I love the Bible because it tells me about God and how to live. We have the opportunity, through the Bible to know more about the Creator of the Universe. Today we will be talking about how God not only loves but is love.
How do we know God is love? The Bible tells us in 1st John…
1 John 4:7-17 (NIV) 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.
So, what does it mean that God is love vs. God loves? Love is an attribute of God. Love is a core aspect of God’s character, His Person. God’s love is in no sense in conflict with His holiness, righteousness, justice, or even His wrath. All of God’s attributes are in perfect harmony. Everything God does is loving, just as everything He does is just and right. God is the perfect example of true love. So no matter what God does, even if we don’t understand it, whether we read about it in the Bible or it relates to something that happens to us or someone we know, God is love.
What is love? The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13…
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV) 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Let’s talk about what love isn’t…
Genesis 1:1 (NIV) 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
God is greater and smarter than we are. In the beginning, He created the heavens and the earth. Where were you in the beginning? What heavens and earths have you created?
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV) 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Job 38:1-13 (NIV) 1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: 2 “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone– 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? 8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, 9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, 10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, 11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’? 12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, 13 that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?
God is smarter than us – there is no comparison to our wisdom and God’s wisdom. We will not always understand why God does things. I think of it as expecting a two year old to understand what goes on in the world. Even if a two year old thinks they are smart, they just don’t have the capacity to understand. We don’t have the capacity when compared to God although we like to think we do.
I say all of this for the perspective that we have when we say “If God loved me, He would or wouldn’t do this…”
- He wouldn’t let me go to prison
- He would get me a new car
- He would get me lots of money
- He would give me everything I want
- He wouldn’t let bad things happen to me
- And on and on and on…
There are going to be many, many things that we don’t understand. We can know that God is wise and that He is Love and even though we don’t understand, we can and it would be to our advantage to trust Him.
One fact that we need to come to grips with is that God can love us with a love like no other and still allow and even use suffering. If we don’t come to grips with this, we will constantly struggle with unmet expectations and disappointment.
C.S. Lewis said : “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
Sadly, we don’t change when things go good. When things are bad, we often give 110% of our effort to try and get comfortable – to remove any pain or inconvenience. We use denial, anger, bad attitudes and drugs to try and remove any pain or trouble instead of trusting in and depending on God’s love.
As C.S. Lewis says, God uses our pain and suffering to teach us. C.S. Lewis says this but also, God says this.
James 1:2-4 (NIV) 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Romans 5:3-4 (NIV) 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Acts 9:15-16 (NIV) 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV) 7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Hebrews 12:5-11 (NIV) 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
God disciplines us, which we may not like at the time, because He loves us and it is best for us. Is there anyone who believes that it is loving to raise a child and not discipline them and to give them everything they want?
Other examples…
- Joseph – sold into slavery, rose to manager, put in jail – prepared to lead all of Egypt
- David – 15 years between when he was anointed king and when he became king – a long time
I have heard some of you say “Going to jail was the best thing that happened to me.”
Another example was when I was recently talking with someone whose brother was an alcoholic and was stuck in a town several states away. He called and said he needed money to get home. The brother here offered to buy him a transportation ticket but the distant brother just wanted money. It was very hard to not give his brother what he was asking for especially when his love for his brother was questioned. God, in His wisdom, may not give us what we ask for because it is not best.
Matthew 5:11-12 (NIV) 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Just because God is love, doesn’t mean things will go the way you want them to go or that life will be fair but you can trust God because He is wise, powerful and loving. You may not understand but you can and should trust.
Do we agree that God is love but maybe not always the love we are expecting? What does the Bible tell us about God that would support that He is love?
Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV) 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Psalm 139:13 (NIV) 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
God knew you and loved you before you were born!
Matthew 10:30 (NIV) 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
John 3:16-18 (NIV) 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Romans 5:6-8 (NIV) 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Philippians 2:3-8 (NIV) 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!
God, in love, sent His Son who willingly or obediently came to earth during a horrible time in history when the Jews were under Roman rule to a horrible place where it was hot, dirty, dry and dusty and therefore difficult to live. He came and lived a life without sin which being part man and part God may not have been easy in itself but then to teach a regular group of men with great weaknesses who were responsible to take His message to the world. Then, he freely allowed Himself to be tortured and killed in the most cruel way ever imagined – crucifixion which caused a very slow and painful death. He did this all for you and I because He is love!
What other explanation can we come up with? He had the power to keep it from happening.
Matthew 26:50-54 (NIV) 50 Jesus replied, “Friend, do what you came for.” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. 51 With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
This is interesting but it really won’t mean much to us unless we understand that we are sinners in need of a Savior. God is love and He is also Holy. We are sinners. Those two can’t coexist without some help.
Isaiah 6:1-5 (NIV) 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Psalm 5:4 (NIV) 4 You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.
Romans 7:21-25 (NIV) 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV) 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Romans 3:23 (NIV) 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 6:23 (NIV) 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We are all sinners and deserve the wrath and punishment of God but Jesus came to earth to pay the price we owed but couldn’t pay for our sins.
1 John 4:10 (NIV) 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 Peter 2:24 (NIV) 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
1 Peter 3:18 (NIV) 18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. It is deep within us. Because God loved us, Jesus came to earth, suffered and died so that we might have life. He paid the price we owed but couldn’t pay because He loves us and He is love.
John 10:10 (NIV) 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
The devil wants to destroy you but God, in His love, wants you to have the best life here on earth and more importantly, for eternity.
So what do you do about God’s love? Read/Study/Pray – Get to know God. We have reading plans. Go to church and get involved with others who are seeking God and His love. Seek God.
James 4:8 (NIV) 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Believe and Repent. Jesus, who is God, came and paid the price for your sins. All you need to do is believe this, repent or turn from your way to His which is obeying Him. Lots of good things happen after that which we can talk about at a later time.
John 3:16-18 (NIV) 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Romans 6:23 (NIV) 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In His love, because He is love, Christ died for your sins.
There is nothing you can do to make God love you more! There is nothing you can do to make God love you less! His love is unconditional, impartial, everlasting, infinite, perfect! God is love!
He wants each of us to repent and follow Him. Our way leads to destruction. His way leads to the best life here and for eternity. You have the choice of what you will do with this God who is love.