Saturday, September 19, 2015

For God so loved


For God so loved!


Opening song             100  -   great is thy faithfulness
Closing song              198  -   And can it be
Scripture reading:    John 3:16-17




I have chosen to study a verse of scripture that is loosely referenced but the message behind the verse is vaguely comprehended.  I will not attempt to explain it in its entirety here, nor will I tell you that I fully understand it. However, this much I will do, I can share with you what has been revealed to me.

Let us turn to our text of study, john 3:16-17 which will be the starting text for the series that I will be sharing with you for the next couple of days.

Before we begin to dig in let us ask the Holy Spirit to attend us so that we can be led into all truth.

Let us Pray

John 3:16-17
3:16   For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 
  3:17   For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Alternate beginnings
As you consider the verse of scripture, I want you to think of some alternate beginnings for this verse. Couldn’t the verse have said:

  • The world was loved so God’s son was sent
  • The only begotten was sent into the world to save it
  • In order that the world would not perish…

…and I know you could probably think of a few alternate beginnings yourself.

But notice how the verse begins….

For God so loved…..
Please note this is not a coincidental beginning.

I stand here today to tell you that this beginning suggests there was/is intent here.

The way in which the verse begins highlights a special who/person. A who/being that must be highlighted first, for He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. So it just makes plain sense that He be acknowledged first.

The way in which the verse is written singles out,

  1. this special Who/Being as the one doing the loving,  and
  2. consequently the magnitude of the love being expressed.

The two things we will be looking at for this discourse.

Let us pause for a moment as we dig into these two things a little deeper.

So who is this special who that is mentioned in this verse?
The text is clear, it is God. But who is God?

To answer this question let us go to the beginning of beginnings. Turn with me to Genesis 1:1

God is aptly described here in this verse. God is the creator of all.

This must be an all-important title if the bible opens with this introduction.

Notice that the bible does not start with an apologetic for God. It simply states that He is and that he was the creator/father of all?

Now you should be thinking that the world is big, and if some being made the world then that being must be bigger than the world right!?

To that I say a resounding yes.

No doubt God is big
In order to have created the heaven and the earth, surely the being that did all this, was/is bigger than them all.

Indulge me for a few seconds while I try to explain how big our God is. Please focus on the screen.

Illustration
Florida

United States
Earth

To bring this into scope a little we shall imagine that the earth has the diameter of a gulf ball (1.68 inches)

If the earth were the size of a gulf ball, then the sun would be 15ft in diameter. In other words, we could fit 960, 000 earths inside the sun.

But is the sun the biggest thing out there?

Video. Then slide

As we consider the size of things we have found in space, we seem Microscopic when compared.

And to think that all this was breathed on the 4th day.

Psalm 33:6
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

Turn with me to Ex 20:11 as I amplify this point

Ex20:11
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Your understanding of this verse is only skewered by what your understanding may be of heaven….but that is another study for another time.

Coming back to our study

When the verse says God loves, you should be thinking the big God loves.

AND…

If the big God loves, then this suggests that this is a huge love.

Let me try to make this clear.

Think of something big,
then add to that something large,
then add to that something immense,
then add to that something gigantic,
then add to that something enormous,
then add to that something massive
Multiply that by 1 million
and even then, you would not have scratched the surface of the type of love we are talking about.

Our God loves us with a love that is beyond our understanding.

You should have said Praise the Lord here!

But this is not the end.

God is also Powerful

Indeed  Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Just think of the immense power needed not only to create the massive bodies that there are in space, but imagine how much more power it must take to hold it all together.

It’s one thing to build the universe, but it is an entirely different thing to sustain it. Yet this is exactly what our God does.

We just looked at the different stars that we found, and the smallest one that we looked at, our sun, has the potential of yielding 23,000 Terra watts yearly. What is a terra watt you ask, well it is 1 trillion watts.

How much is a trillion?
It is 1000, billion. In other words the sun is emitting 23 quadrillion watts. (15 zeros)

What could we do with a terra watt?
Put it this way, the total energy needed to power the entire earth for a year is 16 TW. So the Sun is emitting 22,984 TW in excess of what the entire Earth uses.

If this doesn’t wow you…let me explain it another way.

Think of this amount, as a yearly Salary. In other words if you get paid approximately $23,000 annually and for the entire year to meet all your needs and wants you spend  $16, you would have $22,984  left over from your pay check.

But then the following year would roll around and you get paid another $23,000. But if you only need $16 to fill all your needs you continually have an excess at the end of the year.

I’m appealing to my math students now.

Will I ever be able to spend all the money I’m getting?

How long do you suppose it would take me to spend my first paycheck of $23,000.

It would take me 1,438 years just to spend my first year’s salary.

Let’s assume I could live that long (for the Earth is older than that) I would have accumulated over accumulated $33 million dollars in saving, and I won’t do the math for how long it would take me to spend that. I would simply not be able to spend all the wealth I would have accumulated.

It is needful for me to emphasize that this is the smallest star. Just imagine the power that the others have.

This tells me that the God that maintains these power houses, must himself be at the very least a power house too.

So get it right….the love that this powerful being expresses must also be a powerful kind of love;

i.e. it is something so strong,
so unbreakable,
so durable,
so full of power…

Are you getting the picture? And get this ….

This love thus will effect the change needed in the soul that will receive it, because it is so powerful.

So does the big, Powerful God need our help in directing the life He gave you?

But get this God is not just the creator of heaven and Earth, he is the source of  everything.

I Cor 8:6
But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

God is the source of all
When he gives you something, it is not borrowed.
It is not sourced from anywhere else.
It is not second hand.
It is directly from Him because He is the source of all.

To that I will say Amen!!

Thus the love that God give is not a second hand type of love. This love is brand new, it is kind that is self-renewing and never dies.

God is the originator/the instigator…the moving force behind life itself
It is important to know that God is the originator of the love that he has for you.
In other words, God does not love you because of anything that you have done, or did not do, nor does He love you because of what you can or will do.

God loves you because He can, but more importantly He love you because He chooses to do so.

His love is in no way shape or form dependent upon you.

He just loves you. Will you accept His love?

God is love
One writer says that because God is love, He can do nothing else but love.

Now love is a verb, a doing word. We will look at his more deeply in another study, but no doubt love acts.

In our study text the act of love was giving.

It is so good that there is no limit to what God can give, i.e. because He is limitless.

In other words God has no limitations.

God has no limitations…
Why is it important to recognize that it is a being without limitations that is offering His love?

Going back to the Universe, scientists say they still have not found the end of yet.

In other words, they cannot mark a spot that they can definitely say this is he end.

This is a marvelous thought since the furthest galaxy that they have found The galaxy MACS0647-JD is reportedly 13.3 billion light-years from Earth.

So that we can wrap our minds around this distance let me try to break this one down.

The Speed of Light is 127, 000 miles/sec and it would take a little over 8 minutes for light to travel 93,000,000 miles from the sun.

Scientists play with this one all the time, by saying that the light you think you are receiving from the sun right now is actually 8 minutes old.

Well it would take light 13.3 billion years to travel to or from the galaxy I just mentioned. How far is that?

Any mathematicians in the audience want to take a swing at the numbers generated in converting 13.3 billion light years into miles? Be my guess. I am not doing it.

When we say without limitations, we are saying there are no restrictions, we are saying that there is nothing that our God cannot do.

Think of the hardest thing, the impossible if you may…God can do abundantly above even more than what we could ever think.

So whether deep or wide, He and His love for us, is without limits.

God is infinite/eternal
I am a mathematician so I think of this in terms of the concept of infinity

What is infinity
The value which describes the numerically quantity which is larger than any preassigned finite number

…….

So even if I were to give you one term, I still have an infinite amount left and you have plenty, plenty, plenty.

God’s love is something like that, it is the type of love that keeps on giving, and cannot be exhausted.

Nothing the ordinary calculator can compute.

God has no beginning or and He has no end, because He is the beginning and the end. There was nothing before Him and there is nothing after Him. He is the beginning the end and everything in between.

Why is it important to know that it is an infinite being that is doing the loving?

His love cannot run out, because it has no end. It just keeps on going and going and going and going…get the point?

God’s love is something like that.  It not only keeps on going and going, but it began way before there was even time itself. It was there before us and it will be there long after us, simply because the love of God persists.

This is simply a perfect thought, but what less should we expect from a perfect God.

God is perfect
Since God is perfect the love that is being given is also perfect. His love is impartial/unconditional.

There is nothing you can do to earn His love. It is given to you as gift.

It is not of a selfish nature; i.e. it isn’t a love seeking selfish gains.

God does not love us, because there is something in it for Him.

His love is perfect and not tainted at all with any traces of selfishness.

Matt 5:43-48

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Can I get your attention to the screen again….


God declares from heaven
I love you ….with all that I have I love you.

I did not have to love you but I do.

If I had chosen to do otherwise there is no power in Heaven or Earth higher than me which could force me to love you; but I do.

I really, do really love you.
Despite this declaration of love God meekly asks “Will you love me in return?”

Alternative ending
God could have chosen to recreate the world after man sinned.

A limitless God could have quickly destroyed Adam and Eve as the law demanded, and start over.

But He loved  Adam and Eve so much He did not destroy them.

Turn with me to.

Isaiah 43:1-4
But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.

As we know Israel…us…usually  go astray, but rather than execute punishment look at the torment that is in His heart.


Hosea 11:8
 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

Explanation

Can you see the conflict? God loves us so much and He does not take any pleasure in the destruction of any one of His children.

Rephrase
Let us now zero in just a little bit more on our verse.

So loved
Although we have added some context to the Being that is giving the love, we still cannot boast that we understand because…..

1 Cor 2:9
 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,neither have entered into the heart of man,…. the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

The love of God is quite incomprehensible….This love is without boundary.

And since God is infinite, we can better understand why the scripture would use the non-definitive adverb of ‘so’ to complement the word love.  

The verse seems to use the word “so” as an adjective. It seems to be in some way defining the amount of loved being used.

“So” is one of those words that while it expresses amount, it is not specific without action.

I can say…
….I want so much…(squeezing fingers together) representing a small amount.


Or

 I can say…I want so much (spreading my arms apart) representing a large amount.

Consequently, this is why the ‘so’ used in this context is an adverb….

And according to Google dictionary an adverb…

Definition adverb:
a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc. (e.g., gently, quite, then, there ).

It does qualify love, but we don’t begin to unlock whether this is a small thing or a grand thing until we read the very next part of the verse.

For God so loved that He gave His only begotten son….

By looking at the etymology of the word “so” we glean the very same idea. The word “so” can be replaced with the following phrases:

"in this way,"
"to that extent;”
“consequently”
“therefore,"
“purely intensive;”

Hence a few of the ways in which we could have rephrased our verse of study would be as follows…

For God [so] loved “in this way” that He gave His only begotten son
For God [so] loved “to the extent” that He gave His only begotten son
For God [so] loved “consequently” He gave His only begotten son
For God [so] loved “therefore” He gave His only begotten son
For God [so] loved “purely” that He gave His only begotten son
For God [so] loved “intensively” that He gave His only begotten son


Now you would think that for the expression of such a:
Big,
Powerful
Limitless,
Eternal/infinite,
Deep,
Wide and
Perfect love, the object that is being loved must be so loveable. Right!?

Closing

But….Who are we…who is the world that God so loved?
Contrary to what you may think, we are the very opposite of loveable beings. To the point that Job and David having considered God’s love for man declared…

Job 7:17
What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?

Psalm8:4
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?


We do not have any righteousness of our own. Objectively looking at man, some would say that He is not worth saving. But the Love that God has for us, will not allow Him to let us go that easily.

In spite of the fact that it might have been easier to just destroy Adam and Eve and start over, the Lord thinks that they (you and I) are worth the trouble of saving.

To that I just say…praise the Lord.

Repeat after me

God loves me and that is why I am worth saving.

Last text.

Turn with me now to my closing text.

1 john3:1-3
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Song: If that isn’t love (you thought I was worth saving)




…………
Conclusion
Having therefore begun to understand the love of the father, I ask the question, “Is He an arbitrary God who seeks the destruction of His people?”

 Isn’t He a God who is to be loved and adored and respected?

The next time you entertain the thought that you might not be worthy, or you may not be pure enough, just remember 1 john3:3

…… And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

If you look to yourself…you will ask “How can I be saved”

But

If Look to Jesus, then you will ask “How can I be lost?”

Is there anyone here who would like to say, I want to open my heart to the love of God, so that it will accomplish in me that which God wants it to accomplish.

Let us pray!

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