Love Came Unexpectedly

No one from the Shire has ever left the shire is a theme that carries throughout the works of JRR Tolkien. The idea is that the Hobbit who inhabit the shire are quite content, to be a secluded, self-sufficient people who rarely entertain strangers and certainty do not embark on adventures outside of the boundaries of the shire. So when 13 Dwarves unexpectedly showed up one by one at Bilbo's door, he was about to embark on an unexpected journey to the misty mountains to battle trolls and dragons and such.

Love came to us when we did not expect it. When we were not looking for it.

Isaiah 9:2 ESV

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Apart from God loving us first we could never love nor be loved, but when He does love us we see wonder and beauty of what true love is.

A love not expected.

In this is love - the negative side of this is that love does not find its origin in you and me. Love is not defined by man. In a world today where love is love, love really had no meaning love really has no way of definition, it is really just based on an emotion, whatever makes you feel good. And the reason that love does not find its origin in man is that we don’t even know what real love is, we only love if it suits our liking.

Not that we have loved God - This in the perfect tense which means that John want to us to see that our lack of love has ongoing results. We did not and have not and can not love God unless he first acts upon us. We did not nor do we love God apart from God first acting on we who have only sin and rebellion to offer. .

This does not mean that we never do loving things. Just as a clock that has stopped working is right twice a day, so man who made in the image of God, but broken by sin is still occasionally reflects what is good and lovely. But if we are to reflect the love of God it is only derivative. We are not the source and origin of love, much like the sun gives off pure light, there is not shadow with the sun. The moon reflects light and it shines down on the earth, but there is a dark side of the moon.

Think about it for a second most of us get married for love, what we mean by that is the other person makes us feel good. We think that we are far better off with that person that without them. And I am not saying that this is completely wrong, but is cannot sustain a marriage over the long haul.

They say that man has a God shaped hole in his heart, but sometimes we think that God has a man shaped hole in He heart that He has to fill, as if God were somehow incomplete or un-whole with out man his other half.

Indeed it would be one thing if we who are sinners initiated the love, if we sent out an SOS if we waived the white flag of surrender, but as it is, love is far greater that that, because God initiated love where there was no love.

We who were all together unloving are deserving of God’s justice and God’s wrath. But here is the wonderful news and the demonstration of God’s love. Make no mistake though God is just it is the love of the Father that sent the Son, He found the satisfaction of His justice in Himself that in the Son whom He sent. And so for us it is a demonstration of his love and mercy. Some people have this idea that Jesus is the loving one and he came to rescue us from his Father who is portrayed as some cosmic bully just wring his hands trying to crush sinners, but this is far from the truth, the Father is the initiator He loved and therefore sent the Son.

my family has seen my love, they have also seen the worst, the ugly side of me.

If God’s love were like ours, we might be tempted to think that there's some catch, and we wait for it and it never comes, and we realize that this love it true and pure. When we look to Jesus all that we find is beauty and love and forgiveness, mercy and grace.

A love far exceeding.

In this is love: the positive side.

2 Corinthians 5:19 ESV

that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Our love says get all that you can out of relationships and and when we don’t get what we want we move on, but God’s love is a different kind that says give all that you can give.

There is love in all sorts of things, but nowhere is the love of God so concentrated, so pure as in the cross of Jesus.

Stamped on the inside of my wedding ring is 14 k. Stands for 14 karat gold. Which means that it is only 58.3% gold, it is intentionally mixed with other types of metals to make it harder and more resistant to abrasion. In fact 24 k gold is what is considered 100% gold, would not work well for a ring or other jewelry because it is extremely soft and malleable. That’s why one of the iconic ways of testing gold is to bite it with your teeth to see if it leaves and mark.

First, Second, and Third John (Commentary)

To think that God looked into the future and saw anyone’s response to Him and based His saving action on that person’s future attitude or action, would be to place salvation into the hands of men and wrest it from the hands of God. In everyone’s salvation God is not the responder, but the initiator. Gary Derickson

Romans 5:7–8 ESV

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

To love those who love you seems natural and easy, but to love the unlovable now that is extraordinary that is a different kind of love.

1 John 3:1 ESV

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Conclusion:

G: When you come back you will have an adventure or 2 of your own to tell.

B: Can you promise that I will come back?

G: No, and if you do you will not be the same.

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Early Church (Our Soul Becomes Lovely by Loving God)

Our soul, my brothers, is unlovely by reason of sin; by loving God it becomes lovely. What a love must that be that makes the lover beautiful! But God is always lovely, never unlovely, never changeable. Who is always lovely first loved us; and what were we when He loved us but foul and unlovely? But not to leave us foul; no, but to change us, and of unlovely make us lovely. How shall we become lovely? By loving Him who is always lovely. As love increases in you, so loveliness increases; for love is itself the beauty of the soul.