God's Unsurpassable Love

(adapted form Gregory Boyd's Repenting of Religion)


1.  God has 'unsurpassable love'--there is NO greater love known in the universe

2.  God ascribes 'unsurpassable love' to people  People are the objects of God's love--not things, ideas, organizations, positions--God loves PEOPLE!

3.  God ascribes 'unsurpassable love' to people because God ascribes 'unsurpassable worth' and value to people.  People matter to God.  People are valuable to God
Definitions:

Unsurpassable:  not able to be exceeded in quality or degree (Oxford Dictionary)

Love:  Agape love--based on choice and decision not emotion or feeling.  Agape is a self-sacrificing kind of love.

People:  Good ones, bad ones, mean ones, nice ones, murderers, adulterers, Sunday school teachers... EVERYONE


God's 'unsurpassable love' is demonstrated in the person and ministry of Jesus.  "Here is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10)."  God has applied 'unsurpassable value' to people--not willing that anyone would live outside of His presence and His love.  He calls for all people to repent from trying to find love 'in all the wrong places.'  This is sin!  Sin is living life independently from God--God (who is the Supreme lover of our lives).

When we live in repentance, we live as recipients of God's 'unsurpassable love'.  We stop trying to be lovely--we rather revel in the unconditional love He has for us.  "To the praise of the glory of His grace, where he has made us accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6)."  In Christ, we are accepted--loved, cherished, and are made recipients of God's 'unsurpassable love'.

Once we begin to really receive this love, and walk in it ( And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath give himself for us as offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.)---then this supernatural love which saved us--and fills us--begins to flow through us:

"Beloved let us love one another, for love is of God--and everyone that liveth is both or God, and knoweth God (1 John 4:7)."
"Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another (1 John 4:11)."

Process

  1. Repent:  Lesser lovers have tried to seduce us!  Only God has 'unsurpassable love' for us.
  2. Walk:  In His love and grace.  Stop trying to be lovely--He loves you unconditionally.
  3. Receive:  that love and grace.
  4. Overflow: with that love and grace to everyone else.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning to hate your sin

Image
   John 5:13-15 (NLT) 13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” 15 Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.   Lord give me grace, power, and effort to maintain a resilience against sin.  Sin is ALWAYS a dark path. It ALWAYS pays wages.  The wage of sin is death.  Sin will always hurt, always destroy, always wound—you, relationships, stuff, goals, etc.  It is a killer.  It is a wound-er.  It is a consumer of all that is healthy, strong, good, and perfect. Learn to hate sin. Learn to fear sin. Learn to run as fast as you can away from sin. Search deeply for hidden sin. Be disgusted with your sin.  Repent, repent, repent daily for your sin. Be afraid of your sin. Be petrified of your sin. Be worried ab...
Read more

Meditation

Image
Meditation I realize as we move on with this series that there are two things that need some clarification.  We already looked at the idea of silence and quietness—this week we will look at meditation.  Let’s begin by giving you the descriptions of the differences between these two disciplines.  Although from an outsider’s position there may be little or subtle differences, I want to help you process the vast difference between these—-and the immense benefit from both of these disciplines: Silence/ Quietness: Here the idea is shutting out your active mind —leaving lots of space for two things.  First, space to give your mind a rest, relaxing your mind.  It is a stopping of your mind from racing around solving all the problems of the world.  Second, giving space to hear from God! It is laying aside your agenda.  It is putting aside the debris, hurriedness, and hectic pace to relax in God’s presence.  Often music can help...
Read more

God is after you! And... for a different reason than you think!

Have you ever been pursued by a suitor—a lover—someone who is very interested in you? Was it pleasant to be liked?  Was it pleasant to be wanted?  Well, yeah—for sure.  Who doesn’t want to be loved? Who doesn’t want to be sought after?  Who doesn’t want to be appreciated? I do!  I am sure you do too! Did you know that is actually the message of Christmas—and the actual ‘story’ of the Bible?  It’s a story about God pursuing humanity. Too often when we think of God, or church, or the Bible—we think of behaving ourselves enough to get God’s attention.  Or, we think of trying hard to impress God—so that God would appreciate the hard work we are doing down here and give us His nod. Well, actually that is not true.  That is not the message of the Bible—nor the core message of Christmas.  It is actually the total opposite.  The core message of Christmas is not our chasing God—it is God chasing us! God is so in love with ...
Read more