“Love” is probably the most used and abused word in our language. I mean… we love this song; we love this movie; we love Fridays, we love chocolate; we love our car; we love vacations; we love, love, love…. Unfortunately, in our culture the term has gotten watered down to the point of being almost meaningless.
But when used properly, it portrays something particularly extraordinary. For instance, “For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son. That whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Now that is something extraordinary, something mystifying, and something truly overwhelming. In fact, it takes a thorough understanding of the word “love” in order to grasp the depth of sacrifice – yet hope – contained in these words.
In 1John, 4:8, the author describes “love” as the very essence of God. “God IS love.” Therefore, Jesus lived and demonstrated “love” when he was on this earth. In John 13:34-35, Jesus tells us, “A new command I give you. Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The love referred to in these passages from the Bible is “agape love”. This is the highest form of love; it is self-sacrificial love, unconditional love, unending love, and unfailing love. (Read the underlined part of this sentence over and over until it begins to take root. This IS God’s love for us) Apostle Paul described Agape love perfectly in 1Corinthians 13:4-8: “Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. Love is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.”
The above passage is a standard part of most Christian wedding ceremonies. It is the way God wants us to relate to each other, and most certainly the way he wants couples to relate to each other in marriage. But like the beatitudes, these words call us to a higher standard than we see displayed in our culture today. I mean, the concept of caring more about the happiness and welfare of someone other than our self is definitely not the norm today; not in our culture, and definitely not in marriage. The witness to that is the staggering divorce rate; violence in our society and in marriage; and the increase in adultery, broken homes and ugly child-custody battles. (The last sentence was not God’s plan for us, but rather was the result of sin entering the world at Creation.)
Ephesians 1: 4-5 tells us, “Long ago, even before he created the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.”
You see, even before Creation God knew he was going to create man for a relationship with himself. And he also knew that in order for this relationship to come into being, he would have to give man (us) “free will” so we could choose to enter into that relationship. But being omniscience, God also knew we would misuse our “free will” and follow our own desires! (the original sin) Therefore,he already had a plan in place to save us from ourselves, and that plan was Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
Romans 5-6 describes our situation: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” Notice that God didn’t wait for us to clean up our act before he saved us. No indeed! We were still sinners. We were still his enemies! Yet because of his great love for us and because he wanted to save us, Jesus came “at just the right time” as the sacrificial lamb to pay the penalty for our sin so we could spend eternity with him.
Notice in Ephesians 1:4-5 listed above, it tells us that God “chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” This is not a statement of predestination, but rather an explanation of how his plan would work. Remember, he gave us free will. That IS the determining factor, because we have the right to accept or reject his Gift of Grace. We who believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ and accept him as our Lord and Savior are in Christ, meaning we are “holy” (set aside for sacred purpose, sin-free) and “without fault in his eyes”. (covered by the blood of Jesus and “washed white as snow.” Isaiah 1:18)) “Now we can come boldly before the throne of God” (Hebrews 4:16) because “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.” (Romans 8:1)
The world today is spiritually no different than the world 2016 years ago. Our culture is also morally bankrupt, so we have those who respond to the Gift of Grace and those who reject it. Yet God is being so patient with us because he wants everyone to have the opportunity to choose eternal life. But that choice is up to us, and the consequences are very clear: “The wages of sin is death (spiritual death), but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.” (Romans 6:23)
God IS love, and he demonstrated that (agape) love for us by sacrificing his only begotten Son so we could have a chance to spend eternity with him. So while you’re loving movies, chocolate, Fridays, vacations, etc., think of how far away you are from the love Jesus demonstrated for us when he was on this earth. Can you achieve that level of love on your own? No chance! But you can achieve it when you are in Christ, because you have the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower you to become the person God created you (us) to be. That is what sets Christians apart from non-believers, and it is a free gift to anyone who is willing to accept the Good News!
So what about you? Have you responded to the Good News…that Jesus died so you can have eternal life? If not, why not?
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Man God Bless Ya…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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