“The Love of Christ Compels Us”
“The Love of Christ Compels Us”
2 Corinthians 5:14
2 Corinthians 5:14 NIV
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
· The loneliest place in the world is the human heart when love is absent.
· The barrenness place in the world is not a desert, a mans heart when Love is absent.
· The most evil takes place when love is not present
We all need to be touched by Gods love. We seek love; we are empowered and encouraged by Gods loving touch.
What does it mean to be compelled by the love of Christ?
A Christian serves God with heart and soul, moved by the love of Christ.
The constraining influence of God’s echoed love.
The Greek word translated “compel” means “to take away the options; to give no way out; to back into a corner.”
It’s the word that’s used in Luke 22:63 where men were holding Jesus under guard.
It’s the word that’s used in Luke 19:43 where Jesus said, “The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side.”
Paul said we are hemmed in by the love of Christ.
The love of Christ compelled Paul because he understood the love for us in Christ’s death on the cross.
This was the greatest love we can imagine. God’s incredibly gracious love loved us while we were in sin.
God didn’t demand that we straighten out our lives before he would love us.
And God’s love is not just a warm, fuzzy feeling. It took Jesus to the cross.
Paul is explaining the compelling force in his own life.
The heart of God is to rescue the perishing.
Paul caught the vision of God's incomparable love and was so moved that he too felt compelled to join God's efforts, regardless of the cost.
The love of God should motivate us to rescue the perishing too!
Constrained Love
Duty makes us do things well, but love makes us do them beautifully.
Love never asks, ‘How much must I do?’, but ‘How much can I do?’
Only love can enable us to bear and forbear, to give and forgive.
Love is absolutely necessary to empower us to be considerate, compassionate, and caring toward others.
1 John 4:12 NIV
12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:16-17 NIV
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.
1 Cor 13:1-8 NIV Love never fails
13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
What if someone gave his life to save your life? Would you be thankful?
The whole Bible helps us understand the love of Christ, and how are we affected by the love of Christ?
Jesus gave Himself for us.
Jesus died for us.
Jesus gave us the word of God.
Jesus gave us the right to become sons of God.
Jesus intercedes for us.
Jesus wants us to be with Him.
Is the love of Christ the mainspring of our life?
Can you say with Paul: “The love of Christ compels me!”
GOD CAN CREATE SUCH A HEART IN YOU!
Do not underestimate the power of God in the lives of people. The Bible speaks of the transforming power in the word of God, Romans 12:1-3.
Remember the power of grace in the lives of others that caused a complete turnaround in the individual views, ideas, deeds and lifestyles!
Consider the people on the day of Pentecost, the man Saul of Tarsus, and many others in the New Testament writings.
When Christ dwells in our hearts, He controls everything. We can say as Paul did "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."
WHAT LEGACY WILL YOUR LIFE LEAVE BEHIND?
Louis Pasteur, the pioneer of immunology, lived at a time when thousands of people died each year from rabies. Pasteur had worked for years on a vaccine. Just as he was about to begin experimenting on himself, a nine-year-old, Joseph Meister, was bitten by a rabid dog. The boy’s mother begged Pasteur to experiment on her son. Pasteur injected Joseph for 10 days – and the boy lived.
Decades later, of all the things Pasteur could have had etched on his tombstone, he asked for three words: “Joseph Meister lived”.
Our greatest legacy will be those who live eternally because of our efforts.
