We are all here at church this morning because of God’s love. Without it, we would not have any reason to be here. So, what does God’s love look like?
Romans 5:6-8 NIV
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Then we have the most common verses about God’s love.
John 3:16-17 NIV
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Jeremiah 31:3a NIV
3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
This is the true look of God’s love – sacrificial and eternal! He did this for all of us, forever! How does that impact us? We are to imitate God’s love.
Ephesians 5:1-2 NIV
1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children
2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Being Imitators – this is the only place in the New Testament where we are told to be imitators of God. 1
Here are the views of a few scholars on these verses.
H. A. Ironside states: ‘To imitate Him in holiness of life, to imitate Him in purity of thought, to imitate Him in cleanness of speech as His dear children, children in whom He can delight – that is what we are called upon to do.’ 2
William Barclay tells us: ‘What Paul says is: “Imitate God. And if you wish to imitate God and to imitate the sacrifice which Jesus made, you can only do so by loving men with the same sacrificial love with which Jesus loved them, and forgiving them in love as God has done.” It is Paul’s plea that the Christian must reproduce God’s attitude of love and kindness and forgiveness and mercy in his own life.’ 3
Homer A. Kent Jr. states: ‘ “Following God’s example” suggests that this should be continually and increasingly our experience.’ 4
Wycliffe Bible Commentary gives us: ‘Because believers are God’s “dear children” and have experienced His love, they have a standard to uphold, a path to follow.’ 5
John Stott stated, ‘We, like Christ, are to give ourselves up to love. Such self-giving for others is pleasing to God.’ 6
Wycliffe states: ‘A Fragrant Offering. Reminiscent of the sweet savor offerings of the book of Leviticus, which pre-figured Christ’s voluntary sacrifice of Himself to God.’ 7
Homer A. Kent Jr. shares this view: ‘Christ gave Himself as an offering and a sacrifice. Sometimes these words appear to be interchangeable, but here where both are used they would seem to be distinctive. If so, “offering” probably indicates the non-bloody offerings, and “sacrifice” designates the slain animals which were sacrificed.’ 8
The Communion Service is our way to remember this always! As we come together in fellowship and take Communion, we are to remember God’s love and to live it.
John 13:34-35
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
2 John 6 NIV
6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
People see God’s love through and in us. We are God’s and therefore He uses us to reach all those around us with His love. He sent Jesus as His love and now Jesus sends us as His love to a world that needs to see God’s love.
1 John 4:9-12 NIV
9 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.
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is what God’s love looks like – us!
As we prepare to share a Communion Service, I want to share a story with you from one of the Daily Breads as shared in Nelson’s Book of Stories.
Roger Rose faced deep sorrow as a child. His younger brother was fatally injured in a tragic accident. A dirt road ran alongside their home, and only on rare occasions would an automobile be seen on it. But one day as his brother was crossing on his bicycle, a car came roaring over a nearby hill, and he was run over and killed.
Roger said, “Later, when my father picked up the mangled, twisted bike, I heard him sob out loud for the first time in my life. He carried it to the barn and placed it in a spot we seldom used. Father’s terrible sorrow eased with the passing of time, but for many years whenever he saw that bike, tears began streaming down his face.
“Since then I have often prayed, “Lord, keep the memory of your death that fresh to me! Every time I partake of Your memorial supper, may my heart be stirred as if it occurred only yesterday. Never let the communion service become a mere formality, but always a tender and touching experience.” 9
Benediction
Revelations 1:4-6 NIV
4 Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne,
5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
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