Sermon Tone Analysis

Hosea 11:1-7 | “I Loved Him”

II.

Introduction

A. Introduction to Theme

“I love you.”

How is it that I can say “I love you?”

I have not known you very long.

Should I not spend time with you before I say “I love you?”

Is time a prerequisite for love?

I remember seeing pictures of new parents with their newborn, first child.

The caption would read: “We love this child so much.

We’ve never known such a love.”

I used to have a problem with statements like that.

How is it that you can love this child so deeply, when you just met that child minutes ago?

The Father has not spent any time with that child.

How is it that you can love that child so?

Until I my first child was born.

Then I learned, that time is not a prerequisite for love.

We don’t have to spend time with someone before we love them.

What if I don’t like you very much.

Should I not first like you before I say “I love you?”

Isn’t that the kind of love we are taught from a young age?

We are sitting in a classroom at school and a note gets passed to us.

We open the note and it says: “Do you like ______?

Circle yes, or circle no.”

And just like that, in a few short steps, a “like” can become a “love.”

Is liking someone a prerequisite for love?

Is that really love at all?

When we were enemies of God, living in opposition to God, doing that which was evil in His sight, under sin — even then, God still loved us, before we were likable.

Before we were His friends (Jn 15:14).

Jesus says —

There is a love that is greater than the love that we know.

A love that surpasses human love.

There is a love that is unconditional, meaning no requirements or burdens are placed upon the one that is loved.

This kind of love is so unique, it is found in only one person.

This is the love of God.

On this fourth Sunday of Advent, we gather around this theme of love — God’s love.

The love of God is an inexhaustible theme.

We can think on it until the Lord returns and the depths of it will remain untouched.

Some people are self-described “experts in love.”

But it is not humanly possible to have such a comprehensive knowledge of love.

If we could know all there is to know about God, only then could we know all there is to know about love.

Frederick M. Lehman wrote these words in a hymn about God’s love:

“The love of God is greater far

than tongue or pen can ever tell;

it goes beyond the highest star,

and reaches to the lowest hell...”

“Could we with ink the ocean fill,

and were the skies of parchment made;

were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill,

and ev’ryone a scribe by trade;

to write the love of God above

would drain the ocean dry;

nor could the scroll contain the whole,

though stretched from sky to sky.”

(The love of God is greater far, 1917).

We know about God’s love, because God tells us about His love.

But God does not limit his revelation of love to words only.

God demonstrates His love.

God gives of His love.

God’s Word tells us that what God does, is informed by God’s love.

In everything God does, His love is being manifest.

This means that God may act toward us in a way that doesn’t seem loving toward us.

God may allow things to happen to us that may cause us to question His love.

We may not always interpret what God is doing as loving, but everything God does, God does in love.

This is clearly seen in discipline.

No one likes to be disciplined.

My children don’t like being disciplined.

I don’t like disciplining them.

But I discipline them because I love them.

God’s Word tells us —

We may be under the Lord’s hand of discipline, but that does not mean that God does not love us.

On the contrary, the discipline of God is evidence THAT God loves us!

Because informing God’s discipline is God’s love.

Love —

So when we err, God disciplines us so that we might walk in truth — and this is loving.

When God kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden after their sin — it was an act of God’s love.

So that they might not eat of the Tree of Life and live forever in sin!

God kicked them out, so that he might redeem all humanity.

In the Church, God has appointed pastors, God has a process, to exercise such a loving discipline.

I can’t say “I love you” as an Overseer, if I see that you are living in sin and I overlook it.

I would be negligent in my calling.

I can’t say “I love you” if I’m not willing to confront your sin and call it out that you might repent and be restored in relationship with the Lord.

All of this to say — we know so little about love, but at the same time, we know enough!

Because God has revealed His great love for us, in Jesus Christ!

Listen again to these words of Jesus —

We know about God’s love, because God did not keep it to Himself.

We know God’s love, because God gave His love, in the gift of Jesus Christ to the world so that we might have eternal life.

And that eternal life was bought with the blood of Jesus who gave His life for all who believe in Him.

B. Introduction to Text

Because love is an inexhaustible theme, we could talk at length about the love of God, the many ways it is revealed, the love of Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit of love, the definition of love and all the characteristics of it, we could talk about the love we are to have for our neighbors and even our enemies — all of which God’s Word speaks about.

The Advent season calls us to focus on a particular aspect of love — Sonship love.

What does it mean to be loved by God — as a child of God?

As a daughter?

As a son of God?

Jesus famously speaks of Sonship love in John 3:16 when Jesus says God (the Father) gave His only Son because of His love for the world.

While you are familiar with John 3:16, I want you to hear from a different place this Love Sunday.

Hosea 11:1-7.

Hosea is one prophetic voice among a group of twelve.

His prophecy is part of a collection in Scripture called “The Book of the Twelve.”