Identity in God’s love for you

John. The disciple who Jesus loved. His identity came from knowing Jesus loved him. He did not give himself the title out of arrogance, but out of identity.

The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table. (John 13:23 NLT)

Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home. (John 20:2-10 NLT)

Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” (John 21:20 NLT)

Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. (John 21:7 NLT)

Peter. The disciple who loved Jesus. His identity came from his limited ability to love Jesus. He boasted of his love for Jesus and it proved to fail.

Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.” “But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked. “I’m ready to die for you.” Jesus answered, “Die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter—before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.” (John 13:31-38 NLT)

Simon Peter followed Jesus, as did another of the disciples. That other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, so he was allowed to enter the high priest’s courtyard with Jesus. Peter had to stay outside the gate. Then the disciple who knew the high priest spoke to the woman watching at the gate, and she let Peter in. The woman asked Peter, “You’re not one of that man’s disciples, are you?” “No,” he said, “I am not.” Because it was cold, the household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire. They stood around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming himself. Meanwhile, as Simon Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again, “You’re not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it, saying, “No, I am not.” But one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you out there in the olive grove with Jesus?” Again Peter denied it. And immediately a rooster crowed. (John 18:15-18, 25-27 NLT)

When we are in worship, what is our focus? What we can bring to God in our worship, or what God has done for us, and how much He continues to lavish His love upon us? If the latter, are we aware that God continues to love us and pour Himself into us constantly?

When we worship Him, what is the percentage of our pouring into God vs. allowing God to pour into us? If it is greater than 50%, then we are missing the point. We are to focus that God has done everything for us, and in doing so we respond in our love for Him as well as humanity.

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.  Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. (1 John 4:7-21 NLT)

As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 10:17 NLT)

God’s plan for man came far before creation. God has always been fully satisfied within the trinity, but He put great thought in something better. Why do I believe He found greater pleasure than just in Himself? Because He did it. He knew full well the end result. He foreknew the fall of man, and His plan to become one. He satisfied His own wrath to redeem man to fully restore us into a perfect relationship with Him.

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than ourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 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. (Philippians 2:1-11 NLT)

He cognitively decided to become a Man on a permanent basis, and designed our bodies to be able to live inside one. We are actually designed to be able to host the Holy Spirit within us. Jesus still has a man’s body. Fully restored beyond death, but we can still see His scars.

And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Romans 5:5 NLT)

As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! (John 20:20 NLT)

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” (John 20:27 NLT)

If you had to become something else for all of eternity, you would put a lot of thought into it. You wouldn’t immediately decide “That chair will do.”

So God chose to become one of us, and designed our bodies to live within. He designed us to receive Himself, his fullness of love, and do things through us. How much value to you think He has for you? Do you think He did everything for us to figure out life on our own, or to continually interact with us and lead us into a relationship with Him? What does that relationship look like?

For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. (Romans 5:10-11 NLT)

So, we can conclude from the passage above that we are “friends of God”.

I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.] (John 15:15 AMP)

And we are “sons of God”.

For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! (Romans 8:15 AMP)

So, our identity is that we are friends and sons of God through God’s love for us, and Jesus’ victory over death.

I believe John saw how much Jesus loved him and rested in that identity. He was not being arrogant when he called himself “The disciple who Jesus loved,” rather he was showing us his ability to live out who God called him to be. Every person is loved by Jesus. Even before we acknowledge His sacrifice for us we are already loved.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8 NLT)

So, I conclude that we are all loved by God, and after we become disciples through belief in Jesus’ sacrifice in our place, we become “disciples who Jesus loves”.