In this series on God’s love, I’ve written three other posts that address the strength of God’s affection for his people (Affectionate Love, The Intimacy of Absolute Trust, and Romantic Love). Each has a different emphasis. I want to do one more on the theme because it also has a different, encouraging emphasis. This topic is God’s cherishing love. Two Scriptures call attention to it, both using the same Greek word (thalpo), one using the analogy of a person cherishing his own body and the other using the analogy of a nursing mother cherishing her child.
Cherishing our bodies
“No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes [Greek, thalpo] it, just as Christ does the church” (Ephesians 5:29, ESV).
Consider
the many ways you may have cherished your body this week: cooking and eating
healthy food, enjoying unhealthy food, sleeping, brushing teeth, showering and
washing hands and assorted other cleanup, beautification of hair and face,
exercising, assorted doctor visits, buying and caring for clothing, looking in
the mirror, cutting nails, applying lotion or sunscreen, taking medicine and
vitamins, physical therapy. You may have even gone to a spa.
Yes,
we cherish our bodies. We nourish, pamper, comfort, strengthen, heal, and
protect them. Jesus cherishes the church, and you a Christian, the way people cherish
their bodies.
Cherishing a child
“We were
gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care (Greek, thalpo)
of her own children” (1 Thessalonians 2:7, ESV). Notice that the comparison
here is not just to a mother but to a nursing mother, a woman who tenderly
holds a baby to her breast and lets the child suck milk from her for hours each
day. Nursing mothers sing to their children. They caress and shelter them. They
gently nurture and hold them.
To
communicate this same idea, Scripture also uses the analogy of a shepherd with
sheep. Isaiah 40:11 says, “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will
gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead
those that are with young.”
Psalm
23:1–3 says, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down
in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.”
Jesus
commanded the apostle Peter, “Feed my
lambs” (John 21:15).
The
Book of Revelation describes the cherishing kind of love God will show to those
who have suffered on earth for their faith. “Therefore they are before the
throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on
the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will
guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from
their eyes” (Revelation 7:15–17).
All these Scriptures
picture God’s heart toward you.
Our way and God’s way
Our way: A fallen person tries to take advantage of God’s
cherishing love. Or we may think of God in either-or categories: always either judging
or tender.
God’s way: His love is not indulgent, but he is not just a disciplinarian. He truly cherishes and treasures his children more than any mother cherishes her child or any woman cherishes her body. In a sense, God’s love is a spa for the soul.
Life principle: When your soul yearns for comfort, think long on the cherishing love of God.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
God’s discerning love ensures the most excellent goodness for you.
Recently I overheard my wife Nancy on the phone as she was discussing the first few days of the new school year of one of our grandchildren, who, she said, came home quiet and subdued. “It was a hard week” for the grandchild, she said. That grade level is a big adjustment, she said. Without the child saying anything about it, Nancy showed the ability to discern a child’s heart, to recognize correctly what the child was feeling and thinking. Mothers know when a child needs a nap, needs help, needs a hug.
God is discerning about all things. His love is discerning.
Scripture says of Jesus, “He knew all people and needed no one to bear witness
about man, for he himself knew what was in man” (John 2:24–25, ESV).
To discern is to detect, to recognize, or to identify as separate and distinct. We exercise discernment when we can taste a particular spice or ingredient in a dish, or when a doctor can diagnose a disease based on symptoms. An investor like Warren Buffett exercises discernment when he buys stock in companies that prove to be valuable. A coder uses discernment when she skillfully uncovers why a website is buggy.
God’s discerning love brings comfort
God’s ability to discern the heart of a man means he knows both
the bad and the good, including all a person’s potential in God.
Jesus showed this when he first called Nathanael to be his
disciple. Scripture says, “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of
him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’” (John 1:47).
David wrote that God’s discerning love was a comforting
thought to him, “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts
from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are
acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my
tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether” (Psalm 139:1–4).
God’s discernment of your heart enables him to know how to
work for your highest good in every situation. He is not an inept parent who
constantly misreads his children’s motives or needs. He does not discipline us
without real cause. Rather, he resembles the mother of a toddler whose nose
knows when the diaper needs changing. He is like a father who recognizes when
his son is ready for a challenge, strong enough for his next responsibility.
David saw the benefit of this. “Search me, O God, and know
my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in
me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24)
Always in love
Love always seeks the good of another person. The connection
between love and discernment is seen in Philippians 1. “It is my prayer that
your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and alldiscernment,
so that you may approve what is excellent” (vv. 9–10).
Notice it is discernment and the knowledge it brings that enables
a person to approve what is excellent. God’s discernment enables him to pursue
the highest good in you, the excelling good—the excellent. Every day you can
look at your life and be assured that God’s work in this situation is
excellent.
Moreover, in this world of many sorrows, it is God’s loving
discernment that enables him to know what you can bear. Scripture says, “God is
faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but
with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be
able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Moreover, through discernment he knows your needs, your real
needs, and thus can provide every one. “My God will supply every need of yours
according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19) If a true
Christian feels that God did not meet his or her need, it was because God knew
whether it was a real need in relation to his perfect purpose for the person’s life.
Our way and God’s way
Our way: Fallen people think they know better than God what is best for them. A fallen person prefers to walk in the darkness and hide from God’s searching knowledge.
God’s way: The Lord knows you infinitely better than your mother knew you. The expert on you is not you; it is God.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
God’s covenantal love is a faithful, committed, loyal, no-messing-around love.
How many covenants are you in? That is, how many
relationships are you in that are bound and ordered by a formal covenant?
A business contract is a weak form of covenant. I am bound by
two contracts with publishers for books still in print. I have obligations and
promises to fulfill under those contracts, and so do the publishers. I am also
bound by contract with a rental company for my apartment, involving a host of
promises and obligations, with financial repercussions for breaking them.
But beyond business contracts, I have also entered two formal
covenants. When I married my wife, we each entered a marriage covenant in the
sight of God and under the guidelines of Holy Scripture in which we made vows
to each other. God is the witness to our vows, and he holds us responsible if
we neglect or break them. A marriage covenant is far more than fine-sounding words
in a marriage ceremony. It requires faithfulness.
In covenant with God
Finally, I have also entered a covenant with God. That’s the
most serious business of all. Anyone who becomes a follower of Jesus Christ
enters the same covenant. Jesus called it the new covenant in his blood. At the
Last Supper, Jesus took “the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that
is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood’” (Luke 22:20 ESV).
We are reminded of our covenant each time we receive Communion.
This covenant with God is ordered and bound by promises and
obligations. God’s promises are found in the Bible, and you can be sure he will
never be unfaithful to them, for he is incapable of breaking his Word. He is
the God of perfect truth and faithfulness. He cannot lie; he cannot break
faith; he cannot be disloyal.
In Scripture we also find our promises and obligations as
followers of Jesus Christ and the repercussions of being unfaithful.
Unfortunately, we have not yet been perfected, and so we do fail to keep the
covenant completely. Thankfully, we have an advocate and High Priest who
mediates for us, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed his blood for the forgiveness
of our covenant breaking if we will confess and repent of our sins (see 1 John 1:9–2:2).
God’s covenantal love
God makes covenants with people as an expression of his
love. Just as a man and woman enter into the marriage covenant as an expression
of their loving commitment to one another and their pledge of enduring
faithfulness, so God in love pledges himself to us and calls us to pledge
ourselves to him. He doesn’t do one-night stands. He doesn’t do no-obligation
cohabitation. He doesn’t have partners; he has only covenant partners. It’s his
nature. His love is a faithful, committed, loyal, no-messing-around love.
His love is a promise-making love. He delights to obligate
himself to people he loves and come through forever. He promised himself in
covenant love to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Phinehas, Levi, the nation
of Israel, and the followers of Jesus Christ. If you have surrendered your life
to Jesus Christ, you are in the most wonderful, life-giving covenant
imaginable, and if you remain faithful it will be your perfect satisfaction,
safety, and security forever.
Our way and God’s way
Our way: In our fallen nature we are reluctant to
commit to others and prone to breaking the commitments we do make.
God’s way: In love he yearns for covenant
relationships and maintains his faithful love forever.
Life principle: The essence of keeping our covenant with God is to believe in him and all his words recorded in Scripture; to trust in Jesus for our salvation; to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
I invite you to read my weekly posts about knowing God and his ways better. —Craig Brian Larson
God’s love is gracious.
Because of his grace, God loves us before we are good, before we are lovely.
Grace means giving to
others what they do not deserve or have not earned. Grace is the overflow of
God’s infinite love, goodness, and kindness, which is so great that he delights
to bless even those who have offended and rejected him.
When God loved us in
our sins, it was not as though he was a dog lover who walked by a pet rescue
center, saw a cute, sad-eyed puppy in the window, and just couldn’t help
himself but had to take that puppy home to the family. No, God’s love for
sinners is his overflowing grace that delights to extravagantly love and show
immeasurable kindness to those who least deserve it. In his grace, God chose to
love people who were an abomination to him. He didn’t feel good about fallen
sinners. Far from it.
For example, read the
story of how God felt about the people of the world prior to his sending the
deluge in Noah’s time: “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in
the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth,
and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will blot out man
whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping
things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them’”
(Genesis 6:5–7 ESV).
I’m going to give some Scriptures now that may shock you. You may even think I have lost it theologically, but please read to the end so you get my full, balanced explanation, and why it is important to understand and believe what these Scriptures say if we are to understand his love, grace, and gospel. If you don’t read to the end, you will misunderstand me.
Here we go. Notice in Scripture how God feels about both sin and sinners: “There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers” (Proverbs 6:16–19). Notice that it is not just lies that God abominates; it is also the false witness who speaks them. It is not just discord that God hates; it is also the one who sows it.
As Psalm 5:4–6 says: “You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.”
It sounds shocking to say God “hates evildoers,” but it cannot be otherwise. God is perfectly good, and perfect goodness cannot be indifferent about evil. Perfect goodness must hate and oppose evil. For example, a perfectly good father wants the good of his child and therefore hates any evil that could harm his child.
To use another example, no one would suggest that God could be indifferent toward the evil of Adolf Hitler or the mass shooters who plague American society. If God is perfectly good, he must hate the evil of a sociopath, or any other evil that God recognizes as such but that we often minimize or overlook because we are guilty of these evils or know someone who is guilty. (See Hebrews 1:8–9, in which God says of Jesus, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.”)
You may be thinking, Wait a minute; the Bible says God hates the sin but loves the sinner. That is an appealing saying, but it is not in the Bible. There is certainly a sense that God loves the sinner, but it is emphatically not that he feels good about them. God loves sinners in the sense that he cares about them, wants them to be saved from the guilt of sin, offers his Son Jesus to them as Savior, and for the present time patiently shows undeserved kindness to them in hope that they will repent and become children in whom he delights.
So when God loves
sinners, it is an act of grace, not attraction. He gives love and chooses
(Exodus 33:19) to have compassion on and show mercy to those who do not deserve
it and in fact actually provoke his holy and just wrath and hatred. He gives
extravagant love to his enemies (Matthew 5:43–45). In love he gave his beloved
Son Jesus for sinners. That was the greatest expression of gracious love in
human history (John 3:16–19). Jesus came to express and display the gracious
love of God and his choice to show compassion and mercy to sinners (John
1:14–18).
But Jesus loved sinners
Still, this just does not sit right. If God loathes stubborn, proud, unbelieving sinners and regards them as his enemies, why did Jesus in his lifetime not express that? Jesus was the friend of sinners. He hung around tax collectors and showed kindness to prostitutes. He expressed compassion for those in bondage to Satan’s torments.
What’s more, it was the
Pharisees—the bad guys of the Gospels—who despised sinners, while Jesus loved
sinners and defended them from the Pharisees. And Jesus said he was the perfect
reflection of God the Father.
So the idea that God in
one sense loathes and—in another, limited sense—graciously loves sinners seems
unthinkable.
Understanding the seeming
contradiction
Three truths explain
the paradox.
1. Jesus introduced a
special period when God is offering mercy. In the salvation offered through
Jesus, God opened a window of opportunity that will one day shut. In Jesus, God
offers his gracious love (hence the topic of this post). God is offering his
love to all, to the undeserving, the idol worshipers, the arrogant and
rebellious, inviting them to humble themselves, repent, follow Jesus, and be
saved. This is the gracious era of salvation, and Jesus offered it during his
ministry. For this limited era, Jesus came not to condemn, but to save.
But this is only a
season. This is not a permanent state of affairs. This door will close.
The New Testament says:
“‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have
helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of
salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Again, the New
Testament says, “Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance
and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to
repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up
wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be
revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by
patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give
eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but
obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation
and distress for every human being who does evil” (Romans 2:4–9)
The Book of Revelation also
makes clear that this period of God’s gracious, loving welcome to sinners will
come to an end. When it does, the wrath of God that never left his heart but
has been stored up against unrepentant sinners will finally be expressed in a
great and terrible judgment. And it will be expressed not just by God the
Father, but also by Jesus (see Revelation 6:16; 14:10; 19:11–21). As always,
Jesus is perfect theology.
2. Jesus came to be our mediator and high priest. He came to mediate between us and God. Even though in his hatred of evil, God was against us, in gracious love he chose also to be for us (Romans 8:31–32) by sending a mediator who could satisfy his holy wrath, turning it away from us by taking it upon himself at the cross. The cross is the unmistakable evidence that God never lost his hatred of evil and evildoers, but in gracious love chose to save evildoers through the blood of Jesus.
So, Jesus showed kindness rather than hostility to sinners because that was his special role as the Mediator, the High Priest, the Savior, and the Lamb of God. Sinful humans could not come near to God without a mediator and Savior. This merciful, mediating role does not deny God’s wrath toward sinners, but rather emphatically affirms it. There would be no need for a mediating high priest if God felt good about sinners.
3. During his earthly ministry, Jesus actually did display God’s wrath and hostility toward some sinners. These sinners were of course primarily the Pharisees, and Jesus did not treat them warmly because most of them were beyond salvation, for they knew better and had hardened their hearts.
Jesus felt anger toward
them: “Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered
hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath,
so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Come
here.’ And he said to them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do
harm, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. And he looked around
at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the
man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored”
(Mark 3:1–5).
In his words he expressed utter loathing for them: “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” (Matthew 23:33) (Read the full-length, scathing declaration of Jesus’ loathing for the Pharisees here: Matthew 23:15–35).
Pharisees were not the
only ones toward whom Jesus expressed the wrath of God: “In the temple [Jesus] found
those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers
sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple,
with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and
overturned their tables” (John 2:14–15). That’s not nice, nor is it warm and
welcoming, nor is it merciful.
Avoiding the pharisees’ error
As important as the truth of this post is, it can lead to error. Again, it was the error of the Pharisees. They hated sinners, even though they themselves were grievous sinners, blind to their own wickedness. Jesus condemned them for hypocrisy, selfishness, greed, hardness of heart, self-righteousness, injustice, godlessness. They thought they were good enough for God. They imagined they had kept the requirements of the law of Moses and judged others for not keeping it.
Why this is important
The reason this
difficult truth is important to believe is it compels us to speak the gospel to
lost people and urge them to come to Christ. If we believe God has warm and
fuzzy love for everyone regardless of what they do or believe, we easily assume
that God will certainly forgive and accept everyone but the most hardened sociopathic
killers. It reminds us that apart from Jesus, the people you know and love are
lost and facing eternal condemnation. You need to risk offending them by
talking to them about the good news of Jesus.
And these truths give
the proper warning to non-Christians that all is not well between them and
their Creator. In fact, they are living under the shadow of a coming storm
worse than any hurricane (Romans 1:18; 2:5, 8). God loves them, but he does not
accept them and will certainly judge them if they do not trust in Jesus for the
forgiveness of sins.
Our way and God’s way
Our way: We think God loves us because we are
lovable, because we are good.
God’s way: God gives you his love based not on your
merits or your loveliness but rather based solely on his grace. He gives love
you do not deserve.
Life principle: We
must respond to God’s gracious love by repenting of breaking God’s commandments,
by trusting in Jesus Christ to be our Savior from the guilt of our sins, and by
following him from now on as our Lord.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
I’m praying for my readers that God will give you the Spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God.
Blessings,
—Brian
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
God’s holy love is perfect love that always pursues the highest good of righteousness, truth, and purity in us.
A year ago I got an ugly cold and sinus infection. My nose ran
nonstop for days, I was sneezing and had a mild fever, and my body hurt all
over. I carried around a paper shopping bag and filled it with used tissues. I
was so miserable I didn’t shower for two or three days. I was unclean. When I
finally felt well enough to shower, I experienced sweet relief as I washed away
the germs, oil, and sweat, holding my face in the spray to let the purifying
water keep rushing over the skin that had been a hazardous material zone. When
the shower ended, I wasn’t yet fully healed, but I felt like a new man.
God’s love is like that shower. It is a holy love that
sanctifies us. “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11,
ESV).
God’s holy love
The holy love of God is displayed in the love Jesus has for his church. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25–27 ESV).
Uncleanness literally kills our bodies and souls, so true
love cleanses.
God’s love is not an unholy love. An unholy love is selfish,
exploitative, fickle, ignorant of what is best for another person. Unholy love
seeks only pleasure, not purity. A holy love pursues righteousness in the
relationship. God’s holy love seeks a holy relationship, marked by the fruits
of the Holy Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).
Models of holy love
God’s holy love is like the love of Jesus for Peter, with an
unswerving commitment to truth, the forgiveness of wrongs, a desire to be
together, patience and understanding, and the pursuit of Peter’s growth and maturity.
God’s holy love as displayed in Jesus is like the love of Paul
for Timothy, marked by testing, challenges and charges, admonishment, and
instruction.
On the other hand, we see unholy love in the relationship of
King Ahab and Jezebel, marked by manipulation, weakness, a love for evil-doing,
and the rejection of the Lord and his ways. We see unholy love in Samson and
Delilah, Solomon for his foreign wives, Judas for Jesus.
God’s holy love as displayed in Jesus is like the love of
Ruth for her mother-in-law Naomi, marked by a servant’s heart, humility,
unselfishness, and commitment.
God’s holy love as displayed in Jesus is like the love of
Jonathan and David, marked by righteous loyalty in the face of evil attacks.
God’s promise
God will succeed in his loving purpose of cleansing us
entirely. We will someday be perfectly clean and pure, holy in status before God,
in nature, and in conduct. God will accomplish this, for we cannot do it by
ourselves, though we must cooperate. The great struggle against sin, temptation,
and darkness will soon come to an end, and we will be pure people living in a
pure world cleansed of all moral filth.
For when Jesus comes again, “He is like a refiner’s fire and
like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he
will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they
will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD” (Malachi 3:2–3).
Our way and God’s way
Our way: Fallen humans want God’s love to be a permissive, indulgent love, to accept us as we are and leave us as we are. We want absolutely unconditional love. We do not want to change and resist becoming clean.
God’s way: He seeks our highest good, so he seeks our
purity. Uncleanness corrupts, degrades, and destroys. To leave us in filthiness
would not be loving. Holy love always accords with truth and righteousness.
Life principle: The strength of our relationship with God depends on our ongoing pursuit of purity. For, by pursuing holiness we walk in harmony with the holy God.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
When you need a savior from harm of any kind, God loves you enough to come to your rescue.
In the Old Testament, what would you say is the defining act
of God, apart from Creation? The people of Israel would undoubtedly answer it
was when God saved them from the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt. He saved them
from slavery to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who were too strong for them. He
redeemed them with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, pouring out judgments
on the Egyptians and then parting the Red Sea so that Israel could march
through on dry ground.
Why did God save them? He explains: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my
son” (Hosea 11:1 ESV). God saves because he loves. His love is a saving,
redeeming, rescuing love.
In Psalm 18, David
described being in great danger, but then God came on the scene: “He brought me
out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me”
(Psalm 18:19).
God’s love-inspired
rescues are the story line of the entire Bible. God created humans; Adam and
Eve fell to sin and Satan; and the rest of the Bible is the story of how God saved
our fallen race.
Moreover, salvation
is the story told again and again throughout the Bible. God saves Noah and his
family from the flood; Abraham and Sarah from Pharaoh; Jacob from Laban; David from
Goliath and then from Saul; Hezekiah and Jerusalem from Nebuchadnezzar and his
vast army; Israel and Esther from Haman and the annihilation edict of the king;
Daniel from the lion’s den; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery
furnace; Jehoshaphat from the hordes of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir; Jeremiah
from the false prophets; Peter from prison; Jesus’s body from the grave. The
Lord never tires of this plot. He loves saving people because he loves people.
When God’s Son
became a man, the Father named him Jesus, which means “save,” and the angel
explained, “[Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he
will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21 ESV).
When you need a savior
So, what does God’s saving love mean for you? It means he
saves you from what threatens to harm you. He is still in the salvation
business, large and small.
It’s as natural for God to save as it is for you to breathe.
Redemption—a rich biblical word for salvation, emphasizing the idea that God
brings good out of bad—is God’s nature, and it’s the nature of love.
If there is some harm that threatens you, whether spiritual,
financial, physical, social, relational, or whatever, call out to God. As David
prayed, “Save me in your steadfast love!” (Psalm 31:16 ESV).
Our way and God’s way
Our way: In pride, fallen people don’t want God’s
help. We want to save ourselves through our own goodness and skill.
God’s way: In love, he saves those who are poor in
spirit, who are humble enough to admit their need and ask for help.
Life principle: In all things, the Lord is your salvation from harm.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
Love serves. Though God is exalted, he actually serves us.
God’s love for us leads him to do many surprising things,
and perhaps the most surprising is his choice to serve us. We normally think that
it is we who serve God, not God who serves us. It even sounds wrong to say the great,
exalted God serves us. But in fact it is God who to an infinitely greater
degree serves us because of his love for us.
He truly humbles himself to serve us. For example, changing
diapers is not prestigious work, yet parents—because of love—do for their infant
children what they would not lower themselves to do for others. They humble
themselves and serve them.
Love serves.
Because God loves us, he serves us, not just now and then,
but continually, for we continually, unceasingly need his support, for we are
completely dependent on him for life, breath, and everything else—at all times.
At no time are we self-sustaining. So God in love, in humility, serves us, like
a restaurant server waits tables, like a nurse cares for patients.
Love serves
Jesus, who is the perfect reflection of God, made a point of
this:
“ 1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when
Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father,
having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2
During supper…3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things
into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4
rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it
around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to
wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around
him” (John 13:1–5, ESV).
Notice it says, “He loved them to the end.” It was love that
moved Jesus to serve the twelve—even the man he knew would betray him—and it is
love that moves him to lower himself and serve you, for to wash feet one must
stoop.
God’s love keeps on serving
This was not a one-time aberration. “The Son of
Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
for many” (Matthew 20:28). Everything Jesus did for us during his earthly
ministry was an act of servanthood. He gave his life for others, for you.
Moreover, he is not finished. Teaching about his
Second Coming, Jesus said, “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds
awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and
have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them” (Luke 12:37). So, even when Jesus comes as the
unmistakable King in power and glory, he will change his clothes, direct
everyone to find a seat at the banquet table, and serve them dinner.
Why does he do this? This is not the way kings act. But it is
the way God acts. He humbles himself to serve the people he loves. How can we resist
loving a God like this?
Letting God serve you
Even so, it doesn’t feel right to have someone as great as
Jesus serve you. Peter felt it when Jesus came to wash his feet. Lapsing into
another of his “I need to straighten out Jesus” moods, Peter told him, “You
shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “If I do not wash you, you have no share
with me.”
Peter wisely reverted course: “Lord, not my feet only but
also my hands and my head!”
Our way and God’s way
Our way: We may regard serving others in humble ways as
demeaning.
God’s way: The Lord shows his humble love by stooping
to serve us.
Life principle: To receive God’s humble love actually takes humility, for it requires that we acknowledge how much we need him. God’s humble servanthood teaches us to serve him in return, and to serve others. To be a servant is to imitate God.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
We often talk about knowing God, but does God know you?
God knows everything and everyone, but he doesn’t know
everyone in the same way, that is, in the same loving way.
For example, the Bible says, “If anyone loves God, he is
known by God.” (1 Corinthians 8:3 ESV).
Notice that there is a way of knowing that God has only for
people who love him. If—if—anyone loves God, he is known by God, it
says.
What kind of special knowing does God have for those he
loves and who love him?
Does God know you?
God speaks of certain people with approval. He receives and
accepts them. For instance, in response to a request, God told Moses, “This
very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my
sight, and I know you by name” (Exodus 33:17 ESV).
Although God knows everyone’s name, he is saying to Moses
that he knows Moses as a friend. We might put it this way: we’re on a
first-name basis. This kind of love is the love marked by favor, familiarity,
and approval.
I live in a four-tower apartment complex with some 2,500
residents and several dozen employees. I can’t meet or know everyone, of
course. When I walk down the long hallway connecting the four towers, there are
many people I don’t recognize, some I recognize but don’t know yet, and others
that I have met and know their names. When I’m in the hallway, I’m looking for
the people I know. When I see them, I make it a point to smile, greet them, and
visit when possible. My attitude toward the people I know is different than
that toward strangers; it’s marked by more favor and friendliness, more love.
In some ways, this is how God knows the people of the world.
God knows and loves everyone in a way, but he knows and loves his people in a
greater way.
The privilege of being known
Obviously this is a great honor. Imagine getting a new job
at a company with 1,000 employees, and in your first month on the job there is
an all-company meeting. When you arrive at the large auditorium and check in,
you receive instructions to go to a particular room before the first general
session in order to meet some of the company leaders.
Immediately you feel stress, for the leaders of your company are highly respected not only in your company but throughout the profession. Your company’s CEO has written numerous books that are standard works in the field, and he speaks in conferences around the world. He is a multi-multi millionaire. You have looked up to him for years. You are an entry-level employee, and this will be the most important hour in your networking life.
When you walk into the room, to your astonishment the first person to welcome you is the CEO . To your greater astonishment, he greets you by name and remarks favorably on your education and background. You are so taken back, that you can only think to ask, “How do you know me?”
“I know you,” responds the CEO. “I know you well. In fact, I read your resume. I worked with the HR department in selecting you. I’m very careful about who we hire to be a part of the team. I want you to sit at my table and have breakfast with me.”
Later, after breakfast, in the general session of 1,000 employees, the CEO again surprises you when in his vision talk he starts out by saying, “I want to welcome <your name> as a new employee this month. I am excited to have him on our team, and I believe he will do a great job for us.”
Wow! Would you feel special? To be known by name by the
owner of the company. To have him regard you as a valuable member of the team.
To be greeted by name by him when he sees you in the hallway.
Knowing brings significance
To be known, truly known, by an important person is a
wonderful feeling. It gives a feeling of value and significance. But being
known by God is infinitely more wonderful. To be known approvingly by God is
the ultimate meaning and significance of any person. In the eyes of every
person in the world, you could be regarded as a nobody, but if God knows you—knows
you as only he can—you are important. You have value.
Are you a follower of Jesus? Then God knows you. Knows you! Knows you by name, knows you as a friend, knows you as a father who loves you. This knowing is his choice. And now for the rest of eternity you get to know him better and better. To know and be known in pure love. As Paul writes, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV).
Our way and God’s way
Our way: Fallen people want to be known by people,
not by God. Because of their sins, fallen people prefer to hide from God, to
walk in darkness.
God’s way: In love, the Lord honors you by deigning
to know you, like a king leaving the throne room to walk among the common people,
learn their names, and become their friends. He gives you the privilege of
being known by him.
Life principle: Meaning and significance in life comes from knowing that God chooses to stoop down and know you. (see Psalm 139)
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
God created his church for a love relationship with him marked by mutually intense delight and desire.
With different people, we love in different ways. The love one
feels for a parent is different than one feels for a child, not more or less,
but different. Likewise, love feels different for a friend than for a brother
or sister; or for a teacher, coach or mentor. All these loves have different
qualities, but all are love.
Romantic love differs from all other loves. Although songs, novels,
and movies are written about the love of friends, teammates, family, and
others, the number of songs and stories about romantic love exceeds them all by
a millionfold. Any objective observer would have to conclude romantic love is
the greatest and insatiable obsession of humans.
It would be surprising indeed if this singularly important
love between humans had no counterpart in God, that is, if he loved like a parent,
friend, or master, but not like one romantically enthralled with a spouse or
lover. We might hesitate to ascribe romantic love to God, especially if we have
any prudish tendencies to regard the marriage bed as unclean, which it is not
(Hebrews 13:4). Romantic love is marked by desire and passion, by pleasure and
delight, and it’s hard for us to think of God that way.
The God who woos and weds
Yet Scripture demands it, for God describes himself using this
analogy.
Isaiah 54:5 says, “Your
Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name.”
God says, “I will
betroth you to me forever” (Hosea 2:19).
The apostle Paul writes, quoting from Genesis 2:24, “‘Therefore
a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two
shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it
refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:31–32, ESV).
When God forbids having idols and when he rebukes Israel for having them, he uses the language and expectations of romantic, marital love. He speaks of his own jealousy and of Israel’s adultery and whoring. He describes himself as a jilted lover:
“You shall not make
for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You
shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a
jealous God” (Exodus 20:4–5).
“You ask and do not
receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You
adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity
with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an
enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He
yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’?”
(James 4:3–5).
“When the LORD first
spoke through [the prophet] Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to
yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits
great whoredom by forsaking the LORD’” (Hosea 1:2).
Marks of romantic love in God
God has romantic love for his people collectively. The Bible
describes the church, not the individual Christian, as the bride of Christ. Yet
as a member of the church, every individual Christian is in a sense the object
of that romantic/courtship/marital love.
Romantic love has several features that compare to God’s
love for his people:
Delight, ardor, desire, attraction: “The LORD your
God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with
gladness. He will be quiet in his love. He will delight in you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17, CSB). Clearly, God finds
pleasure in the loving relationship he has with his people.
Wooing: “Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that
your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my
steadfast, sure love for David” (Isaiah 55:3). “God’s kindness is meant to lead
you to repentance” (Romans 2:4).
Emotional attachment: At the Last Supper of Jesus
with his disciples, “When the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles
with him. And he said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this
Passover with you before I suffer’” (Luke 22:14–15). In the Old Testament era,
when God spoke to his people with warning of judgment to come, Hosea spoke
these surprising words from the Lord: “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How
can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat
you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and
tender” (Hosea 11:8).
Admiration of beauty: “I clothed you also with
embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen
and covered you with silk. And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets
on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose and
earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned
with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and
embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly
beautiful and advanced to royalty. And your renown went forth among the nations
because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had
bestowed on you, declares the Lord God” (Ezekiel 16:10–14).
As this verse shows, it is important to know that God is the
one who makes his people beautiful and desirable. In ourselves and apart from
God’s gracious work in us, we were repulsive in our sin.
The same idea occurs here: “Husbands, love your wives, as
Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify
her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he
might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any
such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25–27)
“Your royal husband delights in your beauty; honor him, for
he is your lord” (Psalm 45:11, NLT).
Union: Jesus said, “In that day you will know that I
am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20).
Covenant: “I made my vow to you and entered into a
covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine” (Ezekiel 16:8). Jesus
said,“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my
blood” (Luke 22:20).
Headship: “The husband is the head of the wife even
as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior” (Ephesians
5:23).
Sacrificial giving: “Husbands, love your wives, as
Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).
Our way and God’s way
Our way: Fallen people want to love God the way a sister
loves a brother. Fallen people want to have many lovers.
God’s way: The Lord loves his people passionately and
requires that we love him exclusively and passionately. God finds romantic
pleasure in loving his people.
Life principle: God created his church for a love relationship with him marked by mutually intense delight and desire.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
I invite you to read my weekly posts about knowing God and his ways better. —Craig Brian Larson
