What Does This Mean? LOVE

good morning everyone uh this is uh pastor zhang here at uh faith lutheran church in moore park california a blessings to you this day and uh whenever you are listening to this um i hope it goes well with you uh this week we're going to dwell upon the love of god and what is love what does this mean why don't we begin with a word of prayer dearly father o lord we thank you for this day that you have given to us we thank you for the provisions and your continued mercy as you lead us by your grace or bless us in the comforting love that you give the unique love that is given through the sending of your son to die on the cross for our sins or through your sacrifice you have given us life forgiveness and salvation bless us o lord in this gift and lead us o lord in your peace for all these things we are thankful we pray this in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen amen all right uh well today uh we're going to speak about love what does this mean i know we live in such a world right now that is full of a lot of different conflicts and challenges and uh just much affliction that is groaning in our world today uh and yes it you know when i think of loving one another when i think of love um such an important aspect of this love and the strive to love one another is to understand what true love is now you know lutherans you know we always uh go through adult instruction class and uh the greatest love that we know as we talk about the attributes of god is that god is you know merciful gracious he is just um he is kind he is patient all these things but at the end of the day the full embodiment of god is that as it reads in scripture that god is love i don't know if you have the handout here but please look over that if you are able as this will kind of give us the the framework to which we study here today but love right love what is going on with love and uh yes apostles creed uh i believe in god the father almighty maker of heaven and earth and in jesus christ his only son our lord who was conceived by the holy spirit born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate was crucified died and was buried he descended into hell and the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of god the father almighty from thence who will come to judge the living and the dead those are the first two articles of the creed now when we speak of love for me always i go to the unique love that god gives to us now what is that unique love now in first john 4 it reads beloved let us love one another this is verse 7 and 8 in 1st john beloved let us love one another for love is from god and whoever loves has been born of god and knows god and anyone who does not love god does not know god because god is love now love what is love right that that is such a just such a a deep question what is love i think we all have a different uh definition of what love truly is i think for a lot of people there's types of love let's say you know whoever likes uh the eagles not the band but the um or you could like the eagles uh but uh the sports team football team philadelphia eagles what is philadelphia cod city of brotherly love from the greek work phileo um and that is kind of that general uh concern right sorry types of love concern and care for one another right um and this is that natural brotherly love uh for for the neighbor right and when we talk about the world today man my my hold on one second i'll be right back all right when we uh when we speak of uh the the philadelphia right uh the city of brotherly love filet which means love and and adelphia adelfas is brother so city of brotherly love right it's that concerning care for neighbors so these are types of love uh there's also a storge there we go storge a type of love that is kind of a familial family mutual love right there's the the arrows ira oh from the greek the ara's or the eros is uh what is that that's the physical cravings right physical desires of love fleshly right of love now again why do i say this because i think what we what we go with the term god is love um a lot of people have different understandings of what love is and they can't go in these ways now in so many different definitions there's also lastly there is the the agapao the the agape love and that agape love is god's activity his loving activity now the question is for for all of us today as we read that first john 4. i think this is very applicable in a sense of of what we are dealing with in our world today right beloved let us love one another for love is from god so when we speak of love it's not from ourselves but it originates it's its root its basis is in god's love and well in order to love we need to know what god's love truly is right and whoever loves has been born of god and knows god remember in the greek as we look at this it's all the word of agape right everything is rooted in the love of god and we're going to talk about that today in that in that first john 4 7-8 it's all um or agape uh this love that is rooted in god's activity anyways anyone who does not love does not know god because god is love right god is love first john 4 19 says we love because our lord god loved us first like we know how to love by the one who loved us first now understanding what that love is is so important i don't know why i'm yelling but that's just what i do i'm in a good mood by the way but uh uh but understanding the love of god is so important because then we know i guess in a sense of what this true love is from god but how to proceed in his love to love one another um and this is uh such an important thing to to learn today or to review for many of you again uh this is apostles creed article 2 pertaining to jesus redemption paying the price we're gonna talk about that today uh if any of you ever need uh some some tips on that you can always go on our website www.faithmoorpark.com uh go under the beliefs section and go into the small catechism and there you'll see our teachings on the redemption apostles creed article 2. i encourage you to to look at that there's a lot of stuff there to kind of digest and i encourage you to do that i know jeff does a great job of just blasting all this material on there and there's a lot of stuff on the website a lot of teaching stuff that's kind of the big big thing here at faith lutheran we're always teaching if you ever need to be taught let me know i'm here to teach you whoever that is you it's never too late never too late never too late it's never too early either right anyways so the point is the types of love right we see it right here now what is okay so we got the physical we got the familial right we got the general concern for the the brother right the the concern and care for the neighbor but what is god's love like why is that so why is his love so unique all this love that we're talking about in first john four is rooted in the reality that god is love all right so quickly you got the the four main food groups of love here now we're going to go with god is love now what is love what does this mean we know i know such a such a famous verse that even i think anyone of this world would know john 3 16 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life for god so loved the world he loved the cosmos he loved this world what does he do he loves us so much that he gave us his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life right we've heard this bible verse time and time again but what does john 3 16 really mean right it says for god so loved the world he loved the world in the beginning there was god and man god created in genesis man in his own image he gave them dominion over all things adam and eve and and he gave them all things uh they had power over everything god said do not eat from this tree the tree of knowledge of good and evil lest you will die right so god in the beginning created man and woman and there they had everything but then what happened god said do not eat from this tree but adam he was there one day and satan came the evil foe and he well said if you eat from this tree you will not die you will live you will be like god right and there we know in genesis chapter 3 the first sin original sin the sin that brought the hammer down unto all of humanity the sin that broke up this relationship because of their sin now god and man are separated right because of their sin because they did not fear love and trust god above all things that's first commandment right they broke his word they fell short to the glory of god now because of their sin god and man are separated right that's why when when we look at john 3 16 for god so loved the world he loved the world that he gave why did he have to give his son why did he have to give his son and that's the question in terms of what does it mean that god is love it's connected to that question why did god have to not only give his son but as we'll talk about soon that he'll do something even not only just giving his son but he will come to this world to do the biggest upside down reversal move that nothing of humanity can ever possibly attain or achieve by their own works so you know if god was like us we would simply say you know what enough of them right i told them what to do and they fell short we're done right we're done we're done we're done finito no mas right and um no this is not what god did he said you know i love them so much after they fell to sin after they fell to sin in genesis 3 what did he do he gave them the promise that from the offspring of a woman would come the savior of the world that he gave the promise john 3 16 right because it says right there for god so loved the world that he gave his only son why did he give his only son so that we would not perish that means like a moldy peach right as i always say you know you go to the store you look around you don't buy the moldy peach you discard you throw away i'm not gonna buy that right because it's it's rotten we're like that moldy peach aren't we we're rotten we are worthy only to be discarded and not be bought right we're like set to the side and thrown into the dumpster right that's what they do with rotten peaches or rotten produce and that's what happens in sin because of sin because of uh the first sin in the garden it says right there in romans 3 23 why do we perish for all have sinned and fall short to the glory of god all of us have sinned right me and you all of us this is not just some people this is everyone and because of uh romans 3 23 for all of sin and falls short to the glory of god we we later see yes that's right in romans 6. for the wages of sin because of sin there is for the wages of sin is death right see the thing is and we need to understand this clearly is that when we speak of the love of god when we speak of his love we need his love because we very well know the spiritual condition to which we were all born in ever since the fall in genesis 3 we call sin and and people will say well surely i could save myself right i mean i can love god i could please him you know i could i could go up to him and and climb the proverbial ladder right you like my ladder or or i could uh you know like on the the pool the the springboard you know you go you jump up and down and and hopefully you'll elevate or you'll propel yourself all the way up to god by your love and good works and all these things but the fact is friends morality and all these things that we try to do of course we're cut to the heart because of our sin we very well know that according to god's word as we follow his word for what it says not what we wanted to say not what we think it says not what the culture says it is but based on his word we are cut to the heart because that word the law shows us the commandments exodus 20 shows us it shows us the mirror it shows us our sin it shows us the sickness to which we were all for everyone born into born into right we're born into sin so because of that this diagram right here is impossible we can't climb because when we speak of our sin for the wages of sin is death dead people cannot give or do anything to be with god spiritually dead people are dead they anyone who is dead only can be made alive by someone outside of themselves does that make sense when we look at the spiritual problem here if we're spiritually dead we cannot springboard up we cannot climb the ladder up to salvation by our good works and all these things we don't give anything in a sense of of how we are with god or how we are saved and forgiven and and and have eternal life this is nothing of our doing nothing at all nothing at all nothing right because we know that in this spiritual problem as we see it we need the love of god right surely i could save myself but scripture says by one man's disobedient by one man's disobedience many were made sinners right and that's us that's the garden the disobedience is the garden and we too inherit we receive that sin born into but also in isaiah 53 in the old testament it says all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned we have turned every one to their own way that is our nature sin nature i think it's the elephant in the closet that we do not want to go to or even expose or even talk about because we very well know our own conscience we very well know our own guilt our shame our sin right and when we say god is love in this reality this is the direction to which this love goes it's from god to man right it is god what did i say earlier about god's love his love is uh the love of god is his activity for us right his activity his uh a proactive gift of his grace john 3 16 that he loved the world so much that he gave his only son he gave he gifted right he gives to you the love because we need his love because we are dead we we deserve to perish we deserve for the wages of sin is death all have sinned and fall short to the glory of god and here by the love of god what is that love it is it is jesus that's how much he loves you we are sinners loved by god right we cannot save ourselves we cannot measure up but but look pastor i'll i love god so much so much so much and i know that'll be good enough it won't because when you understand the spiritual problem here you very well know it's god's activity it's god's love it's the direction to which it needs to be because it has to be because we need to be made alive resuscitating ourselves as dead spiritually dead people it's impossible i've never seen anyone resuscitate themselves right and their god gives us life through the sending of his son now of course what does that mean why what why did god send jesus why did the father send his son to uh to the world right what does this mean and um well i guess when we look at matthew 1 21 in the bible the angel says you will name him jesus for he will save people from their sins jesus saves saves us from our sin right because we can't do that ourselves you know i think about in when we think of betrayal when we think of uh uh you know this world we live in such a quick cancel culture panic button we're done with you type environment these days don't we it's just a quick reaction i want nothing to do with you i'm over you you know i'm canceling you out we're done there's no sense of forgiveness there's no sense of mercy and grace it's just a quick strike of decision and and and and conditionals and and full of judgment and wrath and and when we talk about ourselves and we talk about the love of god it's by his mercy his pity and compassion for us his love his grace grace means what it means that we don't deserve it but out of his love for us he gives us life i mean think about it god is love it's a love that we cannot emulate ourselves it's a love that that basis is not found in this world but the basis is found in who god is as he sends us our lord and savior jesus christ not only does he send jesus to this world not simply to parade and do all these miracles which is an awesome thing but all these miracles that he did you know everyone would say in this world that jesus was a good man well we would say we would agree with that jesus is not only good but he was sinless he was perfect he was perfect why was he perfect not only because he is god but also in his in his flesh the word made flesh i know we could talk about the incarnation all day but we'll save that for another day that jesus dwell in this land by his very flesh and there he was faithful and perfect for what to be the perfect sacrifice right romans 5 8 but god shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners christ died for us not only did he send his son to this world but he sent his son to this world to be the sacrifice to be the death upon the cross you know when jesus was on the cross his whole life they were they were poking and clawing and trying to plot away to get jesus well to get rid of jesus and you know jesus could have just said you know what enough i'm done with these people i'm done with humanity they don't even like me why why am i even here right but jesus what does he do he continues on the road to the will of god that god is love to fulfill the special mission of the cross the sacrifice upon that very cross that while we were still sinners it's not because we measure up jesus came no because we are dead in our sin jesus came to this world to be our death to stand in our place to be our substitute taking upon the reality of this sin condition upon himself that's how much he loves you and he goes to the cross and dies for them now again the environment to which jesus died was not an easy thing people hated him people betrayed him people scoffed at him right people persecuted him the lord still stood the course he knew that this cross was the only way to which the people would be saved and though the people hated him he still died for them now when we speak of love i always say we put jesus on the cross us too our sin but even in that betrayal of the people jesus still went to the cross and he endured the pain do you know the the pain of the cross it's not just an easy thing it's the most excruciating thing crucis excruciating you know those two words crucis cross excruciating the cross is excruciating it's painful it's full of long suffering i can't even imagine what that cross could entail in terms of pain but that's how much jesus loves you right he came to this world i mean think about that god to take it upon this lowly flesh that's how much he loves you not only taken upon the holy flesh but but in that flesh to bear your sin take those sins upon himself and go to the cross to be the ultimate sacrifice for you for us sinners the ones that don't deserve anything at all but god loves you so much that this is what he came to do mark 10 45 the son of man came not to be served but to serve he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom a ransom he is your ransom payment we are held hostage in our sin ever since the fall and jesus pays the price not with silver or gold but with his precious blood shed on the cross on that sacrifice that's how much he loves you to wash away your sins the only way not by what you've done but by what christ has done for you christ redeems us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us galatians 3 13 that curse again is our sin that curse is a separation from god that curse is the eternal condemnation that nets or that results in us perishing right but jesus takes upon all this to the cross and he washes away your sin in terms of righteousness now because of his love you are righteous i always hear it uh uh you know uh when we talk about our righteousness i think a lot of times people think it's what we we have done that makes us righteous that's called self-righteousness i guess but when we talk about the true righteousness of christ the righteous is that we are right with god it's all given by the blood of christ on that cross the sacrifice right that we are righteous that we are right in front of god we have good standing with him we are in his we are in that grace in his status as children of god all by what jesus has made right and that is dying on the cross for you see we can't do that no matter how hard we try to be moral upstanding beings which is good right to love and serve neighbor that's great but in terms of the love of god and forgiveness and salvation and eternal life we can't possibly well it's impossible for ourselves to fulfill those things to achieve those things or to earn those things right it's only by that god is love that we have the gift of salvation not only did he die on the cross but what happened the third day he rose from the dead he rose right there perish death when jesus rose from the grave that third day not only did he prove who he is but there he given you the comfort that he died the big death for you as he overcame the tomb and as he gives as he gives you life in his name all by that empty tomb we do not follow a dead jesus we follow a risen one and because we follow a risen one we very well know that we have the victory to eternal life remember dead people can't make themselves alive we can't but our lord does because he loves you so much each but i'm i but pastor i haven't i don't know if i measure up i haven't been a good i don't think i deserve i don't think i deserve god's love well pastor i you know my life has been you don't even know my life so much has happened and i don't even know if i'm even worthy enough the thing is jesus is worthy for you jesus is faithful for you jesus died on the cross for your sins jesus rose on the third day to give you that victory first corinthians 15 oh death where is your victory o death where is your sting the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to god who gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ because god is love right and this is not just any love remember that god's love has washed your sins away god's love has given you the complete assurance that your life is of eternity and that god has saved you from sin and death and the power of the devil all through his death and resurrection right god is love we're going to close with this i know it's time 30 minutes ephesians 2 8 9 for by grace you have been saved through faith and that is not your own doing it is a gift from god not a result of works so that no one may boast gift from god ephesians 2 8 9 gifts are given out of love not because we deserve it not because we earned it but gifts are given out of love god gives you the grace and that is jesus his death and resurrection the salvation for your souls right the gospel the good news first john 4 again going back to the top of the handout beloved let us love one another for love is from god and whoever loves has been born of god and knows god anyone who does not love does not know god because god is love this is the love of god it's not from hallmark it's not just an empty platitude it's not just a feeling it's the objective love that god gives to us as he comes to this world as he sacrifices he lives out his life in this world faithfulness to god in his word and there he was the perfect sacrifice to save us from the deadness in our sin so that's the unique love of god right we can't do this ourselves it's impossible because of our sin but it's only christ his work the gospel the ransom payment by his death saving us from our sin by his death upon the cross and also three days later proving all of it through his resurrection making us alive from the great and grave eternally grave disease that we have in sin all by god's activity nothing of ourselves only by god's love that unique love not a conditional love but an unconditional grace-filled merciful activity as he sends us his son into our flesh into the flesh to be our savior this is love and when i look at the world today and all that it's going through the basis of love is very important the basis of love is christ and this is what we pray for constantly that the love of christ may continue to be shared throughout the world because the world is hurting right here the world is hurting in their condition right here we know it in ourselves we know it in people around us and the greatest love is christ the one who mends our wounds and gives us the great saving message the gift so that no one may boast not by their own doing but simply by the love of christ this is love this is love so for all of you who are hearing this um may this word go well with you if you have any questions please give me a call email me come to church if if you have any questions you know where i'm at but for those that aren't from around here please email me please uh send us a comment down below i'm i'm not on the computer so i don't know if anyone is commenting or not but i want you to go through this study and really investigate and go back through it and ask yeah what is the love of god um what is the love of god because i think a lot of times we can confuse that message with what we think love is or what the world thinks love is um and that love can become very blurry so really study this and hopefully it went well with you and hopefully i i unfolded it good enough i know in a short time together but anyways until next time um yes may this word go well with you let us pray daily father o lord we thank you for this day we thank you for jesus we thank you for giving us life in your name knowing full well that by your blood we are cleansed from all our sins lord we know that you are love and that by your mercy you you have given us the great victorious life bless us o lord in our faith our faith in christ and lead us the lord always in your love to love one another always in your and through your name lord for all these things we're thankful we pray this in jesus name amen amen all right until next time uh god be with you and uh thank you for joining us whenever you're listening and uh yeah may this word go well with you until next time pastor jung faith lutheran church moore park california have a blessed day and may god be with you goodbye

Channel: Faith Lutheran Church

Views: 36

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: lutheran, christian, devotion, love, God's Love

Id: 74DbOt7gLjw

Length: 37min 26sec (2246 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 24 2020