The Light of Love

Joke:

One evening as a mother was preparing dinner, her seven-year-old son came down to the kitchen, crying hysterically. The loving mother bent down and said, “Honey, what’s wrong?”

“Mom,” he said, “I just cleaned my room.”

“Well, I’m very proud of you,” she replied. “But why on earth would that make you cry?”

Her son looked up through his tears and said, “Because I still can’t find my snake!”

Ephesians 3:17–18 NLT

17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

What a powerful verse describing the love of God. The love of God goes beyond our comprehension. It is wider, longer, higher, and deeper than we will probably ever know because God is far more marvelous than our human minds can imagine. I certainly look forward to the day when we stand in the presence of His love and fully understand how He feels about each and every person.

The Love God has for us is why Jesus came as a man to this world. We know that the light of life, Jesus, came to shine His love to a dark world. A world that was hopelessly lost and stumbling in the darkness that only was present because of the choice it made to reject the light. God in His love decided that we were deserving of His only Son.

When Christ came He brought with Him the hope for all humanity. Hope that He would be able to take on our sinfulness, our darkness, and bridge the gap between us and a Holy and Just God. He bore our burdens so that we could, like Ephesians 3:17 reminds us, allow Him to make His home in our hearts when we trust in Him as our Saviour.

When we talk about Jesus as the light of life I am reminded that He is Love. That this light we talk about is how we experience true and lasting Love. Jesus is the light of love to each and every person who is willing to see Him as He really is…the Lamb of God sacrificed for our sake.

I want to share a few ideas that I hope will increase our understanding of this free gift of love from God.

God is the Source of Love

1 John 4:8 ESV

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Also, skip down to verse 16

1 John 4:16 ESV

16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Much of the so-called love talked about in today’s world is not true love at all.

Now I am sure that everyone knows who Jack Nicholson is, right? He’s a pretty famous actor. He’s been in scary movies, funny movies, and even romantic movies. Well, I read a quote from him that I wanted to share because he was talking about Love.

He said, “I would love that one last romance but I’m not very realistic about it happening,” he said. “No woman has ever recognized what I say as being legitimate—they don’t trust me.”

In his life he has been adored by fans, dated many glamorous actress, and has all the money anyone would ever need. But you know what his greatest fear in life if? He said that his biggest fear is not finding love and dying alone.

Isn’t that sad?

Isn’t that a picture of the world though?

You might be very successful in the eyes of humanity, but unless you are successful in your relationship with Christ then you will be left wanting more. You’ll find that if you don’t know the source of love then you will live an unfulfilled life.

God is the source of real and lasting love.

Real and lasting love is love that looks beyond our weakness and endures for eternity. That type of love can only come from our creator. Just as light is part of the nature of God, Love is intrinsic to His character.

If you would like to know how God demonstrated His love you need to look at the fact that God sent His only Son into a dark world that we might obtain eternal life. This love God has is NOT in response to man’s love to him, but was and always has been initiated by God.

When we read the words writing in Ephesians 2:4 we are certainly reminded of this love that God has for us:

Ephesians 2:4–8 NLT

4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. 8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.

You see, true love, can only be seen when you find the source of love. The source of love is God.

Now when we understand who the source of love is we can better understand the words of Jesus :

John 13:34–35 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus was the embodiment of God’s love, so now each of us should embody Christ’s love. This love is a sign to the world as well as to every believer that the source of love is living in us!

God is the source of love and...

God is the Force of Love

Hebrews 7:25 NLT

25 Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.

The love of God set things in motion once the light of life came to this world as a man. Jesus was born, He lived life as we experience life with the exception that He lived without sin, He was unjustly crucified which laid the sin burden on His back, and He defeated sin which was evidenced by His resurrection.

What’s important to understand is that before Christ accomplished this people relied on priests to help them atone for their sins. Remember what we read in the bible about priests offering animal sacrifices for the sins of people?

No priest could ever function in a permanent way because they were all subject to death. But Jesus when He took our place on the cross He became the permanent priesthood. He has the ability to carry His saving work to COMPLETION.

No more animal sacrifice would be needed. Jesus paid it all with His perfect blood.

When we read this verse in Hebrews 7 we can understand that JESUS is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through Him! And even more than that we are told that Jesus lives forever and intercedes on our behalf!

This is more than amazing.

This is a FORCE. This is POWER. This is AUTHORITY. This is LOVE!

This force means that God’s love reaches everyone. It touches all who are lost in their sin. The gambler, thief, adulterer, prostitute, liar, and anyone who is imperfect.

John 3:15 ESV

15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Isn’t that love? All we bring to the table as an offering is our faith that Jesus is our saviour.

God is the source of love, God is the force of love, and finally...

God is the Course of Love

God choose that His love would reach the whole world. It touches the young and old, the weak and strong, the great and small, and the rich and the poor. Every person, race, color, nationality. EVERYONE everywhere can be reached with the love of God.

But how? How is the love of God going to reach the world? Well, Jesus very clearly set the course of His love. He let us know exactly how it is supposed to reach the entire world.

Mark 16:15 ESV

15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

You see, if we understand that the light of life has brought love to this world then we should want to share this good thing we have found. Part of our purpose should be to let everyone we meet see the love of God through the way we live…and the things that we say?

If you were honest with yourself, would you say that your primary purpose in life was to share the love that you’ve found in Christ? Maybe if you were really really honest with yourself you might say that you’ve not even put any thought into the kingdom of God as you move through your days.

I call that living on rinse and repeat. Just going through the motions of every single day with no real focus on what matters for eternity.

Well, I’ve got to tell you, you have a purpose. Jesus is talking to you when He says to go out and tell everyone about the Love that He has for them.

If you look at that last verse in Mark 15 you read something that is really encouraging.

Mark 16:20 NLT

20 And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.

The Lord worked through them! How incredible is that truth? Once we understand the source of love and the force of love then we can be used as the course in which God takes to bring that love to the world. You’re not alone. The Lord Himself will guide you. Work with you and you will see results. You will make an difference.

If you are listening to this message I want to let you know first and foremost that God loves you.