introduction
1 John 4:16 tells us that God is love. This is absolutely central to all that God is.
GOD IS LOVE. Even before God created the world, and people, God loved. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always loved each other, and lived in the most beautiful loving relationship with one another. Over the next two weeks we will look at many of the attributes of God’s character, but they are all actually attributes of love.
welcome
Tell us one affirming thing about the person on your right.
worship
Use a well-known prayer (eg. The Prayer of Brendon or find a copy of the Prayer of St. Patrick) to lead you into worship.
Celtic Prayer of Brendon...
Shall I abandon, O King of Mysteries, the soft comforts of home?
Shall I turn my back on my native land, and my face towards the sea?
Shall I put myself wholly at the mercy of God, without silver, without a horse, without fame and honour?
Shall I throw myself wholly on the King of Kings, without sword and shield, without food and drink, without a bed to lie on? Shall I say farewell to my beautiful land, placing myself under Christ's yoke?
Shall I pour out my heart to Him, confessing my manifold sins , and begging forgiveness, tears streaming down my cheeks?
Shall I leave the prints of my knees on the sandy beach, a record of my final prayer in my native land? Shall I then suffer every kind of wound that the sea can inflict? Shall I take my tiny coracle across the wide, sparkling ocean? O King of the Glorious Heaven, shall I go of my own choice upon the sea? O Christ, will you help me on the wild waves?
word
group work
Divide the group into four, and ask each to look at the following aspects of God’s character. A suggestion would be to discuss these questions:
- What does the Bible say about this point?
- What relevance does it have for us in our own situations?
- What response do we want to make?
1. Love.
There are many aspects to love, and God speaks of many different kinds of love in the Bible. The first one is the unconditional kind of love, the kind of love that chooses the highest good for someone at all times. That is what God does. He always chooses the highest good for us at all times. This is not just an emotional feeling. It is an unchanging choice.
God shows us a belonging kind of love, by being a Father to us. He tells us that He wants to love us as friends, and then, most amazing of all, He asks us to come in to the most intimate of all relationships - He wants His church to be His bride.
Of course, the greatest way in which God has shown His love to us is through allowing His son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to lay down His life for us on the Cross.
The greatest act of sacrificial love ever.
2. Faithfulness.
God is faithful. He is totally committed to us. He has promised to be with us at all times, never to leave us or forsake us. This is His faithfulness. We may suffer, or go through hard times, but He will be with us to help us through every situation. He is unchanging - always the same in His nature and character.
3. Righteousness.
God is righteous. This simply means that God always does what is right. Because He knows everything, and does everything out of a motive of love, everything that God does is right. God loves righteousness because when people live rightly, there is peace, security and happiness. That is what God intended for mankind, and He loves to see people living in that way.
4. Justice.
God is just. In Psalm 33:5 the Bible tells us that God loves justice. Justice has two meanings. The one meaning of justice is fairness. The other dictionary definition of justice is “the exercise of authority in the maintenance of right”. We have already seen that God loves righteousness, and in order for God to maintain righteousness He sometimes needs to step into the world in justice - in order to maintain right. We see this at the time of the flood, and in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. We also know that one day there will be a final day of judgement too. But wonderfully the Bible says that the judge of the whole earth will do right.
We need have no fear of that day, if we have dealt with the sin in our lives.
thought
God has the power to step in and stop all the suffering, but there are only two ways he can deal with man’s selfishness. The one way is to wipe out mankind again, or the other way is to work to change man’s heart from selfishness to love. This is what he is doing, and our responsibility as Christians is to work with him to accomplish this – to see mankind turn from selfishness to a God and others centred life.
response
Think of some examples in your own life when God has shown you one of the attributes of His character. Each person share one story with the group.
pray for one another: is there anything in particular from this week’s meeting that you would like to be prayed for?
witness
Take time to feedback how our friends are and if we have had any opportunities to talk to them about Jesus or to demonstrate His love.
Pray from the comments that are made.
