Sunday: Love to be Loved
1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.” However simple those three words (four in Greek), the idea behind them is so deep, so profound, that we can barely grasp their implications. They don’t say that God loves, or that God reveals love, or that God is a manifestation of love but that God is love. Is love — as if love is the essence of God’s identity Himself. As fallen human beings, with only a few pounds of tissue and chemicals in our heads with which to grasp reality, we just aren’t able to fully comprehend what “God is love” fully means.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
But we can, certainly, understand enough to know that it’s very good news. If, instead of “God is love,” it said “God is hate” or “God is vindictive” or “God is indifferent,” this revelation about Him could have been something to worry about.
And the truth that “God is love” helps us better understand the idea that God’s government, how He rules all the creation, is reflective of that love. Love permeates the cosmos, perhaps even more than gravity does. God loves us; and we, too, are to love God back, in return (see Deuteronomy 6:5, Mark 12:30).
Love, though, to be love, must be freely given. God cannot force love; the moment He does it’s no longer love. Hence, when God created intelligent and rational beings in heaven and on earth with the ability to love, the risk always existed that they might not love Him back. Some didn’t — and, hence, the origins of what we know as the great controversy.
Why do the following texts make sense only in the context of the freedom, and the risk, involved with love? (Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:12-17, Revelation 12:7).
Especially insightful is Ezekiel 28:15, which shows that though this angel, Lucifer, was a perfect being created by a perfect God, iniquity was found in him. It was not because He had been created with that iniquity to begin with. Instead, created with the ability to love, Lucifer had true moral freedom, and despite all that he had been given (“Every precious stone was your covering”), this angel wanted more. One thing led to another until, well, there was “war in heaven.”
| In some places you can buy robot dogs, which will obey your commands, never soil the carpet, or chew the furniture. Would you, however, have any kind of meaningful relationship with this “dog”? How does your answer help in understanding why God wanted beings who could, truly, love Him back? |
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Christianity and love go together like bacon and eggs (oops, I had better think up a vegetarian simile ). When I go to church I hear songs and hymns about the love of God. I hear prayers about love. I am encouraged to give offerings with love. And if the sermon does not mention about the love of God somewhere we think that we have been short-changed and want to take some of our offering back. The problem is that the word love is used so frequently that it loses its effectiveness.
We used to have a church pastor who used the adjective "awesome" to such an extent that we used to count how many times he used the word in a sermon and we completely ignored the topic. Imagine a Sabbath lunch where you could compare your "awesome" count, but could not tell one another what the sermon was about.
And perhaps it is a bit like that when we start talking about love in the Christian context. We may well need a few lessons on how to make the word more meaningful.
Interestingly, Deuteronomy has a couple of useful passages on love.
This sound a lot more than just mouthing the word "love". It implies something that affects everything you do. It is lifestyle love.
The next few verses give some detail on the extent of that love:
Our love for God should be integrated into our while lives and particularly into our family life.
Indeed the home is the most important place to begin showing love. If we do not love our own family, how then will we be capable of showing love to others? And if we do not teach our children about what love really is, the world will most certainly take up our slack, with eternally devastating consequences. The worldly idea of selfish love has no bearing on the selfless love of God.
"Christianity and love go together like..." peanut butter and sliced banana! Does that work? That was my favorite sandwich for school lunches after my parents decided to go vegetarian and tuna fish was no longer served in our home.
Ah yes! That one works for me. I was going to say Marmite and Avocado, but I remembered that most Americans who have encountered Marmite think it tastes like axle grease.
Ha! I have never heard of Marmite, and I have NEVER ingested axle grease. Avocado...YES!
Marmite has been my favourite savoury spread all my life.
Oh, my! How could you have lived this long and not heard of Marmite? I remember it mainly from my childhood, I confess. It is a bit expensive on this side of the globe, so my family hasn't used it much, considering it an indulgence. 😋
Not one commercial/ad, have never seen or heard of it anywhere or from anyone until Maurice's comment. I will look for it when shopping now that I am aware of its existence. Always willing to try new things at least once. It will first have to pass the "ingredients" scrutiny.
Wait..."a by-product of beer brewing"...?! Hmmmm.....
I'm not sure there were commercials for Marmite when I was young. It was available in stores in Canada, probably along with bouillon mixes. It was always available at the Adventist Book Center. As someone else mentioned, it may not have been available in the US. I don't know. But a similar product was Vegex. It was also available in Canada at a slightly lower price. I believe the main ingredient of both was nutritional yeast plus salt. Using nutritional yeast plus soy sauce yields a similar flavor. (Marmite lovers may disagree.😉 Thus, using soy sauce in combination with nutritional yeast has a similar flavor effect. But it isn't spreadable on bread unless you make up a recipe to mimic the original, and there are lots of DIY Marmite recipes to be found on the internet. I notice they are more complicated than my evaluation suggests. This one includes an image of the Marmite bottle: How to make Marmit.
My thanks to everyone contributing to my education on Marmite, which sounds very appealing at the moment, especially Maurice's suggestion of Marmite with avocado! Until I'm able to find it, I will continue with peanut butter and sliced banana. Oh, if you haven't yet, try PB&B on toast with applesauce over the top! PERFECT Sabbath morning breakfast!
Robert I read up on Marmite, in the USA we had a similar product "Vegex" which was discontinued a few years ago. I always liked its pungent flavor, but in small quantities. It was used by many as a flavoring when making gluten burger from scratch.
Robert, you would like Marmite. It’s the Aussie version of Savorex.
It was invented by accident. In the late 19th Century a German scientist, Justus Liebig, discovered brewer's yeast could be concentrated, bottled and eaten. In 1902 the Marmite Food Company was founded in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, where the raw material was readily available from the town's brewers. The original recipe contained salt, spices and celery. Later folic acid, vitamin B12, thiamin and riboflavin - vitamins which occur naturally in some foods - were added in high concentrations.
Marmite made in UK
There's more than one Marmite. In New Zealand and Australia the Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing company sells Marmite but it has added caramel and sugar to its version, which obviously gives it a sweeter taste. Sanitarium bought the rights to use the brand name back in 1908.
The Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company is the trading name of two sister food companies. Both are wholly owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Founded in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1898, Sanitarium has factories in Australia and New Zealand, producing a large range of breakfast cereals and vegetarian products.
The focus of today's lesson on the reality that "love is the essence of God’s identity Himself" is such an important awareness to raise at the outset of the study of Deuteronomy. I am glad the author of today's lesson has chosen this as the foundational start point. Because Deuteronomy contains a lot of laws, it is vital to understand from the beginning that these laws were all based upon and derived from one foundational law - the law of love - and that love is the personification of God's core nature and character, or "identity".
The love that is being talked about here - the love that is "the essence of God's identity Himself" - is not the mere sentimentalism that typically comes to people's minds when they hear or use the word 'love'. The love that is being talked about here is the principle of total commitment to living to genuinely benefit others - even when it costs you personally to do so (John 15:13). As such, love is a core orientation to - or way of - life and living. Or more accurately, it is THE orientation to life and living.
This means that the principle called 'love' (Agape in the New Testament) is the core principle that underpins every facet of true/abundant life - with each aspect of life and living 'structured' in such a way as to benefit every other aspect of life.
The author of the lesson correctly hilights that "Love, though, to be love, must be freely given. God cannot force love; the moment He does it’s no longer love." Thus, true love can only awakened or drawn by love (John 15:13 and John 12:32 combined). It cannot be demanded, required, expected or in any way coerced - including passive-aggressive coercion. Love's direction of movement is therefore forward, not backward (ie not payback). In fact, if you are familiar with perpetual motion devices, you will 'see' that love is perpetual motion in nature. Essentially, love continually 'pays'/is directed forward by being other-focussed. And in doing so, it perpetually contributes to the generation and maintenance of life and living. No surprise that this love that is God's identity is also functionally a principle that contributes to maintenance of eternal life and living.
It is also worth keeping in mind that because love is the foundational law, all other God-ordained (design) laws arise from this foundation and therefore share this same core nature - designed to genuinely benefit.
I hope these thoughts assist you as we look at Deuteronomy afresh this quarter...
What a great title - "Love to be loved"! This might just be the first aspect to learn when considering God's Love. Do we 'love to be loved by Him'? I know there is a song with such a title, but the love depicted in the song, though precious, is earth-bound.
The lesson writer states: "we just aren't able to fully comprehend what 'God is love' fully means". But we can give it our most valiant effort to appreciate that it is more precious than silver or gold and any powers inherent in the kingdoms of men, or earthly life itself.
God's love is - well let me count the ways . . . ! I am certain that as each of us starts to reflect on what His Love means to us personally, we will establish a palette of the most precious occurrences in our life - always moving from darkness toward light, from weakness to strength.
Though God's Love is practical in application, its source is in essence universally fundamental and spiritual. God as Love - I see Him equally as the source, the weaver, and the cloth of all that is life. He chooses all the colors and the strength of the thread, making them available from His vast chest of possibilities for us to choose which ones to use when we weave the cloth of our own life.
I think the formula for love could be established as:
God's Love = justice = equals mercy = equals grace = Love. The complete and perfect balance of all powers functioning in His vast Universe are calibrated to produce and maintain Life = Love.
Heavenly beings like Lucifer and others, introduced into this perfectly calibrated fabric a cloth-eating moth - rebellion; challenging God that there is a better way to govern life. Life/love temporarily mends the tare rebellion caused in the fabric of life by using the same thread that was there originally - Love.
Trying to know or fully understand what God's Love means to us, the fallen creature, is sobering and humbling. The power that is and created all things by the principle of - Love - has decided to mend that which was weakened by sin until the time comes when it can be wholly restored.
I love your weaver comparison, Brigitte! As a knitter myself, it brings me joy to choose colors and designs that the recipient will love. I can just imagine God saying "Now for a spot of this lovely red; this could benefit from a bit of gray for balance. And this golden thread of love will bring it all together perfectly!"
Seems o me that the powers that be (author of the lesson) has placed the case study here given in both passages of scriptures (Isiah and Y-khez-Kael) on a different prospective. The author's intent shows the liberty the King of Tyre (lucifer) had, and the advantages that was attributed to him And yet he felt that he wanted more. Somehow he thought that something was lacking and therefore he wanted more. This was selfish because if you noticed the passage in Ezekiel 28:12-15, no other King, (created being was fitted with these attributes).
So from the very beginning of this quarter lesson study let's ask of God the genuine desire to love Him with all our heart, soul and mind and that He will give us the desire to serve others. I'm getting to love the study of the book of the second law
Two points of present truth that impressed me today:
Love in other words -
Be like Jesus, this my song,
In the home and in the throng;
Be like Jesus, all day long!
I would be like Jesus.
Secondly, the link between love and commands and between Deut 6:6-9 and Rev 13:16-17, Rev 14:1. We have the LORD's Principles of Life inwardly in our hearts/intentions and in our minds/thoughts and outwardly in our hands/actions. The present truth is that the devil through the image of the beast wishes to supplant his commands in our forehead and hands.
I need help with these thoughts.(Had them while reading the lesson)
1. Is Lucifer/Satan and his followers going to be destroyed because they did not love God back?If yes,is that really love?
2. Lucifer/Satan and man were created perfect(*and in the case of man,in the image of God) yet they sinned because they had free will, God is perfect,love and has free will too. Does it mean God can potentially sin?
Your question Paul is the essence of the Great Controversy which has gone on for almost 6000 years. God's kingdom is based on love, and Lucifer brought in another concept hate. God had the chance to destroy hate in his kingdom immediately, but he chose to let the controversy play itself out to show the kind of God he truly is. If in your house you have rules which are based on love, and someone comes to your house and begins to break your love house rules, what would you do?
Hi Paul. Let us remember God is the creator. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made John 1:3 (KJV)that also includes the rule and laws that guide. Remember also God is not a man, so he does not lie. Numbers 23:19. Now, therefore, do men steal from themselves? If so, what does it profit them? My heavenly Father is perfect and the creator; there is no conceivable thought of potential sin. If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand Mark 3:24. Please remember he has gone through great lengths to give man the opportunity to be saved. He could have destroyed Adam & Eve and the devil and create replacements. He had the power to do so. Let us not even conceive the thought of our God in such a light
Very reasonable questions to ask, Paul. It is good that you are thinking about the lesson and asking questions. As we recently saw from Jonah and as we also see from Job, God does not have a problem with us genuinely asking questions to understand things that don't seem to make sense to us (as per Jeremiah 9:24 principle).
In response to question 1, you are correct. If God destroys someone because they don't "love Him back", that certainly is not love. Human relationships that have those kind of dynamics are considered abusive. However, if Lucifer/Satan and his followers freely choose a path that is inherently self-destructive, then that is what destroys them, not God. While God does not desire than anyone perish (2 Peter 3:9; John 3:16), He also values their freedom. Thus while God will try everything possible short of coercing people to not take that path, if that is their determined choice, then God will reluctantly but nevertheless definitively respect that choice and "give them up" or "give them over" to their choice and its self-destructive consequences (eg Psalm 81:11,12; Hosea 4:16,17; Romans 1:24,26,28).
In regard to question 2, yes God could potentially sin. He wouldn't because sin is opposite to God's chosen nature (beneficent) and therefore it has absolutely no attraction to Him, but He has free will too - just like you recognised.
Keep asking questions in your quest to better understand God...
Love your response, Phil. 'God is love' also means 'God is life'. Somewhere in my memory comes this thought/quote?.... 'God is Love, and in that Love is the life of man'.
So that, anything lived outside of that love is - death.
Paul, the Great Controversy is exactly about the questions you are asking, Is God just, is God arbitrary, is His Law of the Universe righteous and fair. Lucifer did not think so because he was left out of key strategic planning and he began to question which led to rebellion. God could have arbitrarily ended the rebellion right there on the spot as He knew where it would lead but that action would have left the original questions unanswered. In His wisdom, He knew that He must allow the rebellion to play out in a “cosmic theater” so that there is no question left where the rebellion would lead. He solved the problem and demonstrated His Love/Goodness through His sacrifice. Lucifer would not lay down his life for anyone as he is determined to command allegiance. It is the old saying, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But he will soon find out that he does not have absolute power and God will put and end to his rebellion. The destruction of the wicked is called a “strange act” because it is out of character for God but is it, I ask. Out of Character would be allowing evil/suffering to exist throughout eternity. Once God’s law is vindicated the only Good, Just thing to do is to destroy evil/suffering permanently and have it remain that way by remembering/replaying the cost paid to fix it, the Suffering and Death of God Himself.
Paul, the Creator of all life has made men and angels with free will, and given them a choice. When choosing to sin against the will/law of God, this will always involve affecting others negatively, often fatally(Cain vs Abel). Love, towards God and our fellow man is the term used, but more accurately it(agape) means to prefer, or, give preference(vs self).
Would God be "loving" if allowing rebels to live on in their rebellion, robbing all creation of peace and safety? God must put down rebellion if His government is to enjoy the goodness He intended, and has offered to all, including all who have chosen to prefer self to the point of robbing, murder, etc. The destruction of the wicked is not only due "because they not love God back", but due to their wickedness against others without cause. The final destruction of sinners comes after much warning, entreaty, and offer of forgiveness. All who will die in their sin will have chosen that outcome, which will usher in everlasting peace(Ps 37:11).
There is no evidence to justify anyone in questioning God's love for His creation if all Truth is properly considered, and if we understood the true state of restlessness and lack of peace that comes from sin(as all should know from experience), their final reward/wages is an act of mercy from God who "so loved the world". No one will be destroyed who was not first given every opportunity to be saved. What fair society does not punish evil doers?
I would add to this that those destroyed in the end, will be calling for the rocks and hills to fall on them. It will be an act of mercy that God gives them their choice. It all boils down to our/my choice to love God or love sin/Satan.
I love that the lessons for this quarter start at the beginning of all sin. Everything in scripture has to be read through that lens, otherwise it won’t make complete sense.
We as human being need to practice that same LOVE.
Augustine said, “There is no love where nothing is loved.”
Love requires a relationship. Before God created anything, our triune God served each other and had mutual delight in each other . When you love someone you delight in them. You’re pleased to see them. Daily. (Prov. 8:30)
God is a dynamic community. God is not a solitary being. The Father, Son, Holy Spirit are a community of love. Each part or person of God serves the other part. Each part loves the other eternally and infinitely. This really draws me to our God. God’s love is nothing like the “keeping-score love” you see in the world, the “counting-red-flags-before-I-discard-you love”.
The Father and the Son are open with each other (John 5:20), this is what love is. Jesus says that just like He and the Father share everything, all things he has heard of His Father he has made known to us , as His friends. (John 15:15)
Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” John 15:9
Jesus was able to love us because he was confident in the love he was receiving from the Father. We need to be confident of our Heavenly Father’s love, too, in order to love each other. Do I “love to be loved” by God so much that I constantly look for the presence of His Love in my life and among us?
Jesus prayed that we will be brought to complete unity so that the world may know that Jesus is God, and that the Father loves us just as He loves Jesus (John 17:23).
God is love, grace and fellowship (2 Cor. 13:14).