Loving Every One
God's love is a personal and special love that is eternal and tender, and we are called to respond with our own love and devotion.
Mary Wilder Tileston preaches about the deep, personal love of Jesus for each individual, likening it to the care and protection a shepherd provides for his scattered flock. She emphasizes how Jesus seeks out and delivers His people from all places, even in dark times. Tileston highlights the sacrificial love of Jesus, who gave Himself for each person, showing a love as personal and special as if that individual were the only one in the world.
Text
As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
--EZEKIEL 34:12
The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.
--GALATIANS 2:20
PERVERSE and foolish, oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home rejoicing brought me.
--SIR HENRY W. BAKER
TRY to feel, by imagining what the lonely Syrian shepherd must feel towards the helpless things which are the companions of his daily life, for whose safety he stands in jeopardy every hour, and whose value is measured to him not by price, but by his own jeopardy, and then we have reached some notion of the love which Jesus meant to represent; that Eternal tenderness which bends over us, and knows the name of each and the trials of each, and thinks for each with a separate solicitude, and gave itself for each with a sacrifice as special, and a love as personal, as if in the whole world's wilderness there were none other but that one.
--FREDERICK WM. ROBERTSON
Sermon Outline
- The Shepherd's Love
- The Nature of God's Love
- The Call to Love
- Imagining the Shepherd's Feelings
- Understanding God's Sacrifice
Key Quotes
“The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“PERVERSE and foolish, oft I strayed, But yet in love He sought me, And on His shoulder gently laid, And home rejoicing brought me.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- We should strive to understand the personal and special care that God has for each of us, and respond with our own love and devotion.
- We should imagine the feelings of the shepherd and recognize the sacrifice that God made for us, and be grateful for His love and care.
- We should live by faith in the Son of God, trusting in His love and sacrifice for us, and relying on Him for guidance and strength.