God's Love Series

INTRODUCTION

 A man was lured into a busy florist shop by a large sign in the window that read, "Say It With Flowers." "Wrap up one rose for me, please" he told the florist. "Just one?" the florist asked. "Just one," the customer replied. "I’m a man of few words."

 A husband was told by the marriage counselor to try and be nice to his wife. One day he comes home from work. He does the dishes, vacuums the house, and does all of the dusting and laundry. He’s dressed up in a suit, he has cologne on, and he has a bouquet of flowers and a box of candy in his hands. He’s trying to make a good impression. The wife says, "Oh, I can’t believe it! Little Johnny has been throwing up; the dishwasher just broke; your parents are coming to visit this weekend and to top it all off, you come home drunk!

 Sometimes we have a hard time expressing love don’t we?

 What is love? The word conjures up all kinds of different pictures. Is love a feeling or an action? For some love is flowers, candy and gifts. To some love is getting what you want from people when you give them something. For some love is an inanimate object such as a car, a house. This object will give them pleasure.

 Where did love come from? Did it evolve?

 What does it mean to tell someone that you love them? When we tell someone that we love them, we can mean anything from “I really like you a lot”, to “I really like what you do for me” to “I want to commit my life to you.”

 1 JOHN 4:8 says, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

 1 John 4:7 tells us that love is from God. How has God displayed His love for us? Why does God love us? Does God love us because of what we give to Him? This is t he type of love that the world has, the type of love that says, “I will love you if..”

 What is different about God’s love? What can we learn about love from God?

 Today as we are closing in on the Valentines Day holiday I want us to take a look at another attribute of our awesome God, love.

 I want us to see three things about the love that God has for us. The type of love that God has for you is a true love; it is not a selfish love that only loves you because you have something to offer. God’s love is a deep love, it is a love that we can look to as an example of the type of love that we are to have for the people around us.

SERMON

GOD’S LOVE IS:

I. SACRIFICIAL (1 JOHN 3:16, PHILIPPIANS 2:7-FF)

 God’s love is a different kind of love than what the world teaches us. God’s love is agape love. This type of love means to do what is spiritually best for another because the one doing the loving sees something of value in that person.

 The world’s system of love tells you that if do not get what YOU want out of a relationship that you need to move on to the next one. In our wedding vows we talk about for better or worse for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part. What this part of the vow means is that I am going to love you sacrificially. I may have to give something up to love you.

 God loved us so much that He sacrificed a lot to show us His love for us.

 1JO 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

 What did God have to gain by sending His son for us? Would you intentionally allow your son or daughter die for someone else? It reminds me of the story of a young boy and his sister.

A little boy was told by his doctor that he could save his sister’s life by giving her some blood. The six-year-old girl was near death, a victim of disease from which the boy had made a marvelous recovery two years earlier. Her only chance for restoration was a blood transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the illness. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.

"Johnny, would you like to give your blood for Mary?" the doctor asked.

The boy hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled, and said, "Sure, Doc. I’ll give my blood for my sister."