Love

"To be constrained by the love of Christ creates a life heroic, exalted, illustrious: no, I must come down from such lofty words—it is such a life as every Christian ought to live; it is such a life as every Christian must live if he is really constrained by the love of Christ, for the text does not say the love of Christ ought to constrain us, it declares that it does constrain us."     - Charles H. Spurgeon 

The question that has been plaguing me and the question I would like to pose to you is... How do you view God/Jesus, as your pal or boyfriend who is just so lonely and longs to hang out with you and He just wants to fill that emptiness inside your heart with this "hold me and cuddle me" kind of love. Or do you view God and His love as the Bible describes? For He is The God, Almighty Maker of heaven and earth. He raises up kingdoms and pulls them down. He holds the universe in the palm of His hand. He is The Holy God who judges the world in righteousness. He is our provider of every breath and every day that by His grace He allows us to live. He is our Savior who suffered and died under the full wrath of God, taking the punishment for our total depravity. He created the universe and everything in it in six twenty-four hour days. He created you in His image and likeness and you are fearfully and wonderfully made. He loves us so perfectly that if we repent and trust the Savior, He gives us the right to be called sons and daughters of God. He is Immanuel "God with us".

Now all that being said, I do want to make one thing very clear, I am not saying that we should keep God at a distance, and not view Him as our Heavenly Father, for He does care very deeply for His children. We are still to seek for a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ and a love for Him, but this love we are have for Him must be properly defined using scripture. Any time we see the word "love" in scripture pertaining to God's love for us is a self-sacrificial love, a love that is perfect in all that it is, for God is Love. And if we look at 1 John 4:8-10 "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." We see love in its greatest demonstration, the cross. This kind of love is so much better and more beautiful than the trite seemingly romantic love sung about in modern Christian music and preached from many music stands each Sunday. Nowhere in scripture when talking about the love of God or Jesus, does it use a romantic or trite language, and no the Song of Solomon doesn't count. It is an ancient Hebrew poem written to describe the eros love (sexual, emotional love) between a man and a woman in the confines of marriage. God's love for us is also the love of a father, who cares very deeply for His children, so deeply that He sent His only begotten Son into the world to die on the cross for wretched, depraved sinners. That is the love of God, the love of Jesus. Yes, we can cast all our cares upon Him, come to Him with our needs, and pour out our hearts to Him and He has compassion and mercy on those who love and fear Him, but He is still Almighty God, the Just Judge of the universe, He is still holy, and it is that holiness that wholly demands our reverence, respect, honor and worship. 

That is the love the Father has for us. But how are we to view Him and love Him, are we to see Him as our pal who we would chat about sports with and tell jokes with on the golf course, or is He our husband, our boyfriend, our bridegroom. Again nowhere in scripture does it instruct us to love God or Jesus in these ways. When Jesus tells us what the greatest commandment of scripture is ("You shall love the Lord you God with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.") the word "love" in the Greek is translated agapao which simply means to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly. This is the word used all over the new testament when referring to Jesus' love for us or our love for Him. You may be thinking right now, well Jesus says He is the bridegroom and He calls me His bride. Well you are right and wrong, Jesus indeed does call Himself the bridegroom, you are right. But He never calls you or I the bride, He calls the collective body of believers, known as the church, His bride, not the individual. This way of thinking is very dangerous, I have heard of church in Africa which glorifies sex as a form of worship and teaches there members it's okay to fantasize about having sex with Jesus, and about a woman who was having dreaming about having sex with Jesus. And people get these disgusting ideas by allegorizing the Song of Solomon, that is just a very pour and dangerous way to read and interpret the Bible. And we see this a lot in our modern Christian music, romantic language. We are singing love songs to Jesus or He is sing them to us. Without severely twisting scripture we cannot find this kind of language us when God is talking about His love for us or how we are to love Him. Infact many time especially in 1 John it is said if you love me, you will keep my commandments or those who love me keep my commandments, or my favorite 1 John 5:3 "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome."

In closing I just want to talk a little more about this bridegroom theology and what it really means and how it should be interpreted. 

So God, at the end of time, has prepared a church, the bride, a collective body of called out ones, for His Son, to say "here You go Son, this is My gift to You so that You can be glorified, and Jesus, showing that there is nothing degrading about taking a submissive role says, "Father, its for Your glory, here its Yours." The bride "the church" and Jesus the "bridegroom" is all about bringing glorying to God the Father. 

The Love of God!

"Never did his love begin, and never can it cease. It is from eternity, and shall be to eternity."

- C H Spurgeon

Dear Reader,

Today I would like to share with you one of the most awesome things God has shown me lately through His Holy Word. I want to share on the love of God, a love that is perfect, pure, unconditional, and faithful. As Christian one of the hardest things you will ever have to do is to look into the mirror of God's Word and see your sin as it truly is, and believe God loves you as much as He says He does. That is a good thing but a hard thing. To fully grasp this love of God, lets start with some verses you may not expect to hear when talking about the love of God. 

Exo 3:14  God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM."

When Moses asked God, "who are You?" God said "I AM WHO I AM". It's like if an alien came down and asked you who you are, you could say "I am like him or, in a sense like her, I am like the rest of everyone on this planet, but when God is asked this, He says "I AM THAT I AM", for there is nothing and no one for Him to compare to, He is who He is, He is GOD! He is not like you, and He is most certainly not like me, thank goodness. He's not just a large version of us. Again, He is GOD! 

God's love is the same way, nothing can describe or compare to it. We can not even begin to measure His love, describe it is some way that is worthy, or must less show the kind of love God has shown us. Jesus Christ is the only man who can show this kind of love for He is both God and man and He is perfect. And the one event that shows love in all its fullness, perfection, and beauty is the cross and what Jesus did at Calvary. Our love as humans, that is for example a fathers love for his son, is like hatred compared to God's love for His Son, and so great is God's love for His people, that He would

sacrifice His ONLY Son for our sinful undeserving souls.

Now, I would like to take a look at Psalm 7:11-13

God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.  (12)  If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready.  (13)  He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts.

I know what you are thinking right now, "this verse doesn't have anything to do with love, so why do I bring it up when talking about the love of God?" 

The love of God is perfectly displayed in all its glory on the cross of Calvary. Where Christ, God's only Son, took upon Himself the full wrath of God, that was due you, because of your wickedness. God is angry at sin, He is wrath filled because of sin, and if we can understand God's holy hatred toward sin, and that we deserve nothing but Hell for eternity, than His LOVE is all the more beautiful, and glorious. Take this analogy for example, during the day you look up, where did all the stars go? Did someone remove them? No! They are there, we you just can't see them. But when the night grows black as pitch, the stars come out in all their glory. The more you see your sin and how dark your depravity is, the more gloriously revealed is the love of God the Father toward you. 

The darker the night the more brilliantly you can see the light. What you must understand before you can comprehend the magnitude of the love of God, is your own sin. We are not just lost sheep looking for God, we are not deserving of what He has done. As Romans 3:11 says, "There is NONE who seek after God." Unless you and I understand what we were, sinners, enemies of God, under judgment, deserving death, Hell, and condemnation, unless we believe all that, the magnitude of the love of God is all together lost!

So there is a sense that when we understand the darkness of our own heart and what we actually deserve before God, then we can begin to rejoice and appreciate the love of God. This is why people who were saved out of a life of drunkenness, murder, sexual immorality, drugs etc., have such a zeal, they know what they were.

"The deeper and darker the picture is painted, with regard to our moral failings, the greater and more intensely is the glory of God revealed." -Paul Washer

God is love! But He loves us because of Him, and inspite of us. You are loved because God is love, not because of your performance. Some people serve God so He will love them, this is pointless and wrong. On the other hand others serve God because He loves them, and they love God. We love Him because He first loved us and gave Himself up for us, and if we love Him, we will keep His commandments.

Romans 5:6-9 is, I believe, one of the greatest pictures of God's love for us in all of Scripture, yes even more than John 3:16, cause these verses show how undeserving of such a love we are, yet freely given by God.

Rom 5:6-9  For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  (7)  For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.  (8)  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  (9)  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 

It starts out in verse 6, "while we were still helpless." In the Greek that word "helpless" can also be translated as "sick" or even "unimpressive", there was nothing impressive about us, our malady of sin dooming our souls to Hell. But, the best part, "in the right time" or "opportune time", CHRIST, the Son God, the Holy One, the Pure Spotless Lamb of God, DIED for us the "ungodly".

Now, I don't have a son, but I know that I wouldn't sacrifice my son for a wicked person, or even for you.  Not many would die for a righteous man, and very few would even dare to die for a good man. Thank God, He is not like me or like you! But verse 8 sums the love of God up in one verse. But God, this little word "but" is such a beautiful word, that is often over looked! BUT GOD, the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Holy One who will judge the world in righteousness, demonstrated His love. It was like God said, "Let me show you how much I love you. Despite your wickedness and depravity, I will send my only Son, Jesus Christ to die for you. 

"Christ did not die to make his Father loving, but because his Father is loving: the atoning blood is the outflow of the very heart of God toward us." C H Spurgeon

Now verse 9 is so important cause it shows us what and how a we are actually saved from by this love. God being just, can't justify us from His wrath, a payment must be made to satisfy God's wrath and justice. Look at the first three words of verse nine, "much more then", Paul is say basically "because of verse eight, we have verse nine. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners and through His death we are justified, and shall be saved from the wrath of God. This is so important, it is the central doctrine of justification, without it we can not be saved. 

"Jesus must have found the cause of His love in His own heart, He could not have found it in us, for it is not there." -C H Spurgeon

Now verse 10 I saved until now because it, well you will see why.

Rom 5:10  "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."

This verse, simply sums up everything I just said, but it is such a beautiful thought, while we were enemies we were reconciled to God, to be made right with God, through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. And we shall be saved by His life, for Christ did not remain dead. No! He rose again, and is coming back to take His Beloved to glory, and to cast everyone who rejects this love into eternal hell.

If you are not saved, you have just heard the good news of the gospel, now you must repent and believe the gospel, and put you faith in Jesus Christ, cry out to God to save you. No one has ever come to God seeking salvation that God has not saved.

If God put us in the coolest part of hell it would be more than we would deserve, if He would only make us angels it would be more than we deserve, but He makes us sons and daughters. The worst sin you can commit is to break the greatest commandment God gave, "love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul and strength. How can we keep this? Because He first loved us.

Oh, what love! Christian, I would plead with you please don't belittle such love. Don't minimize it as many do with ideas that God's love for us is a little romantic love or a love like He's your best pal, it is so much greater than these trite forms of love. Study the love of God as He displays it in Scripture and you will find a much more beautiful love than anything you ever imagined or thought it was like.

If you Christian, doubt God's love, it is wrong, you're doubting His character, you say He is not who He says He is, or He hasn't done what He says He's done. God has never given you any reason to doubt His love. A true Christian when seeing the love of God, wants to give more of themselves to God, to growing in holiness and to grow in their love for God. The non-Christian will hear of the love of God and continue living in their sins, relying on grace, without repentance and faith, to save them.

Now I want to leave you with this last thought. If God loved you at your darkest, ugliest moment in you life, how much does He love you now, through the reconciliation of the blood of His Son?

Thanks you for reading, and may God shed abroad His love in your heart. God Bless! 

For His Glory!

Jordan Bednar