2) Knowing The Love Of God by Zac Poonen
The Foundation and the Building: 2) Knowing The Love Of God by Zac Poonen
Summary
The central message is that true Christian love for God flows directly from recognizing and experiencing His perfect, unconditional love for us, as stated in 1 John 4:16-19. The speaker warns against lukewarm faith, suggesting that any element of fear or calculation in our relationship with God indicates we have not fully grasped the depth of His love. He contrasts the fear-based worship of heathen religions with the boundless, generous love of the biblical God.
Outline
The message in plain words, in the order it unfolds. Select a time to jump the video to that moment.
The root of knowing God's loveZac introduces the central truth of being gripped by God's love as written in 1 John 4, explaining that we love God because he first loved us.1 John 4:16–19
Why we struggle with loving the worldMany Christians battle with worldly affections like money, jobs, or ambitions because they are not fully convinced of God's great love for them.
The danger of a lukewarm heartBeing lukewarm and loving God only a little is not okay, because God's love is fervent and passionate, and He expects that same wholehearted love in return.
The mark of heathen religions and wrong ChristianityHeathen religions worship a god of fear who must be appeased, and unfortunately, a similar version of Christianity is sometimes preached today.
Worshiping a God of our imaginationMany believers live with a manufactured, cold, calculating god who makes them grumpy and long-faced, rather than the joyful God of the Bible.
Fear shows a lack of conviction in God's loveFear of punishment or suffering shows a lack of full conviction in God's love, since Jesus already reaped the penalty for our sins on the cross.
Giving without keeping an accountJesus' instruction to not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing means we should give and do good so quickly that we forget about it.
Being saved from the poison of selfishnessThe deepest root of sin in us is selfishness inherited from Adam, and Jesus came to completely save us from it.
Discovering selfishness in marriage and communityMarriage and church life expose our self-centeredness, giving us opportunities to let God scrape away our selfishness as iron sharpens iron.
Love does not seek its ownTrue biblical love, as outlined in 1 Corinthians 13, is completely opposite to worldly romance and selfishness because it never seeks its own.
Loving one another within the churchJesus said people will know we are His disciples when we love one another within the body of believers, not just by being nice to strangers.
God gives generously and never scoldsGod gives wisdom and grace to all men generously and without reproach, never scolding us for our past failures.James 1:5
The parable of the eleventh-hour workersThe master who hired workers at the eleventh hour and paid them first illustrates God's large-hearted and non-calculating grace.
A God who keeps no grudgesUnlike people who keep grudges because they worship a calculating god, we serve a God whose mercies are new every morning and who blots out the past.
The ultimate goal of the Christian lifeThe final goal of following Christ is to become completely full of love, holding no grudges, and having a warm heart toward everyone in the church.
