Inseparable Love Romans 8:28-39

Today we’re going to talk about being inseparable from God and his love.

Some things are just meant to go together, like, hand and glove… head and pillow… night and sleep… moon and stars… rain and umbrella… snow and snowmobiles… ice and ice fishing… Christmas and lights… Thanksgiving and turkey… milk and cookies… popcorn and movies… Bogey and Bacall… Abbot and Costello… The Lone Ranger and Tonto…  Cinderella and Prince Charming… love and marriage…  

God and love… God and love and me, meant to go together, to be inseparable. One is not meant to be apart from the other. God and you were not meant to be apart; you and the family of God were not meant to be apart. God chose you for him, and for His family.

In our Old Testament today Moses reminded the people of Israel of their calling to be God’s people: The Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth… not because you were more in number than any other, but because the Lord set his love on you, though you were the fewest of all.

Rather than choose a great, already made nation like Egypt, or any of the great political Kingdoms of the world, God chose a band of lowly slaves to be his holy people.

They didn’t do anything to impress God that he should choose them, but, verse 8,  it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers… Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.

What God had promised generations earlier to Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, that their descendants would become his chosen nation, through which he would redeem the world, God was following through on that promise, as God always does.

Speaking of things that go together, I think of Beauty and the Beast. The story of God and His people was kind of like Beauty and the Beast; their vanity, their sin caused the trouble, but God was like their beautiful Savior.

Our story with God is also like Beauty and the Beast. Our sin has brought all kinds of ugliness, if you will, into the world; hate, and jealousy, and greed, and selfishness, and all kinds of evil. 

But God sent His Son to cleanse us of our ugly deeds of sin and selfishness by the grace he won for us on the cross. God sent His Spirit in Baptism to sanctify or as our epistle says, glorify us, to make us beautiful with deeds of goodness and love.

God invested himself fully in us, making us his primary mission, sending His Son and His Spirit to save and sanctify us.

As God has made us into His beautiful and treasured possession, so He is our beautiful and dearest Treasure.

In our Gospel today, Jesus teaches us where true treasures are found, not in the world, but in the Kingdom of God. He tells us that the kingdom is like a man finding a treasure in a field; he sells all he has and buys the field, investing himself fully in the treasure he found.

As God invests Himself fully in us, so He calls us to fully invest ourselves in Him and His Kingdom, in His Word, His Church, His Ministry, and His Mission.

In our Gospel another man finds a priceless pearl, and sells all he has, so that he might have that the one beautiful pearl. So we put our faith in the Gospel; we trust it to be one true way of love and salvation; we trust in Jesus as our one and only Savior.

Also in our Gospel is the analogy of sorting fish from a net; the fish that are good for eating are kept, and from the fish that are bad for eating are thrown away. 

Those who have been made good in the gospel, who have faith in Christ, and so are justified before God, they’re kept to live and serve in love and joy forever in the Kingdom of heaven.

But those who reject the pearl of great price, the gospel, and therefore have no grace to be justified by, are thrown into the fiery furnace. They have no eternal value, no goodness and love to share in the Kingdom of heaven, they would only bring evil, and so they’re forever separated from the love of God, and His glory.

God wants this for no one. This is why Jesus tells us this unpleasant truth; so that it won’t happen to us.

This teaching may not be culturally correct, and may be considered rude or mean by some, but it would be far more cruel for God NOT to warn us of the danger of rejecting the gospel. He tells us so we will take it to heart and not suffer a life without Him.

God wants everyone to be connected to him, hand in hand, heart to heart, inseparable from his love.

In our Epistle, we’re assured that in Christ, everything works out for the good of those who love God. We can be sure of this because first, God foreknew us, chose us from eternity to be his dear children; He called us to be his children by the Gospel, baptized us to give us faith, by which we were justified before God; and he glorified in Baptism, sanctified us to do good, by giving his Spirit.

All this means that we have a lot going for us. When you think you think there’s a lot against you, remember how much more you have going for you.

With all this going for us, what can be against us? A lot, but nothing compared to what we have for us, God Himself, His own Son who died and rose for us.

When it looks like everything is against you, nothing is going right in your life, look to God. That’s where you have everything going for you; God working  everything out for your ultimate good.

When the world would tear you down, and try to destroy you, and condemn you, look to God who justifies those who repent in Christ; who befriends those the world rejects; who values those he calls and redeems, even if they seem of little value or importance to the world.

With all this going for us, then Who shall separate us from the love of God Christ Jesus our Lord?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Greater than even the Caesars with their mighty empires; the Kingdom of Grace is greater than any political or financial or empire.  When you have God’s love you have more than any worldly fortune or empire

⁸⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There will always be those things, and those people, that try to drive a wedge between you and Christ, to keep you away from His love and close fellowship with him; but the bond the Holy Spirit gives us with Christ is greater than the things that try to come between us.

In Christ, even in the worst of circumstances, you have the best of friends, and the greatest love.

May you and God always be together; may nothing ever come between you; may nothing ever separate you from the remarkable love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

And with His inseparable love in your life, you have that peace which passes understanding. May it always guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.