The God of Love is a sermon teaching us that if there is division in church we should check ourselves and be sure we are saved. Rid ourselves of sin and focus on Jesus.
The church at Corinth had a lot of worldly influence and Paul wrote to rebuke the church in his epistle of II Corinthians. What he teaches applies to us today as well. The church needed revival and to get back to godliness. Paul writes to the church at Corinth in harsh words. Some in the church corrected things but others had not. He writes with authority as an apostle and said that he would personally come to straighten things out if they do not. The church had divisions, some followed Paul, some followed Apollos and others. Paul wrote about half of the New Testament and God gave him authority as an apostle to preach to the world, establish churches, and write the scriptures. Paul tells the church of Corinth that they are seeking Jesus, who better to follow the teachings of Jesus than through Paul?
When God judges you, He looks at your heart, service, love, and faithfulness. We come to the Lord in our own strength which is weak. But we have the power of God with us and the power of God is the power of life. Paul tells us to examine our life, take care of any sin in our life. Moreover, examine whether you are in the faith. He asks if they even know the Holy Spirit is in them. Sin separates us from God. We need to check ourselves to see if we are actually saved or not. There are those who appear as Christians in the church but haven’t been saved. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian. Examine yourself to see if you are saved. The church at Corinth questioned whether Christ was speaking through Paul and Paul questioned whether they were even saved.
We ought to give our salvation testimony often. Doing so will do several things for you. First, it will remind you and keep the experience fresh in your own heart and mind. You will remember the time and place when you were saved and how it was when you trusted your Savior. Second, it is the most effective way to witness to somebody because the same Lord will save them as He saved you. Third, who can argue with you?
Paul prays for the people of the church that they do no evil and do that which is honest. He says we can’t do anything against the truth but for the truth. Truth is truth, like it or not. We do not create our own reality. We live in reality and truth is reality. If Paul had his way, the church would come to perfection. We are not perfect but must strive to be. We can’t be perfect because we are sinners, we are weak in the flesh. But we are to grow spiritually to be like the Lord Jesus.
Paul is being sharp with the church, but sharpness is needed from time to time. He was not there in person to tell them, so he penned his sharp words to them. Paul exhorts them to be weak in themselves and be strong in Christ. The things he told them were not to tear them down but to build them up to encourage and strengthen them. He closes his letter telling them to be perfect, to be of good comfort and rest in the Lord, be of one mind centered on Jesus, putting aside little differences that don’t matter, to live in peace without strife, and the God of love and peace will be upon them.
The Lord forgives and loves because He is Love. It is the love of God that will lead us to love God and to love others. It will lead us to peace and lead us to bring others to God because we know the God of love. God gives us love because God is love. The more we are like Him, the more loving we will be because He is the God of love. And because He is the God of love, he is the God of comfort, the God of peace, and the God we need to follow. Let Him have the preeminence in your life.
The God of Love sermon starts with verses from II Corinthians 13:1-14:
1 This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
2 I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:
3 Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.
4 For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.
5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
6 But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.
7 Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates.
8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
9 For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.
10 Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.
11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
12 Greet one another with an holy kiss.
13 All the saints salute you.
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. (The second epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi, a city of Macedonia, by Titus and Lucas.)
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About the Speaker
Dr. Michael L. McClure
Senior Pastor
Dr. Michael L. McClure, our lead pastor, is known for his in-depth knowledge and effective teaching style of biblical truths applicable to everyday living.