Our Loving God Series

Our Loving God

I know I got a lot of mileage last week out of turning 40 but I thought I’d begin this morning with a story about what happened when a young couple invited their aging pastor over for Sunday dinner. While the parents were in the kitchen preparing the meal, the minister asked their son what they were having for dinner.

The little boy replied, “Goat.” The pastor was surprised and said, “Goat? Are you sure about that?” To which the boy responded, “Yep, I heard my dad tell my mom that we might as well have the old goat for dinner today as any other day.”

This morning we come to the conclusion of our 12 part series that we’ve called, “Getting to Know God.” While we certainly haven’t exhausted the depths of who God is, I trust that you’ve gotten to know Him better during these last 3 months. To know God is the highest aim of our Christian life and should be a life-long pursuit. Hopefully this series has primed the pump for you so that you will continue in your knowledge and service of God for the rest of your life.

I purposely decided to preach on the topic of God’s love at the end of this series because love is an essential attribute of God, the capstone of His personality. Having said that, I feel overwhelmed and challenged by the task of trying to put into words this incredible doctrine.

A.W. Tozer, who forgot more about God than I will ever know, struggled to explain God’s love as well: “I can no more do justice to this awesome and wonder-filled topic than a child can grasp a star. Still, by reaching toward the star the child may call attention to it and even indicate the direction one must look to see it. And so, I stretch my heart toward the high, shining love of God so that we may be encouraged to look up and have hope.”

As we look up this morning, we learn that love is the supreme expression of God’s personhood and flows out of His goodness. It affects all His other attributes.

When you think about it, God’s love is the only reason we exist. His power is the how of creation and His love is the why. Love demands an object ­ you and I are that focus of God’s affection. Love flows from Him as a pure river of grace and mercy without detracting in any way from His holiness and righteousness. As we understand and experience His love, we find that this attribute is a doorway to knowing God intimately.

Summary of Series

Each of the topics we’ve discussed in this series are fully expressed by God’s love:

- Our Loving God of the Second Chance ­ because He is our loving God, He promises us a fresh start whenever we need one.

- Our Loving Knowable God ­ His love reaches down to us so that we can actually get to know Him ­ He initiates the process.

- Our Loving Holy God ­ His holiness is linked to His love so that we can be overwhelmed by His majesty, drawn to His mercy, and motivated to be involved in His mission.

- Our Loving Creator God ­ We see God’s creative beauty all around us and recognize His unique loving care for the preborn.

- Our Loving Omnipresent God ­ We can count on God’s love to be with us no matter where we are because God is everywhere present at the same time.

- Our Loving Omniscient God ­ God knows all things and knows everything about us ­ and is still totally and unconditionally committed to us.

- Our Loving Omnipotent God ­ God’s absolute power is unleashed and motivated by His love on our behalf.

- Our Loving Faithful God ­ God’s faithfulness is linked to His love so that we can always count on Him to be there for us.

- Our Loving Just God ­ God’s justice and God’s love are fully expressed by the sacrificial death of Christ.

- Our Loving Sovereign God ­ God’s control over all things is motivated by His love for us so that we can lovingly submit to His lordship in our lives.

- Our Loving Unchanging God ­ Because God does not change in His love for us, we can be changed from the inside out.

By the way, in order to help you remember this series and to grow deeper in your knowledge and understanding of God, we’ve included a small card in your bulletin this morning. Please take this out and put it in your wallet or your Bible.

Scriptural Survey

In the New Testament, there are three primary words for love: