The Part Love Played.

Last week we celebrated the Communion of Saints here at Heart’s Journey, the ‘sacrament’ {from the Lat. sacramentum, meaning ‘a soldier’s oath of loyalty to his cohorts and his Commander’} of bread and wine, imagery of the Body and the Blood: a picture of the perfect Life and sacrificial Death of the Son of God on our behalf.  With this picture still so powerfully in mind, here’s what I want to ask you: What part did Love play in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sins of all mankind?  That is, what part did Abba play in pouring out the lifeblood of His Son to purchase our redemption from the slave market of sin?

There’s only one way to find out.  Take a look at what’s been divinely declared and let the Word speak for Itself:

Most of humanity is familiar in some way, shape, or form with this passage of Scripture.  John 3:16— “For God so loved the world [not the cosmic system controlled by Satan, but the souls of those who comprise it] 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.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s One and Only Son,” vv. 17-18.  The name of “God’s one and only Son” is Jesus Christ the King.

In Galatians 2:20b Paul said, “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  Writing along these same lines in Ephesians 5:1-2 he say’s, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a Life of Love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  And Ephesians 5:25: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.”

In 1 John 4:10-12 the Apostle said, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son {to be} the propitiation for our sins [the perfect and satisfactory payment].  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us” {NAU}.

John in the first ch. of the Revelation say’s that his prophecy is “from Jesus Christ, who is the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the Dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the Earth.  To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a Kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father— to Him be glory and power for ever and ever!  Amen,” vv. 5-6.

The one thing Love requires is response.  Scripture defines that response as ‘faith’ {just as it defines the Work of God in Christ as ‘grace’}.  Faith is the willingness to believe in the veracity and authority of God, that when He say’s He loves you …that He’s paid the price for your sins …that He sacrificed His only Son so that you could be His …that He poured out His heart, nailed up His hands, and gave up His Life at the Cross so you would know what that Love looks like, He means it.  All it takes for you to be enveloped in Abba’s embrace forevermore is a single ounce of trust.  How much faith does it take to become Jesus’ Disciple and enter an eternal relationship with the Trinity?  Just a little bit more than none at all.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296 | hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – where the Word and the Spirit are one.