Who's Your Biggest Fan?

I remember it like it was yesterday.

Even though it happened 20 years ago!

Right after reciting our wedding vows, Shannon leaned toward me and whispered those words I have never forgotten, "I am your biggest fan."

Wow! My biggest fan! And for twenty years, my wife has proved true to her word. She has been my biggest fan & faithful companion - in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer.

Yep. Shannon is my biggest fan.

Or is she?

Humanly speaking, I would agree. BUT ... the Bible is points to a deeper reality. It points to something (or someone!) that far exceeds, and is the only strong foundation of, all human relationships.

Without this reality it will make the cheering of any person (no matter how sincere or passionate) seem, well ... almost empty. You see, we were created to have our hearts & ears tuned to a greater Voice, one whose words and tune would echo through our inner being no matter what the circumstance.

We long for the affection of people, but we were created for the applause of heaven.

The message of the gospel is this - even before I was married, I had a fan. A big Fan. In fact, the One who was on my side created the worlds, and chose me to be Hos own before the worlds were even created (Ephesians 1.4).

Yes. God is my biggest fan. And He's yours too, if you are a Christian.

Read these words from Mark's gospel, as Jesus begins His ministry on earth ...

"You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased." 

Mark 1.11

Hear the applause?

And now, if you are in Christ by faith, that applause is yours. Jesus lived the life you and I should have lived. Jesus died the death we deserved to die. Why? To restore our relationship with God.

In Isaiah, the prophet paints a stirring & passionate picture of God's affection over His people ...

"As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you."

Isaiah 62. 4-5

In his book, The Pleasures of God, John Piper writes a moving commentary:

When God does good to his people it is not so much like a reluctant judge showing kindness to a criminal whom he finds despicable (though that analogy has truth in it); it is like a bridegroom showing affection to his bride.

Sometimes we joke and say about a marriage, “The honeymoon is over.” But that’s because we are finite. We can’t sustain a honeymoon level of intensity and affection. But God says his joy over his people is like a bridegroom over a bride.

He is talking about honeymoon intensity and honeymoon pleasures and honeymoon energy and excitement and enthusiasm and enjoyment. He is trying to get into our hearts what he means when he says he rejoices over us with all his heart.

And add to this, that with God the honeymoon never ends. He is infinite in power and wisdom and creativity and love and will see to it that we get more and more beautiful forever; and he is infinitely creative to think of new things to do together so that there will be no boredom for the next trillion ages of millenniums.

 
So humbling. So helpful.

If we look for our biggest fan in this world, we'll always be searching. And searching. And searching.

You see, no one can ever fill our hearts and souls with the passion we long for, the affection we dream about, the love we desire. 

No one, that is, except God Himself.

"... God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5. 8

Do you want enduring affection?
Do you long for faithful friendship?
Do you desire satisfying love?

You have it. Already. In Christ.

Your biggest fan is cheering. Even now. Nothing will deter Him from His love for you (Romans 8. 31-32). He will bring to completion what He started in you (Phil. 1.6). He will be faithful to the end (Romans 8. 38-39).

It's what we all long to hear. The applause of heaven.

Can you hear it?    

Can we "live happily ever after"?

Without wasting time, a wedding was held, and such was their thanksgiving to God, and the abundance of happiness that poured from the groom and bride, that it was said that no one had ever seen a more perfect couple than that of the prince and his princess. In the years to come, a daughter was born to them, and they called her name Aurora, or in the English, Dawn. Soon after Dawn's birth, a son followed, and they called him Day, for his face was as fair as the sun.

And they lived happily ever after.

Sleeping Beauty, Charles Perrault,1696

It's the promise of every fairy tale, and the desire of every heart.

You've felt it, haven't you? In fact, at times it has seemed almost within your grasp. As you lie awake at night, it often peeks around the edges of your hopes. As you walk thru the day, you sense it whispering behind a second glance, a stimulating image, a tempting interaction, a Facebook photo, an "innocent" text.

We all want it. Desperately.

We all want to "live happily ever after". We all want our dreams to come true. We all long for true love, real romance, shame-less affection, guilt-less passion, heartbreak-less hope. 

We all want enduring affection.

But ... is it possible?

Yes! Absolutely, yes!

In fact, it is the resounding promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Think about it for a moment - why do we love fairy tales? It's really pretty simple. Fairy tales reach down and grab us at the center of our desires & longings. They portray images & describe worlds we all dream about ... 

• A courageous prince who rescues the fair maiden  
• A lovely princess who bestows grace and kindness on an ugly toad
• An evil dragon vanquished in flames, never to sow terror again
• A beast transformed by the love of a beauty
• And, yes, the ending ... "and they lived happily ever after"

It's the stuff of ... fairy tales. And real life!

Please don't miss this - in the true gospel of Jesus, all fairy tales come to life!

• Jesus, the prince of heaven, rescued His bride from sin and death at the cost of His own life (Romans 5.6)
• Jesus, thru His death on the cross, bestowed a kiss of grace on sinners, transforming them from rebellious beasts into sons and daughters of the King (Romans 8. 1, 14-17)
• Our greatest foes - sin, death & Satan - are defeated by Jesus (Col. 2.15; Heb. 2.14)
• And we will live happily ever after (Rev. 21. 1-7)

Enduring affection, true love, real romance, everlasting joy is not only possible. Its promised! It has been secured by the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God ... Ephesians 2. 4-8

Isn't that amazing? What you've always longed for you already have.

What you've always dreamed of getting is ... yours.

So ... why do we struggle? Why do we insist on settling for fairy tale promises when the offer of reality in Jesus sits in full view? Why do we sell our bodies, abuse our emotions, starve our spirits on what stimulates for the moment, rather than on what satisfies for eternity?

More on that next week.

But ... here's a hint. To grab onto the person of Jesus rather than the fairy tale of our dreams takes what is the secret ingredient of every fairy tale.

Courage.

And ... Jesus gives courage! 

Because of Jesus, you and I can "live happily ever after."

Right.

Now.