February 15, 2003
I. Introduction:
A. Different expressions of love
1) Our expression of love depends on the kind of relationship that we have with each other.
a) Our expression of love to our parents is different from our expression of love to our spouses.
b) Our expression of love to our children is different from the way we express our love to neighbors.
c) The way we express our love to our friends will be different from the way we express our love to our relatives.
2) Our expression of love depends on circumstances
a) The way we express love to our spouse is different when the spouse is healthy and when the spouse is in the edge of death.
3) Our expression of love depends on our cultural, religious, and personality differences
a) Some of us are good at verbal expression. Others are not.
b) Some cultures have a way of expressing their feelings to one another that may be considered shameful in other cultures.
1. OT practice of marrying your brother’s widow.
2. Free expression of feelings in Western culture
4) Our expression of love depends on our willingness to be vulnerable
a) Expressing our love takes some risks.
b) Consequently, some people decide to keep their feelings to themselves for fear of rejection or being hurt.
II. Body:
A. How do we express our love to our loved Ones?
1) Perhaps by words
a) Letter writing
b) Voice tapes
c) Talking by phone
2) Perhaps by actions
a) Spending time together
b) Showing that we care
3) By the life that we live
B. Expressions of love: Three stories
1) Classmate in first high school
a) His name was Romeo
b) His family was better off than the rest of us
c) He was not really a good student. He disliked school.
d) Against the will of his parents, he quit school.
e) Started driving their taxi.
f) Developed some bad habits, i.e., smoking, drinking, etc.
g) Got sick in the bone marrow.
h) Doctor said that he was not going to survive.
i) His parents devoted almost all their resources to get the best doctor in the province to help him get cured.
j) They sold their farm, their taxi, and many other things, to pay for his medical bills.
k) At the end, he died, leaving his parents in poverty.
2) Husband and wife
a) Husband got sick from kidney failure.
b) Almost died
c) After several testing, they found out that the wife’s blood and everything was compatible with the husband.
d) Wife decided to give her other kidney for her husband.
e) Both got operated. Both survived. They are still alive even as we speak.
3) French Revolution
a) In the French revolution, a young man was condemned to the
guillotine and shut up in one of the prisons.
b) He was greatly loved by many, but there was someone who loved him more than all the others put together.
c) That one was his own father, and the love he bore his son was proved in this way: when the lists were called, the father--whose name was exactly the same as the son’s--answered to the name, and the father rode in the gloomy tumbrel out to the place of execution, and his head rolled beneath the axe instead of his son’s, a victim to mighty love.
d) See here an image of the love of Christ to sinners. For thus Jesus died for the ungodly (Charles Haddon Spurgeon)
C. God’s love: Characteristics
1) Outrageous
a) Definition:
1. Disgraceful
2. Shameful
3. Despicable
4. Shocking
5. Offensive
b) God’s love expressed in the cruel cross
c) Deuteronomy 21:23, “His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”
d) 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”
2) Equally given to all
a) Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
b) Matthew 5:45, “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
c) God is Savior of both Jew and Greek
d) He is the Redeemer of the whole universe
3) Everlasting
a) Romans 8:35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”
b) Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
c) The only one that can separate us from God’s love is ourselves.
d) God will not force His love on us.
e) We have to make decision for ourselves.
4) Unparalleled
a) John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
b) Illustration: A British publication once offered a prize for the best definition of a friend. Among the thousands of answers received were the following:
"One who multiplies joys, divides grief, and whose honesty is inviolable."
"One who understands our silence."
"A volume of sympathy bound in cloth."
"A watch that beats true for all time and never runs down."
The winning definition read: "A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out." Bits & Pieces, July, 1991.
c) 1 John 4:9-10, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
d) Quote: You can give without loving, but no man can love without giving.
e) Laying down
1. Greek word Tithemi
2. Meaning: to make, to appoint, to establish, to ordain, to give up.
3. To die—to give up
4. To set or to establish—to make life better. To live a good life.
5. Aquino: “It is better to die a meaningful death than live a meaningless life.”
6. We die a meaningful death only when we have lived a meaningful life.
f) Illustration--Saving Private Ryan (a movie)
III. Conclusion:
Yes, God’s love is outrageous, unparalleled, equally given to all. We don’t deserve it, but because of God’s grace He gave it to us anyhow.
The greatest demonstration of this love is when He offered His Son to die on behalf of the sinners.
