Sermon: Christ’s Love by Rev. Jessica Johnson
Date: February 10, 2019
Key Scripture Passages: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Sermon:
Introduction
God love you. He loves you so much that He has pursued you since the Fall of Man. God longs to spend time with you, and He loves you so much that He sent His one and only Son here to die in our place.
His Son, Jesus Christ, loves you. Jesus demonstrated His love in many ways, but as we look at 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, I want to highlight 3 ways that Christ demonstrated His love to us.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Sacrificial Love
We often hear about the sacrifice of God as He gave up His only beloved Son for us. We also hear about Christ’s sacrifice that He died for us. Yet, Christ sacrificed more than that for us. Christ departed the splendors and safety of Heaven to come to earth. Jesus did not come in all of His full power and might to save us. He did not come as a powerful leader. Rather, Jesus came as a vulnerable, defenseless baby.
While Jesus was on the earth He sacrificed the comfort, love, and support of His earthly family as He embarked upon His ministry. He risked his social status and reputation, economic security, physical safety, and familial relationships to minister to all people. Christ’s desire was to reconcile all people back into a right relationship with God, and He gave up everything to do that. Christ sacrificed everything He had in Heaven and everything He had on earth, including His very life, in order to give us a gift of salvation, a gift of love. Christ’s love is a sacrificial love.
Transformational Love
Throughout His ministry, Christ challenged teachings, thinking, and attitudes. Christ empowered people to love and care for others. Christ healed people and raised people from the dead. Christ restored relationships.
There are some people that when they are around things just seem to happen. There is a fantasy series written by Robert Jordan called the Wheel of Time. Some of you may have read them. I’ll admit I only have read the first couple. But in these books, there are three characters known as Ta’veren. Ta’veren is a made up word, but a ta’veren is one of those people that things just seem to happen around. Everywhere they go, change occurs. Through magic, they altar chance, altar the future, and stuff just seems to happen around them. When others are around ta’veren, they are compelled to do or to say things they normally would not do. These miraculous occurrences and all of these changes were not something the ta’veren intentionally did. Sometimes, they weren’t even aware of the impact they were having on the people and places as they passed by. All of this is just because of their mere presence. In the books, it was believed that the role of ta’verens was to bring balance back to a messed up world.
Christ is a Ta’veren. Wherever Christ went, change followed. His teachings, His miracles, and His interactions with people sparked change. Christ’s love is a transformational love.
Compassionate Love
Christ was deeply moved by people. He empathized with their pain, insecurities, and struggles. When Lazarus died, Jesus wept and grieved with Mary and Martha. When the woman in the crowd touched the robe of Jesus to be healed, Jesus took pity on her. Christ loved and cared for people. He developed personal relationships with them and lived life with them.
What was the first thing Christ did after He died and was resurrected? 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 highlights this for us. When Christ resurrected, He could have been like, “Okay, God, I did what you wanted. I died for these people and saved the world. I completed my mission and I am heading home.” Christ could have went straight back to Heaven. BUT He didn’t. What was the first thing Christ did when He came back to life?
He went to find His friends.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Christ knew that they would be grieving His loss. He knew that His friends and followers would have been lost. They had just lost their friend, teacher, and leader. They had lost their purpose. For three years, they had been working and ministering alongside the Son of God, and then, poof, suddenly, it was gone. The first thing that Christ did was to find His friends and to take care of them. Jesus gave them the joy that He lived again, the comfort that they would never be alone with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of hope that He would return for all of them one day. Christ’s love was a compassionate love.
Love Provides Hope
Christ’s love was sacrificial, transformational, and compassionate. The love of Christ is the source of our hope.
Romans 8:18 states:
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
No matter what we are trials or pain we are dealing with, we have the hope that there are better days ahead. We have hope that no matter what our darkest day may bring that pales in comparison to the good days ahead of us in Heaven. We can be assured of this because of Christ’s love. Jesus loved us so much that He sacrificed all to save us. Jesus loves us so much that right after His darkest days of being tortured and killed, He came to make sure we were okay. Jesus loves us so much that He brings out the best in us and changes us with healing and restoration to who God intended us to be. Jesus love so much that He will come for us and take us to Heaven with Him for all eternity.
Never give up hope, for hope is rooted in love, the love of Jesus Christ.
Further Suggested Study:
Date: February 10, 2019
Key Scripture Passages: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Sermon:
Introduction
God love you. He loves you so much that He has pursued you since the Fall of Man. God longs to spend time with you, and He loves you so much that He sent His one and only Son here to die in our place.
His Son, Jesus Christ, loves you. Jesus demonstrated His love in many ways, but as we look at 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, I want to highlight 3 ways that Christ demonstrated His love to us.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Sacrificial Love
We often hear about the sacrifice of God as He gave up His only beloved Son for us. We also hear about Christ’s sacrifice that He died for us. Yet, Christ sacrificed more than that for us. Christ departed the splendors and safety of Heaven to come to earth. Jesus did not come in all of His full power and might to save us. He did not come as a powerful leader. Rather, Jesus came as a vulnerable, defenseless baby.
While Jesus was on the earth He sacrificed the comfort, love, and support of His earthly family as He embarked upon His ministry. He risked his social status and reputation, economic security, physical safety, and familial relationships to minister to all people. Christ’s desire was to reconcile all people back into a right relationship with God, and He gave up everything to do that. Christ sacrificed everything He had in Heaven and everything He had on earth, including His very life, in order to give us a gift of salvation, a gift of love. Christ’s love is a sacrificial love.
Transformational Love
Throughout His ministry, Christ challenged teachings, thinking, and attitudes. Christ empowered people to love and care for others. Christ healed people and raised people from the dead. Christ restored relationships.
There are some people that when they are around things just seem to happen. There is a fantasy series written by Robert Jordan called the Wheel of Time. Some of you may have read them. I’ll admit I only have read the first couple. But in these books, there are three characters known as Ta’veren. Ta’veren is a made up word, but a ta’veren is one of those people that things just seem to happen around. Everywhere they go, change occurs. Through magic, they altar chance, altar the future, and stuff just seems to happen around them. When others are around ta’veren, they are compelled to do or to say things they normally would not do. These miraculous occurrences and all of these changes were not something the ta’veren intentionally did. Sometimes, they weren’t even aware of the impact they were having on the people and places as they passed by. All of this is just because of their mere presence. In the books, it was believed that the role of ta’verens was to bring balance back to a messed up world.
Christ is a Ta’veren. Wherever Christ went, change followed. His teachings, His miracles, and His interactions with people sparked change. Christ’s love is a transformational love.
Compassionate Love
Christ was deeply moved by people. He empathized with their pain, insecurities, and struggles. When Lazarus died, Jesus wept and grieved with Mary and Martha. When the woman in the crowd touched the robe of Jesus to be healed, Jesus took pity on her. Christ loved and cared for people. He developed personal relationships with them and lived life with them.
What was the first thing Christ did after He died and was resurrected? 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 highlights this for us. When Christ resurrected, He could have been like, “Okay, God, I did what you wanted. I died for these people and saved the world. I completed my mission and I am heading home.” Christ could have went straight back to Heaven. BUT He didn’t. What was the first thing Christ did when He came back to life?
He went to find His friends.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Christ knew that they would be grieving His loss. He knew that His friends and followers would have been lost. They had just lost their friend, teacher, and leader. They had lost their purpose. For three years, they had been working and ministering alongside the Son of God, and then, poof, suddenly, it was gone. The first thing that Christ did was to find His friends and to take care of them. Jesus gave them the joy that He lived again, the comfort that they would never be alone with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of hope that He would return for all of them one day. Christ’s love was a compassionate love.
Love Provides Hope
Christ’s love was sacrificial, transformational, and compassionate. The love of Christ is the source of our hope.
Romans 8:18 states:
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
No matter what we are trials or pain we are dealing with, we have the hope that there are better days ahead. We have hope that no matter what our darkest day may bring that pales in comparison to the good days ahead of us in Heaven. We can be assured of this because of Christ’s love. Jesus loved us so much that He sacrificed all to save us. Jesus loves us so much that right after His darkest days of being tortured and killed, He came to make sure we were okay. Jesus loves us so much that He brings out the best in us and changes us with healing and restoration to who God intended us to be. Jesus love so much that He will come for us and take us to Heaven with Him for all eternity.
Never give up hope, for hope is rooted in love, the love of Jesus Christ.
Further Suggested Study:
- 1 Corinthians 13
- 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
- Romans 8
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