The Deep Deep Love of God
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
This morning I want us to attempt a monumentally difficult challenge. And let me say at the beginning of our attempt that I fully expect, in fact I fully know, that we will fail in our challenge. The challenge that I want for us to attempt this morning is to embrace and comprehend the deep deep love of God. I know we will fail to fully achieve this goal, because I the preacher, preaching this message do not myself fully comprehend the love of God, so how can I expect you the listeners to succeed where I have failed? While I fully acknowledge that we will ultimately fail in our task, my hope is that we will come away from this message this morning understanding in at least some small way, the love of God in a deeper fuller manner.
Our task this morning is something like the waves of the sea crashing up against the cliffs of a mountain. Those waves try as they might, will for years upon years crash against the cliff face, and they might make a small difference in the shape of the rock, but there is an entire mountain that remains rooted behind those cliffs. That is how I feel when I throw my mind up against the cliff face of trying to understand God. Try as hard as I might, I will inevitably be dashed to pieces. Meanwhile, God like an enormous mountain remains. But that doesn’t mean that it makes no difference. With year after year of delighting my thinking in God I will be able to, at least is some small way, begin to deep my understanding of Him. This morning I invite you to crash the wave of your mind against the deep deep love of the Father.
And we are going to attempt to do that by looking at a series of propositions this morning.
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
Beloved, you who are truly saved ones, let us love one another, for/because love agape is of or from God. Real love, Biblical agape love comes from God. God is the source of love. There would be no love is not for God. Therefore, everyone that loves (everyone that loves the way God loves) there are two things true about that one- 1). That one is born of God (that is he is born again, he is spiritually alive), and 2). That one knows God (that is he has a personal, relational knowledge of God).
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
The flip side of verse seven is true. The one that does not love, that does not agape, does not know God (there is no spiritual live, he is not born again, and there is no personal, relational knowledge of God) How do you know that?
For / Because God is love. God is agape.
Proposition #1- God is love
Proposition #1- God is love
What does it mean that God is love?
It means that one of the primary attributes that tells us who God is, is love.
Now to understand what that means we need to think a little bit deeper about what God is like.
The Bible teaches that God is eternal. He always has been, He always will be. There is no beginning nor ending to God.
8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
That means, in relation to our conversation, that since God is love and He is also eternal, that from eternity past to eternity future God was and is and is to come, love. There has never been a time nor will there ever be a time where God is not love.
Proposition #2- From eternity past to eternity future God is love
Proposition #2- From eternity past to eternity future God is love
Now what does it take in order for there to be love?
At the very least you need a giver of love and a receiver of love. You need someone from who the love will proceed and you need someone who is the recipient of that love. How do we know that God is a god of love. You say, well that is easy- I know God loves me because he displayed his love to me in the Son and I have received that love from the Father. But what about the time before the world began, what about eternity past where there were no human beings in existence who were able to receive the love that God would give?
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In the beginning- before creation, before anything at all, all there was, was God Himself. How could God be love if He was all alone? How could God be love if there was no one to be the recipient of His love? The answer is found in the trinity. We serve a marvelously unique God. He is one God, but yet He is three in one. There is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now how that all works, I have no idea, but Scripture teaches it so I believe it and I attempt to do my best to understand it. But inevitably I become as the wave dashing itself against the cliff face.
Proposition #3- God is three in one
Proposition #3- God is three in one
There are two ways of looking at God. We can look at God in the unity of His being, and in the unity of His being; Father, Son, Spirit, They are all equal, they are all equally eternal, they are all of the same essence. That is the Father is fully God, and the Son is fully God, and the Spirit is fully God. Everything that makes the Father God the Son is and so is the Spirit. They are equal in terms of their essence.
Jesus claimed exactly this while He was on earth.
17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
The second way we can look at God, is in terms of the three persons. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal in terms of their essence, but they are distinct in terms of their persons. There is an order within the trinity. That is what is means to be the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit. It means that there is an order there in the relationship. And this order, this personhood has always existed. There has never been a time when the Father was not the Father, and there has never been a time when the Son was not the Son, and there has never been a time when the Spirit was not the Spirit. From eternity past to eternity future the personhood of the trinity will always exist.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Proposition #4- The personhood of the trinity is eternal
Proposition #4- The personhood of the trinity is eternal
This is so important. Because in this eternal relationship between the Godhead, the most fundamental relationship is love.
The Father loves the Son
20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
The Son loves the Father
31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
Proposition #5- The most fundamental relationship within the Godhead is love
Proposition #5- The most fundamental relationship within the Godhead is love
From eternity past to eternity future the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father. The Father is the initiator of that love, He is the one from Whom the love is sent forth. The Son is the recipient of that love and the one who responds to that love.
You say Pastor Jon how do you know that? If you were to study the words of Jesus out of the gospel of John, Jesus talks many times about the love of the Father for the Son.
17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
But there is only one time where Jesus talks about His love for the Father.
31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
Why is that? It is because the Father is the primary initiator of the love and the Son is the primary recipient and responder to that love. And from eternity past there has been a beautiful relationship of love where the Father has a deep deep love for the Son and the Son matches that with a deep deep love for the Father.
This is a love relationship that is hard for us to fathom. There is a beautiful transparency that exists in the love of Father for the Son and the love of the Son for the Father.
19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
Inside of the love relationship of the Father and the Son there is complete transparency. The Father shows the Son all things that He does. The Son can do nothing of himself, but what He sees the Father do. Whatever the Father does, these things also the Son does. There is no other relationship in existence in all of eternity that is as intimate as this one.
The one person on the face of this planet that I am the closest with is my wife. I know her more intimately more personally more closely that anyone else. Often times I am aware even of what she is thinking about. One time we both started to sing the same song at the same time in the same key (it was weird). But our relationship is not even in the same hemisphere as the closeness of the love that the Father has for the Son and the Son has for the Father. No one knows what someone else is thinking, feeling, and doing at all times in every detail.
Proposition #6- In His love the Father always fully discloses Himself to the Son
Proposition #6- In His love the Father always fully discloses Himself to the Son
That means within the trinity you have a complete and total knowing transparency between the Father and the Son. This complete transparency defines their relationship with each other. Even though the Father and the Son are separate persons within the Godhead, each are fully present in and to the other. There is never a time when the Son has to wonder what the Father wants. Jesus said- the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He does. The Father loves the Son so much that He shares His innermost being with the Son. This is an intimacy that we can’t even begin to imagine. The Son is so intimate with the Father that Jesus said- I do nothing of myself. I only do what I see the Father doing. The Father never has to wonder what the Son will do next, because their relationship is one of full loving disclosure. The Father shows the Son all things, and the Son does the exact same thing that the Father does- and all of it is out of love.
How does the Holy Spirit fit into this relationship with love? The Father is the initiator of the love, the Son is the responder to that love. The church father Augustine said this, “The Holy Spirit is like the love between them.” God is love. What does it take for God to be love? There must be God the lover, there must be God the beloved, and there must be God the love. The Holy Spirit is something like the love between the Father and the Son. So you have these three eternal persons in one being, one God, constantly and fully- loving and knowing, and loving and knowing each other. The Father initiates the love, the Holy Spirit goes out from the Father and to the Son, the Son receives the love and the Father and responds with a love of His own, and the Holy Spirit carries the love of the Son to the Father. This went on for all of eternity past- God existing in love- for God is love. And if God never created anything- if He never created you or I- God would still be love because He needs nothing outside of Himself in order to love, perfectly, completely for all of eternity.
Proposition #7- God needs nothing outside of Himself in order to love
Proposition #7- God needs nothing outside of Himself in order to love
God is within Himself completely realized and infinitely satisfied in the fullness of His being. He is the lover, He is the beloved, He is the love. He is Father, He is Son, He is Spirit. Fully knowing, fully known, fully present each moving around each other in this love relationship from eternity to eternity.
Interestingly theologians have come up with a word to describe this love relationship- they call it περιχώρησις perikhōrēsis.
Peri- means around
khoresis- this is were we get the word choreography, the idea of the word is the idea of dancing.
The meaning here is that for all of eternity the three members of the trinity are so to speak, dancing around each other- loving, knowing, loving, knowing, loving, knowing.
Fully loved, fully known, self contained- needing nothing from eternity to eternity. And we were never necessary to God.
This is what it means to say that God is love. It is incredible and if you don’t understand it all- welcome to the club. If you feel like the wash smashing itself into pieces against the cliff face- you are in good company.
Now why did I take the time this morning to say all that?
Turn back with me to I John 4:7
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 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.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
We took all that time this morning to better understand the idea of what it means that God is love, for one reason- so that you could better understand the magnitude of God’s love toward you.
Proposition #8- The magnitude of God’s love for you is deeply profound
Proposition #8- The magnitude of God’s love for you is deeply profound
In the eternal dance of love within the trinity or the Godhead, there was only one hiccup. From one perspective, within one instance in history, there was a hiccup in the dance, when Jesus died for our sins.
The love which the Father extended toward the Son, and the love with which the Son answered the Father, was in a certain sense interrupted by wrath.
V. 8- God is love.
V. 9- In this was manifested the love of God toward who? Toward us- toward you. You want to know how much God loves you. His loves was manifested to you because God sent his only begotten Son into the world.
V.10- Herein is love (you want to know what love really looks like?) not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and He (The Father) sent the Son as a demonstration of His love for you, He sent the Son to to be the propitiation for your sins. Do you know what that means. To be the propitiation for sins- means that Jesus fully satisfied the wrath of God on account of your sins- He exhausted the eternal wrath of God for all of your sin. And the Father is the one who sent Him to do it. And the Father sent the Son to exhaust His wrath because He loves you.
That means when the Son dying on the cross, cried out in agony, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” And for the first time ever in all of eternity the eternal dance of love was in a sense interrupted by wrath- that was an expression of the deep profound love of the Father toward you.
What can we possibly say when confronted by such wonderful love? I would echo what the Apostle Paul said, “That you...
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
How great the Father’s love for us! He sent His Son to purchase us, and the Son bore God’s wrath on the cross in our place. And God did all this- showered you with His love- so that you can be accepted in the eyes of God- so that you can be His beloved. When you put your faith in the death of Jesus on the cross for you, when you receive His gift of righteousness- you become as righteous as Christ is. When the Father looks on the Son- He loves the Son. When the Father looks on one who has put their faith in the Son for salvation and who has become as righteous as the Son- the Father sees Christ’s righteousness in us-and He loves us. And there is joy in heaven and great delight by the Father over what the Son has accomplished for us in our salvation. And we are being transformed back into the image of the Son- so that we can fully and completely love God with all our being. God’s love for us is deeply profound.
Such deep profound love of God can only bring one response to our hearts. And that is the response of worship. It is echoed in such verses as these.
We can speak to the Father with words like these:
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 4
“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 4
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
And we can cry out to the Son:
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 5
Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 5
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
And in just a moment as we participate in the Lord’s supper we can love God and worship God anew as we remember the marvelous, deeply profound, and awesome display of the love of God for us.