Reflecting on the Love of God – Romans 8:35-39

The sermon opens on the first Sunday of 2013 with the pastor calling the congregation not to make New Year resolutions, but instead to reflect on a core biblical truth: the love of God. He establishes that reminding one another of important truths is a common practice in family and social life, and is even more essential in the spiritual life. The Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 1:12-15 expressed his concern that believers would forget what they had been taught, and therefore committed his remaining days to continually reminding them.

The theological heart of the sermon contrasts the silent, threatening, and distant idols found in Buddhist temples with the living and relational God of the Bible. Drawing from Isaiah 40:18-25, the pastor affirms that no image made by human hands can compare to God. The God of Scripture speaks, cares for, and leads His people with love and tender compassion. Only the God of the Bible loves humanity so deeply that He gave His own Son as a sacrifice for sin, as recorded in John 3:16 and Romans 8:32.

The pastor then unpacks four dimensions of God's love from Romans 8:31-39: The Gift — God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for all of us; The Bond — no power in heaven or earth can separate believers from the love of God; The Assurance — even when prayers seem to go unanswered and suffering overwhelms, God remains present and loving; and The Promise — those who trust in Him will be more than conquerors through Him who loved them. These four pillars form the theological foundation for the believer's comfort and hope in every circumstance.

The pastor also directly critiques the prosperity gospel by referencing and responding to a popular American pastor's books, which promote the view that faith leads to success, wealth, and untroubled living. In contrast, the pastor argues that faith as described in Hebrews 11 is faith that endures in the face of adversity, not in its absence. God's love is most deeply and sweetly experienced not when everything goes smoothly, but in the valley of suffering and trial.

The sermon closes with a practical appeal to the entire congregation, especially those currently experiencing hardship, to reaffirm that God's love is unchanging and inseparable from His people. Just as the truest expression of love in marriage is seen in times of difficulty rather than prosperity, so it is with God's love. This certainty is offered as the greatest source of comfort, encouragement, and hope for every believer entering the new year.