Introduction:

An unknown person once wrote, "No one has ever loved anyone the way everyone wants to be loved." Has anyone really ever loved you the way you want to be loved? I think most of the time we feel that everybody should love us. We know how great we are, right? We know how much time and energy we spend helping others. We know how much sunshine we splash on those around us. All of us think we should be loved. We can get discouraged because it can be difficult to find the love we want, whether it is parents loving their children, husbands loving their wives, friends loving each other, and so on. Who loves you the way you want to be loved?

The answer is plain and simple. God loves us. He has shown us the greatest love the world has ever experienced. It is true love given freely by a compassionate God. It's interesting that God never asked us how we wanted to be loved. He knew exactly the love we needed. And God showed his love with actions, not just empty words. The first part of the sermon lesson for this morning tells us: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this . . ." God demonstrates his love. He shows us how much he loves us.

1. We were sinners

This Bible passage is so simple and clear it amazes me. God showed his love to us. How? While we were sinners he took action. Let's look at what God means when he says that we were sinners.

It is no secret that there is sin in the world. Just look around you. However some people have a hard time understanding exactly what that means. Sin exists and you can see it in the youngest child to the oldest senior citizen and everyone in between. Not one of us can claim perfection and God demands perfection. Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Oh how far from perfection each and every one of us is. Yes, all of us fail. The Bible tells us in Romans, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Now some may say, "Well I live a pretty good life and I am a lot better than some other people." or "I am trying my best not to sin, so God has to smile on me and love me for who I am." That is not how it works. We don't get a report card at the end of our lives and everyone with a D+ or higher gets into heaven. God tells us we must be perfect and we are not. We all have sinned and have fallen short of what God expected of us. And because of this, the Bible tells us we deserve death. Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death." This is a death that will last an eternity, a death that means total separation from God's love, suffering in the fires of hell.

That is what it means that we were sinners. It is an extremely serious problem. And what could we do about it? NOTHING! We could never take the sin away. We could never earn our way to heaven. No matter what kind of plan we could come up with, it would not satisfy God's demand of perfection. We were in grave danger and needed to be rescued.

2. Christ died for us

Yes, we needed to be rescued. We needed a solution to the problem and God solved it with his love. And God's love was revealed with action. "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." This action was that ultimate example of love.

For God sent his one and only Son to be the Savior of the World. Jesus Christ, God's own Son, became flesh and blood, leaving the heavenly realms in order to live the perfect life that God demanded and we could not attain. Jesus Christ remained sinless for us. But that's not all. The love of God was demonstrated in the fact that Christ died for us. The Son of God was nailed to the cross. That should have been you and me. The Son of God took our sins upon himself as is written in 2 Corinthians, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Because Jesus died for us, we became right with God. God no longer sees our sin. He only sees Jesus' holiness. And because he sees the holiness of Jesus in us, he freely, graciously gives us forgiveness and the gift of eternal life in heaven. We receive this gift through faith in Jesus Christ. And that faith comes from hearing the message of Jesus Christ, which is in the Bible.

With the promise of life in heaven forever, we have no fear of death. As Christians, may we long for heaven where we will fully see the love of God, that love that God demonstrated in this, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Eternal life in heaven is the greatest blessing we receive from God's act of love, and on top of that we receive so many other blessings as well. We can talk with God in prayer. He gives us a road map through life with the words of the Bible. He frees us from the chains of sin so that we may live in "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." We can serve God by doing good works in thankfulness for his love shown to us by Christ dying for us.

Conclusion:

The love we show each other is wonderful gift from God. In fact, on February 14th we dedicate the whole day of the year to celebrate love. Cards are given, flowers are purchased, jewelry and other presents are exchanged. But I wonder how many people could give a good definition of love. Is love what Valentine's Day offers us? Those things are nice, but so often they are focused on warm, fuzzy feelings or centered on emotional words in poems and songs.

True love is shown to us by God. He took action. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Our sins were removed and we are blessed for eternity. May we worship God with our lives and reach with His love to those around us. AMEN.