Before I get to our fifth word (Faith) on the gospel next week, I want to go back and explain a little more about the fourth word, Christ. One thing I did not spend time on is the love of God in sending his Son to die. I mentioned John 3:16 in passing but did not make it the central focus for understanding or communicating the gospel.
So here is a legitimate question some may have: Don’t we need to talk about God’s love in sharing the gospel with the lost? Don’t we need to tell them that his love for us is why Jesus died?
Well, that is actually two questions. But they both need answering because they are both very important. These are difficult, deep issues! The answers do not come easily nor are they easily understood. Let me start by answering the second question.
1. The reasons Jesus died
John Piper has a little book called The Passion of Jesus Christ: Fifty Reasons Why He Came to Die. So, suffice it to say there are a bunch of reasons Jesus came to die, one of which is certainly that He loves us. So in choosing which of the many reasons to share with the lost, we need to be careful which reason we put at the top of the list. But they are all valuable!!!
So, let me ask a follow up question. Is God’s love for us the reason that is at the top of God’s list for why Jesus died? That is a tricky question.
If you say “Yes, God’s love for us is the primary and supreme reason He died” then it sounds like God is placing us, his creation, in a place of preeminence. That WE are the most valuable thing to Him. That He obviously was willing to do anything to save his creation. That his own Son is not as important as the ones created in his image.
If you say “No, God’s love for us pales in comparison to the other reasons Jesus died” then it sounds like… hmm. It sounds like God’s love for us is not as important as we thought. That there is something more important in God’s heart than us, his creation. But what could occupy the place of preeminence in God’s heart if not us??? Are we not the apple of his eye (Deuteronomy 32:9-11)??? The Bible clearly says that He loved us and gave his Son up for us (Romans 5:8). That kind of love has to be the primary reason Jesus died. What else could be more important than God’s love of us?
John 17:1-5 gives us a very helpful insight into Christ’s heart and motivation as He is going to the cross.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
Jesus would go on to pray for the disciples (John 17:7-19) and even the future church (John 17:20-26) but it is clear from the beginning of his prayer that his primary concern is with the Father restoring his glory. His focus is on his obedience to the Father in accomplishing a task: saving people! It is an amazing, grace-motivated task that rebounds greatly to us, but it is still a command from the Father that Jesus had to obey. It is a task that garnered the glory He had before the incarnation, that He deserved (Philippians 2:6-11). Jesus’ obedience to the Father is most important to the Father and the Son.
It is important for us to remember that we are created for God’s glory. Therefore we are going to be saved for God’s glory. That certainly does not diminish God’s love for us one bit!! But it does mean that the highest reason Jesus came to die is to glorify the Father and have his own glory magnified by obeying the Father.
If you have to pick a reason to tell people Jesus died, this is the “best” one.
2. Sharing God’s love in sharing the gospel
Now, what about telling people God loves them when we share the gospel? Before I give a definitive answer on that, let’s look at the Bible.
I searched the four Gospels and the book of Acts examining the evangelistic encounters there just to see what content was shared. I discovered a couple of interesting things...
A. Not once in the Gospels or in Acts is God’s love for us mentioned to lost people as a means to convert them. Once in Mark 10:21 it says that Jesus loved the person He was talking to about following Him, but He did not tell the man that God loves him. There are references to the Father loving the Son (John 3:35; 5:20) and Jesus loving specific people (John 11:5; 13:35) but nowhere does anyone say “God loves you… therefore follow Christ.”
B. The word “love” is not used in the book of Acts… at all!! The book that records the early evangelistic efforts of the church and how the church was formed does not mention God’s love even one time; much less in any of the many evangelistic encounters that are recorded.
Now these are just observations. But these observations about the Bible have to instruct us on how we share the gospel. While there is no single, perfect way taught in the Bible, I do find it interesting that God’s love is not used as a motivation for calling people to follow Jesus in any example.
What can we learn from this?
I think there is one caution that should arise in our minds and hearts about speaking of God’s love in sharing the Gospel.
We need to share the gospel in a God-centered, Christ-exalting way. This is God’s primary purpose in creation: to be central and glorified above all things. So, we must be careful that we do not make people the central focus of the gospel, but most assuredly we are to share the gospel to save people!
Here’s what I mean.
The problem of every person who has ever lived (except One!) is that we are sinners. The very nature of our status before God is as rebels. We are selfish to the core. We have offended a holy God by ignoring Him and his commands in order to go our own way. We deny his LORDship over our lives and stubbornly make ourselves lord of our lives. We deserve hell.
If we make the gospel all about God’s blessings to us and go on about how much God loves us making statements like “Look how far God went to get you back,” that is not going to challenge the rampant selfishness that infests our heart. It will serve to magnify our selfishness… “Look how great and valuable I am that God would do such for me!!” Our presentation of the gospel must include a call to make God central, not us.
Instead if we will reveal the sin we all have by displaying a glorious God who created us in order to reflect that glory, then there will be conviction. Then as people cry out “Woe is me, I am a sinner!” Then we can direct them to the cross.
We can say things like “Hey, I have Good News! God wants to magnify his mercy in his Son, so He sent Jesus to die to take away his wrath from those who believe in Him and and give them eternal life with Him when they decide to submit to Him and follow Him as LORD.”
In doing this we are declaring God’s love in a way that still keeps Him central and allows the gospel to do its work in crucifying “self” and magnifying Christ.
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