Beyond Sunday
Beyond Sunday is a podcast where we dive into what our Church is up to, what's happening in society, go deeper into topics from Sunday mornings, and hear leadership talks from Pastor Greg Griffith. This is a podcast of King of Kings Church in Omaha, NE. Learn more at kingofkings.org.
Beyond Sunday
S1Ep4 - God's Love — More Than a Feeling
We’re back with Pastor Greg Griffith and Marcus Nathan, who stir up a rich conversation on God’s love — steady, sacrificial, and unchanging. They unpack how this love, grounded in Scripture and the Catechism, spills over like a cup that never runs dry.
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Thanks for listening!
You're listening to Coffee Break Theology a King of Kings podcast.
Speaker 2:Hey there, and welcome back to Coffee Break Theology, where we sip the truth. One theological shot of coffee, not whiskey, at a time.
Speaker 3:That's Greg, I'm Marcus and today's episode is brewed around one of the richest, most life-changing realities in scripture God's love.
Speaker 2:Now, love is a word we throw around a lot. I love my car. I really love pizza and ice cream. I do love a new Netflix crime drama, but when scripture talks about God's love, it's on a whole different level than that.
Speaker 3:Definitely it's way deeper than emotion. God's love isn't based on mood swings. It's based on covenant character and Christ.
Speaker 2:Man preach that three C's in a row. I love it. Love is where we're going to start. How does the scripture define love? I love what 1 John 4, 10 says. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Speaker 3:So right out of the gate. It's not about our love, it's about God's initiative. Love originates in God. Love that acts, love that moves, love that sacrifices. Luther put it like this the love of God does not consist in this that we have loved God, but that he has loved us.
Speaker 2:And another thing is that love's not sentimental With God, it's sacrificial. And those are key. John 3, 16, and I always want people to know the second part of that, 17, is the best in my experience. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. And in verse 17, I think is equally would not perish but have everlasting life. And in verse 17, I think is equally, if not more powerful than 16. For God didn't send his son into the world to condemn the world, rather to save the world through him.
Speaker 3:God's love is a giving love, and what he gives is himself. I mentioned the book last week Knowing God. Ji Packer writes this God's love is an exercise of his goodness toward individual sinners, so that right there, we are sinners. We talked about sin a couple weeks ago and even though we do sin, he still loves us. It's his goodwill towards us, Having identified himself with our welfare. He's interested in our welfare. He's happy when we're happy. He's pleased when we're pleased. He has given his son to be their savior because we needed it, and now brings them to know and enjoy in a covenant relationship with him. It's all about that relationship.
Speaker 2:Man, I'm going to have to start reading this, ji Packer fella.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I stay away because I'm not a Packer fan, but I mean it's okay. So anyways, let's get back. We only got 10 minutes here, sorry. Let's remember in a small catechism, I love how Luther says this. In the first article of the Creed right, luther explains God, the Father's love, is providing for our every need. He says this. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. All this he does out of fatherly divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. That's huge.
Speaker 3:God doesn't love us because we earn it. He loves us because that's who he is, period, end of story.
Speaker 2:Because we earn it. He loves us because that's who he is. Period, End of story. Yeah, and Paul goes on in Romans, which remember Paul's writing to the Romans who are like they're anti-God, they're living a whole part of God. So they're kind of going can God even love me after all that I've done? And so that's an important context to see why Paul says things like this to the Romans While we were still sinners and weak. At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly right, Not the lovable, the ungodly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's. That's a pretty serious accusation there, but it's true, yeah.
Speaker 3:But it also tells us you don't have to clean yourself up for God to love you. You know places. Churches are places that should not be full of people who have their act together, who've cleaned themselves up, made themselves look pretty, present themselves to be the best of themselves. That's not what church is Churches are. They're not country clubs, they're hospitals. So people that go there need help, need love from an all-loving Father. His love meets you where you are and then he changes you from the inside out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's so important because I think we have to be reminded that every single person who walks into a church, whether they recognize it or not, have brokenness in them. There's no one that's not broken, and so some of that broken is deep, and some of that brokenness they haven't really unveiled yet, but it's there. So here's something that sets God's love apart too. It's unchanging, it's not going to be fickle, it's not going to be like I can't believe. God's never going to be like, oh, you're too broken. Or like, oh, I love you more because you're a little less broken. Or like I love you because you're just easier to deal with, Right, Um, cause that wouldn't like he wouldn't say that about me. So so in Hebrews, ask our wives, by the way oh amen, Right Amen In Hebrews. By the way, how do you know that men are supposed to make the coffee Cause? The Bible says so. Hebrews, oh, not Hebrews. Anyways, I'm using that.
Speaker 2:Hebrews 13.8. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever Awesome.
Speaker 3:So our love, people's love, is like that morning coffee it's hot one minute and then cold the next. It's fickle, it's conditional. God's love constant, unchanging, unconditional. You can build your life on that.
Speaker 2:Reminds me of a beautiful worship song, but it's not just for when we're doing great, spiritually right. God's love holds even when our faith feels small, even when our prayers are dry or even non-existent, and even when your heart feels numb. When you're just ready to give up on God, his love's still there. Yep.
Speaker 3:And one of Luther's favorite images was that of God as a loving father. He said this is a quote from him even if earthly fathers have little love, god's love is greater, it's deeper and it's more lasting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. It just reminds me too, like we all have in some way, some things as earthly father wounds that we've received and we've inflicted. But God, the Father, is that perfect love for us. So how does that change us?
Speaker 3:So when you receive that kind of love, that unconditional, unbreakable, undeserved love, it transforms you. You start to live not for God's love, but from it. We're not doing things to earn it, but we're doing things because we have it.
Speaker 2:That's really good. I love that it's not for, but from, and that's a rhythm of our Christian life, is it not right? Loved by God means that we can love others. Luther also said this. He said God doesn't need your good works. Love others, Luther also said this.
Speaker 3:He said God doesn't need your good works, but your neighbor certainly does, absolutely, which means love becomes active in your life. God doesn't need us or our good works. He's God, that's omni. We talk about the omnis Omnipotent. That means he's all-powerful, he's omnipresent, he's everywhere, all the time. He's omniscient, he knows everything. I'm not any of those things, I'm not even close. You're not even close. So we can't give him anything or do anything for him that he can't do himself. But we still live in a broken world marred by sin. So our neighbor could use some of those good works, some of the things that we can do for them. That's part of our purpose. This is beautifully explained in Ephesians, building on the theme of grace from last week, ephesians 2, 8 to 10 says for by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not of your own doing. It's the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Speaker 2:So we have things that we can do, and I love right Like this is just the recurring themes like how, god's love grace, they're just going to keep coming back and back and back. So here's your takeaway for today God's love isn't earned, it's given. It's not based on your feelings, it's based on the cross.
Speaker 3:And it's a love that never runs out. It's never going away, it never gives up, it never walks away. That's good news for sinners like us, because we need that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I totally thought you were going to break into the worship song right there. I was like ready. Love never fails.
Speaker 3:Nobody wants that. Yeah, nobody wants that. Yeah, this is a podcast, not a CD.
Speaker 2:So next time, on Coffee Break Theology, we're going to actually talk about God's wrath and how it's just yeah, this might sound weird, but I'm actually super excited about it.
Speaker 3:Not weird at all for you, good. Until then, stay grounded in grace and rest in the unshakable love of your Heavenly Father.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to Coffee Break Theology. Be sure to tune in next time. Coffee Break Theology. Be sure to tune in next time and remember to check out our other podcast series available on every major podcast listening service.
