Lesson Four: A Loving God
Note: This lesson can be done alone or in a group. If you choose to lead a group using this study, there are some directions inserted within the study to help you stimulate discussion and insight into the meaning of the text.
Aim: For the people in the study to come into a relationship with God based on turning to and trusting in Christ.
Hook: (This or a similar opening can used to launch a group into a study)
Love is a highly esteemed commodity in our culture. It is sung about,
written about and dreamed of by all. On soap operas and in
movies it is portrayed as both motivation and justification of almost
any act, be it self-sacrifice or murder. Many people will agree
with the fact that "God is love," before they will accept any other
aspect of His character. This lesson will be looking at God's
love. Hopefully, you will come away seeing that not only is God loving,
but His love is deeper and more precious than any love you had imagined
before.
Book:
I. God's Love
God's love is much more than an emotional feeling which can come and go. His love is a decision of choice to care for us. It results in feelings rather than being controlled by them. We will look at several passages that concern the character of God's love.
A. Parental
Read Isaiah 64:8.
Q. How is God referred to here?
A. As the Father, the one who formed us.
Q. What does the image of "father" convey about God's love?
A. A father's
love usually involves provision, compassion, and discipline. A father can
play with his
children and
delight in them, but he is also the one who corrects them and trains them
how to live.
In the first lesson, we read from Genesis
[look at Genesis 1:26-28 and Genesis 3:1-7 if refreshment is needed] and
saw that originally God intended man to
bear His image and to rule the earth for Him. Man disobeyed God and
brought sin and death into the world. He
no longer enjoyed the intimacy of a parent-child relationship with God
because God's holiness meant that as sinful
man he deserved God's wrath. He could no longer freely enter into
God's presence.
Read Psalm 104:14-16, 27-28. Then read Matthew 5:43-45.
Q. In spite of man's response to God's goodness, what does God continue to do for all nations?
A. God continues
to cause the forces of nature to provide food for evil as well as good
men and to
allow man to
use creation for his benefits.
Q. How does this show God's parental love?
A. He gives expression
to His love in action. He provides for His children's needs even when they
do
not acknowledge
Him as the provider.
B. Merciful
Read Romans 9:15-16.
Q. In these verses God is described as merciful. How would you define God's mercy?
A. Mercy is that
characteristic of God by which He manifests His goodness towards those
in distress
(see the above
example of His provision for us, even in our sinfulness). It is also that
characteristic by
which He refrains
from or postpones dealing out the punishment that is deserved.
Read 2 Peter 3:9
Q. What is one way that God demonstrates His mercy to us?
A. He delays
our punishment in order that we might come to repentance. It is because
of God's
merciful love
that He does not give us what we deserve now.
C. Tangible
God's love is parental and it is merciful.
But it is also tangible in that He not only desires to postpone punishment,
but
provide a way so that we don't have to
experience his punishment. He provided a way to do this that does not violate
His holiness or His justice.
Read John 3:16-18.
Q. Out of love, what did God do?
A. He sent his Son, that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life.
Read 1 Peter 3:18 and Romans 5:6-11.
Q. How does sending his Son Jesus tangibly show God's love?
A. Christ died
for our sins to bring us to God. He did this while we were still sinners
and even though
He was righteous
and we were not. We have been saved from God's wrath through Him.
Q. How does Jesus' death save us from God's wrath?
A. It is as if
He died in our place. We were the ones deserving of the death penalty,
but Jesus suffered
the penalty
for us.
Read Romans 3:23-26.
Q. How does Jesus' death tangibly demonstrate both God's justice and His mercy?
A. His justice
is demonstrated in that the full penalty for sin is paid. His mercy is
seen in that He allows
someone else
to pay the full penalty for us, and delays punishment that we might come
to accept
Christ's payment.
He becomes both the just and the one who justifies.
Read John 3:36.
Q. How does one receive the gift of Christ's death on his behalf, and thus, eternal life?
A. He must believe in Jesus, whom God sent.
Read John 1:12-13.
Q. What else is a result of believing in Jesus?
A. God gives
us the right to be His children, to once again know that special parent-child
love we knew
at creation.
We are restored to intimacy with God because the sin which stood in our
way has been
paid for.
D. Sacrificial
God's love was tangibly demonstrated in
His son Jesus. This love was not demonstrated lightly, but came at great
cost.
Read Mark 10:45.
Q. Jesus was
God Himself, and yet He did not act in a way we would expect someone who
knew they
were deity to
act. If you knew that you were equal with God, how would you act?
A. I would probably demand to be waited on and served.
Q. How did Jesus act?
A. He humbled
himself and took on human likeness. Not only that, He served and gave his
life on our
behalf - He
died for us.
Read Mark 15:16-39.
This is one
account of the kind of death that Jesus suffered. As you can see, He died
painfully and in
much humiliation.
This was because He was suffering the full extent of God's wrath on our
behalf. He
took our
place on that cross.
Look/Took:
II. Responding to God's love
Read 1 John 4:9-16.
Q. Looking at these verses and in light of what we've been talking about, how would you describe God's love?
[Let them answer before you summarize.]
A. God's love is deeper than any human love
we've ever experienced. He sacrificially seeks the best for us, even at
great cost to Himself. It is His love which
moves God to communicate with us, and to make a way for us to be
reconciled to Him. He is not forced to love,
He chooses to. In fact, we don't deserve His love at all. Because of
Jesus, we can know and rely on God's love
if we believe in Him.
Q. Have you ever thought about how fantastic it is that God loves us so much?
Q. What do you think an appropriate response
would be to such great love? [Again, let them think about it and
answer before you summarize.]
If all of things we have talked about are true, if God is a personal and holy creator, if He is at the same time completely just and merciful, then two responses should be highlighted.
A. Turning from sin
Read Acts 3:19.
Q. What must we do in order to be forgiven or pardoned for our sins?
A. Repent.
Q. What does it mean to repent?
A. The word means to
change one's mind. Thus, it expresses an attitude of a willingness to change.
Repentance
involves a desire
and willingness to turn away from sin to follow Christ.
Read 2 Corinthians 7:9-10.
Q. The sorrow of the Corinthians led to repentance, but is sorrow for sins the same as repentance?
A. No, sorrow may be
involved in repentance or lead to repentance; but a person could be sorrowful
over his sin
without being willing
to change (which is repentance).
It isn't enough just to be sorry for your sins. You have to be willing to turn away from them to trust Christ.
Q. Have you ever been
sorry for your sins without really intending to change your ways? Do you
think you were
truly sorry then?
Were you truly repentant?
Q. Why is there no regret in true repentance? (v.10)
A. It leads to salvation (that is, saved from God's wrath to personal and eternal fellowship with God).
B. Trusting in Christ
Read Ephesians 2:8-9.
Q. How are we saved?
A. Through faith.
Q. Can we save ourselves?
A. No. Salvation comes only by grace as a free gift, not as a result of works.
[A definition that
might help here: Whereas mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve
(his wrath), grace
is God giving us
what we do not deserve (eternal life with Him).]
Q. If man could save himself what would happen?
A. He would boast and not give God the honor and worship He is due.
Q. What is faith?
A. Faith is the belief
that Christ alone can save you. It is more than a mental assent or positive
thinking. It is turning
to and following Jesus
Christ, believing that His life and death alone is sufficient to save you
from sin and to give you
the gift of eternal
life with-out charge.
Q. On what do we base our faith in God?
A. On the promises
and facts of God's Word. Since He has revealed Himself to us, faith is
not a blind leap in the
dark.
Reread Acts 3:19.
Q. What is the relationship between faith and repentance?
A. First we have to
see our sin and have a willingness to turn away from it (repentance). Then
we trust Christ to
accomplish for us
what we could not (faith). The result is our salvation - a restored relationship
with God through
Christ.
This response to God involves our minds,
our emotions, and our wills. Our minds, in that we need to agree with what
God says about Himself and His son Jesus;
our emotions, in that we need to grieve for our sin and respond to God's
love; and our wills in that we need to
commit our lives to God alone, in turning from rebellion and following
Him. This
c an be compared to the process of marriage.
We can believe with our minds that this is the right person for us to
spend our lives with, and we can feel in
our emotions great love and devotion. But we are not actually married until
with our wills we say "I do," and commit
our lives to the covenant we have made.
Q. Have you ever truly repented of your sins and trusted in Christ for your salvation?
It will be up to you, the leader, to determine the most appropriate way to end this study. Most assuredly you will want to spend some individual time with the people in the group to see how they have responded to the things you have talked about. If there is clear interest on the part of several people to continue to look at the truths of Christianity, a general invitation to continue to meet could be issued. At this point it would probably be helpful to look more closely at the person of Jesus Christ. If it is unclear whether they have made a commitment to Christ, informally walk through the gospel of John asking the two questions, "Who is Jesus?" and "What does He require of me?". (Jim Petersen's book Evangelism for Our Generation contains some excellent questions to use in helping someone walk through John in the addendum.)
In either case, encourage the members of your group to read Psalm 51, Isaiah 53:1-11 and Galatians 2:20 over the next week. Encourage them to consider what these scriptures teach about God and man, and pray that God would help them to understand these truths more clearly.