True Love That Holds to the End

Summary

The service opens by gathering at the Lord's table to feed on spiritual food and to glorify God every day. The leader reminds the congregation of the great price paid for their salvation, looking ahead to Sunday when they will remember in their hearts the death and suffering of Christ at Golgotha. He reads Psalm 145, "I will extol you, my God and King," together with Psalm 119:96, declaring that God's greatness is unsearchable and his commandment without limit. Because we can call on his name in any place, not only on a mountain or in Jerusalem, every place becomes a place of prayer and thanksgiving.

The main message turns to real love. Drawing on John 3:16, the preacher explains that true love is not the feeling that fades after the wedding, but a love that holds firm into old age. God showed this love by giving his only Son: he did not cling to having one Son but humbled himself for our sake, so that we might have eternal life.

This same self-giving love is what we owe one another. Under the new covenant we no longer shed blood, yet we still sacrifice ourselves through humble service - setting up chairs, rising at night to help, doing whatever is asked as unto the Lord. True love is always ready to help, and it takes humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Key Points

• The Holy Spirit gathers us to the Lord's table to be fed and to glorify God daily.
• Salvation came at a great price; we remember the cross and give thanks for it.
• God's greatness and grace are unsearchable, worthy of endless praise (Psalm 145).
• Real love is not a passing feeling but a love that holds firm to the very end.
• John 3:16 reveals God's love: he gave his only Son so we could have eternal life.
• We show that love by sacrificing ourselves in humble, everyday service to one another.
• God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.