# DIMENSIONS OF THE LOVE OF GOD ## Introduction I welcome you all to this special combined service this morning. If Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour tarries His second coming, may we enjoy many glorious services like this in the name of Jesus. Amen. This month is the first month in the second half of the year 2017 and we have cause to thank God for His faithfulness. I am persuaded that the God who has been showering blessings on us since the beginning of the year will continue to do so, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Yesterday at the 'Operation Declare and Decree' service, the divinely inspired theme for our Church for the month on July was unveiled. It is 'The Love of God.' In the short exhortation in that service, we were reminded that while we are conversant with the theme that God is love and that He loves us, what is not well appreciated is the depth, width, height and length of that divine love. ## Jesus Teaches Nicodemus As a starting point, let us put into context what brought about this famous verse. The Bible tells us that these immortal words in this verse came about during the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus when the latter visited Jesus in the night. As we are all aware, Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the ruling council, Sanhedrin. During this nocturnal visit, Jesus told Nicodemus he had to be born again if he wanted to be a candidate of the kingdom of God (John 3:3). Nicodemus did not understand this spiritual concept. It was from the answer that Jesus gave to this last question that find the famous biblical verse, John 3:16: *"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."* ## Six Dimensions of the Love of God Brethren, millions of word have been written about the 26 words in John 3:16. This morning we shall explore briefly the six dimensions of this priceless crystal and difficult-to-described-with-human-vocabulary phenomenon called the Love of God: - God's Love is Extraordinary - God's love is Extensive - God's love is Expensive - God's love is Embracing - God's love is Exclusive - God's love is Eternal ### 1. God's Love is Extraordinary - "For God so love" The first dimension of God's love is that it is extravagant and extraordinary. This we can deduce from "For God so loved." It was Jesus that first revealed love as an attribute of God to man. God has always been a loving Father. But before Jesus, amongst the Jews, the perception of God was that of a holy God who is quick to punish man for his wrong doings. But if we closely looked at the third word in that verse, "so," we would discover that it qualifies the love that God has for the world. It is telling us that God loves humanity too much. It is an extravagant love. It is not I love today, I despise tomorrow. It is the love that is constant even when we are unfaithful or far away from God. ### 2. God's Love is Extensive - "...the world" The second dimension is related to the recipient of God's love. What God loves is the whole world. What an extensive love! To the Jews in the time of Nicodemus, God is only for the Jews and not for the Gentiles. So the concept of a God who loves the whole world is distinctly Christian reality. The Greek word is 'Kosmos', and one of the shades of meaning of that word is the whole mass of unregenerate men alienated from God. So in effect, God's love includes even the unlovable and those against the plan and purpose of the true and only God. ### 3. God's love is Expensive - "...that he gave his one and only Son" God's love is not only extensive, it is also expensive because it is sealed with the precious blood of Jesus. When God looked at the lot of man and decided to redeem mankind from the power and clutches of sin and Satan, he sent His unique Son to come into the world and pay the ransom for your sine and my sins on the cross of Calvary. ### 4. God's love is Embracing - "...that whoever" The love of God is not only extensive (covering the whole world), it is also all-embracing and expansive because it applies to the individual. It is personal. That is the import of the word 'whoever.' You must never forget the personal nature of the love of God. ### 5. God's love is Exclusive - "...believes in Him" The love of God is extensive and available for everyone in principle. To access the greatest benefit of this love which is salvation, we need to have a password. The only password that we need is to believe in Jesus for our salvation. ### 6. God's love is Eternal - "...shall not perish but have eternal life" We now come to the final dimension of the love of God which is about its intent. God loves us because he does not want a permanent separation of humanity from Him. He wants us to have a certain quality of life of fellowship with Him. That life starts from here on earth and continues for ever when our physical life is over here on earth. ## Back to Nicodemus Let us go back to the story of Nicodemus which forms the background to this famous verse. The Bible did not specifically mention what happened to Nicodemus after the interaction with Jesus. But we can deduce that this Pharisee came out of that encounter a changed man. When we heard about Nicodemus again, it is in John 7 when the Pharisees were planning to arrest and eliminate Jesus. Nicodemus came out finally in the open and spoke on the side of fair play and justice. The last we heard about this man whose life was changed by the discussion on the love of God was in John chapter 19 where he joined with Joseph of Arimathea to give Jesus a decent burial. ## Conclusion As we bring this message to a close, I will like to inform you that there are many more aspects of the love of God we have not touched in this sermon. I pray that the Word of God that you hear will multiply in your hearts and make you fruitful in the name of Jesus. Amen. When Nicodemus heard about the love of God in that famous verse, John 3:16, he became a changed man. His perception about God changed. Are you going to appreciate God's love and let the Word of God about the love of the Almighty God inspire you? I pray that will be your portion in the name of Jesus. Amen.