Love & Communion – Inseparable
Pastor Rod Thompson
Midland SDA Church
December 2, 2017
Even when it was decided that he could no longer remain in heaven, Infinite Wisdom did not destroy Satan. Since the service of love can alone be acceptable to God, the allegiance of His creatures must rest upon a conviction of His justice and benevolence. The inhabitants of heaven and of other worlds, being unprepared to comprehend the nature or consequences of sin, could not then have seen the justice and mercy of God in the destruction of Satan. Had he been immediately blotted from existence, they would have served God from fear rather than from love.
1 John 4:8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love
Share testimony of when I gave my heart to Jesus, how all of a sudden I had all of this love
Read 1 Corinthians 13: 1
A person can have the power of utterance that is found in the most qualified and gifted of orators, they can speak many of the different languages of the world, they can speak with the eloquence and beauty of the Angels of God, you can have all of the power, prestige and money that this world has to offer. But if you have not love than your eloquence, power, prestige and money are useless for the promotion of the kingdom of God.
Read 1 Corinthians 13: 2-3
Having listed the possible possession of the gift of prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, and faith – outstanding and greatly desired spiritual gifts. Paul makes the simple statement that all these things, admirable and important as they may be, are ineffective without love. The same is true also of acquired gifts, such as intellect.
Satan has great intellectual power, and knowledge that surpasses that of men, but he is not elevated by all his wisdom. Therefore, it should be obvious to us that mere intellectual attainments, separated from the Godlike quality of love, only serve to aid the enemy in achieving his ends, and do nothing to further the spiritual interests of men.
Love is an action word. It is a quality that promotes community and freedom simultaneously
Read 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8
Love is the foundation of God’s character and His government. Did you Notice that 1 John 4:8 didn’t say that God has love or that he exhibits the quality if love, but it says God is Love?
Love and God are inseparable And I think love and communion are inseparable as well
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life
GOD LOVED
God created man in His own image and in His own likeness. Man is the pinnacle of His creation
God is perfect, He is holy, righteous and His requirement for man was that he be holy, righteous and perfect. And God said on the day that you disobey me you shall surely die. God said this, knowing that man would fail. Knowing that man would disobey.
But God did not leave man alone to deal with the results of his failure
Read Romans 8: 3-4
And God became flesh and dwelt among us. He took on our sinful nature so that we may partake of His righteousness
God’s requirement was that you would be perfect. But because of Adam and Eve’s sin you are born with a sinful nature. And because of your sinful nature it is impossible to live a perfect, righteous, holy life
Read 1 John 3:16
So love and communion are inseparable
Because He laid down His life for us we know that He is love
Read John 15:13
Jesus said the personification of love is that He would lay down His life for us
On the night He was betrayed, He was to become the Pascal lamb. Type had met antitype.
And on that evening He initiated the communion service – love and communion were to become inseparable
And what did it say in 1 John 3: 16? By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
And notice what Jesus said, here in John 15: 12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
So today we celebrate communion. In so doing we show our love for Jesus and our love for one another