Jeremiah 31:1-6; John 3:16-18; Romans 5:6-8 (and a bunch of other verses).
For some reason, the idea that God loves us unconditionally is difficult for some people to affirm. If you google this idea, you will meet with posts that disagree with the concept, usually because they think to love unconditionally means to excuse sin and allow it to go unpunished. (If you are interested in reading a misconstrued article that completely misses the point, which is not helpful for everyone, check this out.)
Herein lies one of my reasons for this sermon: to explore what it means for God to love us unconditionally and then to understand what it means for us to love in the same way.
A. W. Tozer (a Bible teacher of the past century) says in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, that the most important thing about us is what enters our minds when we think about God. Wow. To think of him rightly, then, is to shape us in a positive way and to think of him wrongly, leads us astray.
So is it correct to think if God as loving us unconditionally? Yes, if we understand what that means. Listen in to the sermon and check out this post. (link to the related topics at the bottom of the page for more good reading).
To say that God's love is unconditional is not to say he tolerates sin and will wink at sin's consequences. Rather, to believe God loves us unconditionally means that He loves us first and that his love for us continues, even after we fail him and that, even when he is rightfully angry with us, he still loves us, and even when we reject him and continue on a path of destruction, he still loves us and desires our return to him, and that even as we are dying and obviously headed for Hell (if we have persisted in our rejection of God) he loves us and grieves over us, and that even while people writhe in the pain of eternal punishment forever and ever, God still loves them.
Why does God love like this? Well, because he is God and because he created us. He is our Father and as such desires to live in a relationship with us. He is the ultimate loving father who never gives up.
You might want to meditate on this song and on the image of the loving father, waiting for his erring son to return home in Luke 15:11-20.
Thanks for digging deeper.
Great sermon Galen!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ryan. Appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI think there is another way to illustrate this topic to those who disagree with the fact that God's love is unconditional is to use the relationship between the parents and the children.
ReplyDeleteI was watching a program on TV and the father was being interviewed as a result of his daughter being jailed for a crime. Depsite the the daughter being jailed, he told the press that he is still very proud of his own duaghter.
Is that an unconditional love or what?
It sure is. Parental love for children is a great illustration of God's love for us, at least when parents are loving the way they should. Unfortunately, we do not see that in very family. But right you are, a great illustration. Thanks for sharing.
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