Sunday Worship, 8/23/26: Becoming Who We Are Meant to Be Part 1

The image of a sculptor chipping away everything that did not look like a lion sets the frame for becoming who God means his people to be. God is wanting to do that same kind of work in believers, methodically chipping away everything that does not look like his Son. Galatians 5 names that work as the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Love comes first because without love, nothing else matters.

First John 4 grounds love in God himself. Love is not a Hallmark invention, a Hollywood script, or a human idea that people came up with. Love comes from God because God is love. God chooses to love his children, and his love cannot be increased by better performance or decreased by failure. Romans 5:8 makes that clear: while sinners were still sinners, Christ died for them.

The world’s version of love trains people to think love is conditional. Performance gets applause, personality gets acceptance, appearance gets attention, and people start working the room, working out, and working nonstop to get the love they are aching for. George Wald’s Nobel Prize becomes a picture of that ache: even success can be a consolation prize when what the soul really wants is love. Religion says God’s favor must be earned, but a relationship with Jesus rests on what has already been done. Jesus bled and died on an old rugged cross so sinners could be forgiven, and true love is given, not earned.

God’s love must be fully received, not merely believed in at a surface level. His love has to permeate the deepest places of the soul until the heart can hear him say, “I just do.” God loves his people as they are, not as they should be, because nobody is as they should be.

John’s command then presses that received love outward. Whoever claims to love God while hating a brother or sister is lying, because the natural outgrowth of receiving God’s unconditional love is loving others as God loves. Love is more than a feeling. Love is a decision, an action, a lifestyle, especially toward people who get on that last nerve. Jesus, the vine, supplies the strength for that kind of love, and the Spirit makes possible what human resolve cannot sustain. God’s children are meant to be branded before the world with one simple mark: “I love, period.”

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Key Takeaways

• 1. True love is given, not earned. God’s love does not wait for a cleaned-up life, an impressive record, or enough religious effort to tip the scales. Religion keeps asking whether enough has been done, but Jesus points to what has already been done at the cross. The soul begins to change when God’s love is received as gift rather than chased as payment. [52:31]
• 2. God loves because He just does. God’s love is not explained by human worthiness, consistency, or spiritual maturity. The deepest answer to “Why would God love someone like that?” is not a formula, but the Father’s heart toward his child. That kind of love humbles pride and heals shame at the same time. [50:53]
• 3. Received love must overflow outward. First John will not allow love for God to remain invisible while hatred toward people remains untouched. The love of God is meant to move through a believer into the lives of real people, including difficult people, different people, and people who are easy to avoid. Love received but not released has not yet done its full work. [53:26]
• 4. Feelings cannot govern love. Feelings are real, but they are not always reliable guides for obedience. God’s kind of love chooses action when affection is absent, especially toward those who irritate, oppose, or exhaust. Love becomes Christlike when it is rooted in God’s choice to love, not in another person’s ease to love. [55:58]
• 5. Jesus supplies love’s strength. The command to love does not leave believers stranded with willpower and a pep talk. Jesus calls himself the vine, and the branches bear fruit only by remaining connected to him. The Spirit gives the power to love the unloved and even the unlovable in a way that shows the world what God’s love really is. [60:52]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [31:06] - Returning From Vacation and Church Life
• [33:14] - Becoming Who God Meant People To Be
• [34:15] - The Sculptor and the Lion
• [36:14] - The Fruit of the Spirit
• [37:28] - Love as the Highest Virtue
• [38:02] - God’s Love in First John 4
• [40:21] - Fully Receiving God’s Love
• [43:35] - Conditional Love and the World’s Lie
• [48:39] - Religion Versus Relationship With Jesus
• [52:31] - True Love Is Given
• [53:26] - Letting God’s Love Flow Through
• [55:35] - Love as a Decision and Lifestyle
• [60:52] - Staying Connected to the Vine
• [67:23] - David, Forgiveness, and Great Love

Bible Reading

1 John 4:7-21
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” [38:02]

Galatians 5:22-23
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” [36:20]

Romans 5:8
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” [43:12]

John 15:5
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” [01:01:03]

Observation questions

1. In Galatians 5:22-23, which fruit is listed first, and how is that connected to becoming more like Jesus? [37:28]
2. In 1 John 4, what does John say about where love comes from, and what does he say God is? [40:54]
3. According to Romans 5:8, what was our condition when Christ died for us? [43:12]
4. In 1 John 4:19-21, what strong words does John use for a person who says he loves God but hates a brother or sister? [53:47]

Interpretation questions

1. If “God is love” and love comes from God, what does that mean for the way people usually define love in the world? [41:25]
2. Romans 5:8 says Christ died for us while we were still sinners. How does that shape the difference between earning God’s love and receiving God’s love? [49:33]
3. First John says, “We love because he first loved us.” What does that suggest about why love for others can dry up when a person is not really resting in God’s love? [53:26]
4. Jesus says that apart from him we can do nothing. How does that help explain why loving difficult people takes more than human effort and willpower? [01:00:52]

Application questions

1. Many people know in their head that God loves them, but still live as if they have to prove themselves. Where does that show up most in real life right now—work, family, church, failure, shame, or something else? [40:21]
2. “True love is given, not earned.” What would it look like to actually live this week as if that were true? What pressure, fear, or striving might need to be laid down? [52:31]
3. God loves his children “as they are, not as they should be.” Is there a part of life where shame still whispers that God must be disappointed beyond repair? What would it mean to bring that place into the light and receive his love there? [52:51]
4. Love is more than a feeling; it is a decision, an action, and a lifestyle. Who is one person that is hard to love right now, and what is one concrete way love could be shown to that person this week? [55:35]
5. Feelings can be unreliable. When the feeling to love is absent, what helps a believer still choose patience, kindness, or gentleness in the moment? [55:58]
6. Some people are easy to love, and some get on that last nerve. Are there people being avoided, dismissed, or written off right now? What might loving them as God loves look like without pretending the relationship is easy? [57:27]
7. Jesus is the vine, and apart from him nothing can be done. What helps a person stay connected to Jesus in a daily way so that love can keep flowing instead of running dry? [01:01:03]