#280 The Love of God in Christ Romans 5.8 Part 2
Our ‘greatness,’ our use to God is in the love that motivates us to be of service. “If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, I achieve precisely nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:3 Without love we are nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-2
The love that makes us of greatest use to God is the love that HE CREATES in us! “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy spirit which is given unto us.” Romans 5:5-6 The phrase “Shed abroad” is Strong’s #1632: to pour out. The agape love of God, the love of God committed to the highest good regardless of the cost, is the love that we personally experience deeply within our hearts. It is a love we cannot fathom or imagine, a love that lavishes forgiveness and a new beginning as we accept Christ as our personal Savior and surrender all in consecration. 1 John 4:8-9 “And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us…” 1 John 4:16 Having experienced this love we are ready to love with this love. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11, 12 The love of God in Christ is what motivates us to service. This love is poured out, and like a liquid it goes everywhere to every facet of that which it is poured into.
The love of God is most effectively understood through the love of Jesus. One view of this love is described in Isaiah 50. “The Lord GOD has opened my ear; and I was not disobedient, nor did I turn back. I gave my back to those who strike me, and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover my face from humiliation and spitting.” NASB It is a similar picture to the love behind the “drink offering” described by Paul in Philippians 2:17. “But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.”
Paul did not pour himself out as a drink offering. Like Christ, Paul was being poured out by the guidance and overruling of God. This love in us is willing to be and do according to the leading of God. This love at work in our hearts makes us willing to let God choose who our giving will support and encourage. A drink offering conforms itself upon the sacrifice on which it is poured. This love of God at work in our hearts is willing to have the flexibility, the willingness to ‘be fluid’ in how we give so that it is a compliment to the sacrifice and spiritual welfare of another. This love is willing to let go of rigid expectations regarding how we will give and the response others will have to our giving. This love is willing to do whatever is needed. This love is willing to be spontaneously led to action according to the need of the moment
The purest and greatest of all expressions of love was the sacrifice of our Beloved Savior.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us…For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungody.” Romans 5:8,6 NASB Through the Holy spirit we come face to face with the truth of Jesus sacrificial love and how the power of that sacrifice will reach every helpless [to save themselves from sin and death] person ever born.
Luke 12:27-33; Romans 5:18-19
O Lord, we want to love every person in our lives with Your love as demonstrated through the depths of love in the sacrifice of Christ. Lead us to make time for loved ones and for people in our lives, according to Your leading and will. Awaken our ears every morning so that our words will sustain the weary. Open our ears to Your will for loving and giving to others, and give us strength to obey and never turn back.
Our ‘greatness,’ our use to God is in the love that motivates us to be of service. “If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, I achieve precisely nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:3 Without love we are nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-2
The love that makes us of greatest use to God is the love that HE CREATES in us! “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy spirit which is given unto us.” Romans 5:5-6 The phrase “Shed abroad” is Strong’s #1632: to pour out. The agape love of God, the love of God committed to the highest good regardless of the cost, is the love that we personally experience deeply within our hearts. It is a love we cannot fathom or imagine, a love that lavishes forgiveness and a new beginning as we accept Christ as our personal Savior and surrender all in consecration. 1 John 4:8-9 “And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us…” 1 John 4:16 Having experienced this love we are ready to love with this love. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11, 12 The love of God in Christ is what motivates us to service. This love is poured out, and like a liquid it goes everywhere to every facet of that which it is poured into.
The love of God is most effectively understood through the love of Jesus. One view of this love is described in Isaiah 50. “The Lord GOD has opened my ear; and I was not disobedient, nor did I turn back. I gave my back to those who strike me, and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover my face from humiliation and spitting.” NASB It is a similar picture to the love behind the “drink offering” described by Paul in Philippians 2:17. “But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.”
Paul did not pour himself out as a drink offering. Like Christ, Paul was being poured out by the guidance and overruling of God. This love in us is willing to be and do according to the leading of God. This love at work in our hearts makes us willing to let God choose who our giving will support and encourage. A drink offering conforms itself upon the sacrifice on which it is poured. This love of God at work in our hearts is willing to have the flexibility, the willingness to ‘be fluid’ in how we give so that it is a compliment to the sacrifice and spiritual welfare of another. This love is willing to let go of rigid expectations regarding how we will give and the response others will have to our giving. This love is willing to do whatever is needed. This love is willing to be spontaneously led to action according to the need of the moment
The purest and greatest of all expressions of love was the sacrifice of our Beloved Savior.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us…For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungody.” Romans 5:8,6 NASB Through the Holy spirit we come face to face with the truth of Jesus sacrificial love and how the power of that sacrifice will reach every helpless [to save themselves from sin and death] person ever born.
Luke 12:27-33; Romans 5:18-19
O Lord, we want to love every person in our lives with Your love as demonstrated through the depths of love in the sacrifice of Christ. Lead us to make time for loved ones and for people in our lives, according to Your leading and will. Awaken our ears every morning so that our words will sustain the weary. Open our ears to Your will for loving and giving to others, and give us strength to obey and never turn back.
