Commended Love What is Father God’s motive in His redemptive plan for man and creation? A motive is a purpose that causes motion or incites one to action. It moves the will causing a choice to be made out of an emotion. An emotion from the heart of Father God caused Him to move in behalf of His creation. God’s purpose for all that He did, all that He does, and all that He will do, is for the love He has for man and His desire for fellowship with His creation. Romans 5:8 (KJV) says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The word ‘commend’ means to represent as worthy of notice, regard, or kindness. In other words, God considered us worthy or valuable in placing His love on us. Commended love is the Father’s motive and His love for us caused Him to respond to man with full redemption for all men. Other translations intensify and enlighten us to this love from God to man. The Revised Standard Version (RSV) says, “But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” The Letters of Paul by F. F. Bruce says, “But God confirms [continually demonstrates] His love to us by the fact that Christ died for us when we were still sinners.” In the works of Conybeare and Howson entitled the Life and Epistles of Saint Paul, Romans 5:8 is translated “But God gives proof of His own love to us, because, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” In The Holy Bible From Ancient Eastern Manuscripts by George Lamsa (Lamsa Translation) Romans 5:8 says, “God has here manifested His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” And finally in the New King James Version (NKJV) it is translated “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” These translations point to the great love that God has for man as the reason for the reconciliation of all men and affirm that God’s love is not hidden from man but fully extended from God’s heart before man could even know and receive His love. How did Father God demonstrate His love for man? What did He do to confirm His love toward us? A motive causes a response and answers the question why. Why did God send His Son? Why did God respond by redeeming man? How did God move in our behalf? Romans 8:32 tells us how Father God responded. Romans 8:32 (NKJV) He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? God did not spare, or as one translation says, “He did not withhold His Son.” He did not just say, “I love you” but He gave proof or evidence of His love for us by giving Jesus who redeemed us out of death giving us His life. God extended His love through Jesus even before one man received and accepted Him. God did not leave man in death but entered death and removed man from its grasp. The gift God gave was His Son. It was more than Jesus dying on the cross. It was also what Jesus did in the spiritual realm while His body was on the cross. He dominated our adversary for us. Jesus rose from the dead both in body and spirit. He gave to man the reality of the New Creation—a new man indwelt by God Himself. What is the demonstration or the fruit of human love? Is it not a child born out of that love? Jesus is the product or fruit of Divine love. He is the picture of the motive of Father God who unveils Himself in Christ—God Incarnate. Just as we identified with Christ in dying with Him, being made alive with Him, raised with Him, and made to sit at God’s right hand with Him (Ephesians 2:1-6), God identified with us through His Son. He forever identified with His creation by being made flesh and putting on the clothing of humanity and submitting to death (Jesus was not killed but yielded up His Spirit according to Matthew 27:50) so we could live. Philippians 2:8 says that Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient or succumbed to death by the death of the cross. In the KJV and NKJV it says He became obedient to “the point of” death but these three words are italicized which in these translations mean they are not in the original manuscripts but were added by the translators for clarity. With these words added it seems to make death a force but in reality Jesus did not bow the knee to a force but to the spirit of death. Jesus took the complete penalty of man’s sin. Death both physical and spiritual is an enemy and Jesus yielded to our enemy with us and overcame that enemy. If Jesus had been killed then there would not have been a sacrifice but a murder. Jesus was not murdered but He yielded Himself to our enemy which is death. He who knew no sin became sin for us (II Corinthians 5:17). Look at Ephesians 2:8. Does it not say that God shows us His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus? The first four books of the New Testament which are commonly referred to as the gospels (Matthew through John), demonstrate God unveiling His Son and Jesus unveiling His Father. These first four books show Jesus as the Redeemer and the surrounding events regarding our redemption. We do not yet see what was exactly accomplished in that redemption until we investigate the writings of Paul. But it is different in Paul's writings. In the Epistles of Paul, Father God is uncovering the work He Himself did IN and THROUGH His Son. You also see something else in Paul’s writings that you do not see in the four gospels. Paul unveils or reveals the family of God, the Body of Christ, and the sons of God. God’s motive is clear, revealing Himself in His Son and we see that love demonstrated to us in grace and good things that God gives to us. God demonstrated His love by defining the penalty for sin and then paying the penalty He Himself decreed. Did Father God have any part in man’s redemption? Yes! Titus 3:4-6 (NKJV) 4. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5. not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6. whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, It says that the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared or was focused towards man. Some say, “Oh, that’s just referring to Jesus”. Well it can’t be because the Trinity is seen in these verses. Holy Spirit is identified in verse 5 and Jesus is seen in verse 6, therefore, the “God our Savior” in verse 4 is Father God. The kindness and love that was commended to man came because of the mercy of Father God resulting in our salvation by the Holy Ghost. The kindness and love of God is demonstrated in and through Jesus Christ whom God gave (John 3:16). Did you see the true motive of our Father? What was the kindness and love of God that appeared? Or let me ask it this way, what did the kindness and love of God for man appear as? God demonstrates His kindness and love by the gift of His Son Jesus who reveals love and redemption. His love and kindness is also seen in the proclamation of the Gospel of Righteousness, the GOOD NEWS of our right standing with God and all that our kinship to God as sons provides. We also see His kindness and love in the working of Holy Spirit causing the Kingdom of God to be manifested in our daily lives. Remember, the New Testament saints in Matthew through John saw God though they did not see Him as Father. The religious leaders became very agitated when Jesus called God His Father. God's love was demonstrated to man in the appearance of Jesus, God in the flesh, so that man could see Him, walk with Him, and learn from Him again. Jesus revealed God to us by actions and words; He showed us the nature of God, who He is, what He is like, and His thoughts and heart towards man. Luke 4:18-19 says that God anointed Jesus to do what was and is the will and heart of Father God. We wonder what God is like and we want to know what His thoughts toward us are. The heart of Father God is like the heart of Jesus Christ who died for all men. Acts 10:38 says God anointed Jesus. To anoint means to “rub into and smear all over” and God rubbed into and smeared all over Christ His own heart for man and the resulting action from this anointing was Jesus went about doing good things and healing all that were oppressed or overpowered by the adversary. Let me say it another way, God placed His heart in Jesus and what Jesus did is what God would do. He did it in and through Christ-God in the flesh. He did these things because God was with Him. Jesus simply demonstrated to creation how Father God felt about man. Jesus was demonstrating to the natural realm Father God’s heart. This is the Gospel, the Good News of the love our Father has and the revealing of His plan to have us in His household and His kindness and love appeared when the Gospel was given. The Gospel reveals our right standing with God and our privileges of fellowship with the God of heaven and earth. Love Demonstrated John 17:23 (NKJV) I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. “Oh, God can not love me because of what I did, what I thought, or what I said”. How many times have you heard someone say that God did not love them? This verse in John 17 says God loves us as much as He loves Jesus. The Weymouth Translation says “...with the same love....” The “same love” was to exemplify a perfect union between God and us. So what did the union of God and Jesus in John chapter 17 show the world? It showed the world that God loves us as much as and with the same love that He loves Jesus, and because of that love He has united us with Himself and His Son by Holy Spirit. Well, God can’t love me as much as He does Jesus—can He? Does it seem beyond hope, that God loves us like that? It would not seem so far fetched if we had not been told all of our religious church life that we were only “sinners saved by grace.” We are not sinners saved by grace. His grace can do much more than leave us as a sinner with a hope of heaven someday! We are a New Creation in Him (II Corinthians 5:17) and we are no longer sinners, we are sons of God. I John 3:2 says “Beloved, now are we the sons of God...”, and in Galatians 4:7 it tells us that we are no longer servants but sons and because we are sons then we are heirs. Being sons makes us heirs of God, co-heirs with Jesus according to Romans 8:17. Being co-heirs with Jesus does not mean we get half and He gets half, but we get all of what Jesus gets due to our relationship with the Father, the One who begat the New Creation. He loves us as He does Jesus. I John 4:8 says the man who does not love others, love himself, or love God does not know God because “God is love.” Love is a word that is hard to define. Is love tangible? If love is given to a person does that love have to be received to be called love? An American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster, 1839 Edition says that love is “an affection of the mind excited by beauty and worth of any kind”. God is not “an affection of the mind” but He is love. Scripture gives a true definition of love. In I Corinthians 13 Paul says that love is long suffering and kind, it does not think evil, it does not rejoice in iniquity, and love does not fail! This definition of love must also describe God if God is love. If love suffers long and is kind then Father God is long suffering and kind. Love does not harm then God does not harm. Let God’s Word give us a proper concept of God rather than religion. The Exceeding Riches of His Grace When we were identified with Christ in His redemptive work and He took our standing before God and gave us His standing as a son, God by Holy Spirit not only raised us up with Jesus but He (God) seated us beside Him (Jesus) also according to Ephesians 2:4-10. Ephesians 2:4-10 (NKJV) 4. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5. even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6. and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7. that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9. not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. These verses fully demonstrate the motive of God our Father. While the KJV says in verse 4 that it was “for” God’s love the Revised Standard Version says “out of” that great love He made us alive. The love of God caused or motivated Him to redeem us. What does redeem mean? According to An American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster 1839 Edition it means in part, to purchase back, to ransom, to liberate or rescue from captivity or bondage, to liberate and rescue from any obligation of liability, to suffer or to be forfeited by paying an equivalent, to repurchase what has been sold [so as to] regain possession of a thing alienated by paying the value of it to the possessor. This definition is instantly made clear by Colossians 1:13 which says God has (right now) delivered us from the power of darkness, and has (right now) translated us into the kingdom of his Son. When did Ephesians 2:4-6 occur? When were we made alive, raised, and seated with Him? We were made alive, raised, and seated when Jesus was! We are right now in the “ages to come” referred to in verse 7. Although our redemption is a finished work, Jesus’ Ministry is on going. He is not sitting in heaven twiddling His thumbs waiting for us to get there. Jesus is a merciful and faithful (Hebrews 2:17-18) High Priest who has put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He has done what no earthly high priest has ever done. He completely removed sin not just covered it up. He is our Advocate, One who pleads a cause and defends. He is not defending us to God but He is the family Attorney who covers our faults and protects us from our adversary and evil men, those who would try to bring a charge against the New Creation man. He is the Surety of the New Covenant (Hebrews 7:22) in making certain we do not allow His blood to lose its effectiveness in our lives. Jesus is most assuredly involved in other ministries to man but be certain He is not idle at the right hand of Father God. He is there making sure we stay on the path to get to our Father God and He is there pointing the way. If a child has been alienated from his father he would be ignorant of his father’ s character and heart towards him. Therefore, that child would need someone, an advocate, to show him, to demonstrate and explain to him how his father really feels towards him. Jesus does this for us towards our Father God. We see God’s heart in Jesus as He expresses God to man (Hebrews 1:3). The Purpose of Our Seating with Him Verse 7 of Ephesians chapter 2 indicates that “in the ages to come” God is going to reveal His riches to us and in us. This is not in the “sweet by and by” or “when we all get to heaven.” This verse tells us that from the time that redemption was purposed in the heart of Father God or more specifically manifested and evidenced to us through the resurrection of His Seed Jesus, God’s goodness would be evidenced on earth towards man. In other words, God’s goodness was seen when He gave Jesus as the sacrifice for man’s sin. So, God knew that redemption was needed and He provided that redemption in His Son. The death of His Son provided a means of God’s riches and His “good things” (Matthew 7:11; Romans 10:15; Hebrews 9:11; James 1:17) to get to us in a creation now infected with death. Why are we seated with Christ in heavenly places? Look at these various translations of verse 7 of Ephesians chapter two. The Holy Bible in Modern English by Ferrar Fenton says “... so that He might show to the coming ages the surpassing richness of His gift with which He had benefited us in Christ Jesus.” The New Testament in the Language of Today by W. F. Beck translates that portion of Ephesians 2:7 as “... to show in the coming ages the immeasurable riches of His love by being kind to us in Christ Jesus.” And in The Bible, A New Translation by James Moffatt which says “... to display throughout ages to come His surpassing wealth of grace and goodness toward us in Christ Jesus.” We are seated as examples of being born into His family—the family of God. He did all the work and we get all the benefits which is a perfect definition of God’s grace toward us. He did the dying and we being placed in Him get His life. We get it all now before heaven. Tell me; don’t you need His benefits here while on earth? Down here is where the light bill has to be paid. This is where our children get sick. And here, before we get to heaven, is where man needs to see there is a loving provisionary Father whose heart is to be a Father—Provider to them. Jesus’ death initiated a transfer of good things, the blessings of God to His kids. The Testator Jesus was resurrected, He “stood up again” by the Spirit of God to make sure we get the full benefits that the blood of Jesus paid for starting as a pathway for man to see the love and kindness God has for His creation. by Mike Clegg |
FEARLESS FELLOWSHIP WITH OUR FATHER
OUR FATHER'S MOTIVE
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