Title: Those Who Love the Lord
Contents
Text: Luke 7:36-50
God is love.
There is no love in heaven that is perfect, greater, or more sacrificial than the love of God. The Greek word ‘love’ is divided into three categories. ① ‘Filo’: It means love between siblings, between friends, or between parents and children. ② ‘Eros’: It refers to rational love. ③ ‘Agape’: It refers to God’s love through sacrificial and unconditional love. As you can see, the love of agape is the attribute of God and is a word that expresses God's supreme nature.
In 1 John 4:9 it says, “This was how the love of God was revealed to us, because God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” The characteristics of God's love that can be seen here are,
(1) It is the sacrifice of self-giving.
It is a sacrifice that God humbles like a man (Philippians 2:6-7). It is a sacrifice that gave up all of Himself until death on the cross (Philippians 2:8).
(2) It is the restoration of life.
God's love saves mortal life, heals the sick, and grants heavenly life to those who will be punished in hell. But the devil gives death instead of life. Misfortune, disease, hatred, curses, and hell come from the devil. Therefore, we must resist the work of the evil devil and abide in the love of the Lord.
1 John 4:11 “Beloved, since God so loved us (the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross), we also ought to love one another”. The love of Jesus, who loved me, helped me, gave me material things, healed me, and gave me strength, and gave my life on the cross to blot out our sins and my sins through the shedding of blood. Therefore, if you know this love, you can fully serve and follow God and receive God's love more abundantly.
God's interest on this earth is for the saints who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, the saints who give thanks for redemption, and the saints who pray by calling on the name of Jesus. If we believe in God, we must love Jesus. Also, if you love Jesus, you must live by the Word. We must obey the Word, exalt Jesus throughout our lives, love Jesus, and live by preaching Jesus.
In today's text, a sinful woman who loves Jesus appears. She knew that the love of Jesus was so great and precious. So for her,
1. There were tears.
“Standing at the feet of Jesus and weeping . . . ” (verse 38). The tears people shed have many meanings. Jesus also wept while looking at the death of Lazarus (John 11:35) and the destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). There are tears that we shed when we first met Jesus. ① Tears of repentance. Just as a child sheds its first cry when a child is born, believers who are born again in Jesus also repent and confess their sins of the past and are born again and receive new life. When these tears dry up, your love for the Lord has grown cold (Psalm 119:136; Psalm 42:3). ② Tears of supplication. If we love Jesus, Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you.” We must pray, make our wishes, and long for answers. God is very weak against the tears of believers (Hebrews 5:7). God answered the prayers of weeping to wet King David's bed and the prayers of weeping and tears before King Hezekiah's death. ③ Tears of gratitude. The tears shed by the woman in today's text are the tears of emotion that are shed in gratitude.
2. There was self-sacrifice.
“He washed the feet of Jesus with the hair of his head” (verse 38). These actions show humility, humility, self-sacrifice, and the highest respect for Jesus. In ancient times, there is a story called Jeolbalyeokju (截髮易酒), in which a wife, who runs a poor household to serve her husband's precious guests, grew her own hair to serve guests. There was an incident where he cut off his long hair and made a donation to the whole church. This kind of self-sacrifice is possible because you love Jesus. A typical example of such self-sacrifice is the widow of Zarephath in the Old Testament and the poor widow who contributed all of her living expenses in the New Testament. They enjoyed God's blessing and received the praise of Jesus.
3. You could pour perfume on it.