We are going to discuss love without bounds. There are so many types of love. Today we’ll discuss agape love; that is unconditional, Godly love. Last week’s topic was about holiness. There are two characters which are very specific to God. One is holiness and the other one is love. I just want to differentiate between these two. Holiness distances God far away from us, making approaching Him almost impossible. We see in Exodus 19: 12- 13 that God told Moses to prepare everybody to come to the mountain. They had to wash and sanctify themselves two days prior and on the third day, God would appear to them. In this passage we see that people could not even come close. The hill where God was going to descend, had to be barricaded. If anybody were to even touch the mountain, they were to be killed. The same applied to even the beasts. That is holiness. It separates God away from us.

But love is what bridges the gap.The agape love which made God come down to our level despite His holiness made it possible for us to approach Him.

THE ETERNAL LOVE OF GOD
The concept of His love is not just shown through Christ; but is rather written throughout the entire Bible. In Genesis 1, after He created the heavens and the earth, and everything that was required for humankind, God created man. God ensured man had everything he needed before creating him and bringing His love into this world. How did God create man? It was in his own likeness and in his own image! He gave man freewill. God gave us the choice to either love and worship Him or to resist Him. But despite everything, most of us resist His love. So this resistance was what distanced God and man. What kind of communion did Adam have with God before the fall? Every day God in His holiness would come and spend time with Adam. They would commune and share their love with each other. This was before sin came into this world and when free will was exercised. Since then, the whole Bible is about the story of the progress of restoration – right from Adam till today.

God tried in so many ways. He sent leaders, kings, judges and prophets to restore that relationship. From the beginning He’s been telling us to love Him because He loves us. We see this in the first commandments. In Exodus 20:6, it says, “but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” He wants to show His mercy and He wants us to love him. We don’t realize that this love has been in the world from the beginning. Deuteronomy 4:37 says, “And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power.” Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” God always emphasized reciprocation of that love, yet we resist.

But when sin became rampant, God had to introduce the concept of animal sacrifice for forgiveness. However people abused this, turning this tradition into a practice of doing as they pleased, bringing a sacrifice later, thinking they were forgiven. That was not the plan of God. Animal sacrifice was supposed to prick people’s conscience. David says in Psalm 51: 16-17, “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.” David understood that what God wants most is for us to reciprocate His love.

John 1:1-5 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made. 4 In Him was life, and life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Verse 5 states that the darkness did not comprehend light. It’s not that Jesus appeared only in the New Testament. He was there from creation! He was there when Joshua was fighting the war as the commander of the army. He was there with Moses when he led the Israelites out of Egypt. All these scriptures indicate that Christ was everywhere. He’s the Alpha and the Omega. is that God was in the world. The world is not able to comprehend Jesus Christ. That’s why the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. That is when Christ was revealed to us.

Christ was always there, but nobody was able to comprehend Him. And this is not a business continuity or a disaster management plan that He made. God didn’t just suddenly have an idea to send Jesus. No, this was a plan which laid much before. 2 Timothy 1:9-10 says, “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” This plan was made before time began – before Genesis 1.

THE COMPASSIONATE LOVE OF GOD
Jesus came into this world to reveal the heart of God. He set an example by living the life God wants us to live. He has tried to demonstrate the love of the Father. What did he find when he came into this world? Matthew 9:36 says, “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. ”

All the Pharisees, Sadducees, teachers and priests totally misunderstood the heart of God – preceding their commandments before God’s. So he said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” This rest is the eternal peace that Adam had before he sinned. It is the eternal communion and love that God and Adam shared. We have not still attained that depth of love. All throughout Jesus’ life, He has been bringing us to the point where we can reciprocate the love God has given. He performed miracles and healed the sick. He healed the lepers, the centurion’s. servant. however was sick and was brought to him were healed and forgiven. We can be reminded of the adulterous woman that was brought by the leaders in front of Jesus. Everybody wanted to condemn her and to also somehow point their finger at Jesus. What was the solution? He told her that if nobody sinless condemned her, He would also let her free. Jesus didn’t stop there but commanded her to sin no more.

The love of the world would say, “This is the law and this is the punishment.” But Christ came to give grace and mercy. In our Indian constitution, if anyone commits a heinous crime and is sentenced to the death penalty, he is given one last chance to apply for a mercy plea to the President of India. The President has the right to forgive the worst criminal without doing anything for him, but our Christ, having done everything, gave Himself up in place of that lamb to be sacrificed.

He raised people from the dead, he fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. He did all these miracles, but in the end this isn’t what brings us to salvation. Jesus performed these miracles so that we understand the heart and the unconditional love of God.

THE TRANSFORMATIONAL LOVE OF GOD
I would like to talk about Nicodemus, the great scholar. To him, Christ spoke about second birth – having to be born again. Jesus was teaching basic concepts to a scholar. On the other hand, to a Samaritan woman who was into adultery, He spoke about worshiping the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul – the greatest act that can be done. See the contrast? The wise are being taught the basic things, and the worst, according to the world, are being taught the greatest things. So what was lacking was the love of God which is what the Samaritan woman realized.

In doing all this, he was making disciples to see Christ formed in them. He lived an exemplary, holy life so that we could model his behavior. Christ was trying to teach his disciples how to live life in order to be sent into this world. This is because he says the Father sent Him and He in turn is sending them. His mentality was this – as you have loved me, I have loved them; as you gave me, I have kept them for your glory.

THE SACRIFICIAL LOVE OF GOD
The eternal plan of God was to have Christ become the sacrificial lamb, taking God’s wrath on Him in our place. In those days, a spotless one year old lamb had to be brought as a sin offering. Now, the Father wanted Jesus to become that unblemished sacrifice. When the time was upon Jesus, He was grieving. Even though He knew His purpose was to lay down His life from the beginning, He found it was so difficult. Which is when we hear that prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. What was the prayer? Father, if it’s your will, remove this cup from me.

We make the same prayer in times of difficulties, but we miss an important point – “nevertheless, not my will, but yours.” That is the love that he has demonstrated. I think this is the best prayer for hard situations, especially for youngsters. Whenever you are making decisions, don’t give God terms and conditions. Let His will be done, be it for anything. You might have choices, but you always submit to God and delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

I’m reminded of two similar passages. First is Genesis 22, where Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son Isaac. The second is Isaiah 53, where the father allows the son to be crucified. We see in Genesis 22:2, God tells Abraham to take his only son that he loves, to the land of Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice. And when you go to Isaiah 53, Christ is described as beautiful, but in verse 2, it says that he has no form or comeliness; when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. The greatest love that can be demonstrated is between the Father and the Son. However the Father allows His beautiful son to have no more beauty and be sacrificed for our sake. Genesis 22:6 says, “So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac, his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife and the two of them went together.” All that wood that has to be used for sacrifice is laid on Isaac’s head, with fire and a knife in Abraham’s hand. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

THE NEVER FORSAKING LOVE OF GOD
Coming to the last point of the love of God. After having done so many miracles with the disciples and forming a bond with them for three years. All of them deserted after Jesus was taken to be crucified. Everybody thought that it was all over and done. When news came of the empty tomb, it was Mary Magdalene who told John and Peter. So they went running to the tomb. But I wonder why it says in John 20:10, “Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.” I don’t know what the disciples were thinking, returning home, while Mary Magdalene was sitting there weeping. Peter and John saw the empty tomb with the folded linen and yet they returned home. But Jesus’ love for his disciples did not stop there.

Jesus appeared many times after the resurrection to his disciples. There is one instance where Thomas was missing. So for the sake that Thomas would believe, Jesus appeared to him and asked him to put his fingers in his hands so that he might believe.

Another instance is when Peter along with a few others went fishing all night on the Sea of Galilee, but they caught nothing. John 21:5, Jesus comes to them early in the morning on the shore and asks them, “Children, have you any food?” The disciples didn’t recognize Him. Jesus then tells them to throw their net on the right side of the boat. They did so, and the catch was so abundant that they were not able to draw the net – and yet the net didn’t break! The Bible even mentions the number of fish they caught – one hundred and fifty three. This just tells us that these professional fishermen thought it was such an abundance of fish it was worth counting! This is when Peter and John realize that the stranger standing on the shore was Christ. Peter then quickly puts on his clothes and plunges into the sea to meet Jesus.

One point to note is that Jesus had already prepared breakfast for them when they reached the shore. He put the fish and the bread on the coal and told them to eat. He did not take anything from their catch which He himself provided. This is Jesus’ love for us. That even after being deserted in His lowest moments, He still abundantly blessed them and didn’t forsake them after being resurrected.

Peter must have also felt miserable after denying Jesus three times. He is shown in the Bible to be zealous and passionate, eager to lead and yet foolish. Peter might have been expecting Jesus to dismiss him and use harsh words. But what do we see instead? Jesus Christ asked Peter three times whether he loved Him. In doing so, Christ humbled Peter and He was patiently teaching him the qualities that Peter would need in order to take care of His sheep. Before the trial Peter thought himself to love Jesus better than anyone in Matthew 26:33, but now Jesus was showing him his shortcomings and the sacrifice that Peter would need to display to be a leader for the early church. With that Christ restored Peter, not just that but He did it publicly in the presence of the other disciples to solidify this reinstatement.