The Trajectory of Love
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· 3 viewsThis message tells the story of what love is, how it plays out in our lives, and how it culminates with heaven.
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The Sunday after Christmas is commonly referred to as Christmas Sunday. This day is significant in many Christian traditions and is celebrated with various liturgical practices and hymns.
One could say that the reason for Christmas is God’s love. Jesus said in John 3:16-17
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
As fallen human beings, we do not know what love is. We have an idea, but our thoughts are often tainted with selfishness. We may say that love is a feeling, but the Scripture paints it as a commitment. 1 John 4:10
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
This morning, I want to talk about the direction or the trajectory of love. Trajectory is the path followed by a projectile flying or an object moving under the action of given forces. How does love move? What is its path?
First, we see that...
Christmas may be seen as the starting point of the love of God.
Christmas may be seen as the starting point of the love of God.
I was reminded recently that our Scriptures for today tell a story. They give us a rendition of love from beginning to end.
1 Corinthians 13 presents the definition of love: what it is and what it is not. It speaks of a commitment that is the opposite of human nature and mirrors what we see in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Things like patience, kindness, forgiveness, mercy and grace.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Paul gives this definition of love with a series of descriptions. He tells us what love is and what love is not. This is in contrast to the list of noble deeds described in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
The church in Corinth was a mess.
There was arrogance and pride, competition and selfishness.
Some were bragging because they were followers of Paul.
Some were boasting because they adhered to Apollos.
There was sexual sin that went unrepented.
There were those that said: “I have this spiritual gift. I’m better than Jimmy.” Others were saying: “But I have this spiritual gift, therefore I’m more devout than Doris.”
Paul has to set them straight. Nothing matters if you do not have love. Love here is the word ἀγάπη which is defined as...
the quality of warm regard for and interest in another, esteem, affection, regard,
And we experience such love because of God’s transformative work. 1 John 4:19
19 We love because he first loved us.
Love starts with God and comes to us. We learn about love from God, then
But how does that love play itself out in our lives?
Love finds its ascent in a changed life.
Love finds its ascent in a changed life.
Romans 12 teaches us how that is practically worked out in a Christian's life. It is displayed in honor and brotherly love, service and preference shown to others. Romans 12:9-17
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
What impresses me about this list is the absence of selfishness. It avoids the question: “What’s in it for me?” True love is a preference for others. It focus on the neighbor.
But we fail at this, don’t we? It is challenging, to say the least. Our threshold for inconvenience is low. We’re okay with love if it means tolerance. But love goes way beyond that. It means to actively pursue the welfare of your neighbor. It means sticking up for someone; or giving yourself.
It was Augustine, the 4th century church father who said:
“What does it look like? It has hands to help others, feet to hasten to the poor and needy, eyes to see misery and want, ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”
One of the challenges is found in verse 15: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” To be happy for someone, without saying or thinking: “What about me!?”
Love finds its destiny with Christ in heaven.
Love finds its destiny with Christ in heaven.
And then as if we are given the culmination of such love, we see it coming into clarity in the resurrected life. When we are changed because of the resurrection of Jesus that took place nearly 2,000 ago, then comes into a personal reality for every believer.
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
And so we know that at that resurrection, we will appear before the judgement seat of Christ and give an account of our lives. But, the key to standing in that day is turning from sin and trusting in Jesus. What is all of this based on? It is the gospel, or the good news of Jesus.
But as dismal as this situation may sound, it was for this reason that Jesus Christ came to this earth as God incarnate so many years ago. Christ died and rose again to abolish death for those who trust in Him.
Therefore, the believer possesses the sweet knowledge and anticipation of life after death, because Jesus arose from the dead. The Christian lives in this world knowing that his real home is not of this world.
So the Christian learns not to despise death, knowing that something better awaits him. The Apostle Paul wrestled with this when he wrote In Philippians 1:21-23
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
It’s a different perspective of what is important and what is not. And what is better and what is not. Notice that Paul says to depart and be with Christ is far better!
I remember several years ago I had a conversation with an elderly church member. This man had an infection that would later claim his life. When I asked him about such a prognosis, he said he had accepted it because he knew where he was going. And, to my surprise, said:
“Pastor David, with the world the way its going, I’m not sure I want to be here anymore.”
For example, there is the former senator from Nebraska, Ben Sasse. Mr. Sasse knew Dr. Drake and Andrea, while the latter was serving with CRU in the Boston area.
A recent article in the National Review revealed that Senator Sasse had recently been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer
Sasse served as a senator for Nebraska from 2015 to 2023, when he resigned to become the president of the University of Florida, serving in that post from February 2023 to July 2024. Sasse is a husband to his wife, Melissa, and father to three children, Corrie, Alex, and Breck. He wrote:
“A well-lived life demands more reality — stiffer stuff. That’s why, during Advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope — often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears,” Sasse wrote.
“But for now, as our family faces the reality of treatments, but more importantly as we celebrate Christmas, we wish you peace: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned….For to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9),” Sasse wrote.
How do we access this gift of life after death? It is not through being a good person or adhering to a moral code. Although important, these have never been the way to eternal life. Rather, a relationship with God is found through the gifts of repentance and faith. Jesus preached at the outset of His ministry in Mark 1:14-15:
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Repentance means to turn; a change of heart and mind. It is implied in the act of confession; asking God to forgive you for your sins and offenses done to Him and to others.
The other act is faith. Faith is not just believing that there is a God, but embracing Him; following Him; becoming a disciple of Jesus. As it says in Genesis 15:6:
6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
So there is urgency for all to repent of their sins and place their trust in Jesus Christ, in order to possess heaven as their home. It is a wonderful thing that God reached out to us in the gift of His Son, so we could be reconciled to Him.
Lewis Sperry Chafer once wrote:
“Anyone can devise a plan by which good people may go to heaven. Only God can devise a plan whereby sinners, who are His enemies, can go to Heaven.”
