Sunday, April 15, 2007

God's Love - Part 2


Last time we talked about why we worship God.  We mentioned that we worship God for who He is and what He has done.  One of the best things He is is LOVE and one of the best things He has done is LOVE US.  We answered several questions about HIS love

How do we know God loves us?
He sent His Son to die for us, in our place so that we could know and love Him.  He knew before He created the world it would cost His Son, yet He created it anyway (John ; 1John ; 1John 4:9-10; 1John ).

How much does God love us?
As much as He loves Jesus!  He sacrificed Jesus for us (Rom -32;  John )! Ephesians 3:16-21 taught us God wants His love to be our stable, fixed and firm cause of grounding in who we are and why we are important. God wants His love to be our foundation upon which we lay the basis for who we are as a person, to erect a stable view of our intrinsic value based on His love for us. Paul is describing a three-dimensional love, an experiential love, a love far beyond knowledge,  infinite love.  Love that God wants us to build our foundation upon, keep on growing in, and resting upon.

Now for answers to some more questions:

What can separate us from God's love?

Rom , 37-39Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 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.”

WOW!  There is quite a list here of things that cannot separate us from His love; trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, sword, death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, any powers, anything above, anything below, anything else in all creation.  Paul purposely belabors the point to make it crystal clear: NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM HIS LOVE!

When did God start loving us?

Before He created time and the universe, He loved us.  Before we knew Him, while we were still sinners, He loved us. There has never been a time when we were not loved(!); not in the worst moments of our existence, not in our greatest achievement when we were not sure we needed Him or His love, not in our deepest sin, our worst pain, our exceeding loneliness,... our every moment of existence and even before we existed we were loved!!  Remember God knew the cost before He created the world and yet He created it.

Eph 2:4-6   But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Jer 1:5  "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..."

It is time to be rooted in His love.  It is time to build upon the foundation of His love.  It is time to believe we cannot be separated from His love. It is time to remember the timelessness of His love.  It is time to believe we are loved as He says we are loved; with an infinite, abounding, gracious, forgiving love.  Come into the arms of the Father and let Him love on you!


References
All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.