Loving Worship
Christ's love is a complex and multifaceted emotion that wounds and heals, fascinates and frightens, and kills and makes alive.
A.W. Tozer explores the profound duality of Christ's love, which both wounds and heals, captivating and unsettling the soul. He emphasizes that a deep, painful adoration for Christ can lead to a transformative experience, purging the heart while simultaneously providing satisfaction. Tozer highlights the moral fragrance of this love, evident in the lives of saints throughout history, including Augustine, whose writings reflect a blend of passionate love and holy fear. This radiant love for Christ serves as the true measure of belonging to the universal Church, transcending theological differences and social barriers.
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The love of Christ both wounds and heals, it fascinates and frightens, it kills and makes alive, it draws and repulses, it sobers and enraptures. There can be nothing more terrible or more wonderful than to be stricken with love for Christ so deeply that the whole being goes out in a pained adoration of His person, an adoration that disturbs and disconcerts while it purges and satisfies and relaxes the deep inner heart. This love as a kind of moral fragrance is ever detected upon the garments of the saints.
In the writings of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, for instance, this fragrance is so strong as to be very nearly intoxicating.
There are passages in his Confessions so passionately sweet as to be unbearable, yet so respectful and self-effacing as to excite pity for the man who thus kneels in adoring wonder, caught between holy love and an equally holy fear. The list of fragrant saints is long. It includes men and women of every shade of theological thought within the bounds of the orthodox Christian faith. It embraces persons of every social level, every degree of education, every race and color. This radiant love for Christ is to my mind the true test of catholicity, the one sure proof of membership in the Church universal.
Sermon Outline
- The Nature of Christ's Love
- The Effect of Christ's Love
- The Character of Those Who Love Christ
- They are marked by a deep adoration
- They are purged and satisfied by this love
Key Quotes
“The love of Christ both wounds and heals, it fascinates and frightens, it kills and makes alive, it draws and repulses, it sobers and enraptures.” — A.W. Tozer
“This love as a kind of moral fragrance is ever detected upon the garments of the saints.” — A.W. Tozer
“This radiant love for Christ is to my mind the true test of catholicity, the one sure proof of membership in the Church universal.” — A.W. Tozer
Application Points
- We should strive to cultivate a deep and abiding love for Christ that marks us as His followers.
- This love should be characterized by a mix of adoration and fear, which is a sign of its authenticity.
- Our love for Christ should be the test of our membership in the Church universal, demonstrating our commitment to Him and His teachings.