less.
You could be the person who commits more sins than anyone else who has ever lived, and the Lord would still love you just as much. You could be the person who does and says and thinks more heinous things in God’s sight than anyone else who has ever lived, and the Lord would still love you just as much. Now don’t misunderstand: he’s not happy with your sins. He wants you to repent. He may be disappointed in your behavior, but that doesn’t mean he loves you any less. He can’t. Because Christ’s love for you is not based on who you are and what you do for him. Christ’s love for you is based on who he is. And who is Christ? In his own words to Moses, he is “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). Christ is the Lord of love. And his love for you cannot be broken.
When my wife and I receive a Christmas card from someone who was not on our list, we feel a little guilty. If they spent the time and effort and money, and thought of us to send us a Christmas card, then we feel guilty if we had not done the same for them. And that can happen in many different ways in our lives, right? If someone is always helping you, always thinking about you, always praying for you, and you do not show them the same kind of love - you feel a little guilty for not acting in the same way towards them. Christ loves you no matter what. He loves you even when you sin. And that makes me fell a little guilty. He showers his love on me. He overwhelms me with spiritual as well as physical blessings, and what do I give him in return? I ignore him. I forget about him. I take him for granted. I even sometimes get angry with him. And what makes my guilt even worse is that he still loves me! Even after all that he still loves me just as much! I sin and he loves me. I sin again and he loves me. I sin again and he is still patient, still kind, still gentle, still forgiving. He still loves me. He loves us so much and we love him so little that we keep falling farther and farther behind. It makes me feel guilty when I think of how much Christ loves me. But it also comforts me as well. Because it has to be that way. Our relationship with Christ has to be that way. His love for us could not be based on what we do for him, or else he would hate us. Thankfully his love is not based on what we do - it’s based on what he has already done.
The Apostle Paul knew the Lord’s love well. Remember he was a persecutor of Christians. He killed Christians for a living until Christ converted him on the road to Damascus. Paul knew that the Lord’s love was completely undeserved and also inseparable. And that’s why he wrote: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” “Neither death nor life… will separate us,” Paul says. Death ends all earthly relationships. No matter how much an owner loves his dog, a girl her blanket, or a man his wife, death will separate them if nothing else will. But that is not the case with our relationship with the Lord. In fact, death solidifies that relationship. When Christ died on the cross, that was it. Our relationship with him was forever sealed when he gave up his life because he took our sins with him. It was the ultimate sacrifice of love. A love that will never end. And when we face death someday, we will still not be separated from Christ. In fact, our death will take us closer to him than we have ever been before. We will be in the presence of Christ and his love will be more evident and more spectacular than we could have ever imagined. Death will not sever us from the love of Christ. It will make our relationship permanent.
And so if death holds no sway over Christ’s love for us, what else can? Angels or demons - heavenly beings that Christ himself has created? The present or the future - time periods that Christ himself controls? Height or depth - laws of nature that Christ’s power supersedes? Nothing, nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. There is nothing stronger. There is nothing more powerful. Not the devil. Not this world. Not even our own sins. Nothing can rip us away from his hands. Nothing can carry us away from his arms. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I love these words of Scripture in Romans chapter eight. They are so powerful and so comforting. They are filled with Christ’s love for us, and pleasantly absent of what we have to do to keep it. These words are gospel in all its glory and I can think of no better way to end a sermon on these words than to hear them once again. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Amen.

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” - Rev. 1:5-6