This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Considering the Church” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 26, 1993.
About this sermon
John’s doctrine of love stands apart, and Romans 5:5 locates its source in the Holy Spirit poured into the heart. That cuts against a culture, Mr. Rogers included, that treats love as ours for the choosing. Paul’s description in 1 Corinthians 13 gives the real alternative.
Sermon transcript
This morning we are reading, first of all, from Paul’s letter to the Romans. This is Romans chapter five, and we are reading the first eleven verses. Listen to the word of God. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.
For when we are yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet for adventure for a good man some would even dare to die. God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
And not only so, we shall also join in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” Then from John’s Gospel, the thirteenth chapter, beginning at verse thirty-one, Therefore, when Judas was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself and shall straightway glorify him.
Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me And as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go ye cannot come, so now I say to you a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another.”
It is inevitable when we consider the doctrine of the Church in John’s gospel, we come round to this word, love, and what this particular word means and communicates in the vocabulary of that gospel. Not that the word love, nor the subject love itself, for that matter, is peculiar to John. Neither does love have any different meaning in John than in the rest of the New Testament.
That is proved to us when we have investigated the matter thoroughly and completely. However, there is a forthrightness, a directness, with respect to the doctrine of love in John’s gospel, a unique angle that sets the brakes upon us for our reading of the rest of the New Testament witness. John’s gospel on this subject, as on other subjects, stops us in our tracks. It holds us in our pell-mell face through the New Testament record, and this by God’s design, I am sure, so that in taking a deep breath of the spiritual air found in John, we might better realize the character, the quality of that atmosphere we have been breathing all along in our reading of, in our consideration of, the New Testament and its witness. Now, that New Testament witness is singular when we come to this doctrine of love, as I have already indicated.
For there is a common thread that is woven throughout the entirety of the New Testament with respect to this matter. If we were to take our cue from John, we would have to say that that common thread is characterized by a transcendent quality. a gracious quality, particularly as we think about love. The common thread then moving throughout the New Testament, and accented so well by John in his gospel and in his writing, is this reality with respect to the matter of love, its transcendence and its gracious character.
We are not to miss this. To miss it means to miss the mark, to not understand. But I want us to look this morning, not at John, but at a passage that will help us for an eventual consideration of John on this matter. And that passage is Romans 5. And I turn to Romans 5 because I think it is important for us to establish the common features of this love as we back our way into John for a more concentrated look at him. The passage I want you to focus on this morning is Romans 5. Keeping in mind what we said already about this common thread, and the transcendent gracious character of love in the New Testament. First of all, verse five in that fifth chapter, where we read these words.
Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us. Great words. But what should be obvious to us at a glance is the connection in these words between that love poured out within our hearts and the Holy Spirit, who has himself been poured out.
Paul has in mind then, specifically, the transcendental or the transcendent origin of this love of which he speaks. As the Holy Spirit himself comes from without, as he comes from beyond, as he comes from above, so also this love which he works in us. This love is supernatural. This love, then, is utterly unique. It is not a love that rises within us, nor is it a love that has its origins in this world, regardless of what we may say about the love that has its origins in this world. regardless of that love’s civility, its respectability, its ennobling and moral character. The love spoken of by Paul, therefore, is an otherworldly love. It is a heavenly love, and it intrudes upon us by God’s grace. This leads us, then, to consider the other aspect of this love, yes. It is transcendent but also gracious, and notice this love’s absolutely and perfectly gracious expression.
Verse 8, in that fifth chapter, God demonstrates his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Is it not clear to you in this verse explicitly, though obviously in view in the prior verse as well, but here explicitly set before us is God’s sovereign grace, which assigns to the love each conveys a necessary priority of God’s action. God must act first. Not only does this love then come to us from above, it comes through the necessary and prior act of God. And just as in the earlier verse this love is inseparably bound to the definitive work of God in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, so it is here in this latter verse where this love is inseparably bound to the definitive work of God in the death of His Son.
God’s love, then, is graciously bestowed because it is visited upon the unworthy. while we were yet sinners. It is necessary and prior, because in our sin we are utterly incapable of saving ourselves. Saving ourselves specifically from the wrath that is mentioned in the following verse, verse 9. The condemnation that is in view. Now I make this point for reasons that I hope you understand.
Namely, because of all of the loose talk we hear about love, even within the Church. You see, it almost seems as if many within the Church have come to the conclusion that love is a natural ability. Love is a natural ability easily cultivated by us all.
Therefore, many speak about love, even within a Christian context, as if it were a reality realized by us and within us without any regard for its heavenly origin, its transcendent origin, or its complete dependence upon divine action, prior divine action. Some have even gone so far in their vocabulary when it comes to this matter of love. as to suggest that this love can be abstracted from our situation, not applied to us with any reference whatsoever to the fact that we were at one time enemies of God, that we were in need of reconciliation. Some have gone so far. as to dismiss Paul’s talk about wrath and condemnation completely from their considerations when it comes to the matter of love. The kind of love then which is heard about too often in the church today It is not the kind of love of which Paul speaks.
It is another kind of love. It is an earthly and worldly love. It may be very honorable. It may be very civilized. It may be very charitable and sacrificial. It may be moral. familial and chaste, it may be kind, it may even be romantic. The only problem is that it is not the love of God. It is not the love of which Paul speaks. What we are faced with in this kind of love is a love that finally admits to no need for transcendence, or even of grace. He acknowledges no need of the work of the Spirit, no need for the crucifixion of the Son of God.
It may act heroically Paul even speaks about the heroic action it may generate. He says this kind of love may inspire someone to die for another, but the fundamental conviction of that love is the worthiness of those for whom it sacrifices itself. If you are having trouble understanding my point here, let me say it again clearly. That kind of love that is a love of the world, regardless of how admirable, that in the end doesn’t match up to what Paul speaks of here, is less than supernatural. less than miraculous, less than heavenly, less than eternal. I am tempted to give you a concrete illustration, but I fear that by this illustration I may offend. In fact, some of you might get up out of your seats and walk out. You see, we have a patron saint in Pittsburgh who virtually preaches this worldly love every day at 11.30 a.m. on QED TV. It’s the kind of love, this worldly love, found in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood. Do you listen to what Mr. Rogers says?
The implication is that he and God like you just the way you are. No change, no transformation, an appeal to your natural ability, nothing transcendent, nothing ultimately gracious from God’s side, No change. No intrusion by the Spirit. No necessity for the crucifixion of the Son of God. There are no enemies in this neighborhood. And there is no such thing as the wrath of God.
The doctrine of love, as taught by Paul, does not shy away from the direct and crucial issues of human existence, as brutal, as stark as they may be. For a direct presentation of the positive virtues of this love, I encourage you to look once more to 1 Corinthians 13. Keeping in mind what you have read in Romans 5, I dare say that you will find in that lovely passage an affirmation of love’s origin in heaven, of its wellspring being nothing less than the gracious action of God. But here in 1 Corinthians 13 you will see even better than in Romans 5. that the love Paul describes matches what description he may offer us of Christ himself, who is the embodiment of that love come down out of heaven, demonstrating just how that love behaves in a heavenly manner in a wicked world.
We don’t want to lose sight either of John’s gospel or the doctrine of the Church, which we have been dealing with over the course of this series. I take you into call that we might then, in subsequent messages, back up into John and think a little more deeply about the doctrine of love. found there, and specifically its bearing upon the doctrine of the Church.
And with that we close. Help us, Father, help us Lord in this matter of that love which is transcendent and gracious coming from above and utterly dependent upon your action that it might in fact be realized in us and have expression in our lives may we think about heaven and what it is like there. May we meditate upon those things that are above, where Christ is at your right hand. And the very power of the love of that place, by your Spirit affecting us, that we might walk as we should. With this in mind, our God, we come to the table mindful of the sacrifice that Jesus has made for us. What love! How glorious! How complete! How satisfying! And we thank you for it.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.