True Love
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Love, True Love.
As we wrap up our summer series where we answered some of Life’s Biggest Questions, we open with a clip from the greatest quest for true love, the quest found in the movie The Princess Bride. For those of you who haven’t seen it, The Princess Bride shares with us, in the most foolish way possible, a young couples quest for true love. It tells the story of a farmhand named Westley, accompanied by friends he meets along the way, who must rescue his true love Princess Buttercup from the wicked Prince Humperdinck.
If you are a Millennial, a child of the 80’s or 90’s you have most likly seen this movie. It’s 1987 fantasy adventure comedy film adapted from the 1973 novel The Princess Bride by William Goldman. Though not a major box-office success, the movie’s unique host of characters (pic) and highly quotable lines have made it a cult classic.
Quotes like:
“My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.”
“You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”
“Have fun storming the castle.”
All of us have an intense desire to be loved. The topic of true love has been debated for centuries. Cynics often swear it doesn’t exist while hopeless romantics think everyone should set-out to find their soulmates. We long for someone to understand us, to accept us for who we are, to not have to hide behind an image.
To help us find true love, it would help if we knew what we were looking for. So, the question that I would like us to look at in our time together is…
Question: What does true love look like?
Question: What does true love look like?
Transition: Before we go and see what true love looks like, I would like us to take a moment for us to look at ourselves. I want to share with you a reality. One that you may not realize..
I. You/We? Are Hard People To Love
I. You/We? Are Hard People To Love
A. We Are Broken People
A. We Are Broken People
Bible describes our God-given potential in beautiful language
We were created “very good” (compared to “good” when He created dogs or cats)
“Fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14)
Bible also records for us that we just can’t seem to live-up to that potential
Story after story (murder, deceit, anger) shows that:
The problem with humanity is not outside of ourselves, it is inside of ourselves, you heart and my heart is desperately wicked.
Context of Ephesians (get your Bibles out):
Paul - city of Ephesus
Written to Christians - past tense verbs (before Jesus)
After describing Christ and His relationship over all creation, He says these words
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
“You were dead in your trespasses and sins” = Synonyms
“Problem we have is that we have lost the purpose for which we were created, to be in a relationship with God.”
That’s why Jesus’ says greatest commandment is to Love God and Love Neighbor
“Dead” = Unable to live the life God had intended for you to live; what you think is living isn’t living
Things, experiences, feels of other people don’t completely fulfill our most basic desires (leaves us empty)
Transition: Why is this the case? It’s because...
B. We Naturally Follow Our Passions (Self-Centered)
B. We Naturally Follow Our Passions (Self-Centered)
*Now, before you jump to the next video or turn me off, here me out on this one.
To be self-centered is how we were taught to live
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
“Followed the ways of this world”
It’s how we live our life.
Generally, the jobs, the significant others, the homes we live in, the cars we drive, the clothing we wear, it’s all dictated upon what we want.
Illustration: College is a perfect example of this
“If you just believe in yourself, anything is possible” = Not bad but not necessarily the best place to start (Dora the Explorer)
Exactly how Paul describes it (notice strong language)
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
“Cravings (‘passions’ - ESV)…desires and thoughts”
“Like the rest” = How everyone else is living their life
Internet + Resources ($ + Time) put this on display now more than ever
Time without cellphones, Amazon Prime 2 day delivery
Transition: If you are true to yourself, you will acknowledge that in some ways you are broken and self-centered. It’s someone like this, like us, that we are looking for someone to truly love. Think about it, you are on Match.com and you come across a person with this description in their profile! I would be shocked if they would be hearing from you! If you are honest with yourself, it makes one wonder, who would truly love anyone of us? God does.
II. God Loves Us Despite Who We Are
II. God Loves Us Despite Who We Are
A. God Doesn’t Have To Love Us
A. God Doesn’t Have To Love Us
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
“Mercy” = Kindness or concern shown to someone in need
His mercy flows out of a loving heart for us, not from anything we have done to deserve it.
Remember, it was His law that we have broken!
God didn’t wait for us to clean ourselves up, He made a way for us to earn his favor despite who we are
Definition of “grace” - showed favor towards us that we didn’t earn
Transition: We are people hard to love. Broken and naturally self-centered, deserving of God’s wrath (judgment). Yet,
B. He Loves Us None The Less
B. He Loves Us None The Less
“By grace you have been saved” = Gospel
Listen to the words of the Apostle John as He writes about Jesus’ sacrifice
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Two Ways To Live
Because of his love, God sent his Son Jesus Christ to offer his life on the cross as the full payment for our sins. H takes our punishment and makes a way for us to receive God’s forgiveness.
God accepted Jesus’ death as full payment and raised him from the dead to prove it. Jesus now reigns and will one day return to judge the world.
“[Jesus did] Not [come] to condemn the world” = That’s not often how His sacrifice is received
John touches on a harsh reality of Jesus’ sacrifice, it puts a spotlight on our brokenness
John even goes a step further and says…
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
We can continue living our way, rejecting God’s rule and running life our way, or we can live in God’s new way, submitting to Christ and relying on his death and resurrection.
Transition: You might be saying to yourself, wait a minute, that doesn’t sound like True Love. If God really loved me He would accept me for who I am. He wouldn’t want me to change in any way or become a different person. I get it, I’ve thought the same thing myself over the years.
Yet, think about those you truly love that are in your life. Whether it’s a significant other, family member or close friend, isn’t there an area or two in their life that you wish they would change. For some of you, it’s a part of them that is downright nasty, rude or unkind. Maybe it’s just something silly, like when they continue to forget to take things with them when they go to work, no matter if you put it on the door handle, leave a note on their phone or even put their keys on top of it (I hear you now honey. ;)
We want that person to change and grow into a better version of themselves. That is exactly what God wants of us. Jesus’ death on the cross shows us that He truly does love us. His expectation for us to confession/repent of our sins also done out of love because…
III. God Wants Us To Become Our Best Us Through Christ
III. God Wants Us To Become Our Best Us Through Christ
A. He Wants Us To Really Live Life As He Intended Us To Live It
A. He Wants Us To Really Live Life As He Intended Us To Live It
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
“Made us alive…raised us up with Christ” = New Life
Reminds me of what Jesus said
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Jesus is offering new life spiritually in this age and promise of a future resurrection (age to come)
Preaching Dad’s funeral
Live with that assurance, that hope, to overcome sin and to grow!
B. He Wants To Use Us An Example Of His Glory
B. He Wants To Use Us An Example Of His Glory
in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For all of eternity, God wants to point to us and say, “look at Jon, that right there is a display of how gracious and kind I am.”
Creation will marvel. It will take all eternity for creation to fathom God’s love e That’s why Paul emphasis yet again that we do not play any part in our salvation
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
C. He Wants Us To Fulfill The Purpose For Which We Were Created
C. He Wants Us To Fulfill The Purpose For Which We Were Created
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
What do they look like? They all go back to our calling to Love God and Love Neighbor.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
When I began this talk you might have expected me to spend time focusing on how we can find true love in a significant other. Yet, I spent the entire time talking about how you can find true love in the Jesus.
For what does true love look like? God shows us what true love looks like in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, the only way for us to truly experience life as He has planned.
Any love that we experience on this earth will be marred by the brokenness of this world. It will never satisfy our longing to be loved apart from Christ. Yet God, because of His great love for us, has given us the way to find true love. The only question that remains is, will we accept His free gift to us.
Pray
Lord, your love for us has no limits, your grace cannot be measures. Out of your infinite riches in Christ, you continually lavish us with both. Draw our hearts to know your love more deeply and your
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