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"Here as in Heaven."
For more information visit : garden.church
Welcome to Garden Church podcast. We are a community in Southern California dedicated to raising resilient disciples of Jesus Christ.
Michael Miller:I wanna talk this morning about first love. It's been a theme in our world, how to how to love Jesus well. Jesus was asked by a Pharisee. It actually doesn't say Pharisee, it says a lawyer who who he wasn't it wasn't civil law. It was it was religious law that he was an expert in and so he he spent his life knowing about the the code, the regulations that we need to abide by in order to be in relationship or right standing with the Lord.
Michael Miller:Now, aren't we thankful that Jesus Jesus has made a way where where the law the law has been removed, righteousness is found by faith in him. So we we're righteous because of Jesus but this lawyer's coming to Jesus who is God in the flesh. So God had ears, eyes, hands, feet and he's asking him about the law received from Moses by God in order to be in relationship with him. And he says this, he says, what's the most important law? Like of all of them, what's the most important one?
Michael Miller:Now now now this is a profound moment because whatever Jesus says who is God in the flesh, we need to listen. Because it's not just saying like like it's not it's not necessarily about, you know, laws written on stone. Like it's not God with a long finger pointing at us saying you better get this right. What what what we're about to understand about God is is is a desire in his heart. We're about to it's like it's gonna crack it open so we can see what what does God desire most?
Michael Miller:And he says this, he says first and foremost, it's loving me. Loving me. Loving me. And then he says second, and like it to love your neighbor as yourself. So the similarities here are love.
Michael Miller:Love. Why? Why? He is that. You cut him open, love.
Michael Miller:And he's saying that this is the weight of meaning for you. You wanna discover the meaning of life like as you stand before your god one day, this is an important revelation that little you little you, big him He said, I actually desire your love. I actually desire little you to willingly love me. Emoji head blown. Like what?
Michael Miller:My love, little little broken me loving you. That's number one. And then number two is is with the love because it it doesn't begin with you. I don't want you to hear, if you leave going, I need to do more for God. That's not what I'm saying because God is love and you can read first John chapter four but it talks about him demonstrating his love.
Michael Miller:Initiating love. So the love doesn't begin with you, it begins with him. But but as you receive his love, it propels you to give what you've received. And and and what he's saying is is is I want you to take that love and I want you to bring that love back to me. I want you to love me.
Michael Miller:That's first. That's priority. Now this is You're like, Miller, like you came all the way into Texas just to share this? This is it? Wow.
Michael Miller:I learned this when I was three. No. No. No. No.
Michael Miller:The the fundamentals of our faith are what we have to be very clear about in this hour. A world is so confused out there and we have to get back to the fundamentals of it all. I I I like talking about Koulianos. Koulianos is a he was a d one golfer at the University of Florida. I think they may have won a national championship.
Michael Miller:Let's just say he did. I mean, that'd be good. They were really good though. He's still to this day, he's a phenomenal golfer. And he talks about the technicalities of golf and how how like he could win a tournament or if he was down but his coach would always bring him back to the same things.
Michael Miller:Grip, balance, head, very simple. Whether he's winning, struggling. Let's just go back to the fundamentals and I feel like the Lord is bringing us back to just here's the grip, here's the weight, here's the focus and we can't we can't get too complicated. We we can't This isn't a It's simple. But simple isn't synonymous with easy.
Michael Miller:It's really hard to maintain simplicity. But what you have here, this is rare air because it's simple and one of the fruits of simple is pure. And purity, what's so unique about purity, purity doesn't have to do this. That's not purity. Do you know what purity has to do?
Michael Miller:Purity just does this. It just shows up. You know when it's pure. This is pure. And it's to be protected and the way you protect it is keeping the fundamentals.
Michael Miller:And so this loving him, this loving him, it's like we don't graduate past it. That's right. Like the weight of your life, it will be measured by this, loving him. And it's different. Here's one of the things we do is is we've taken this, there's a subtle exchange of like, okay, I'm gonna love him by doing things for him.
Michael Miller:I'm gonna love him by loving people. We can Listen, they're so intricately connected but Jesus did make a delineation first, second, First, second. And one of the things is is is we can just suddenly exchange and we begin doing things for him in the name of loving him. Like my wife, I didn't introduce her, Larissa's here. Go ahead and stand up, baby.
Michael Miller:This is so that's that's me flexing. I mean, seventeen years she's put up with me. And and here's the thing I know about Larissa, we're talking about love. I've studied how to love her. I've studied it and and I can I can do things for her that move her?
Michael Miller:Recently, and it's such a weird analogy because I do this quite a bit but it does move her. I should probably do it more but one day she walked into our kitchen and she was like, the kitchen's clean. The kitchen's clean. And I'm just kinda like, you know? You cleaned the kitchen.
Michael Miller:Yeah. I I did. I saw it was dirty and so I had to just clean the kitchen. And and but it was so moving to it. Right?
Michael Miller:And I I wasn't thinking like I'm I'm gonna prove my love for Larissa. I I just I love her and so I was doing something for her. So that that's a degree of love. And and I think I think it's a you know, it's a I would I would say it's a lesser degree than other ways that I love her. And so I'm not I'm not diminishing us us loving him by by doing things for him.
Michael Miller:I'm not diminishing that. But I do wanna elevate something because the upper room on or at the, not the upper room, at, the Miller household on Wednesday nights and Michael and Meredith, you guys have this too but y'all know what Wednesday night is at the Miller household. It's been that way for over a decade. It's it's date night, right? My kids know it, my friends know it.
Michael Miller:What's date night? It's where the sitter shows up to take care of the kids and me and Larissa, she's a foodie. So it begins with where are we going to eat honey? So she tells me and we always we knock it out, we go to a nice place, I get my phone on the table and I say okay, let's take care of all the housekeeping things. Let's talk about kids, let's talk about schedule, okay, let's talk about ministry, let's talk about demands and then when the alarm goes off, all that's removed.
Michael Miller:And then and sometimes that timer is getting longer and longer but once it's it's just me and her. Just me and her. Just me and her. And and and I know her love language, like I know her love language. I'm an words of affirmation guy so all she has to do is go, you're awesome.
Michael Miller:What'd you say? You're awesome. You're awesome. Like that's all I need. That's all I need.
Michael Miller:From her. From her. What she needs is quality time. She needs me to ears, eyes, me asking questions, engaging like that, her little love tank gets full. Holies to holy nights within our schedule.
Michael Miller:There's other things we do on date night which married people do. That is a different degree of love than Larissa coming in the kitchen going, oh you cleaned it. And in this hour, one of the things I feel like the Lord is doing with the bride of Christ, the Holy Spirit is doing with the bride of Christ is I was asked in Argentina, what do I feel like the Holy Spirit's doing on the earth? You know, it's like a softball question. This panel and I'm like, I didn't He's preparing the earth for a wedding.
Michael Miller:You guys just walked through revelation for eight months. Are you kidding me? Like it's about the revelation of the coming king. And Darren, was I listened and I was waiting for him to say the date and time that Jesus is coming back. That didn't come out.
Michael Miller:But but I do What'd you say? I'm so sorry. I do know this. Here's my eschatology. Ready for Miller's eschatology?
Michael Miller:You can take this. I do know this. He's coming back today or tomorrow. That's right. Today or it will always be right.
Michael Miller:Today or tomorrow. Today or tomorrow. What does that mean? It means we need to live in expectations. And the holy spirit right now is is is like a power wash.
Michael Miller:It's like Jesus through the holy spirit is just power washing the bride and you see you see some of the exposure that's taking place. You see fallen leaders that are taking place. You see like global ministries that he's power washing because he's purifying us because when he comes back, he's coming back for a pure and spotless pride. That's you and that's me. That's you and that's me.
Michael Miller:And it's the spirit inside the bride saying, come. There's a longing in us that's in him. And in a moment heaven and earth are gonna be married and we're coming to that table. That that's what he's doing but this first love principle is so central to it And I actually think that this first love, worship, intimacy, oil, wine is unto harvest. And I'm gonna show you that here in just a second.
Michael Miller:So you guys are foodies. Let's go to Luke chapter seven so you can get your food, all right? Gotta open the Bible. This is one of my favorite texts in the realm of first love. It was a Pharisee who verse 36, Luke seven, one Pharisee.
Michael Miller:So Pharisees always like have kind of like the villain music shows up when you enter into Pharisees like you know. I see this man as that. I actually see this man with a pure intent and his intent was to know the Lord and and to try to try to inquire like who is he? Who is he? He was within the region of this man and so what does he do?
Michael Miller:He makes a request. Verse 36, now one of the pharisees was requesting. So this is a humble invitation to Jesus. Would you come to my house? Would you come to my house?
Michael Miller:And here's one of the first revelations I want you to know is that Jesus when invited will come. Draw near to me, I'll draw near to you. Jesus shows up when you show up, when you inquire, when you request. So he does that. Pharisee asked Jesus, request him, dine with me.
Michael Miller:Come and eat at my table. So again, Jesus shows up at the I'm sure he said, hey, 6PM Thursday night. My address, whatever it is, whatever city they're in, Jesus got the direction so Jesus showed up at the right time, at the right place, with the right attire and he enters the house, the pharisee's house and he reclines at the table. So Jesus reclining at the table meant he came into his house, he sat down where he asked him to sit. He ate the food that was on the table.
Michael Miller:He drank the wine or whatever was there, drank it. He honored all the protocols of the pharisees whose home he entered. And I'm using this as as a metaphor for the American church. It's it's a dinner party with Jesus. We we we request him to come, we set a table, we set an agenda and listen, he shows up.
Michael Miller:He comes. He sits in the place we want him to sit. He eats what's provided. He honors the house protocols. And this is really relevant in my city Dallas, Texas because we do church really well.
Michael Miller:But there was a woman, a woman who heard that Jesus was near and she had a different response to him. And this response, Jesus would define as first love. And so this is a clear picture. If first love is so vital and important to the eyes of God, this is a story about someone modeling it for us where we can learn how to practically do it. So look at this in verse 37.
Michael Miller:There was a woman in the city who was a sinner. She had a reputation of being a sinner. Most likely she was a prostitute. She she she was weak, broken, in need and when she learned, someone told her Jesus is reclining at the table at the Pharisee's house. What did she do?
Michael Miller:She brought an alabaster vial of perfume. So she made an offering for him. She prepared something before meeting him. If he's in vicinity, I'm gonna find him and I'm gonna respond rightly to him. And and so she crashes the dinner party.
Michael Miller:Verse 38, standing behind him at his feet weeping, she wet his feet with her tears. Wiping them with her hair, kissing his feet. So weeping, kissing and anointing with oil or perfume. And so her response to Jesus provoked something in those around Jesus. The Pharisee in verse 39 who had invited Jesus, so this is actually the host of the event.
Michael Miller:As this woman crashes his party, breaks the agenda, it provokes something internal inside of him and he starts judging Jesus based on her response to Jesus. She judges, he judges Jesus based on her response to Jesus. And he says this, he said to himself, so it was an internal dialogue. If this man were a prophet he would know who and what sort of person this woman is that's touching him. She's a sinner.
Michael Miller:So Jesus didn't hinder her. Jesus actually accepted her and his acceptance of her and her response to him confronted something in the room and it was internal. Have you ever been in a worship setting where someone's response to Jesus provoked something inside of you? If you haven't, come to Upper Room. If you haven't, come to Upper Room on a Sunday night.
Michael Miller:It just confronts paradigms. I'm not that's not to say anything about Upper Room. I'm just saying there's there's there's a worshiping bride that's emerging, that's rightly responding to the lord, that's confronting our paradigms of him Because we have preferences actually. Yeah. We we we have projections.
Michael Miller:Yeah. And sometimes when people don't fit into those preferences or projections, they confront ours. And and yet there's there's an invitation for the pharisee because look at what Jesus does. Jesus tells the Pharisee a parable in verse 40. And Jesus answered him, Simon, I have something to say to you.
Michael Miller:Say it teacher. A money lender had two debtors. One owed, it's basically a $100 and the other owed $10. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which one of them will love him more?
Michael Miller:It's a key phrase, love him more. Just talking, it's a parable about about one's relationship to God. Simon answered, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And and Jesus said, you've answered correctly. You've judged correctly.
Michael Miller:Now now the metaphor is about thanksgiving. It's it's it's about thanksgiving. As you've received, so you'll respond. But look at what Jesus does. Jesus uses this metaphor and he's gonna teach Simon not only about forgiveness but he's gonna share his perspective of what's happening in this moment that Simon couldn't see.
Michael Miller:Look at this in verse 44. Turning towards the woman. Turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? Now it sounds like a silly question but but the truth is is that Simon did not see what Jesus saw. And so Simon's about to get Jesus' perspective of the evening.
Michael Miller:And listen, this is all that matters. Look at what he says. Do you see this woman? I entered your house. I entered your house.
Michael Miller:I came when you asked me to come. I sat where you asked me to sit. I ate what you put in front of me. I engaged your questions. But listen, you in that gave me no water for my feet but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
Michael Miller:You gave me no kisses but since the time I came in, she has ceased to kiss my feet, not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil but she anointed my feet with perfume. What is Jesus telling Simon? He's saying this, I entered your house. That phrase is really important.
Michael Miller:I entered your house. I submitted to your covering. But listen, in me doing that, you did not offer me what she's offered me. You did not offer me kisses. You did not offer me tears.
Michael Miller:You did not offer me oil. Here's what Jesus is saying, I was willing, ready and available to receive all of that from you but you withheld them from me. But she, she hasn't stopped and because of your lack of love for me, I'm not gonna hinder her from loving me as I should rightfully be loved. In essence, Jesus is saying this, I came into your house as the guest of honor but my desire was to actually be the host. My desire wasn't just to be honored at the table, it was actually to serve you what only I can.
Michael Miller:But there's a positioning of heart to be able to receive that from him. And and this context, Jesus said, look at this verse in verse 47. For this reason, her giving me oil, her giving me tears, giving me kids, for this reason I say to you her sins which are many have been forgiven for she loved much. She loved much but he who is forgiven little loves little. What he's saying?
Michael Miller:She loved me. We oftentimes use this text as like someone that's a minister in India. Like, man, they've been forgiven a lot. You know, you hear that. Like, he was like doing things for him in response to what he's done for us.
Michael Miller:But Jesus isn't saying that. He's saying, this is her loving me much. This is first love and it's through three things so vital for us to get tears, kisses and oil. Let let me let me just start with, kisses. It's affectionate.
Michael Miller:It's affectionate. Do you know God has affections for you? Like, he he has affections. Joy is not just theological. Peace, not just the like, they're tangible things.
Michael Miller:Not talking about emotionalism but sometimes we're so afraid to fall into emotionalism that we're shut down emotionally. And we judge people. We judge people. I'd rather someone be in their flesh and their emotions like expressing them to the Lord than someone shut down in their flesh that we accept. We've actually tolerated that and called it wisdom.
Michael Miller:It's not. There's there's a there's a true response and I was telling my wife two days ago, I've I've gotten in this deal where I've I've typed out my prayers. I'm too ADD. I'll start talking and then it's like squirrel and I am like over here. And so I sit down and I start typing out, Lord, thank you for today and I I did that for about a month and in my travels this week, I was I missed two days and I came back and I started typing and I immediately felt like the Lord was like, we're back.
Michael Miller:We're back. I've missed you. You're here. And I was like, I was overwhelmed with it like, you are that present. And immediately he started taking me into my childhood.
Michael Miller:Immediately he was like, son, you've become accustomed with this. You've justified a disconnect that you can be gone for that long and not know that it grieves me but I've been waiting, I've been waiting, I've been I was like, I was uncomfortable. Like you're that present. So so so kisses, affectionate. There's there's tears which tears tears I think represent pain.
Michael Miller:Sometimes the last place we go to with our pain is the Lord but he wants that. He said you're loving me by bringing that to me. You're loving that and I think it's really the the our tears were made for him. He wired you to cry. Yeah.
Michael Miller:And I I know I know that when I spend seasons outside of the presence of God, like the real thing, presence manifesting, I I get I get desensitized and and I shut down emotionally. But but but you were created to to actually have watery eyes. There was a there was a man, that came to me, one of my favorite testimonies at the upper room is is young people who walked away from the Lord but they they find him in our context, different from what they grew up in. And so parents will come in and they're like, man, I just wasn't certain about this place. Like, I didn't know about it but I see the fruit of it in my son or my daughter.
Michael Miller:And there was one guy that started attending and I could just see like he was not into it but he stuck it out two, three, four, five, six months in and and then one day him and his wife approached me. She was holding his hand and he goes, I need to talk to you. And I said, yeah, what's up? He goes, I didn't understand this place, shared his story. He said, but I need to tell you what I found in the prayer room because we have prayer 6AM, 8PM daily, he started showing up to prayer room.
Michael Miller:And as he said, what I found, he started crying and he started smiling and he goes, I found my tears in this place. And his wife's crying and she's like, he found his tears. And I was like, oh my gosh. Something unlocked inside of him being in the presence of the Lord. Wow.
Michael Miller:He just I found my tears. I found my tears. You find your tears in that place and then the other one's oil. Oil. And I think oil represents things that are precious to us.
Michael Miller:I think it's things that we surrender that that that may be costly, dreams, desires. I I Yeah. There there's there's there's a number of examples I could could give that I've I've seen people surrender and really plant in soil in our community and how god has burst something from that but one one one woman is Jane. Jane Jane Spring is a spiritual mama to Larissa and I and the Maldons know him. They're just kinda become iconic mothers and fathers at the upper room, just true shepherds.
Michael Miller:But prior to upper room, I met met Jane at the church we were attending and and and they invited us to come over to her house because she had a she had a prayer room in her house. She's like an intercessor, you know those Do we have any intercessors here? Jane just She's like, mama Jane. She's praised. So the thing about this prayer room though is no one was coming.
Michael Miller:Like she invited her to church but no one would show up and Truman was like, can you please just come? Like my wife needs someone to show up. So we went and we were the only ones there, of course. And we went like couple times, it was six to 8AM, six to 8PM, three days a week in their living room. Again, no one came.
Michael Miller:So when we launched the Upper Room, we had this invitation to to start a prayer room in the homosexual district of our city. It's kind of a church planting graveyard. Like I'm not a I'm not I wasn't my Like I would not pick that community to plant a church. I'm a Look at me. I'm a suburb guy.
Michael Miller:Right? I got a golf shirt on. Like I know that world but but I I was getting hit on like going to get coffee, I was getting hit on, Malden was down there. Look how good looking this guy is. He was in trouble.
Michael Miller:He was in trouble down there but we you know Michael and I walk into a place and everyone's like, oh my goodness, who are those guys? Like, you know what I mean? It was just it was like, send us somewhere else. Which is not the ideal place and and even even like sharing the gospel down there, was just it was hard. It was like not people didn't want a church down there and and the Lord like I planted you, I'm calling you to minister to me first, to love me first.
Michael Miller:Just just became this like like he killed us. He stripped us. He power washed us of what what what our measurements were and what success was and success became, did he come? And when he came, did we respond? That was success.
Michael Miller:It was like 12 of us. Did he show up? Did we respond? Did we move with him? That's how we've learned like the spontaneous thing.
Michael Miller:It wasn't a trend or style. It's so weird that it's become that. It's a response. It's a response. And and so anyways, Jane's in this room and and and in the living room before upper room and when we launched this little prayer room, Truman approached me.
Michael Miller:He goes, hey, we've lived in the suburbs for thirty years. We're moving to downtown under one condition. My wife's prayer hours, they have to be in the upper room. And I'm like, okay, we can do that. And he goes, Anne, you need to be at the prayer meetings.
Michael Miller:So I was like, okay, I'll try. And so I went into the school prayer with Jane Spring. So Jane's praying, Jane's praying, Jane's praying and she would pray the same thing over and over and over again. She would pray for marriages and musicians every day. Marriages and musicians.
Michael Miller:Marriages and musicians. Lord, just bring the marriages, bring the young people. Lord, bring the young people and and musicians, God, bring musicians. We just need musicians, musicians, to speak up with music and I'm like, Jay, it's like a month in. He's heard you.
Michael Miller:He's heard you. Pray about something else. No. Marriage is a musician. That was 02/2011.
Michael Miller:02/2013, I did just under 20 weddings. People started getting it's like, come, you show up, you drink the water and you fall in love. Like, everyone's getting married. And then 02/1415, we had we had this group of musicians come and our prayer room actually started on a Friday night. I didn't show this this morning.
Michael Miller:On a Friday night, musicians asked because they were in high school, I believe, and they asked for keys which is getting down there during the week to show up at 10PM on a Friday night in a room a little bigger than this and they just wanted to play their instruments and prophesy to the lord. They would take a dart rail. They didn't have a car. They took a dart rail which is the rail system. It was like a twenty minute dart rail.
Michael Miller:They get dropped off and then they'd walk like a half mile to the prayer room, set it up. All I gave him was a key and I found out about this prayer meeting because the landlord, the veterinarian who owned the clinic, he goes, hey, what's happening on Friday nights? I was like, I don't know. Oh yeah, I gave some young people a key. Why?
Michael Miller:The neighbors are complaining. I go up there and these little musicians had drawn other musicians, singers show up and there's like 200 young people in this room just and all I can think about is Jane going, marriages and musicians, marriages and musicians, marriages and musicians. What happened? Here's what happened. Jane Spring poured her oil out.
Michael Miller:It was her dream to see that and now that fragrance has filled the earth. And I I refer back to this little woman, marriage isn't musicians. Marriage isn't musicians. And a dream in a mama's heart, a dream in her heart became a vision for a son. And the bible says in acts two, when I pour out my spirit, your old men will dream dreams and your young men will have visions.
Michael Miller:I believe there's older saints in this room. There's still a dream in your heart, but your dream has actually become a vision for some young people in this room. You just have to break your oil open. It's gotta be available in Jesus name. I have a bunch of other stories I could share about the power of first love and community setting apart time and space to minister to him a fragrance emerging and I believe there's a fragrance that's gonna emerge from garden church.
Michael Miller:You're named the garden for crying out loud. The garden. What grows in gardens? Flowers. What are flowers?
Michael Miller:Fragrance. I believe there's a sweet fragrance of worship, praise, thanksgiving, adoration that's gonna be offered from the heart. It's not about gifts, it's about hearts. Gifts follow the heart but I believe the Lord is gonna strike a match and light a fire here. It's a fire of devotion to him but people are attracted to the flame.
Michael Miller:They actually wanna know because listen as this woman rightfully responds to him in Luke seven, Jesus says one phrase to her. It's in Luke seven verse 48, then he said to her, she never says anything. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven.
Michael Miller:Those at the table reclining said to themselves, who is this man that forgives sin? He said, woman, your faith has saved you. How did she receive forgiveness? She received forgiveness because she postured herself rightly before the one that could forgive. In environments where people are first loves expressed, I believe people will receive what they need in those environments.
Michael Miller:I also believe it's attractive to the lost. They were made for love, not your love. His. His can be expressed through you. His can be I'm not not not diminishing that.
Michael Miller:But in environments where first love is being poured out, I believe they open up hearts to receive his love first. I've seen more people saved in our community back home, specifically in the homosexual community when they came into an environment where first love was being expressed. What is this? What is this? And then we would just get up and introduce them to the one that's in the room And he forgives sins.
Michael Miller:Do you need your sins forgiven? There's no condemnation with this man. There's love and open arms. Come to him. Come to him.
Michael Miller:That's who he is. That's what he's like. In Jesus name. Amen. Thank
Intro/Outro:you for listening. For more information, please visit us online at garden.church.