Fill in the blank: “For God so ______________ the world, that he gave…” (John 3:16)
The discussion was too good not to discuss. And what was discussed was so important I need to discuss it with you. And this discussion started from a discussion question:
Does God love you because Christ died for you, or did Christ die for you because God loved you? And does it even matter?
This question came from a book I am studying that is titled The Whole Christ by Sinclair Ferguson. Wow, what a book it is. This question may not seem like much, but I think it may be one of the most important questions to ponder as a Christian. Because it pinpoints a very serious issue: What kind of love does the Father have towards me?
If God the Father loves me only because Christ died for me, that means the Father’s love toward me is not unconditional. Not only that but in order for God the Father to love me, it cost an awful lot, the blood of his Son, to finally get him to relent and agree to consider me as someone to love. Instead of God’s love
The phrase “love-gap” means, “We can be sure that Jesus’ disposition toward us is through and through love; But we fear that the Father’s disposition is the result of persuasion, not personal devotion.”
Oh sure, Jesus loves me, Jesus loves everyone: The children, the widow, the prostitute, and the broken down no good sinner like me. But does the Father? And to persuade the Father to love those people and me, did Jesus first have to die? If the answer is yes, it completely poisons the well of faith.
Let me make this personal. Do you think Jesus loves you more than his Father? If Jesus needed to die for the Father to love you then in the back of your heart you will wonder about the actual kindness and generosity of God. I once counseled with a man who said, “I know God promised me salvation if I believed the Gospel. And since he has to be true to his promises, because God doesn’t lie, then I get to get into heaven because I believed the Gospel. But in my heart, I am not quite sure if he is happy about me getting into heaven?” If you read between the lines, the man somehow thinks the Father’s love is not a generous love, but a negotiated cold business deal that was earned by the Son’s love. It assumes that the Father must fulfill his promise, not because he is loving, but because he “cannot lie.”
It reminds me of a bouncer who didn’t think I deserved to get into a bar because I looked so young, but when I went with my older bearded friend who had an ID and said, he’s with me, and then I showed him my ID that said I was over 21 he “had to” let me in. He wasn’t happy about it, but the rules are the rules. So then, is God the Father the bouncer of heaven, with arms crossed and demanding proof of ID, and Jesus is my buddy that slips me in past a disgruntled God? “Don’t worry about it Father, I paid for him.”
If this is true, then that means the Father loves based on conditions. But that is not true, the Father loves because he is love. “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16)
God sent Jesus precisely because his love was aroused to save me. Isaiah 53:10 makes it more than clear how much the Father wanted me, “Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer.” Whose will? The LORD’s, the Father. To crush whom? Him, the Son. So God initiated the sacrifice because his love compelled him. Listen to how Hosea 11:3-4 & 8-9 expresses the heart of God. It is overwhelming…
“It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them”
“How can I give you up Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devestate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man – the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath.”
Some of you question the heart of the Father. Especially with all this mistrust of the “Patriarchy”
No, no, no…a thousand times No! God the Father and the God the Son can not be split., the Trinity is immutable, God cannot be divided. That means they, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, are all of the same mind toward you. Jesus says, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?” (John 14:9-10)
God’s love – including the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – is unconditional. He loves because he is love. Love loves! And the loving God loves you…even before the Son died. “For he chose us in him BEFORE THE CREATION of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. IN LOVE he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his PLEASURE and will.” (Ephesians 1:4-5)
God is pleased to love you. Never forget that. And in his pleasure he sent his Son. Jesus is just carrying out what the Father’s love initiated. If you let that sink in, it should shock your world.
Oh, and one last thing: If you are wondering what I was doing going into a bar, it is none of your business. That story is for another time and another place…so don’t judge me because the Father loves me!
