weak moment. No, we pick up the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we move towards you in grace even in your worst moments. Is your marriage a culture of grace? Is it? Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not saying that you ever call wrong right. You must never call wrong right. But that’s not what grace does. If wrong was right, grace wouldn’t be needed. Grace is needed because wrong is wrong. But rather than condemning you and turning a back on you, grace moves towards you, thinking, how can I be part of what the good that God wants to do for you in this moment that’s not going well for you? That’s what love does. That’s what grace does. Ask yourself right here, “Is your marriage a culture of law, and condemnation, and rejection?” Who can live up to that standard? No sinner can live up to that standard. It’s crushing! Or is your marriage a culture a grace extending to that other person the same grace that you, yourself, have received? Are you a grace giver? Are you? Or are you a prosecutor, a jury, a judge, and a jailer? What is the real culture of your relationship? Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not demand reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving. Now you ought to be sitting there saying, “Where do I get this love? I don’t think I can love in this way.” Well, John says something very interesting. He says, “We love because he first loved us.” That means many things, but I want to say one thing here; it surely means that true love is best born in the soil of gratitude. True love best grows out of the soil of gratitude. It’s when I remember how fully and completely I have been loved that I’m loved just as much by God on my bad day as I am on my good day, that I’m so fully loved that He will never turn His back on me. When I’m wet with the love of Jesus, you won’t be able to get next to me without getting wet. Hear this principle--to the degree that we allow ourselves to forget how phenomenally we have been loved, to that degree, it makes it easier for us not to love the person next to us. Did you hear what I said? To the degree that you and I forget how much we have been loved, to that degree, it makes it easier for us not to love the person next to us. SESSION 8 Ask yourself right here, “Is your marriage a culture of law, and condemnation, and rejection?” Who can live up to that standard? No sinner can live up to that standard. It’s crushing! Or is your marriage a culture a grace extending to that other person the same grace that you, yourself, have received? Are you a grace giver? Are you? Or are you a prosecutor, a jury, a judge, and a jailer? What is the real culture of your relationship? Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not demand reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving. Now you ought to be sitting there saying, “Where do I get this love? I don’t think I can love in this way.” Well, John says something very interesting. He says, “We love because he first loved us.” That means many things, but I want to say one thing here; it surely means that true love is best born in the soil of gratitude. True love best grows out of the soil of gratitude. It’s when I remember how fully and completely I have been loved that I’m loved just as much by God on my bad day as I am on my good day, that I’m so fully loved that He will never turn His back on me. When I’m wet with the love of Jesus, you won’t be able to get next to me without getting wet. Hear this principle--to the degree that we allow ourselves to forget how phenomenally we have been loved, to that degree, it makes it easier for us not to love the person next to us. Did you hear what I said? To the degree that you and I forget how much we have been loved, to that degree, it makes it easier for us not to love the person next to us. John uses another interesting word here, he says, “We ought to love one another.” Well ‘ought’ is not just a word of obligation; it’s a word of design. We were designed to love. Life only works when there’s love. Communities only work with love. Government only works with love. The human culture can’t work without love. Marriage can’t work without love. Now, everything God designed has purpose in it, right? The sun ought to be hot; honey ought to be sweet;
Transcript: Session 8
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?
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