Transformative Love: Living Out God's Calling
Summary
In life, there are pivotal moments that redefine who we are, shaping us in ways that leave us forever changed. Marriage and parenthood are such moments, but for those in Christ, salvation is the most transformative. It is a moment when we encounter God's love, a love that is not based on our worthiness but on His nature. This love, as described in 1 John 4, is the foundation of our faith and the catalyst for our transformation. It is a love that is both sending and sacrificial, exemplified by God sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. This act of love calls us to love others in the same way, as a reflection of God's love abiding in us.
The Apostle John urges us to remember the love of Jesus, a love that is perfect and complete. It is a love that casts out fear, allowing us to live confidently in our identity as God's children. This love is not just a feeling but an action, compelling us to love others sacrificially and unconditionally. It is a love that should be evident in our lives, serving as a testimony to the world of God's transformative power.
As believers, we are called to live out this love, to be a fragrance of Christ to those around us. Our love for one another is a proof of God's salvation in us, a mark of our discipleship. It is not enough to simply profess our faith; we must demonstrate it through our actions. This love should compel us to serve, to give, and to go, sharing the gospel with a world in need.
In a world where fear often dictates actions, God's perfect love frees us to live boldly and love deeply. It challenges us to move beyond self-preservation and to prioritize relationships over being right. This love requires accountability and boundaries but rejects aggression and unforgiveness. It is a love that transforms us and, through us, transforms the world.
Key Takeaways:
1. Transformative Moments: Life-defining moments, such as marriage, parenthood, and salvation, shape us profoundly. Salvation, in particular, is a moment of encountering God's love, which changes us forever. This love is not based on our worthiness but on God's nature. [26:04]
2. God's Sending and Sacrificial Love: God's love is both sending and sacrificial, demonstrated by sending His Son as a propitiation for our sins. This love calls us to love others in the same way, reflecting God's love abiding in us. [42:01]
3. Perfect Love Casts Out Fear: God's perfect love casts out fear, allowing us to live confidently as His children. This love challenges us to prioritize relationships over being right and to live boldly and love deeply. [51:57]
4. Love as a Testimony: Our love for one another is a proof of God's salvation in us, serving as a testimony to the world. It is not enough to profess faith; we must demonstrate it through our actions, being a fragrance of Christ to those around us. [57:27]
5. Compelled to Act: God's love compels us to serve, give, and go, sharing the gospel with a world in need. This love requires accountability and boundaries but rejects aggression and unforgiveness, transforming us and the world through us. [01:06:53]
Youtube Chapters:
- [0:00] - Welcome
- [26:04] - Life-Defining Moments
- [28:17] - Encountering Salvation
- [30:45] - Understanding God's Love
- [32:23] - Abiding in Love
- [34:39] - Remembering Jesus' Love
- [36:17] - The Call to Love
- [38:08] - God's Sending Love
- [39:58] - Sacrificial Love Explained
- [42:01] - Propitiation and Sacrifice
- [44:11] - Theological Understanding of Love
- [48:31] - Consequences of Sin
- [51:57] - Perfect Love and Fear
- [55:14] - Love as a Mark of Discipleship
- [57:27] - Love as a Testimony
- [01:06:53] - Compelled to Act
Study Guide
Bible Study Discussion Guide
Bible Reading:
- 1 John 4:7-21
Observation Questions:
1. What does 1 John 4:9-10 say about how God's love was made manifest among us? How is this love described in the sermon? [31:46]
2. According to the sermon, what are some life-defining moments mentioned, and how do they compare to the moment of salvation? [26:04]
3. How does the sermon describe the nature of God's love as both sending and sacrificial? [42:01]
4. What does the sermon say about the relationship between God's love and fear? How does perfect love cast out fear according to 1 John 4:18? [51:57]
Interpretation Questions:
1. How does the concept of God's love being "sending" and "sacrificial" challenge the way believers are called to love others? [42:01]
2. In what ways does the sermon suggest that God's love should be evident in the lives of believers? How does this serve as a testimony to the world? [57:27]
3. How does the sermon interpret the idea of love casting out fear? What implications does this have for how believers live their lives? [51:57]
4. What does the sermon suggest about the importance of love as a mark of discipleship? How does this relate to the evidence of salvation? [57:27]
Application Questions:
1. Reflect on a life-defining moment in your own life. How did it change you, and how does it compare to your experience of salvation? [26:04]
2. God's love is described as sending and sacrificial. What is one practical way you can demonstrate this type of love to someone in your life this week? [42:01]
3. The sermon mentions that perfect love casts out fear. Identify a fear in your life that you need to address. How can embracing God's love help you overcome it? [51:57]
4. Consider how your love for others serves as a testimony to the world. What is one specific action you can take this week to show God's love to someone who may not know Him? [57:27]
5. The sermon challenges believers to prioritize relationships over being right. Think of a recent conflict or disagreement. How can you prioritize the relationship in that situation? [51:57]
6. Reflect on the idea that love requires accountability and boundaries but rejects aggression and unforgiveness. How can you apply this balance in a current relationship? [01:06:53]
7. The sermon calls believers to be a fragrance of Christ. What is one area of your life where you can be more intentional about reflecting Christ's love to those around you? [01:00:22]
Devotional
Day 1: Transformative Power of Salvation
In life, there are moments that redefine us, such as marriage and parenthood, but none are as transformative as salvation. Salvation is the moment we encounter God's love, a love that is not based on our worthiness but on His nature. This divine love, as described in 1 John 4, becomes the foundation of our faith and the catalyst for our transformation. It is a love that is both sending and sacrificial, exemplified by God sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. This act of love calls us to love others in the same way, as a reflection of God's love abiding in us. [26:04]
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)
Reflection: Think about a moment in your life when you felt truly transformed. How can you allow the transformative power of God's love to redefine your identity today?
Day 2: Embracing Sacrificial Love
God's love is both sending and sacrificial, demonstrated by sending His Son as a propitiation for our sins. This love is not passive but active, calling us to love others in the same way. It is a love that requires us to step out of our comfort zones and serve others selflessly. As we reflect on this sacrificial love, we are reminded that it is not enough to simply receive God's love; we must also extend it to those around us, reflecting His love abiding in us. [42:01]
"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." (1 John 3:16, ESV)
Reflection: Identify one person in your life who needs to experience sacrificial love. What specific action can you take this week to demonstrate God's love to them?
Day 3: Living Fearlessly in Perfect Love
God's perfect love casts out fear, allowing us to live confidently as His children. This love challenges us to prioritize relationships over being right and to live boldly and love deeply. In a world where fear often dictates actions, God's love frees us to move beyond self-preservation and embrace a life of courage and compassion. As we live in this perfect love, we are empowered to face challenges with confidence, knowing that we are secure in our identity as God's beloved children. [51:57]
"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." (1 John 4:18, ESV)
Reflection: What fear is holding you back from fully embracing God's love? How can you take a step of faith today to live more fearlessly in His perfect love?
Day 4: Love as a Testimony
Our love for one another is a proof of God's salvation in us, serving as a testimony to the world. It is not enough to profess faith; we must demonstrate it through our actions, being a fragrance of Christ to those around us. This love should be evident in our lives, serving as a powerful witness to the transformative power of God's love. As we love one another, we become living testimonies of God's grace and mercy, drawing others to Him through our actions and words. [57:27]
"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35, ESV)
Reflection: How can your love for others serve as a testimony of God's love in your community? What practical steps can you take to be a living witness of His love today?
Day 5: Compelled to Serve and Share
God's love compels us to serve, give, and go, sharing the gospel with a world in need. This love requires accountability and boundaries but rejects aggression and unforgiveness, transforming us and the world through us. As we are filled with God's love, we are moved to action, compelled to share the good news of His love with those around us. This love is not just a feeling but a call to action, urging us to be the hands and feet of Christ in a broken world. [01:06:53]
"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died." (2 Corinthians 5:14, ESV)
Reflection: What is one specific way you can serve your community this week as an expression of God's love? How can you share the gospel with someone in need of hope?
Quotes
1) "For us who are in Jesus Christ, our salvation is one of those moments. That in an instant, we are simply not the same. I think about when I first trusted Jesus. You know, you know so much of my story. Didn't really grow up going to church or learning much about Jesus, but there was a moment where my family, we moved to Greenville, South Carolina, and I was invited to go to church to play basketball. I wanted to make some friends. I liked playing sports, and so therefore basketball sounded like a great way to do both. And so I show up there thinking I was showing up for friends, thinking I was showing up for sports, and yet God had a purpose in my life far greater than just that." [28:17] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2) "That moment where you experience the love of God should leave us never the same. And here's the question I want to ask you guys as we're digging into the text this morning. Not only has your life changed because of God's great love for you, but how about this one? Is your life continuing to change as you continue to experience and to live out the truth of God's, God's great love for you?" [29:37] (47 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3) "And by this, his love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment because as he is also, 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. And if anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he's 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." [32:23] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4) "The next thing that you're going to see as you're just reading those first few verses is that his love's not only sending, it's a sacrificial love. It uses a word that we don't use a lot. And our day and time in this passage. In verse 10 it says, in this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the, what's that word there? Propitiation. It's probably not in your everyday vocabulary, is it? This word, propitiation. It means this, that this propitiation, his love, the son, was a suitable, sacrifice, an act of appeasement, meeting a true need that we have because of his love for us." [42:01] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5) "Why did Jesus have to die? Because we have sinned before a holy and righteous God and there was nothing we could do to get right with him. So God sent Jesus out of his great love for us to take our place so that when he looks at us he would see Jesus. He provides the sacrificial atonement through Jesus in Hebrews chapter 10. He'll go on to say this it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin though God gave the Israelites a way to take away sin. The life of a bull or goat is not comparable to your life. There's no soul." [49:04] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
6) "What Jesus has done for us is something so profound we could not do it and yet he does how does he accomplish it in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 it says for our sake he made him him who was fully God meaning Jesus was perfect you and I not perfect right I just want you just for fun just go ahead because I've met people that think they're perfect I've certainly met people who think their children are perfect so I just want you to make sure that you understand where we're going I want you to look at your neighbor and look at them right and tell them you're not perfect are we all in agreement on this but Jesus was perfect because Jesus was fully God and not only was Jesus fully God but when it says for our sake he made him Jesus was fully man which meant that he met the requirement the perfect sacrifice for our sin for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God that when God looks at us he sees Jesus Christ his son that's his love for you Christ did what we could not do so that we could receive what we did not earn God's salvation God's love God's presence God's forgiveness and eternal life through God our Savior that is the love that God has for you and church that is the love that God has God is writing to the church about expressing to the church and begging the church if you are understanding all of that or any of that at all then our lives ought to look different we cannot be enveloped in the love of God this sacrificial love this sending love on our behalf and not be transformed by that love and so what he begins to unpack is this idea that love is a mark it's one of the most significant marks for us who are called believers or followers of Jesus Christ" [50:40] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
7) "What does that mean that means our love is going to be ascending love too doesn't it if God has loved us in that way then our love is going to be ascending love too or a going love too it's going to be a love that takes the first step God's love for us is true then love is going to be this expectation that that beckons us or calls us to take the first step towards others to live sacrificially to die to our own self and our own desires that Christ would work in us and through us and then in others because of us this expectation of how we're called to live is so important because I think that we're in this this season of history where often those who are outside of the church are looking inside of the church and they're not sure they want to be a part of the church if God loves them and they're called to love one another why aren't they doing it I'll be honest we don't listen if you're here and you're questioning that very thing can I just I'll confess to you we are we are not going to get this right but this is who God through his word is calling us to be to spur one another on in love in good works to take first steps towards one another when hurt to sacrifice our preferences and our privileges so that others might experience the love of Christ as well this is the expectation for the church and it moves right on into that this love for one another is a proof of God's salvation in us" [54:08] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
8) "Jesus said this in John chapter 13 verse 35 I think it was burnt in to his memory and I think this is where John is trying to get to when we're reading this passage here he says by this everyone will know let's pause by this say that next word everyone everyone everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another it will not be by the Jesus fish on the back of your car it will not be by the Christian t-shirt you wear it will not be because you got a degree from Liberty University will not be because you show up at church every single Sunday though I think that's a great thing to do it will be by the genuineness and authenticity of how you are actively actionably loving those around you what is our testimony before a watching world" [58:02] (97 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
9) "Love casts out fear perfect love casts out fear God's love for us casts out fear and I began to think what is the fear that God's love is trying to cast out in our life what is it what are we afraid of and here's what hit me if we already know how we have been received by God loved by God then we no longer have to fear how we may be received by others I think there's something that fear does to us as believers as we live inside the church and outside the church first fear leads us to a place it leads us to a place to want what you believe is rightfully yours follow me track with me on this it leads us to a place to want what you believe is rightfully yours and it is action it's action looks like this I have been wronged therefore I will act in this way so that I can get what I believe to be right I have experienced this therefore I am going to do this to bring about what I believe is right" [01:02:39] (115 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
10) "Outside the church what does this look like this sending love this sacrificial will love ought to compel us to give love ought to compel us to serve love ought to compel us to go I think about the responses of our sister churches over the recent weeks in the midst of the storms I saw this posted on social media but it was from some reputable sources so I'm pretty sure it's true it says the total SBC disaster relief response stats for Helen as of mid week last week we know that the disaster affected seven states there were 35 response sites 28 state conventions were represented including ours right here in Virginia that's over half the United States responded out of love to the disaster and the hurt that others were feeling there were 10,836 volunteers who had already gone to serve . And as of mid week 86,538 hours had already been given 640,653 I guess the three matters meals had already been served hmm there had already been 629 gospel conversations and 56 people responding to the gospel are people that need to know the love of Christ and we are the people that are called commissioned having been transformed by such love to go and to share that with them as Christ's love is seen in us people are often more ready to respond to the gospel which we proclaim and I wonder I wonder if maybe the reason maybe the thing that is holding back revival in our generation is that there is a watching world who is listening to our words and seeing that our actions are not matching" [01:06:47] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
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