His Love

It would most likely be a fair assumption that at one time or another, each of us has encountered someone who was lacking in love. It is also an equally probable wager that at some point in our past, we have also been lacking love.

Today we will be looking at the core nature of God – and that is Love. What exactly it means to love and how He enables us to truly love. If you have been finding it hard to love others, or have been wondering why it is even important, this message is for you today.

We are going to be examining several scriptures today so it will be a good idea to have your Bible ready, or to at least take down notes so that you can look at the verses later in your own Bible when you can. While it’s true that we always quote the verses and put them on the screen here, it is always best to read along in your own Bible also because it helps you to remember more and it’s generally a good habit to get in to.

So today we are looking at love, and I know that some people are always put off when love is mentioned in church because it is generally assumed that the sermon will be one of condemnation and guilt because “we don’t love enough!”… Well those of you that may be newcomers here, fear not because I do not teach like so many others do, and this is not a place of condemnation.

A lot of people out there today have been badly burned by “hellfire and brimstone” preachers in the past, but it is my belief that the only one who really spews forth hellfire is the devil, and I have no desire to do his work for him.

The Bible clearly states that in every area, God has already completed the redemptive work, and we do not need to add anything to it, and this also includes love. But before we get into that, first we must answer the question: what is love and why does it even matter? Let’s take a look at 1st John 4:8-11:

“He that loves not knows not God; for God is love.
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”

Verse 8 sure doesn’t waste any time or mince any words. It states quite plainly that if a person does not love, they do not know God. Now notice this small detail with a large impact… the verse does not say that the person does not know of God, almost everyone knows of Him, but it says that if someone does not love then they do not know Him – as in an intimate family relationship.

This distinction makes all the difference because verses 9 through 11 make clear that when someone truly knows God and the details of the finished work of Christ, that is where true love is born.

Once we truly see how God has loved us first even while we were yet unsaved, unredeemed sinners dead in our unrighteousness, and we clearly see the fullness of our redemption, that realization itself is what causes real Godly love to spring forth within us.

Now that last verse—verse 11 is what I want to focus the remainder of our time on today because this is the area that so many find impossibly difficult; and it is impossible when we proceed from the wrong foundation. This is why it is so vital to understand that we can only truly love when we have first received the love of God, otherwise we are just loving others from our own strength, and we naturally will run dry very quickly.

I once knew a man who asked God for wisdom, and he received it in abundance; he became incredibly wise and mentally quick and he perceived things very fast. Yet in all of that, the man lacked love, and he would often be very short and mean-tempered with the people around him because they were not as sharp or quick-witted as he was.

My friends, the Bible considers love to be of supreme importance. 1St Corinthians 13:2-3 says it this way:

“And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing.”

It is important to note that the word “charity” in the verses here, is actually properly translated as “love”. So we can see how necessary it is. But some may still be wondering why. Well the answer to that question all comes down to the title of this message today: “His Love” – and more specifically, His love for all of us.

You see, there once was a missionary who also lacked love, and will it surprise you to learn that this man is in the Bible? His name was Jonah. Now many people are familiar with this man because of the large fish, but the lesser-known part of the story is this… He never wanted to go to the city God was sending him, and the reason is because he did not care to save the people, he wanted them to be destroyed because of their disobedience – in short he lacked the love of God. In-fact, Jonah was angry with God when God spared the city; so God used a certain situation to teach Jonah about true love and mercy, and we will close our time today by reading about this in Jonah 4:1-11:

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
And he prayed to the LORD, and said, I pray you, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before to Tarshish: for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repent you of the evil.
Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
Then said the LORD, Do you well to be angry?
So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
And God said to Jonah, Do you well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even to death.
Then said the LORD, You have had pity on the gourd, for the which you have not laboured, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?”

My friends, God is a God of love and mercy and He desires for us to share His love and mercy with those who so desperately need it. We can only do this by resting and receiving His love for us first, and then loving others out of that overflow.

Stay connected to Christ each day, and notice how His Love flows freely both through you and to the world, effortlessly.