This morning our church had a special Valentine's service that focused on the theme of love, especially as the theme is explored in film. Aaron was the speaker, and I think he did a good job, giving examples of where movies portrayed deep, profound love in a winsome way. Reviewing various movies - most of them with Hugh Grant: Love Actually, About a Boy, Notting Hill, and Magnolia - Aaron made the following points about the nature of love:
1- Great love requires great sacrifice => often we don't love as we should.
2- Our tendency is towards disconnection => but sacrificial love can transform us. We don't want to be vulnerable with one another: "we spend a lot of energy pretending things are ok when they are not, and we are afraid of real relationships, and yet, our heart cries out for them."
3- Love requires great vulnerability => vulnerability implies being real with those around us rather than protecting our reputation or image.
After making these points, he, turned to Scripture and "filled out" some crucial missing links. The text he looked at was I John 4:7-12, which says the following: "7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."
God's love is not immature, depending on feelings, whims, or emotions. God's love is radical: He loved before we even loved him. In fact, he loves us irregardless of whether we love him in return. Two amazing things about God's love:
1- Verse 10: God loved us, even while we ignored him.
2- Verse 9: God's love for us came at a great cost to him: it cost him his Son.
What does "atoning sacrifice for our sins" mean? What is sin? Why sacrifice?
Sin: describes our internal posture towards God => declaring independence from God. This declaration on our part (we've all done it) results in ruptured relationships with God and one another.
Sacrifice, Atonement: God dealing with our brokenness, our disconnection with him and one another. God loves us and doesn't want to leave us broken, but he can't ignore our disconnection (sin) because he's also a just God. In order to deal with the injustice of ruptured relationships we've caused, he sent his Son to die for us, in our stead.
Questions: Does this ring true? Does it sound right?
Self-Sacrifice: God loved us so much that he gave his only Son, Jesus Christ.
Disconnection: God dealt with our disconnection by sacrificing his Son.
Vulnerability: For us to reconnect with the Father, we must admit our weakness (sin) and return (repent) to the Father.
He ended by encouraging us to pray this prayer, about making Peace with the Father: "Father, thank you that you love me. I have not always loved as I should, I'm sorry, forgive me. Thank you that Jesus died for me. I want you to be in charge of my life now. Amen."
Afterwards, Sanjit, Jen and I went for Vietnamese coffee, and on our way there, Jen asked the question that gets right to the heart of the matter, it's such a good question. She said: "Love does require sacrifice, but how does sending Jesus cost God something? It cost Jesus something, but how does it cost God something?"
The answer, of course, is that God is three persons, one God, three persons that make up the "Godhead": God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit are all persons that make up the One God, so when the Father sent his Son, he's sending one of the persons of the Trinity, he's sending himself (in the person of Jesus). This sending, is already an act of great sacrifice (because it shows God's love and care for us), not to mention the isolation and suffering that Jesus endured on our behalf.
It was very good to think through this question. a little It's the best possible question she could've asked. But it's not an easy answer to grasp. It's truly only the Holy Spirit that help sus consent, better yet, it's only the Holy Spirit that can enlighten our hearts and minds with this wonderful truth.
1- Great love requires great sacrifice => often we don't love as we should.
2- Our tendency is towards disconnection => but sacrificial love can transform us. We don't want to be vulnerable with one another: "we spend a lot of energy pretending things are ok when they are not, and we are afraid of real relationships, and yet, our heart cries out for them."
3- Love requires great vulnerability => vulnerability implies being real with those around us rather than protecting our reputation or image.
After making these points, he, turned to Scripture and "filled out" some crucial missing links. The text he looked at was I John 4:7-12, which says the following: "7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."
God's love is not immature, depending on feelings, whims, or emotions. God's love is radical: He loved before we even loved him. In fact, he loves us irregardless of whether we love him in return. Two amazing things about God's love:
1- Verse 10: God loved us, even while we ignored him.
2- Verse 9: God's love for us came at a great cost to him: it cost him his Son.
What does "atoning sacrifice for our sins" mean? What is sin? Why sacrifice?
Sin: describes our internal posture towards God => declaring independence from God. This declaration on our part (we've all done it) results in ruptured relationships with God and one another.
Sacrifice, Atonement: God dealing with our brokenness, our disconnection with him and one another. God loves us and doesn't want to leave us broken, but he can't ignore our disconnection (sin) because he's also a just God. In order to deal with the injustice of ruptured relationships we've caused, he sent his Son to die for us, in our stead.
Questions: Does this ring true? Does it sound right?
Self-Sacrifice: God loved us so much that he gave his only Son, Jesus Christ.
Disconnection: God dealt with our disconnection by sacrificing his Son.
Vulnerability: For us to reconnect with the Father, we must admit our weakness (sin) and return (repent) to the Father.
He ended by encouraging us to pray this prayer, about making Peace with the Father: "Father, thank you that you love me. I have not always loved as I should, I'm sorry, forgive me. Thank you that Jesus died for me. I want you to be in charge of my life now. Amen."
Afterwards, Sanjit, Jen and I went for Vietnamese coffee, and on our way there, Jen asked the question that gets right to the heart of the matter, it's such a good question. She said: "Love does require sacrifice, but how does sending Jesus cost God something? It cost Jesus something, but how does it cost God something?"
The answer, of course, is that God is three persons, one God, three persons that make up the "Godhead": God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit are all persons that make up the One God, so when the Father sent his Son, he's sending one of the persons of the Trinity, he's sending himself (in the person of Jesus). This sending, is already an act of great sacrifice (because it shows God's love and care for us), not to mention the isolation and suffering that Jesus endured on our behalf.
It was very good to think through this question. a little It's the best possible question she could've asked. But it's not an easy answer to grasp. It's truly only the Holy Spirit that help sus consent, better yet, it's only the Holy Spirit that can enlighten our hearts and minds with this wonderful truth.
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