THE SOVEREIGNTY AND SUPREMACY OF GOD’S LOVE

“God is love,” the Scripture declares, (1 John 4:16b). His love is witnessed throughout the Word and in the world. There is a sovereignty in His love as he distributes it to whomever and wherever He wills. There is a supremacy in His love as His love great and most gloriously harmonized with every other  attribute of a Holy God. Love is given by the Father, brought by the Son, and witnessed by the Spirit. Paul prays that the Lord will direct our hearts into the love of God in 2 Thessalonians 3:5a.

This is HIS LOVE EXTENDED.  The Lord directs our hearts into His love. Love is at God’s initiative. He is the fountain from which Divine love flows. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” (John 3:16). 

Then consider HIS LOVE EXPOUNDED. Paul is proclaiming the possibility of entering into the love of God. It is the offer of the Gospel. The church is given the mission of proclaiming it. In our preaching and teaching there must be the exposition of the Scriptures as God’s love letter to us. 

We can then have HIS LOVE EXPERIENCED. Our heart is won by His heart, and we are directed into God’s love so that His heart becomes one with our heart.  John said, “We love Him because He first loved us,” (1 John 4:19). More than a theological truth, it is an experiential joy we can know—swimming in a boundless sea of God’s pure love—high as the heavens to lift us there, deep enough to reach the most depraved, wide enough to encompass all humanity, and long enough to span eternity. 

Thus, Paul prayed, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3‬:‭17‬-‭19‬‬)

This calls us to HIS LOVE EXPRESSED. The root of God’s love experienced leads to the fruit of God’s love expressed. The Holy Spirit takes the love of the Father given through the Son and enables us to bear the fruit of love, (Gal. 5:22). It is not something we work up in the energy of the flesh—that is impossible—but what God works in by the power of the Spirit. That is why Paul calls upon the Lord to direct us into God’s love. 

Then, we can fulfill God’s command to love Him with all our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We express this love to our fellow believers and even to our enemies!  This is the mark of the Christian, as our Lord declared, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another,” (John 13:35). 

My prayer for the people of God, as we gather this Lord’s Day, is that the Lord will direct our hearts into the love of God, and that we will exit intent to share that love with a world that desperately needs to see and hear it. 

TRIUMPHANT OVER TRIBULATION

 

The Christian will reside in a world of tribulation, yet because of Christ in us troubles need not preside over us. Jesus promised, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,” (Jn. 16:33b). 

This is the very circumstance Paul addresses in 2 Thessalonians. The church was facing tribulation and they were being tested by this trouble. Yet in a trio of timeless traits, (1:3-4), the Apostle assures them they can be triumphant over tribulations—and so may we.

We can overcome by EXCEEDING FAITH, “your faith grows exceedingly.”  Faith grows as it is challenged. A faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted. It is purified by the problems we encounter.   Peter put it, “that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,” (1 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬‬).

John Rippon wrote of this in his beloved hymn, “How Firm a Foundation.” 

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,

My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

We also are victorious through EXTRAVAGANT LOVE, “the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other.”  Even as we are called to love God with all our being, we are called to love each other as we love ourselves. These encapsulate all of God’s commands for us. 

True love is extravagant. It is all about giving. John 3:16 portrays such abounding love of the Father for us: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”  No greater love could be displayed in the giving of the greatest gift to meet our greatest need. Love is seen to be more than a feeling, but an action. It springs from volition before it births emotion. 

Though the world hates us, we can endure in knowing God loves us.  That is tangible in how fellow believers support one another in the midst of our trials.

Further, we triumph in ENDURING HOPE, “your patience…in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.”  Patience is linked with hope. In the prior letter, Paul spoke of, “patience of hope,” (1 Thess. 1:3). This hope sustains us. We know that our trials are not a permanent state, but that Christ will put things right one glorious Day. We can hope for some respite here in this troubled world—an oasis in the burning desert of tribulation. Ultimately, that will be short-lived and only a foretaste as we are, “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” (Titus‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬‬).

This hope gives us the strength to press on and endure. There is absolute assurance of victory in Jesus. That absolute can make us resolute.  

John Bunyan’s classic allegory, “Pilgrim’s Progress,” accurately portrays the journey of Christian from escaping the City of Destruction, the difficult journey, but finally arriving in the Celestial City. God promises triumph over tribulation.