Rock Springs Reboot: God’s Love
June 22, 2021
About four years ago I read the book, Love Does, by Bob Goff. After reading the very first story about the love of his friend Randy who dropped everything to be with him, I was convinced that we really don’t know a lot about real Christina love. You see, when Bob Goff was about to enter his Junior year in High School, he decided to drop out and pursue his dream of being a rock climber. However, on his way out of town, to pursue that dream, he decided to stop by tell his young life leader, Randy, what he was going to do. What happened next blew me away. Randy asked Bob to wait a minute why he checked on one thing. After a couple minutes he came back with a backpack over his shoulder and said, “Bob, I’m with you.” So, Randy went with Bob to Yosemite, stayed by his side and encouraged him every step of the way. Now once Bob arrived in Yosemite, he knew he needed a job, so began applying at every establishment and store front. But once every single establishment turned him down for a job, and Bob realized his dreams were dashed and he needed to return home and finish his education, Randy never said, “I told you so.” He simply had his back every step of the way. But then when they finally got back and stopped by Randy’s home; that’s when Randy’s love for him really hit home. For after walking into Randy’s place, he noticed something strange: There sitting in the middle of the living room where all these gifts that had just been unwrapped. Wedding gifts. What Randy had gone to check on that one thing – the person he checked with was his new bride. Randy had left his new bride behind to be with Bob. That’s when Bob understood for the first time – the love of Jesus that Randy had been talking to him about. That Jesus’ love involved both sacrifice and presence. Jesus came to be with us and then die for us. And Randy just lived that love with him. Instead of spending the early days of his marriage with his bride, he spent it with him on this foolish escapade. What he learned that day is this: Love Does.
You see, after reading that book, I concluded that most of us are novices when it comes to “doing love.” Oh yes, we love things. We love pizza, we love our cars, we love golfing, traveling, laughing with our friends, and we love our spouses. We love all kinds of things and people. But when it comes to loving others like God loved us, we’ve got a lot to learn. For as Jesus said, when we love one another like He loved us, we show the world something different. We show the world that we belong to Him, and we live like Him. Here’s the thing, we are all novices of His kind of love.
For God’s kind of love doesn’t come natural to us. It is not a love that can be known through reason, discovered through science, or found through logic or common sense. It is not a love based on feelings or desires. Rather God’s kind of love is that inner quality of the will that seeks the best for another person regardless of the cost or consequences to yourself. So the kind of love I’m talking about today is a radically different kind of love. What I’m talking about is the unconditional, sacrificial love of God. And the reason it doesn’t come natural to us, is that it is a love that finds its origin in God. That’s what God’s Word says: Love is the very expression of Who He Is. God is love John 4:16.
Love is His nature. Love is His essence. And as such, His love is the most powerful force in the universe. And that is why as we continue our Rock Springs Reboot series, the one thing that I believe God wants to reboot in us, is love.
So, if we are going to tap into this most rare quality that’s so desperately needed in our world today; if we are going to unleash our potential to be the blessing God has called us to be, then we must begin by taking a fresh look at God’s kind of love. A Love that does. So where do we begin? At the beginning, with this:
Love Is Why God Created Us Love is why God created you. Theologians speak of the fact that God created everything freely, not out of necessity. This is a very important idea – it means that God did not create us because He was bored, lonely, or had run out of things to do. God did not create us out of need. He created us out of His love. As C.S. Lewis once said, “God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that He may love and perfect them.”
Hear how the Bible describes our loving creation: Then God said, “Let us make man-kind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:26-27
First, God created this beautiful planet. Everything He created was good. The land was good, the seas were good. Then he filled this new creation with all kinds of plants and trees and growing things, and these too were good. Then He filled the land, seas, and sky with all kinds of animals, fish, and birds, and these too were good. Then last of all, God created us in His image and likeness; He blessed us and gave us all He created to take care of and enjoy. And this too he pronounced as very good.
Why? Why did He create and give us such beautiful and abundant planet with all its wonders to care for and enjoy? That’s what love does. Love gives. Think about our world. Everything in it is a gift from God: He gave us clean air to breath, the sun to greet us each day. He gave us wheat and oats, basil and rosemary, bacon and sirloin to satisfy our appetites. He gave us timber and stone, clay and sand to shelter us. And He gave us companions to be with, so we might never be alone. Everything in this world is a gift. And as gifts, each one points beyond itself to the Giver. And every gift we enjoy is a sign of the nature of that Giver. So then, if everything God created and gave to us is good, then the Giver of all things is good. The whole world is a love letter to you from God.
And when you start to take in His generosity for you, its pretty amazing. Have you ever noticed, that when you are standing alone on the beach at sunset, that the reflection of the sun comes directly to you and you alone? He gave us the stars to illuminate our nights, music to sooth our souls, laughter to brighten our days. And how about you? There is no one else like you. God created you as one of a kind. No one has your eyes, your laugh, your personality. As David said, For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:13-14 Look around you. Every person is a gift from God, a wonder of God’s creative genius. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. All because of love. Love is why God created you.
But as great as God love is for us through His creative gifts to us; this love PALES in comparison to His merciful love for us as rebellious sinners. Believe it or not, but even though God gave us life and all the wonderful things of this world to enjoy, every one of us sins. Not one of us is perfect. We don’t thank God as we should. We don’t live to bring Him glory. We don’t love our neighbor as ourselves. Instead, the Bibles is right when it says: We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; (Isaiah 53:6). Even though He gives us so many good things to enjoy, we refuse to trust that He is good. We refuse to do His will, but choose rather to do our own will. And every time we fail to trust God, and do our own thing, we not only damage to the image of God in us, but we break His heart because we don’t truly trust Him. But the good news of God is this: When there was no way we could ever repair the damage we had done; and when there was no way we could make ourselves right with our Creator, that’s when LOVE stepped in to do for us what we could not do for ourselves:
Love Is Why God Died For Us The Bible says it this way: At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 When sin caused us to defy our God and damage our lives, the logical thing for God to do was to give up on us – but love doesn’t reject us. That’s the good news of God’s grace: Jesus loved us when He could have rejected us. Jesus loved us when we had nothing in us to love. Jesus gave His life for us, because that’s what God’s love does. As Jesus said, Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:13 Love is what led Jesus to the cross. Love is why Jesus laid down His life for us. Love gives and Jesus gave His all. And now because Jesus loved us completely…
The Gift of God’s Love Is Ours For The Taking As Paul has written: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
The point is amazingly simple, which is why so many of us just don’t get it. Heaven is free because love is free. Eternal life is free because love is free. Forgiveness is free because love is free. It is ours for the taking.
This is the radical, all in, love of God. It’s free. It’s yours for the taking. God offers His love to you, no strings attached. And His love is found in Jesus. God loves you so much, that He didn’t want to confuse you. He made salvation simple. Just look to Jesus. Put your trust in Jesus. There is no greater love than Jesus. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 So then, if the gift of God’s love is yours for the taking, let me ask you: Have you taken the gift God offers you? Have you received the free gift of eternal life by trusting in Jesus? If you have, then you know God doesn’t just give you forgiveness, He gives you a brand new life with Him that makes it possible for you to now love like Him.
That’s the Good news of God’s grace to you in Jesus Christ. God gives you new life in Christ the moment you believe. And the result of receiving God’s gift of new life is that: God Gives His Love to You What happens at the moment of faith is that you are born again, spiritually, with God’s nature… And if God’s nature is love, the effect of the new birth is that you now have a share in your Father’s nature, which is LOVE.
This is His promise: God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:5 And because God’s supply of love is infinite, you have now have an unlimited potential to love like Him. You have unlimited potential to seek the best of others. You have unlimited potential to pursue those who are running from God. You have unlimited potential to be there for your spouse. You have unlimited potential to forgive those who wrong you. You have an unlimited potential to bear the burdens of those who are hurting. You have an unlimited potential to go the extra mile for your friends. All because God has poured His live into your heart through the Holy Spirit!
That’s why God’s Word tells us we are to pursue love (1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:7); walk in the way of love (Ephesians 5:2); increase in love (2 Thessalonians 1:3) and overflow with love (1 Thessalonians 3:12). That is why Jesus commanded us to love one another just as He loved us (John 13:34), to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39) and why we are to spur one another on to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24). For as God has said, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6).
If you haven’t figured out by now; love is not just something we’ve received from God, love is to be our very way of life. We have been loved by God and now God has chosen us to incarnate His love through us to a world desperate for love.
So, let me ask you this morning: How’s your love life? Are you willing to pay the price and risk giving love, even though you might be misunderstood or even rejected? Are you willing to give yourself for someone who isn’t worthy of love? Do you want to be like Jesus and walk in the way of love, increase in love and overflow with love?
You see, if you’re anything like me, you recognize that you really are a novice when it comes to loving like Jesus loved you. And if you’re anything like me, you might be saying to yourself: “I need a refresher course on God’s love.” And if you’re anything like me, you really do want to love like God loves.
So where might we begin? For some of you here today, the place where you need to begin is to receive God’s gift of love, by receiving God’s gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. After all, left to yourself, you won’t have the capacity to love like God. You can try, but to truly be there and sacrifice for the well-being of another isn’t your nature. It’s God’s. But once you receive Jesus, God will pour out His love into your heart – so then He will help you love like Jesus… If that’s you, receive the gift of God’s love. It’s there for the taking. It’s free. God did for you what you could not do for yourself. That’s why He sent Jesus to die for you. If you believe that God showed His love for you by giving you Jesus to die for you – then receive the gift of Jesus. God loves you. God has made it possible for you to live forgiven and free. As he said, “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.” John 3:16 If you want to love like God does, this is where you need to begin. Receive God’s gift of love by receiving Jesus.
For the rest of us here today, the place where you may need to begin is to return to Jesus. If Jesus calls us to love one another like He loved us, then we must become full time students of Jesus. We need to rediscover his compassion for the hurting, his pursuit of the loss, his patience with the annoying, his grace to the undeserving, his mercy to the sinful. We need to return to the One who loved the woman who had five husbands. We need to really learn this One who made tax-collectors his friends. We need feel the compassion he had for the prostitute caught in her sin. Jesus loved these people the world rejected and then the world rejected Him. But He never rejects you.
For if we are going to walk in love, increase in love and overflow in love, then we need to be with the one who loved us with no limits – Jesus Christ, the one who laid down His life for His friends. And when we spend time with the One who loves us – we will reboot love, God’s kind of love.
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