Sermon Central
-
Can God's Love Toward Us Change?
Contributed by Stephen Belokur on Aug 27, 2021 (message contributor)
Summary: There is a quote going around that essentially says, "No matter how good we try to be God cannot love us more and no matter how bad we are God cannot love us less." What does God's Holy Word say about that?
Can God’s Love Toward Us Change?
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you in the same way.”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse(s) is(are):
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Today we will be reading from Psalm 148
This past week we got back on Wednesday from our vacation. And, as is normal with vacations I came home exhausted. We were at the home where we will one day retire over in Honeoye with our two children, their spouses, ten grand children and three foster children. It was an amazing time.
Not all 19 of us were all together all the time but usually there were a good number around. It was great but it was also exhausting.
Now, keeping that in mind, I often hear about triggers. Not triggers on guns but ideas that will trigger a response in someone. The response to the trigger can be positive or it can be negative.
For those of you who were on the Wednesday evening online Bible study with us you were unfortunate to witness my response to a trigger. It was not pretty and I apologize to my beloved Karenlee for that and I also apologize to all who witnessed it. I am far from perfect, I know it and I regret it.
Pastor Karenlee is always talking about RESPONDING to a trigger event instead of REACTING to it and I reacted to it.
I would ask you as my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to make this a matter of prayer for your pastor, that whether I am exhausted or frustrated or whatever, that I would learn to respond with kindness instead of react with bluntness.
So, what was this trigger that caused such a knee-jerk reaction?
I was late arriving to the Bible study because I had spent 30 minutes on the phone trying to help someone get signed onto their computer so they could join the Bible study.
Here is the statement that I walked in on, “The underlying meaning of grace is that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more and nothing we can do to make Him love us less than He already does. There is nothing so good about us that makes us worthy or able to earn God’s love, and there is nothing so bad about us that can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. God doesn’t love us because we are good, and God doesn’t hate us because we are bad. God’s essential nature is holy love, which means God’s characteristic action is divinely self-giving, poured-out grace.”
Now, before we get into this discussion let’s read a great Psalm of praise for our great God and Savior: Psalm 148
(Prayer for help)
Here is the statement again …
“The underlying meaning of grace is that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more and nothing we can do to make Him love us less than He already does. There is nothing so good about us that makes us worthy or able to earn God’s love, and there is nothing so bad about us that can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. God doesn’t love us because we are good, and God doesn’t hate us because we are bad. God’s essential nature is holy love, which means God’s characteristic action is divinely self-giving, poured-out grace.”
There are some great truths in that statement, amen?
Did you realize that the word “love” is repeated six times in that one paragraph? When the word love is used in the New Testament there are at least three Greek words used and they each convey a different meaning.
The first word is one we will not include in this discussion and it is “eros” from which we get the English word erotic. And, although it is a valid word for love it does not apply to this topic.
The second Greek word for love is “agape”. A person with agape love never says what’s in it for me or this person doesn’t deserve it. Agape love is sacrificial love. It shows action. Agape is used in God’s relationship with us so it DOES apply to this topic.
