Transcript:

Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

According to the Bible, ultimate reality is love. The source of all that exists is the eternal love relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The God we learn from Jesus is a God who from all eternity is Triune—Father, Son and Holy Spirit living in eternal self-giving love without any hint of self-centeredness. There is no envy or insecurity on the part of any member of the Trinity, but all exist in a deep sense of personhood without being threatened by the personhood of the other. In the being of God, we have clear boundaries of personhood but no walls. Each person losing themselves into the life of the other without ever losing their individual sense of personhood. Now, such a vision is mind-boggling to us because it is so foreign to our sense of self and our experience of relationship. But why?

Why do we so struggle with such a deep sense of personal insecurity and relational dysfunction? Here's the reason why: the Bible calls it “sin.” My friends, sin is not just the little, bad things we do. But it's this: it's trying to find life in ourselves, apart from the love of God—apart from the Trinity. We are seeking to make a life for ourselves apart from our Creator. Therefore, we are driven to prove and defend ourselves instead of trusting in God. We are driven to make an air brushed image of ourselves and then construct walls to defend and protect that image. And these things keep us from true love connection with God and one another.

And that’s something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

~ 1 John 4:7-12 (ESV)