God’s Love for Mankind
I recently had an experience that deepened my understanding of God’s Love for Mankind as delivered in the Bible and since then, I felt I needed to share this as a message with everyone. This message is more for believers. But again, God works out things his way. The message could end up serving those still in the world.
John 3: 16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (NIV 2011).
Prayer: God, we stand before you today, with humility that your name be glorified. We ask that you guide our thoughts, leading us to learn, discern, and appreciate your love and to understand it to the fullest. Guide the words written that they will refresh the old souls in Christ and will bring new souls to your kingdom. This we ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Let me start by telling us the meaning of love. In the Dictionary and Concordance of the New International Version Bible, Love is defined as ‘’wanting good to come to another person; being concerned and willing to work for another person’s benefit’’.
I like this definition. It accomplishes the Mission of the Bible. The definition provides the answer to mankind why God loves us so much. It is just for our benefit, period.
Trust me, I have read about love countlessly. Psychology Today defines Love as a force of nature that is neither commanded nor directed. Many definitions and classifications of Love suggest that there are types and each comes with a limitation and or extension which to me seems like a remote. However, the Bible’s expression of love suggests a more concrete and deeper meaning. Love is something deeper, original, and comes to us for our sole benefit as God deemed it so.
Of recent, I have come to reflect on God’s love which has led his Holy Spirit to indwell us so that we are capable to contain that love and use it to benefit those around us including our enemies. I must admit, I knew this love as an elementary thing of God until recently.
A few months ago, my son was bitten by an unknown creature and he was about to depart this world. Knowing myself as having the gut to stand the tension, I did not imagine how I felt and how tears dropped from my eyes without the slightest notice — the love of my son became so encompassing that I broke down without knowing. I cried without holding on. I saw tears dripping my cheeks — then I realized while Jesus wept in John 11:35. When Jesus wept for his friend Lazarus, the Jews who stood by defined the meaning of his tears immediately as ‘’love’’. They all said, ‘’See how he loved him’’ (John 11:36). We have seen another place when Christ was entering Jerusalem in Luke 19:41, he wept over Jerusalem. This presents us with two types of tears in different scenarios but all mean love.
This is an essential part of knowing how love is expressed in a way that is more meaningful than the definition we carry in our heads daily. From the incident of my son to my reflection on Love as defined and expressed in the Bible, I came to see love as a special product of grace.
And for sure, Galatians 5:22–23 was clear on this, that the fruit of the Spirit is Love followed by many other ingredients such as joy, peace, patience — which in themselves are never independent without depending on love to lead them all. God did not just love us, he has shown this love through three distinct but complementary indicators:
1. God shows his love to the saved and unsaved by giving us the Holy Spirit as mentioned in Acts 1:4 when Christ told the apostles to wait. He has given us the very Holy Spirit as we are baptized and become new creatures or as we are refreshed daily.
2. God shows his love by his work for us through the creation and He continues to work for us in our daily lives. We are told and we believe that after creating the world all by himself, he then told Adam to subdue the earth in Genesis 1:28.
3. God also shows us his Love by giving us grace and through grace alone, we are saved as expressed in Ephesians 2:8.
1. God shows his love to the saved and unsaved by giving us the Holy Spirit as mentioned in Acts 1:4 when Christ told the apostles to wait. He has given us the very Holy Spirit as we are baptized and become new creatures or as we are refreshed daily.
Love, as expressed through the Holy Spirit now guides us into everything that we do, including fighting the enemy and remaining strong, repentant, and submissive to Him till the end of times. This means, regardless of our free will and choices, by depending on the Holy Spirit through Christ our Lord, we are protected leading us not into sin though we are tempted by the evil one, and we are very confident of our calling through the very Spirit. The Moody Bible Institute summarizes the working of the Holy Spirit in the following:
- That the Holy Spirit indwells the believer permanently. While the child of God may sin and grieve the Spirit, the Spirit will never leave the true believer. The absence of the Holy Spirit is the mark of the unsaved. The Holy Spirit seals the believer. This ministry guarantees the security of the believer “until the day of redemption.
We are then assured that with the Holy Spirit, we retained our love and we can serve God with all our Hearts and Souls and receive the promise of life- to inherit and become heirs like Christ our Lord who endured and won the crown of glory.
2. God shows his love by his work for us through the creation and He continues to work for us in our daily lives. We are told and we believe that after creating the world all by himself, he then told Adam to subdue the earth in Genesis 1:28.
Our Second Pillar of trusted love, I call it, is that God has through his love given us the world to rule it and we can subdue it. No doubt by using existing elements and products created by God, we are capable of flying, diving, communicating through wires and waves, and collecting energy in different forms. What we need to mark in these very abilities granted to us is that they are dependent on God.
Nothing has been produced without depending on what God created whether human or material and nothing exist that we are not capable of learning and knowing it. It is just a matter of time and constant search. No doubt, the evil one attacks the educational system to trick us into believing that we make things through our wisdom. Many, without knowing God conclude that science and all philosophy are human and have nothing to do with God. Luckily, God is a very great designer, we still know and will never change, that nature is beautiful — whatever we make, is a modification that is grounded in the very love God shared with us when he told Adam to subdue the Earth. Are you confused about why planes fly? The answer is because God allows it? We are in this world to serve God not because he needs our service but as a way to appreciate his love for us. So, whatever we do, it is dependent on God whether we acknowledge it or not. Even if we cannot acknowledge it all, at least, the materials used in technology were not made from magic but resources created by God.
3. God also shows us his love by giving us grace and through grace alone, we are saved as expressed in Ephesians 2:8.
I have decided to deal with Grace as the last in this message because it is the summation of everything. God’s redemptive work for mankind is seen, actualized, and finalized in Grace. Grace is defined as ‘’an undeserved favour or gift. The undeserved forgiveness, kindness, and mercy that God gives us (NIV- Concordance, 2011). This definition and the meaning of love have a natural merger that one can sense, see, feel, consume, and taste. Without question, we are endeared to know that it is not just good but nourishing. God loves us so much that his love grants us grace. And this grace is part of God’s redemptive work for everyone. Other biblical scholars like B.B Warfield, John Stott, and Jerry Bridges defined grace as ‘’free sovereign favour to the ill-deserving’’; “love that cares and stoops and rescues” and “God reaching downward to people who are in rebellion against Him” respectively (Christianity Today).
Brethren, we have seen God’s love around us. Many of us came from poor homes, some rich, and yet some average, but when it comes to the grace of God, we all will receive it in abundance and according to the richness of God, not man.
Brethren, I do not intend to border us with the Sociological, psychological, or philosophical definitions as claimed in today’s world, but let me haste to let you know this today. What is clear about God’s love is that it is inclusive-given to all mankind. God’s love provides us the total inclusion of all forms of love put together in unity. God is our friend when we are lonely, he keeps us company and takes us through, God is our God when he is before us and we are humbled before him to glorify him, God is our father when we are in need or trouble, God is our provider when we lack, and God remains everything to us at all times. This makes God’s love to be the totality of all forms of love.
Now, Can we sing his glory through the song ‘’ Blessed Assurance?’’
Thank you very much. If you are just reading this, purse and listen to the song online and then continue thereafter.
Today, I want you to understand that God’s love endures forever. All those who follow Christ have the Holy Spirit delivered to us through Love. Love is one of the most fundamental gifts from God to us. We must apply it in all that we are and never exist without it. Until we can weep for a brother or sister as Jesus did, we are yet to find that love in us. Until we can weep for sinners like Christ did when he was entering Jerusalem, we are far from applying that love of God to our true meaning and its application.
In John 13:34–35, Christ commands us to love one another as he has loved us and until then, we are not like him. This is clear to us that we must be our brothers’ keepers, willing to work for them, serve them not for any price except their benefit, receive them after repentance like did to the prodigal son, and lay down our lives as Christ did on the cross. Brethren, judge yourself today if we are going this far.
Brethren, Love is not just a tool to measure or an object to bear, is an act that produces results, which are tangible and enduring. When Saul became a Christian, his love of God was not measured by what he (Paul) told us. His love was practical and could be seen in his obedience, his eagerness for others, his readiness to die for the gospel, and his ability to bring others to faith including building a young Timothy who became an example of what the bible says in Proverbs 22:6 that we should bring up Children in the way they should go. Paul love for the Church and the brethren was exhibited in all of his letters, just read the opening of his letters or conclusion thereof, there are two things to note: His prayer for the brethren, his encouragement of the church often grounded with his expression of gratitude to individuals and to the brethren and his confidence in the life of many others not forgetting his advice and guidance to the faithful.
Brethren, Jesus did not leave us the privilege to determine the weight and breadth and length of love between us and God and that between us and our Children. I told you when I started this message of how I learned the deep meaning of love quite recently when my son was sick- standing there tears dripping down from my eyes. The only and good thing was, I was crying to my God to save my son. If I can love my son in that manner, to that extend, today, I can understand how much God loves us. I can now fully understand how much I must love my brethren in Christ (John 15:12–13), and the clearest of the instructions and directions appear in 1 John 3:14–18. Moreover, my enemy is no different from my brethren in this love that I must possess and share as Christ himself instructed in Matthew 5:43–48.
I am not a fan of movies. However, in recent days, I have seen a Movie called ‘’Queen of the South’’. First I admired the resilience of a child whose parents were killed in her presence when she was a child. She then grew up in challenges up to marrying a drug dealer. I first admired the story from the point of how she was managing to survive until her encounter with the wife of the king of the drug leader. Seeing this wife of a drug dealer who is herself another drug dealer, heartless, pointing, and fierce, I could only imagine that to hold on to such an act and prosper, one must be heartless, wicked, and strong. But as the movie progresses, I learned a hard lesson of the power of love between the King of the Drug Dealers and his wife on one hand and the love among their daughter and the two of them. This lady who seems to be strong could only break down to meet the needed among of love she wishes to put together for her daughter. Likewise the husband. Whenever I see her tears, it was out of love for her daughter. These scenes kept me wondering.
I then realized the power of Love. Love is a powerful thing, my dear brothers and sisters. Love breaks mountain, create a universe like ours, exchange a beloved son like Christ and built a Kingdom like the Church — nothing is more powerful than this except God Himself. This is while 1 John 4:20 says ‘’ whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen’’. If there is an argument to this biblical truth it confirms the truth of the verse itself. Love answered to everything.
Let us do something practical. How can we show this love to our brethren, enemies, and then God? First, I want us to eliminate those things that turn our love into something else. For instance, those things which do not nurture love. The bible has also been very practical here.
In 1 Corinthians 13:4–8, Love is defined, compared, and layout very practically. The Bible says Love is not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, it concludes what love is not. In suggesting what love is, the Bible was clear, Love is patient, kind, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, and rejoices with the truth. Brethren, Love is beyond our ordinary understanding but we are capable to know it through the help of the Holy Spirit.
Now, as we come to this epic ending, I do not want you to feel that you need to change, brothers. No, I want you refreshed as you were once transformed, become the newest of the new you when you were once baptized, that moment when you came out of the water and that very hour when you confessed and told Christ that you were ready to carry the cross. Remember, without Love, we cannot please God says the Bible and with Love, we are complete. Let me leave us with 1 John 4:7–8:
‘’7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love’’.
Thank you. Let us close with this prayer:
God, retain your indwelling spirit in us, lead us to love our fellow man, and help us to stand the test of time and we will never depart from the truth. Give us the wisdom to discern the truth and guide us in loving others more than ourselves, making us learn more about your love for us and we appear before your throne. Thank you, Lord, bless us and lead us in all things through Jesus Christ, Amen.
References
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203%3A16&version=NIV (Accessed October 21, 2021)
Zondervan (2011); Holy Bible, New International Version Published by Biblica INC.
Nouwah M Sahr (2021); Persons Experience (as narrated in the paper)
Sternberg, R. J. (1986). A triangular theory of love. Intimacy, passion, commitment. Basic Books. Published online by Psychology Today (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/first-blush/202104/what-love-is Accessed October 21, 2021)
Sorokowski, P., et al. (2021). The universality of the Triangular Theory of Love: Adaptation and psychometric properties of the Triangular Love Scale in 25 countries. Journal of Sex Research, 58(1), 106–115; Published online by Psychology Today (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/first-blush/202104/what-love-is Accessed 21, October 2021)
