Introduction:
- A) I’ve been talking to you about some specific Psalms – 103 – 107 – that call us to worship and praise the Lord.
- B) We’ve interrupted these Psalms to look at some hymns that lead us to do precisely that, praise the Lord.
- C) Tonight, we come to this hymn, “Love Divine all Loves Excelling.”
- I) The hymn was written by Charles Wesley
- A) Charles was the 18th of 19 children born to his mother Susanna who herself was the 25th of 25 children in her family.
1) Susanna’s1 father was a dissenter of the Church of England – which meant (broadly) that he objected to the English government’s control over the Church.
2) Susanna steadfastly believed in one Church and at age 13, refused to be a part of her father’s church in favor of the Church of England.
3) Susanna married Samuel Wesley, who was a minister in the Church of England and whose claim to fame was a not so very good commentary on the book of Job.
4) The Church of England required attendance every Sunday, but in her husband’s absence his substitute was a poor preacher so Susanna, after Church on Sunday morning, would gather her children together, they would sing a hymn and she would read one of her husband’s sermons – or one of her father’s, and sing another hymn. Before her husband could return, Susanna had 200 people meeting with her on Sunday afternoons.
5) Susanna schooled her children beginning at age five. They were expected to learn the alphabet the first day of school.
- B) Charles and his older brother John studied at Oxford
1) There, Susanna’s influence became prominent. Religion wasn’t just “doing what you had to do,” but was to be a part of your life.
2) Charles formed a prayer group which also focused on studying the Bible.
3) The group covenanted together to live a thoughtful holy life, to take communion at least once a week, to visit people in prison once a week, and to spend three hours together every afternoon studying the Bible.2
4) Both boys determined, on their ordination, to become missionaries to the New World – specifically to the Indians in Georgia.
5) This lasted only one year for Charles who found the lack of spirituality among the Indians disturbing and he returned home to England.
- C) Both men underwent a conversion of sorts:
1) They had studied the Bible of course, but for them, religion had been a matter of belonging, a matter of order, a matter of obedience, not of relationship.
2) They knew of the love of God, but were not convinced that God loved them.
3) They knew about salvation, but had never really been confident that they were saved.
4) Through the influence of others, they came to realize both these truths for their lives, and nothing was ever the same.
5) John set about preaching and teaching. Charles set about writing hymns that would speak of this newfound relationship with Christ.
6) Charles would write about 6000 hymns and he wrote this on in 1747.
- II) The hymn
- A) Originally had four verses. The third is usually omitted from our hymnals.
- B) Inspiration for this hymn came from an opera that was, by Charles’ time, nearly fifty years old.3
1) The opera was “King Arthur” written by John Dryden Henry Percell.
2) The song comes in the fifth act.
Fairest Isle, all isles excelling
Seat of pleasures and of loves
Venus here will choose her dwelling
And forsake her Cyprian groves.
3) The song is a tribute to England for it speaks of the goddess Venus who chooses to live in England rather than on her native island of Cyprus.
4) But in the hymn, it is not an island that is referred to, but God’s love that is greater than all others. “Love divine, all loves excelling.”
- C) The hymn is a prayer to God and is Trinitarian in form. Jesus is addressed in the first verse, the Spirit in the second, and the Father in the third (which is missing from our hymnals). All three are presumed in the fourth verse which speaks of the creator God and being lost in wonder, love, and praise.4
III) Meaning – As I said, this hymn is a prayer
There are many treatments available for the treatment of diabetes.People using antidepressants may suffer from ED, that might be resulted by illness viagra cheap online or due to its treatment. Ginseng is now available in many forms, from whole viagra 100mg sales root products to a variety of more concentrated formulations like tablets, liquids, capsules, tea and powder. Ayurveda, the world’s natural treatment and care philosophy has evolved various medicines that can order viagra sample enhance the sexual performance of man, cure erectile dysfunction, and other ailments.One of the best gifts of Ayurveda to people suffering from sexual problems is that, it helps your penile blood vessels to increase the flow of blood to the penis. These health problems are great concern as they have seriously side effects of viagra bad influence on male sexual health.
- A) Verse 1speaks to Jesus, calling him the “Love divine.”
1) Love divine all loves excelling. We already note a change from “love” to “loves.”
2) God’s love is greater than all other loves – spouse, parent, child, country, money.
3) The entire Bible is about the love of God – his desire for a relationship with humanity that is so overwhelming, that it is offered constantly to those who do not want it. Isaiah 65:1-5 – 1 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ 2 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations— 3 a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; 4 who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of impure meat; 5 who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you!’ Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.
4) The Old Testament can be summed up as the story of the greatness of God’s love for His people.
5) But this love is supremely expressed in Christ’s coming to earth. Wesley refers to Jesus as the “Joy of heaven.”
6) The prayer is that Christ will dwell within us and crown us with his mercy because he is “all compassion” and love without a boundary.
7) The verse ends with a plea to visit us with salvation, entering every trembling heart.
- a) When the Wesleys sailed for America in October of 1735 all went well for a while.
- b) Then the sea turned nasty and in a storm, the main mast split and the crew was overwhelmed with dread.
- c) What saved everyone was the singing of a group of Christians known as Moravians.
- d) When the Wesleys asked how they could be so calm the Moravians said it was because they did not fear death. This was new to the Wesleys and they began to doubt their own salvation.
- e) But this is what our hymn is about: the first verse ends with the prayer that the salvation will fill the trembling hearts and bring peace and calm.
- B) The second verse
1) Concerns the Holy Spirit
2) Brings to mind John 20.
- a) It was the evening of resurrection Sunday and Jesus met with his disciples.
- b) The Bible tells us Jesus breathed on his disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit.
3) The Spirit is critical in Bible teaching.
- a) The Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance to come – the promised rest of God. Ephesians 1:14;
- b) If you don’t have the Spirit you are not a child of God – Galatians 4:6
- c) Without the Spirit there is no resurrection – Romans 8:11 and therefore no rest with God.
- d) It is by the power of the Spirit that we put to death the deeds of the flesh – Romans 8:13
- e) It is the Spirit that leads us – Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18
- f) Without the Spirit change of life is not possible and we could never be brought into eternal day.
- C) The final verse in our hymnals is a call to God
1) Refers to us as a new creation – 2 Corinthians 5:17 – 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2) But this creation is but a beginning. It must be brought to completion – finished. The finishing of it is not left up to me, but rather up to the action of God. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 – 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
3) Our lives must be formed by God’s power – 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 – 11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
4) Our salvation must be secured by God. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 – 23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Conclusion
- A) We end with two important points about this hymn:
- B) First, it is a reminder
1) that God in Christ has started something in our lives that will end in something amazing. When it comes to completion, we will be lost in wonder, love, and praise.
2) that in order for this to happen, we are totally dependent on God and his work in our life.
- C) Second, it is a prayer that confesses our dependence on God to make it so and a confession of our desire that God act and make it. When we sing it, we need to be truthful. You might consider what God would need to do to get you to depend on him and make sure that’s really what you want.
Mike Tune
1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanna_Wesley
2Justo Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity (San Francisco, CA: Harper Collins, 1985) II. 211.
3https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Divine,_All_Loves_Excelling
4The hymn is somewhat difficult to discuss in terms of what Charles wrote because of all the changes that have been made in the hymn. Churches that don’t hold to the trinity cut out verses 2 & 3 and simply make the whole thing a praise of God. In verse 2, “Take away the power of sinning” has been replaced with “take away the love of sinning.” The next line, “Alpha and Omega be” has been replaced with “take our load of guilt away.” These are but a few of the changes. cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Divine,_All_Loves_Excelling
