"Highly Recommended Love”

“But God commendeth His own love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

God has exhibited or showed His love in this unusual and remarkable manner. Unusual because of the manner it was done. Death at the cross.

This verse which I love most as a demonstration of the love of God in us. It is an expression of the thought of the love of God Himself towards us Not to be compared or to be in contrast with human love, but as demonstrated by Christ's act of love, and was displayed in the death of His Christ. You see, the thought was expressed in the Cross. That is how God showed His love eternal for all of us.

Illustration:

(from: sermonnotebook.org)

For a man named James F. Kidd, of Wheaton, Illinois, one day he was visiting his son, who was stationed at Fort Bragg. They went to a nearby Italian restaurant to eat. While they were eating a gunman entered the building and began firing into the customers. When it was over, 11 people had died, including James Kidd. When the shooting started, he had used his own body to shield his son from the bullets, and he, himself, had died from a gunshot wound to the back. Later, his wife said, "He was a good man, a good father and a good husband. He died saving his son. What more can you say?")

What if James Kidd had protected a total stranger? What if, instead of that grenade being thrown into the midst of a Marine patrol, it had been thrown into the a group of Vietnamese soldiers guarding an American prisoner. Suppose that American soldier, who had been abused and beaten and was permanently scarred and disfigured by his captures, fell on that grenade and gave his life to save his enemies. You say, "People don't do that!" That's right! Human nature recoils at the thought of doing good to one's enemies. However, while man doesn't do that, God does! That is exactly what happened at Calvary! Jesus Christ died for the sins of His enemies. He threw Himself on the grenade of God's wrath ans when it detonated, He died to deliver those who hated Him. What love! What boundless compassion!) ‘By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us’ (1 John 3:16)

And so I proposed that this love is contrary to human love, that the word “but” on the beginning of this verse makes it very clear that God’s love; is contrary wise or is different.

I- ENDORSED:

“Commendeth- to entrust for care or preservation. To recommend as worthy of confidence or notice. When you endorse something or someone, you are putting your approval on the object or person you are recommending.

God the Father Himself endorsed this kind of love in Jesus. He said in two instances these words, “I Am well pleased”, and “Listen to Him”. In John 12:27-30, this voice of recommendation was clearly heard before a gathering of Greek visitors, for them to believed that Jesus was the personification of God’s love. In fact even His death was endorsed by God as the sign of His love. The darkening of the sky when He was hanging on the Cross? That’s an endorsement of this kind of highly recommended love. This endorsement occurred when God spoke on behalf of His incomparable love on our behalf in a highly positive way. God wanted a relationship with us in this verse, He wants us to be participators because the sweeter the experience the greater the love. The greater the love the more we won’t stop talking about Him. We would no longer have any kind of love apart from God’s love! No other Love.

II- EXPRESSED:

“...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

“But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”v.8 NLT

We might think we loved God first and sought after Him but the fact is we love God only “because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19)

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? ( 1 John 4:20). The best expression of God’s love for me is the CROSS. It was the symbol of death and show of sacrificial love, THAT WE MIGHT HAVE LIFE THROUGH HIS DEATH!

Illustration:

Let us picture in our minds three crosses silhouetted on a hillside just outside the city walls of Jerusalem. We will call the cross on the left the cross of rejection since the one on that cross was unrepentant unto death. We will call the cross on the right the cross of reception since the one on it repented of his sins and trusted Jesus for his salvation. We will call the center cross the cross of revelation since the Man who died on that cross allowed us to see ourselves for what we really are. We will call it the cross of revelation.