COUPLES FOR CHRIST

CHRISTIAN LIFE PROGRAM

TALK NO. 1 – GOD’S LOVE

GOAL:

To communicate the truth that God loves us and to provide a better understanding of that love.

CORE MESSAGE:

God is love. Thus he is compelled by his very nature to create, so that he can share that love. God
demonstrates his love by creating man in his image. God’s love creates. But man, in the exercise of his
God-given gift of free will, has rejected his Creator by sinning. Yet, even when we sin and abandon him,
God still loves us and patiently waits for us to come back to him. God’s lavish and generous love is best
described in the parable of the father and his two sons (Lk. 15:11-31). The parable tells us that God’s
love forgives. The greatest expression of God’s love is the sending of his only Son to suffer and die, that
we may have life eternal. Therefore, God’s love is, most of all, a love that redeems.

EXPANDED OUTLINE

A. Introduction

In the beginning, God broke the deafening silence and stillness of the universe. He lit up its blinding
darkness. He filled up its infinite void. He disturbed the sound of silence. He did all these to manifest
and share his love. For love is not love if it is not shared!

B. God’s Love Creates

1. The starting point for understanding God’s love is found in the story of creation in Genesis.
Since God is love, he is compelled by his very nature to create so that he can share this love
(Gen. 1:1-31).

a) For five days, God created the heavens and the earth, the water and the land, the animals
and the plants. And after each description of what God has created, the verse is followed
by the words, “God saw how good it was” (Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25).

b) Then on the sixth day, God created man and woman (Gen. 1:27).

c) After God had created man and woman, “God looked at everything that he had made,
and found it very good” (Gen. 1:31).

d) After God had created the heavens and the earth, the land and the water, the animals and
the plants, he found them “good.” But after God had created man and woman, he found all
creation not just “good”, but “very good.”
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e) So God created man in his image. In the divine image, God created him. What better
demonstration of God’s love than being created in the image of the Creator!

2. But man, in the exercise of his God-given gift of free will, rejected his Creator by sinning. And
since then, man has continued to offend God and go against his ways. But God’s love never
wanes despite the sinfulness of man.

a) Despite their sin, God bestowed on Adam and Eve a gesture of grace by giving them
clothing (Gen. 3:21).

b) When Cain murdered his brother Abel, God manifested his love and mercy by putting a
mark on Cain to protect him from being killed on sight (Gen. 4:15).

c) When God decided to eradicate evil on earth by sending a great flood, he instructed Noah
to build an ark to save the righteous from death (Gen. 9:1-28).

d) Even when mankind continued to disobey and offend God, still God promised Abraham
that he would love him and his descendants forever (Gen. 12:1-3).

e) He made the same promise to Isaac and to Moses and to David.

f) As in Old Testament times, God’s love for us today remains that same compassionate and
forgiving love of the God who created us. Even when we abandon him, he patiently waits
for us to come back to him.

C. God’s Love Forgives

1. God’s forgiving love is described in the Bible’s most well-known parable that has come to be
known by a wrong title, The Prodigal Son. But this parable is really about a father who has
two sons. The central figure in the parable is neither the younger son nor the elder son. The
central figure is the father. And the central message is the father’s prodigal love, his lavish and
generous love, not just for the younger son but for the elder son as well (Lk. 15:11-31).

a) Under Jewish law, the children inherit their share of the property only after the father’s death.
By asking for his share of the inheritance, the younger son is effectively saying that as far as he
is concerned, his father is already dead. It is expected that he will never come back (Lk. 15:12).

b) But the younger son suffers misfortune in a distant land. He decides to come back. He prepares
a three-part statement:

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 Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you (Lk. 15:18).
I no longer deserve to be called your son (Lk. 15:19a).
Treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers (Lk. 15:19b).

c) The parable includes a phrase that gives an insight into the nature and magnitude of the
father’s love: While he was a long way off, his father caught sight of him (Lk. 15:20b).

d) Perhaps it was by chance that the father was outside the house when the son was about to
enter his property. But it was more likely that this father had been constantly looking beyond
his property since his son had left. He missed his son so much that each morning, as the
sun rose, he would stand on the threshold of his house gazing at a distance, asking himself,
“Is it today that my son will come back?” After lunch, he would do the same and ask again,
“Is it today that he will return?” Then before it got dark, he would again look beyond his
property, hoping to catch a glimpse of a familiar figure and mumble softly, “Is it today that I
will see my son again?”

e) This father loves his son so much that he has been waiting. He has been regularly watching
the path leading to his house. And that is the reason why, while his son was still a long way
off, he sees him right away. That is why he is outside his house on the day his younger
son returns.

f) He does not wait for him to come near. He runs to meet his son. Most fathers would wait and expect
an apology. But not this father! He loves his son so prodigally that he hugs and kisses him—no matter
how dirty he must have been (Lk. 15:20c).

g) The son stammers out his prepared statement with 3 parts. He is able to say the first two but
he does not get to say the third part. His father cuts him short. He will not allow his son to ask
to be treated like a servant. All that he is interested in is letting his son know that he is loved as
a son. Yes, not a servant, but a beloved son (Lk. 15:21)!

h) He interrupts his son’s apology and asks his servants to give his son the best robe—to show
that he is regarded with highest esteem; to put a ring on his finger—to show that he has
authority as a son; and to put sandals on his feet—to show that he is a son and not a slave
(Lk. 15:22).
i) The elder son returns from working in the field and refuses to come in. Again, the father,
who loves his elder son as much as the younger son, comes out to meet and console him.
The elder son refuses to call his younger brother as “brother” but refers to him as “this son
of yours”. So the father also assures the elder son of his love: “My son, everything I have
is yours.” What an assurance (Lk. 15:25-31)!

2. The parable is a graphic story of God’s love, a God who is passionately in love with all his
children—those who “leave and return” and those who “stay and obey”; a God who will “run
out to meet us” whenever we decide to come back to him; a God who will “come out” to
comfort and assure us whenever we feel rejected, taken for granted, or hurt.

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3. Finally, it is a parable that confirms God’s willingness to give us all that he possesses (everything I have is
yours). Even his only begotten Son.

D. God’s Love Redeems

1. We learn that God’s love is manifested in the story of creation—God’s love is a love that
creates. We discover that the parable describes the nature of this love—God’s love is a love
that forgives. Then Pope John Paul II tells us, “God’s love is expressed in the offering of his
only Son.”

2. Indeed, the Bible tells us that the fullest revelation of God’s love is the giving of his only
begotten Son to suffer and die that we may have eternal life. God’s love is, most of all, a love
that redeems.

a) For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes
in him might not perish but might have eternal life (Jn. 3:16).

b) In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his Son into the world so that
we might have life through him (1Jn 4:9).

c) But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us
(Rom. 5:8).

3. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, in One Heart Full of Love: “Let’s believe in God’s love, and let’s be
faithful to him. If you look at the cross, you will see his head lowered to kiss you. You will see
his arms stretched out to embrace you. You will see his heart open to welcome you. He loves
us in spite of how poor and sinful we are. His love is true, and we should believe in his love.”

E. Conclusion

We are both the younger son and the elder son in the parable. Some of us have “taken our share of
the inheritance” and abandoned God. Some of us have stayed on but have become self-righteous.
Regardless of whom we are, God loves us dearly. Like the younger son, we should “come to our senses”
and return to God who is patiently waiting for us. Unlike the elder son, we should not be jealous of our
brothers or hesitate in accepting God’s invitation to join in the celebration.

God’s love is reflected in his creation. God’s love is described in the parable of the father and his two
sons. But the fullest revelation of God’s love is the sending of the Son to suffer and die that we may have
life eternal. Thus, we ought to know who this Son really is.