Experiencing the love of God
Two weeks ago, while having bible study on the book of Romans at Austin's place, we discussed about the experience that Paul had of the love of God so much so that he was able to say that nothing would separate him from the love of God, not even death. We discussed during the bible study that we have not experienced such love of God in our lives until we were able to say what Paul said with similar faith and conviction. We said we were missing this experience of God's love which Paul wrote of in Romans 5 and 8. So our challenge today from Paul is are we able to say like what he said 2000 years ago that nothing will be able to separate us from God and His love for us. Are we able to say this convincingly and with full conviction live out of lives in such a way?
Before we actually attempt to answer this question, perhaps we need to know first of all what is the love of God. What is the love of God as understood in the bible? And how did the apostle Paul describe his understanding of his experience of the grace and the love of God. To answer this question, we need to look at key passages in Romans 5-8.
Love, if it is not defined and understood within biblical teaching will mean different sorts of things in our modern age. It's meaning can range from charity to the poor, to filial piety, and even in purely sexual terms. So, we need to know how Paul understood the love of God. He stated quite clearly the characteristics of love in 1 Corinthians 13. That is very true. However, we want to go one step further to understand how Paul defined the love of God. And the answer is found in these verses. In Romans 5:6-8, Paul has this to say about the love of God.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The love of God is shown in the action of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. This the Lord did while we were still sinners, while we were still His enemies, while we still hated, mocked him and together with the Roman soldiers crucified Him in our ignorance. How many times we mocked those who preached Christ to us while we were still unbelievers? How many times we said the derogatory words of "kong Ye Soo"?
In Romans 5:1, Paul says that we now have peace with God because of what Jesus had done. This peace means that God is no longer our enemy and He would not condemn us anymore. It is like a jail sentence that has been removed from us. We have committed a crime worthy of life imprisonment but because of Jesus, we are now free. It is like someone has taken the blame for us when we mess up our job. It is like our parents taking care of us when we are in trouble even though we had scolded or rejected them. It is like a victim who has lost his family to a drunk driver but chooses to forgive the guilty person, and not only to forgive, but to see to his restoration to turn away from alcoholism. It is like forgiving your political enemy who has wrongly harmed you in all sorts of way. It is like forgiving the murderer of your son or daughter. This is what Paul meant by God allowing Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
That is why we do not judge with the intent to condemn when we are wronged, no matter how great the wrong is. That is why Paul says later in Romans 12,
17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
20 To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head."
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
This is not being naive or stupid. This is not masochism where you love to be wronged or suffer other people's wrongdoing. This is because we have done the same thing to Jesus and He forgave us. More than that, He has restored us with the hope of future blessing and He has commanded us to forgive those who do the same thing to us, leaving it to Him to judge those who wronged us. And just as Jesus forgave us, His enemies, to our benefit, we are to do the same for our enemies, regardless of race, religion and political alignment. No matter how discriminated you are, no matter how much you are ridiculed for your faith or no matter what the political alignment your enemy belongs to, we are commanded to love them for their benefit just as Jesus did for us. Christ died for us while we are His enemies and God allowed this. This is God's love to us.
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