eloved Identity Sets The Foundation

All right. Welcome back. We're on episode three, and I'm just going to jump right in here because I I just started and I started thinking about this. And as in episode three of this series, the series is called The Beloved, it's called Beloved Becoming Who We Already Are. And I think it's important for us to grab a hold of that beloved becoming who we already are. And if we think about the two episodes that we've already talked about thus far, because episode one revealed identity. You are beloved. So our identity is already settled from the beginning of time, humanity's identity has been settled. And I'm going to go more deep into this because I want to share with you what transpired with me. And you are beloved, not trying to become beloved. You're not working to achieve beloved. You are beloved. And then episode two, we revealed that belovedness is centered around relationship. And that was you are chosen. And in this episode, now that we're talking about in episode three, I want to reveal to you God's way of seeing you and seeing me. And it's important for us to truly grab a hold of this. How God sees us. You are blessed, and God looks at you with love or looks at you with agape, the God kind of love, delight and tenderness. It's so powerful for us to get this. Because again, before anything else, and before we were, and before we accomplished anything, before we were even born, we are beloved. You are beloved. Jeremiah settled that. God said, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. So the title of this episode is Blessed Receiving the Gaze of Agape. Because that's the key. We have to define everything through the lens of agape, the love of God that actually has been flowing from the beginning out to us. And I'm going to define blessed because we bless sneezes, we bless people. And do we really know what we're doing? I personally don't bless sneezes. I'm just going to throw that out there because a sneeze is a germ leaving the body. And if we bless it, we're you're going to find we're telling the sneeze to be empowered to prosper, because part of the definition of blessed is being empowered to prosper. So the Merendictionary's definition of the word blessed is this endowed with divine favor and protection. I want you to sit by that divine favor and protection, not human. This is favor that is released from God, the creator of the universe. To be blessed is to be seen with agape. And I'm using the word agape. I'm not going to stop using it for the word love. Because I want us to realize that the love that we are seen by is not a human love. It is a love that is greater than all human love possible. And one gaze of agape from God can change your life. How can I say that, Donald? It's very simple. Moses had a gaze with God at the burning bush. And look what happened to Moses. Paul had a gaze with the Lord on the Damascus Road. And look what happened to Paul. And that's why I'm saying a true understanding of a gaze of God, where God looks upon you and declares that you are beloved. There's nothing else that we need. And here's the thing I want to say: belovedness is not something that we believe. And belovedness is not something we obtain. I just want you to grab this because yesterday in my quiet time, I was just sitting there and I was just being present with the Lord. And the word belovedness kept coming up. But what came up after it was believer. And I thought about that and I said, Whoa. And it was beloved, believer. And that is the order. But we've gotten it backwards, y'all. I want you to think about this. We are pursuing people to become believers so that they can be what? Beloved. No, that's that's absolutely wrong. Every human being on the earth that exists is beloved. Belovedness comes before everything. And therefore, because we know that we are beloved, we then become believers. So believing is an action to the belovedness that we have already received. So let's attach this to blessed, right? So to be blessed is to be seen with agape, not evaluated, right? Not measured, and not compared. But isn't that what the church has been doing for a long time? Evaluating people by their situations or circumstances? They've been comparing one person to another or measuring a person's life based on where they should be. Well, you've been in a church for X number of years, you should be here. No. To be blessed is to be seen with love. But seen the way God sees you. Let me say this again. To be blessed is to be seen with agape, a divine love, not evaluated, not measured, not compared, but seen the way God sees you. Isn't that life-changing? What if we could get ourselves to just start to really penetrate, allow it to penetrate inside of us what God, uh how God thinks about us and how God sees us? What would that do for your walk if you actually, if as a believer, you literally believed what God has already said about us? What would that do? I'm just curious to know what it would do for you. Because in Numbers 25, numbers six and twenty five, I want to read. I'm gonna read the whole thing because it's called the priestly blessing. But numbers six and twenty five says, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. But let me read the whole priestly blessing. It said, The Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron and his sons, this is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. I want you to understand that. So all look, blessed the Lord, bless you, and and part of this is he's turning his face towards us. But I want you to understand there's one word in verse 26 that invokes a feeling, and that word is peace. So let me read 24 again. It says, The Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. That is an emotion, and that is something that we can sense and we can feel. And then 27 says, So then, watch this now. So then, so I'm sorry, so they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them. That is a priestly blessing, or let me put it this way in our language. That is the blessing that ministers and pastors and priests in church are supposed to be putting on the people. That blessing invokes peace. There is a peace that that that how did Paul say it? There's a peace that passes all our understanding. That peace we can feel, peace we can know internally and externally. Why? Because Jesus said that he is the what? Prince of peace. So if we have the prince of peace, peace should be a part of our life. I'm not saying that it is consistently there, but we should know how to go in and receive peace without striving to get it, without trying to pursue it down or capture it. It should be something that we should be able to go before God, and the peace and presence of God should envelop our life. Now, let me keep going here. Blessings begin with God's face turning towards us with joy. That's why the first words he said to Jesus. I mean, I want you to imagine God when He Jesus comes out of the water, and all we hear is, this is my son and whom I am well pleased. I'm sorry, this is my beloved son and whom I am well pleased. Can you imagine if God had a face, what that smile would look like? What would be the outerness? What would be the continence on God's face as He's saying that? The same as us if you're a parent, when you see your kid do something and you like that, that's my kid. That that I that that's what I'm I'm proud of my my son, I'm proud of my daughter, I'm proud of my grandkid, or whatever it is. But multiply that sense of joy by affinity, and that's what God feels about each one of us. See, our mind can't comprehend this, man. We we can't, we cannot grab a hold of this because it is too, it's too it's too much for us to handle. But here's what the grace of God says. The grace of God says, I will give you what you can handle. Why? Because if you've already accepted your belovedness, you've that meant you're living as a believer. Because that belovedness comes from God through the gift of Jesus Christ. We are beloved through Christ in God. Right? So we are beloved. God has declared that every human is beloved. And how do we get? We get to restore that relationship back with the one who beloved us by accepting the gift. And the gift is Christ that says, Here, come, join the beloved family. So it's not a question that are you loved? That's not the question. The question is, have you accepted the love that God has already provided and declared that you are. Doesn't that make this different? Doesn't that add shape to the good news? So blessing begins with God's face turning towards us with joy. Then, and then look what happens. I'm gonna go over to Mark 10 because I want you to catch Mark 10 because it was beautiful about Mark 10, and this is important. I'm gonna spend a little bit of time here, and then it says, and he looked and he took the children in his arms, he placed his hands on them and he blessed them. But I want to read all of this. So Mark 10, and it's 16, but I want to read from 13 down to 16 because I want you to catch something, and I don't know if you ever saw this in scripture, but I want to bring it up. It's so here's what's happening people, parents, right, were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. Now, the reason for that is because in the first century, the understanding was that you passed on the blessing of God through the laying on of hands. That is not something new in today's society. You can go back to Genesis when Jacob was about to die or Abraham was about to die, they blessed their sons by laying their hands on them. They passed on what God had bestowed in them. So that's first. So place their hands on them. But now look what happened. Now, and I'm I'm gonna show up the disciples here, but I want you to tell, I want to tell you, the disciples were functioning in human knowledge. They were functioning in their saboteurs here. But look what it says next. It says, but the disciples rebuke them, them being the parents for bringing the little children to Jesus. Why? Because they're thinking, hey, Jesus is here to take care of the adults, those that are in need. But Jesus sets this straight. Watch what verse 14 says. It says, when Jesus saw this, he was indignant. Wow, I want you to see that word. He was indignant. Like that word is like not disappointed. It's greater than disappointed. But look what he says to the disciples after this. So it says, When Jesus saw this, he was indignant, and he said to them, Them are the disciples, those that have been close to him. He said, Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them. I want you to remember these words. For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. That is a very powerful statement. He said, For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I want to keep going here, and then I'm going to break this down. He said, Truly, I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. Then verse 16 says, And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them, and blessed them. But let's go back to the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. And the other statement that said, Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like little children will never receive it. What is one thing that little children have? They have a short memory. Little children are open to anything. They don't have a lot of opinions about things. Like you say, hey, let's go play. Like you can give a little baby a toy, and they can stay with that toy for hours. This is what God is saying. God is saying for us that we must be like a little child, or we must remain empty in order to receive the kingdom of God. Or let me say it this way: in order to receive the things of God. See, the more we hold on to stuff and the more we fill ourselves up with in our mind and we we we fill ourselves up with information and all that stuff. If that information is sitting idle, it's taking up space, and it could cause us not to be able to receive what God has for us. That's why belovedness is not believed, it is received. You receive what it already is. And that's one of the keys I want you to grab a hold of. Focus on Already. As believers, we already are beloved and we are becoming more like Christ. Did you catch that? Already. We already are beloved and we are becoming more like Christ every moment of the day. So Jesus doesn't bless from afar. I want you to see that. Jesus blesses by holding close. He said he took the children in his arms, he placed his hands on them, and he blessed them. So blessings or blessedness has to do with closeness. And here's the point for us mature people that were thinking, well, they're little children. He could pick them up. But that's why he gave us the invitation to come. As a little child, he's saying, Come, come into presence with me, that I may bless you like I'm blessing these little children. And here's the thing: a little child doesn't think about, well, what is the blessing going to be, Lord? What are you going to give me? No, a little child just runs and jumps in the arms because the arms are open and because of the person who is opening the arms. It is an authentic love that is coming with no strings attached. And that brings us right back to the statement for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. It didn't say children. It says such as these. Jesus is talking about the posture of the heart, not the age of a person. And he is clarifying this in two direct sentences. For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly, he's saying now, and make sure you get this point. I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like, not be like a little child, the the pureness of heart will not enter in. I hope you're getting this because belovedness and blessedness is flowing from the same river. It's all there. So we are beloved, we're chosen, and we're blessed. But all of this is received through a heart that is open. So I want to tie in some of Henry Nowyn's stuff. Because Henry Nowen writes that to be blessed means this: to be acknowledged in our goodness, to be reminded that our life matters, to be called forth, or I like to say to be commissioned into the fullness of agape. Wow. I mean, just think about that. The fullness of agape. Well, didn't Paul tell us that he prayed for us in Ephesians and he said that I pray that you would know the length, the breadth, the width, the height, and the depth of God's love, but to be commissioned or called forth into the fullness of Gapi. Blessings is to be is the spoken affirmation of belovedness. It is the spoken declaration of belovedness or confirmation of belovedness. So I want to give you all of the synonyms for blessed. Because I want to make sure me, affirmation, I want you to get it. It's an assertion, it's a confirmation, it's a pronouncement, it's a declaration, it's an announcement, it's a statement, it's a verification. Did you catch that now? So when you think about it, blessing is the spoken of all the things I just said of what? Of our belovedness. And the belovedness was bestowed upon us before we came out of the womb, before we were formed in the womb. Isn't this wonderful? Many of us have been praised for performance, critiqued for mistakes, and compared to others, but never truly blessed. And I think that's what the world is lacking today. We have too many people walking around that has not understood or received the true blessing of God. Blessing is not flattery, blessing is not cheerleading. Blessing is the gaze of agape that tells our soul who we are. I just want that to sit. Blessing is the gaze of divine love that could never run out, that's always pursuing, that is inclusive, that is transformational, that tells us who we are. And look how Jesus modeled this. Right? I want to go to these scriptures because I want you to get this. Jesus modeled blessing as seen in John 1:47 through 51. We're seeing Jesus with Nathaniel, right? And Jesus is with Nathanael. So I'm in the world for 47, and I want to read this so that you can grab this. So when Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said to him, Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. Nathaniel, how did you know me? Or how do you know me? Nathaniel asked, I want you to get this man. Jesus answered, he said, I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you. And look, Nathanael is like amazed. He says, Then Nathaniel declared, Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the king of Israel. And Jesus responds back, and Jesus said, You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? And Jesus said, You will see greater things than that. He then added, Verily, truly, I tell you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. What does that say? Jesus doesn't say, earn my approval to Nathaniel. Jesus says, I saw you. This is what they felt. They felt the love of God. I saw you, which meant you belong. The sense of belonging was there. Now let's go to the woman with the issue of blood in Mark chapter 5. Mark 5, 25, and let's see what happens to the woman with the issue of blood. And now this for me is profound because in first century Judaism, the law basically said with the woman with the issue of blood or that had bleeding, she was considered unclean. So she could not be around people. She was ostracized. Right? I want you to think about that. I want you to think about how people would have ostracized her or seen us as an outcast. And here's the thing: they gave her a label. The label was unclean. And this is what bothers me today. We're so quick to put labels on people. But let's read what Jesus does. You ready? A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had a subject of bleeding for 12 years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and spent all she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. Verse 27. She came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. Because I want that's important. Because she thought, if I just touched his clothes, I will be healed. I'm not going to go into that. I know you've heard me preach on this one a long time ago. I mean, I talked about this, but look what happened. Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. Blessing brings peace. I just want you to catch that. Verse 30. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. Notice, power. It was tangible, what left him. He turned to around in the crowd and he asked, Who touched me? Who touched my clothes? And the disciples said, Do you see the people here crowding against you? His disciples answered, and yet you asked, Who touched you? But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened, it's like picking up the little child, happened to her, came and fell at his feet. Look at her heart. You see that? Trembling with fear, reverential fear, and maybe some human fear at the same time, but it was out of reverence because she already knew that she was healed and told him the whole truth. She emptied her heart. And look what Jesus said to her. Jesus said to her, daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. I want you to understand that word when she said, daughter. Because Jesus calls her daughter, he gives her back her name. Because of her issue of blood, she was no longer considered a daughter because she was unclean. I want you to grab that. Daughter gave her back her name or restored belovedness back to the woman with the issue of blood. Now let's go to our buddy Peter. Let's check out Peter in his failure. Because all of us have failed, right? Let's see how Jesus handles failure in Luke 22. And it's 61, but I'm gonna read a little bit on it. 62, 61. Okay. So right here, we know about this because this is when Jesus is in the passion, and Jesus is already prophesied to Peter before the crow strokes strikes, before the uh sun comes up, you are going to denounce me three times. So I'm gonna start with verse 60, and then we'll flow in this and just let you see a little bit of this. So Peter replied, Man, I don't know what you're talking about. Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. So that was the third time. And look what happens. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. I want you to get that. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him. Before the rooster crows today, you will denounce me three times. And Peter, and it says, and he went outside and wept bitterly. But here's what happened. I want you to see this. Jesus looks at Peter not with condemnation, but with a knowing love, a knowing agape. Notice Jesus' look caused Peter. You see this? Peter remembered the word of the Lord, and he went outside and wept bitterly. Why? Because the saboteur took over. He went straight into an emotion. But here's what I want you to understand. When Jesus rose, he went and he went searching for Peter because Peter misunderstood the look. Jesus blesses by seeing the heart, not judging the moment. If you don't get anything else out of this episode, please make sure you get that. Jesus blesses by seeing the heart, not judging the moment. So I wanted you to take a little bit of time here. I want to give you a contemplative moment. So take some time to settle into this and to think about this. Take a slow, deep breath. Breathe it out. Let yourself be seen by God without adjusting, improving, defending, or hiding. Inhale, God sees me. I want you to say, as you inhale, I want you to just think God sees me. On the exhale and his gaze of agape is on me. Let's do that again. Inhale, God sees me on the exhale, and his gaze of agape is on me. Where Jesus, where blessing heals, blessing restores the places where we become hard to protect ourselves. Blessings restore the places where we became hard to protect ourselves, or we began, we became hard and we formed a protection around us. And this is the place where I call it the protective self. So blessings restore the places where we became hard or built that hedge of protection around ourselves. Blessings restore the places where we learn to perform to be valued. Blessings restore the places where we carry shame in silence. We repress it and suppress it. Blessings restore the places where we believed we were too much or not enough. Blessings melt the armor the false self or the protective self has built. It disarms the armor, it loosens the grip, and our beloved self is awakened where it is seen with agape. And I got some closing questions, reflections for you as you go through the week. First question is can I allow myself to be seen without defending or performing? Can I allow myself to be seen by God without defending or performing? Question two. And the last question Who in my life needs my gaze of blessing instead of my correction? Let me pray. Father, let your face shine upon me, not because I am strong, but because I am yours. Let me feel the warmth of your gaze. Let me hear the blessings you speak over my life, and let this blessing soften my heart so that I may bless others with this same love or agape flowing out of me. You are created by agape to be agape and to agape others. Amen. And in closing, beloved, chosen, blessed, and the next episode we'll step into the tender and holy truth. Broken, loved even in our wounds. Not brokenness as shame, but brokenness as the place where agape becomes intimate. Until then, let the blessings rest on you. God sees you, and his gaze of agape is with you, and keep living daily for Christ.