Skip to main content

Overflowing Love: Why we Long to Share the Good News of Jesus Christ by Pastor Charlie Handren

By Anonymous
Jesus Christ came into the world to glorify God the Father by seeking and saving the lost (Luke 19:10). Then, after the resurrection, he invited his followers to join him in this mission (Matthew 28:18-20). Why did Jesus have such strong desire to give his earthly life to this mission?

While there are several important answers to this question, perhaps the most important one is this: Jesus engaged in this mission because he was consumed with love for the Father, even as the Father was consumed with love for him. This love then overflowed in the pursuit of the lost, even as it had in creation (see John 17).

The mission of Jesus is the overflow of divine love.

Love propelled Jesus out that others might come in. And therefore, when Jesus sent his followers out on this same mission, he was not merely giving them a command. He was not calling on them to fulfill a new duty. He was not instituting an ingenious marketing plan. Rather, he was inviting them into the joy of proclaiming his love as a natural overflow of his love.

The mission of the church is the overflow of divine love.

It is a law of the human heart: we sing and talk about what we love. King David captured this dynamic well in Psalm 96:1-4 when he wrote, “1 Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! 2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!”

And why should we do these things? Because we have come to see and rejoice in this truth: “4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.”

King David saw that delight in God leads to the worship of God. Joy in God leads to the proclamation of his salvation, glory, and good works. We praise what we prize. We declare our delight. 

So if you want to grow in your desire to share Christ, grow in the discipline of spending time with Christ. The passion, power, and purpose of sharing the love of Jesus comes from being loved by Jesus. Our mission is the overflow of divine love.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God Displays His Beauty While Lifting Heavy Burdens by Pastor Kevin

By
I know I am a little bit overweight. My doctor tells me so. The mirror that I look into affirms it and the scale (that I mostly avoid) reminds me every time I step on it. All of that makes what I am about to say so much more impressive. I had the privilege of sitting on the beaches of Florida's Atlantic coast for 8 days on our most recent family trip. For me there is something magical about the beach, especially on the Atlantic side with the waves washing up against the shoreline. We have been lucky enough to find a sleepy beach town to vacation at. A nook, if you will, that typically features retired folks or families with kids. Out of the way of those who want to party, the beach is truly a relaxing place for me.  Let me tell you something that I gleaned this time around that never quite landed on me. This last week it landed on me, almost literally. My son Ben and I are the more adventurous specimens in the Feder five. We actually get into the salty water where there are jelly f...
2 comments
Read more

To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord, by George Muller

By Anonymous
To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord By George Muller “It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the benefit of which I have not lost for more than fourteen years. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, or how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. “I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God—not prayer, but the Word of God. And here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God so that it only passes through my mind just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what I read, pondering over it, and applying it to my heart. To meditate on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed. And that thus,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rejoicing in the Wrath of God: Part 1 by Pastor Charlie Handren

By Anonymous
This Sunday we resume our study of the book of Revelation and within the first eight verses of chapter 6 we will encounter the wrath of God being poured out upon the world. In one sense, being confronted with the reality of God’s wrath is uncomfortable at best, but in another sense, it fills the believing heart with joy.  One of the first essays I wrote in college was on the wrath and love of God, and probably the main effect it has had on my life is to cause joy to rise up in my heart whenever I contemplate God’s wrath. Sometime ago I shared this with a pastor friend of mine and though he said nothing in response, he looked at me as if to say, “If you knew anything about the wrath of God, you would not rejoice in it.” At the time, I wasn't sure how to respond, but I knew that the joy in my heart was not stemming from a belittling of the horror of the wrath of God. Then several years ago, as I was reading through Revelation, I came across a couple of passages in chapters 15 and 16 ...
Post a Comment
Read more