The Cycle of Gospel Love

I had an interesting conversation with four members of our staff team today. Several of us get together twice a month to discuss a class on Preaching the Gospel in a Postmodern World. When we discussed this past weekend’s message, their response was interesting to me. Though 3 out of four of them had heard the message twice, none could recall very much of the content. Each did have a ‘take-away’ from the message – all good. But they could not recall, for example, the four steps of the cycle of gospel love. They also were not very clear on what the point of the illustration of the Chilean miners was all about. That part actually was especially surprising to me.

What strikes me here is that one’s interaction with a message is often more experiential than cognitive. In other words, it may have an effect – such as to lead you to worship Jesus in that moment and even ongoingly – but its effect may not be around recalling the outline or recollecting specific content.

Having said that, allow me to post, for all of our failing memories, the cycle of gospel love that I said was the model for all marital and friendship love.

Sacrifice – He gave His life for me.
Love – Now I know that His heart toward me is good.
Obedience – The love of Christ constrains me.
Repentance – I can confess my shortcomings to Him whose heart toward me is good.

Again, this is the same cycle that will create health in marriages – It begins with Sacrifice which assures us of the goodness of our partner’s heart toward us (Love), which leads us to ‘constrain’ our behavior (Obedience) . And when we fall short, we can return to our partner for forgiveness because we trust that their heart toward us is good (Repentance).

Paul says in Ephesians 5 that the pattern of gospel love is the template for our marital love. The Apostle John writes in I John 3:16 that the sacrifice of Jesus is the model for our friendship love.

Reflect today on the engine that drives our relationship with God – it all begins with His sacrifice. And let that gracious love motivate you to love the way you have been loved.

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