Week 3: The Rule of Love
Chapter 3-4 (26 pages)
Key Quotes:
Key Quotes:
Chapter 3
Speaking of the love of a parent towards their child: "These are not Christian instincts; they are human ones. God has programmed them, in varying measure, into all of us. Why? Among other things so that we might know something about him." (60)
"For Jesus the Son, love leads to obedience, and obedience is a sing of love. For God the Father, love depends upon obedience, and obedience is a condition of love." (67)
"though we don't share one nature with the heavenly Father the way Jesus does…we can follow their example. Two human beings cannot "indwell" one another the way the divine Father indwells the eternal Son, but we can… share the same faith, the same ambitions, the same character, the same love. We can give ourselves to one another so that Christ might be exalted in and through one another." (68)
Chapter 4
"For Jesus the Son, love leads to obedience, and obedience is a sing of love. For God the Father, love depends upon obedience, and obedience is a condition of love." (67)
"though we don't share one nature with the heavenly Father the way Jesus does…we can follow their example. Two human beings cannot "indwell" one another the way the divine Father indwells the eternal Son, but we can… share the same faith, the same ambitions, the same character, the same love. We can give ourselves to one another so that Christ might be exalted in and through one another." (68)
Chapter 4
"This is how culture works. We love something and then mimic it. Out sense of self takes shape around our loves. We grow into what we love or, rather, it grows into us." (71)
"Loving God, then, means internalizing God's law…it means internalizing Christ's teaching" (74)
"In general, we can connect holiness and love by saying that holiness is the measure of love's devotion to God, or the purity of love's devotion to God." (82)
Engagement Questions:
"Loving God, then, means internalizing God's law…it means internalizing Christ's teaching" (74)
"In general, we can connect holiness and love by saying that holiness is the measure of love's devotion to God, or the purity of love's devotion to God." (82)
Engagement Questions:
Chapter 3
1. What 5 ways does D.A. Carson list the Bible's revelation of God's love? What do we learn from each of them about ourselves?
2. How can we reconcile love and obedience being two sides of the same coin? In what ways, can we demonstrate this balance in our relationship with God, family members, neighbors, the church?
Chapter 4
2. How can we reconcile love and obedience being two sides of the same coin? In what ways, can we demonstrate this balance in our relationship with God, family members, neighbors, the church?
Chapter 4
1. Jonathan Leeman makes the analogy of self-love being like a black hole, drawing in praise, glory, fame, etc. into itself. In what ways is this true in your own life? What can be done?
2. What five lessons can we apply to the church as we better understand the Father's love for His Son?
Summary
In these two chapters, Jonathan Leeman challenges us to see the God-centeredness of God's love. Both chapters deal with this same concept however, chapter 3 comes at it from a more abstract approach while chapter 4 is much more practical. The purpose is to lay the foundation for how we understand love. He begins by showing us the complexity of love in how not all love is manifested or expressed in the same way. For example, my love for my wife, the child in my wife's womb, and my dog are quite different. They also are expressed in much different manners and excite different emotions from me. Still, the differences in my love for each of them does not negate any of those loves. In the same way, we must remember that God is triune and yet, one. So, God's love for the Son and the Son's love for the Father and to the Spirit and…you get the picture…they may be expressed differently, but this love is the essence of all love, because God is love. And so, an examination of the Scriptures and how it reveals the Father's love for the Son will go a long way in showing us how we ought to love God and our neighbors.
If you return back to the boomerang analogy from chapter 2, we see how love truly is a gift from God as an expression of his affection for Himself in giving us His Son. In return, the love that He has given to us is returned to Him and for His glory.
This is an important concept because if we extend love outwardly without having God as the inward motivation it ultimately is love that is self-centered as opposed to God centered. An analogy given in the book is…"When you or I love our children ultimately for our own sake or even for their sakes, the universe begins to shrink around us and them. Loving them for ultimately for our own sake means exploiting them. Loving them for their sake means spoiling them. In both cases, things get ugly, and we're back to the black hole. Therefore, we must love our children, like God, for God's sake. True love, Augustine put it so well, is always with respect to God." (79)
In this study of God's love, Leeman is very careful to not divorce authority and obedience from love. In fact, after showing how there is an affectionate love between two of the members of the Godhead, he shows us how true love is manifested with obedience. This occurs not because of a need to fulfill any demands, but because Godly love is not self-gratifying, but reflects better the character and nature of the object of our love. In other words, the more we love something, the more we desire to represent it properly. In the life of a believer this means that we are willing to deny our flesh and to obey God because we know that He will never contradict Himself or command us to do anything that is contrary to His nature. So, in our love for Him, we obey Him and, as a result, He is glorified as we reflect and are conformed to His image.
And so, the purpose of these chapters is two-fold. Firstly, to demonstrate the God-centeredness of God's love. And secondly, to remind us that our love for God should not be divorced from His holiness. We will live in obedience to Him because we are so devoted to Him. Because He is the apple of our eye and He commands holiness, we live in holiness. This does not mean in any way that our obedience is forced or done out of compulsion. Rather, it is an outworking of a great love for the only one who is worthy of all love and is love Himself. If we attempt to separate the two, we tarnish and misrepresent God's character. Individually, if we say, we love God and yet disobey Him and mock Him and blaspheme Him, we ought to examine our hearts to see if we really do love Him. Corporately, if our churches claim to love God and yet lack in church discipline, devotion to God's Word, and promoting worshipful lives it may be in need of recalibration.
Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez
To never miss an article, click on the "Subscribe" button at the top of the blog page (https://aogalvez.blogspot.com/)
****************************************************
These articles usually follow the current Bible Reading plan for Overflow Ministries. If you would like to join the reading plan, simply download the plan here: Overflow Reading Plan
You may follow Overflow Ministries @ https://faithlife.com/overflowtx/activity
or on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/OverflowChurchTX/
2. What five lessons can we apply to the church as we better understand the Father's love for His Son?
Summary
In these two chapters, Jonathan Leeman challenges us to see the God-centeredness of God's love. Both chapters deal with this same concept however, chapter 3 comes at it from a more abstract approach while chapter 4 is much more practical. The purpose is to lay the foundation for how we understand love. He begins by showing us the complexity of love in how not all love is manifested or expressed in the same way. For example, my love for my wife, the child in my wife's womb, and my dog are quite different. They also are expressed in much different manners and excite different emotions from me. Still, the differences in my love for each of them does not negate any of those loves. In the same way, we must remember that God is triune and yet, one. So, God's love for the Son and the Son's love for the Father and to the Spirit and…you get the picture…they may be expressed differently, but this love is the essence of all love, because God is love. And so, an examination of the Scriptures and how it reveals the Father's love for the Son will go a long way in showing us how we ought to love God and our neighbors.
If you return back to the boomerang analogy from chapter 2, we see how love truly is a gift from God as an expression of his affection for Himself in giving us His Son. In return, the love that He has given to us is returned to Him and for His glory.
This is an important concept because if we extend love outwardly without having God as the inward motivation it ultimately is love that is self-centered as opposed to God centered. An analogy given in the book is…"When you or I love our children ultimately for our own sake or even for their sakes, the universe begins to shrink around us and them. Loving them for ultimately for our own sake means exploiting them. Loving them for their sake means spoiling them. In both cases, things get ugly, and we're back to the black hole. Therefore, we must love our children, like God, for God's sake. True love, Augustine put it so well, is always with respect to God." (79)
In this study of God's love, Leeman is very careful to not divorce authority and obedience from love. In fact, after showing how there is an affectionate love between two of the members of the Godhead, he shows us how true love is manifested with obedience. This occurs not because of a need to fulfill any demands, but because Godly love is not self-gratifying, but reflects better the character and nature of the object of our love. In other words, the more we love something, the more we desire to represent it properly. In the life of a believer this means that we are willing to deny our flesh and to obey God because we know that He will never contradict Himself or command us to do anything that is contrary to His nature. So, in our love for Him, we obey Him and, as a result, He is glorified as we reflect and are conformed to His image.
And so, the purpose of these chapters is two-fold. Firstly, to demonstrate the God-centeredness of God's love. And secondly, to remind us that our love for God should not be divorced from His holiness. We will live in obedience to Him because we are so devoted to Him. Because He is the apple of our eye and He commands holiness, we live in holiness. This does not mean in any way that our obedience is forced or done out of compulsion. Rather, it is an outworking of a great love for the only one who is worthy of all love and is love Himself. If we attempt to separate the two, we tarnish and misrepresent God's character. Individually, if we say, we love God and yet disobey Him and mock Him and blaspheme Him, we ought to examine our hearts to see if we really do love Him. Corporately, if our churches claim to love God and yet lack in church discipline, devotion to God's Word, and promoting worshipful lives it may be in need of recalibration.
Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez
To never miss an article, click on the "Subscribe" button at the top of the blog page (https://aogalvez.blogspot.com/)
****************************************************
These articles usually follow the current Bible Reading plan for Overflow Ministries. If you would like to join the reading plan, simply download the plan here: Overflow Reading Plan
You may follow Overflow Ministries @ https://faithlife.com/overflowtx/activity
or on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/OverflowChurchTX/
Comments
Post a Comment