“So, What Kind Of Love Is That?”
Romans 5:1-11
David P. Nolte
What the world needs now is love -- not giddy, heart-throbbing, feels-like-a-belly-full-of-cold spaghetti puppy love; not lustful, stolen-bread-is-sweeter love (though that doesn’t discount the genuine love between a man and a woman); not greed driven desire-for-the-world's-goodies love. There is too much of that now. John said, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” 1 John 2:15-16 (NASB).
What the world needs now is love -- God's love. Love that sent His Son to die for us. Love that surpasses human comprehension. Love that reaches the worst of us. Love described by the song as "His Kind Of Love!"
In the text Paul show us how great that love is and how it works in our lives. "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 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. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation." Romans 5:1-11 (NASB).
What is His kind of Love and how does it work?
I. IT IS AN EMBRACING LOVE:
A. Let’s search the text to see how wide and long and deep and high His love is: Paul wrote that His love embraced:
1. The weak and helpless. We couldn’t save ourselves if we had a millennium to try. He embraces the weak.
2. The ungodly. Those who turn from God to idols and the world’s lusts and desires. He embraces all who turn from idols to God.
3. The sinners. That’s all of us. We have all spurned His way to go off on our own ways. He embraces all who repent of sin.
4. His enemies. Those who were estranged, alienated and broken away from Him. Even these He wants to embrace!
B. People are so different. We
1. Love the lovely and loveable.
2. Love those who love us.
3. Love those who measure up:
a. “I’ll love you if (you do what I want you to; you give me what I want; you always let me have my way.”).
b. “I love you because (you are so handsome/beautiful; rich; strong; generous.”).
c. “I’ll love you until (you lose your attractiveness; someone else comes along; you don’t give in to me.”).
C. Those types of love are fragile, faithless, fickle and failing because when the criterion for being loved goes away so does the love.
D. God loves us though we fail in all those points and more. His love embraces those who fail, fall short, and forsake Him.
E. A man who claimed to be a Christian but was dictatorial and despotic frequently had his wife and children in tears with his criticism and demands. One day he was ranting and raving at his children. His smallest daughter, about 4 years old, walked over to him, put her arms around his leg and said, “I love you, Daddy!” and she nestled close to him. He suddenly stopped ranting and tears flowed down his face. He sobbed, “You love me when I acted so mean? You still love me?” And he resolved to change his ways. When God throws His arms around us, sinful and ruined as we are, says, “I love you!” that should motivate us to any change He wants to make in our lives. His is an embracing love and:
II. IT IS A RESTORING LOVE:
A. To restore means
1. To put something back into an original condition, as in taking an old car, removing the dents and rust and replacing the worn out electrical and mechanical components then painting and upholstering it.
2. To give something back to its rightful owner. We are not own, we belong to God by creation and by purchase. When Jesus bought us from sin’s bondage He restored us to God as His own possession.
3. To fix what is broken.
a. Our broken covenant is fixed.
b. Our broken lives are fixed.
c. Our broken spirits are fixed.
d. Our broken hearts are fixed.
e. Our broken relationship to God has been fixed.
B. Isaiah bluntly informs us: “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2 (NASB).
1. But the good news is that: “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.”
2. And, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 (NASB).
C. By this reconciliation to God what is restored?
1. Peace with God – we are no longer His enemies.
2. Fellowship with God: we are reconciled – brought back together.
3. Hope in God – not fanciful wishful thinking, but genuine hope, based on God’s unchanging power, word, promise, and faithfulness.
4. God’s glory which He shares with us.
D. Note:
1. Satan discourages, Jesus revives.
2. Satan divides, Jesus reconciles.
3. Satan destroys, Jesus restores.
E. Let me illustrate the need for the restorative power of love. Swindoll told the story about an angry man who rushed through the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam until he reached Rembrandt's famous painting "Nightwatch." Then he took out a knife and slashed it repeatedly before he could be stopped. A short time later, a distraught, hostile man slipped into St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome with a hammer and began to smash Michelangelo's beautiful sculpture The Pieta. Two cherished works of art were severely damaged. But what did officials do? Throw them out and forget about them? Absolutely not! Using the best experts, who worked with the utmost care and precision, they made every effort to restore the treasures. Satan has wounded us and crushed us with failure and guilt – but God refuses to throw us out – He restores us!
God does even better than restore works of art: He restores a clean heart and a right spirit such as David prayed for saying, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 (NASB).
His is a restoring love and
III. IT IS A SATISFYING LOVE:
A. His love brought us hope that does not disappoint. The word translated “disappoint” means to “humiliate, to bring shame, to let us down.” His love will not disappoint us.
B. Most of what we hope for doesn’t measure up to expectations.
1. That new car breaks down and the warranty has expired.
2. The insurance policy has a rider that excludes the surgery you just had.
3. Someone highly recommends an eating place as if the food was ambrosia and when you tried it the food was more like last week’s leftover meatloaf.
C. Some people are disappointed with God because
1. They prayed for something and did not get it.
a. Their loved one died even though they had prayed so hard.
b. They suffer this or that malady and there is no help.
c. Their finances are in the deficit though they try to be good stewards.
d. Their children won’t talk to them, their friends forsake them, their marriage is falling apart in spite of their prayers.
2. They don’t like the way God runs the world. Violence, cruelty, disasters, war, corruption seem to be the order of the day.
D. But faith assures us that satisfaction trumps suffering:
1. That “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 (NASB). By His sovereign grace, God can bring good out of our failures, and our pains and losses and sorrows.
2. That “momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NASB).
3. That “weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5 (NASB).
4. That “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:18 (NASB).
E. In the book Disappointment with God, Philip Yancey tells the story of Douglas who was a sincere devout Christian. His wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. The breast was removed, but a couple years later the cancer was found in her lungs. So she had to go through the agony of chemotherapy. One night in the middle of all this, he was driving with his wife and 12 year old daughter when a drunk driver swerved and struck them head-on. His wife was unhurt, his daughter had minor injuries, but Douglas himself received a massive blow to the head. He would have sudden headaches, dizzy spells, couldn’t work a full day, could become disoriented and forgetful, and developed double vision with one eye which refused to focus.
When Yancey met with Douglas to interview him about his disappointments with God, Douglas told him:
“To tell you the truth, Philip, I didn’t feel any disappointment with God… We tend to think, ‘Life should be fair because God is fair.’ And if I confuse God with the physical reality of life – by expecting constant good health, for example – then I set myself up for a crashing disappointment.” Not disappointed, but satisfied!
God’s love is embracing, restorative and satisfying. Say yes to Jesus and you will know by experience His kind of love. When you are down and out His love lifts you up and takes you in!
