Your New Identity (Victory Series Book #2): A Transforming Union with God (4 page)

Nehemiah 9:16–21

Key Point

God loves us because it is His nature to love, and that is why His love is unconditional.

Key Verse

But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.

Nehemiah 9:17

W
hether or not there is a God is not the burning question on most people’s minds. There are very few atheists who don’t believe in God, but there are many who believe that His existence has little or no impact on how they live. “What difference does it make if there is a God?” and “Does He really care?” are the primary questions these people are asking. Those who have no personal relationship
with God usually have a distorted concept of Him, and sadly, so do many who profess to believe in Him.

The truth about God is that He is compassionate and patient with us. Nehemiah testifies to this reality as he recalls the time when Aaron got tired of waiting for Moses to return from the mountain, so he and others created their own god by building a golden calf (see Exodus 32:1–6; Nehemiah 9:18). Even in their rebellion, God did not desert them. Nehemiah praised Him for this: “But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love” (verse 17).

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). The reason God loves us is because God
is
love. It is His nature to love us, and that is why His love is unconditional. God’s love (
agape
) is not dependent on the object, which sets it apart from brotherly love (
phileo
).

It is natural to love those who love us, but it is divine to love those who don’t. Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. . . . But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (Luke 6:32–33, 35).

Throughout the Gospels, we read of instances in which God was moved by compassion: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them” (Matthew 9:36); “Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for these people’” (15:32); “Jesus said . . . ‘Go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy [
hesed
], not sacrifice”’” (9:13). The word
hesed
in the Old Testament is translated as “God’s loving kindness.” Aren’t you glad that you serve a God who is moved with compassion?

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). That should be all the proof we need, yet many believers question God’s love for them. God presupposed this when He inspired Paul to write, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and
to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17–19).

Why do you think so many people question God’s love for them?

How has God demonstrated His love for us?

How is God’s love (
agape
) different from brotherly love (
phileo
)?

What has caused you personally to question God’s love for you? How can that be rectified?

In what ways have you failed to love someone (to do what is right on his or her behalf) because you didn’t like that person?

According to strict truth, God is incomprehensible and incapable of being measured. For whatever the knowledge is that we are able to obtain about God—either by perception or by reflection—we must of necessity believe that He is far better by many degrees than what we perceive Him to be.

Origen (AD 184–253)

Psalm 100:1–5

Key Point

God is the author of life, and in His mercy and goodness He makes right what His rebellious creation has made wrong.

Key Verse

For the L
ORD
is good and his love endures forever.

Psalm 100:5

J
esus said, “There is only One who is good” (Matthew 19:17), and He, of course, is God. Therefore, everything God does is good, and we are the benefactors of His goodness. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). However, our finite minds struggle to understand the infinite goodness of God.

First, we don’t really know what is good for us. What tastes good often proves to be unhealthy. What looks good may be so in appearance only.
What feels good can lead us astray. Even a treacherous act, such as the one Joseph’s brothers committed, can bring about a greater good. Joseph said to them, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done” (Genesis 50:20).

Still, when we read how God utterly destroyed the Amalekites (see 1 Samuel 15:2–3), it doesn’t seem as if His actions are consistent with His goodness. However, that view is from our limited human perspective, which may be overlooking God’s justice. If we know there is cancer in the body, the loving thing to do is cut it out. If there is a rotten apple in a barrel, the good thing to do is to get rid of it. We have a small role in the larger drama of life and only see a tiny portion of the big picture God is painting.

Second, we don’t understand why—if God is all-powerful and good—bad things happen to good people. It is impossible to answer that question unless we understand that there are evil forces in this world that are actively opposing the will of God. God created Lucifer, the beautiful angel of light, to be a light bearer. Lucifer turned his back on God and became Satan, the deceiver and the accuser. God created Adam and Eve, and by their choice they lost their relationship with God, which made it possible for Satan to have dominion in this world.

Consequently, evil forces are at work in this world—forces that oppose the will of God. “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?” (Ezekiel 18:25). “‘Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?’ declares the Sovereign L
ORD
. ‘Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?’” (verse 23). God is the author of life, not death, and He is in the process of making right what His rebellious creation has made wrong. The goodness of God will overcome this present evil—if not in our lifetime, then surely in the future.

God is also merciful. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:4–5). To be merciful to others is to not give them what they deserve. We deserved hell, but God was merciful and gave us eternal life. David said, “Taste and see that the L
ORD
is good” (Psalm 34:8) and “surely your goodness and love [mercy] will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the L
ORD
forever” (Psalm 23:6).

In what ways do our finite minds tend to struggle with the concept of God’s goodness and mercy?

How can our human perspective fail to comprehend the nature of God’s goodness and mercy?

How is God’s goodness and mercy working through His children to make right what His rebellious creation has made wrong?

Count your blessings by listing all the good things God has done for you:

To be merciful means to not give others what they deserve. How has God demonstrated His mercy to you?

When Paul says “all things” [Romans 8:28] he mentions even the things that seem painful. For if tribulation, or poverty, or imprisonment, or famines, or deaths or anything else should come upon us, God can change them into the opposite. For this is one instance of His ineffable power, that He can make painful things appear light to us and turn them into things that can be helpful. Paul talks about being called “according to His purpose” in order to show that the calling itself is not enough. . . . The calling was not forced on anyone, nor was it compulsory. Everyone was called, but not everyone obeyed the call. . . . Even opposition and disappointments are turned into good, which is exactly what happened to this remarkable man, the apostle Paul.

John Chrysostom (AD 347–407)

Hebrews 4:14–16

Key Point

God, being merciful, did not give us what we deserved, and He graciously took the next step and gave us what we didn’t deserve.

Key Verse

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:16

G
od is righteous and cannot be unjust at any time. To administer justice is to give people what they deserve. If justice were served, we would all have to face eternity in hell. But God is also merciful, and because of His love, He did not want to give us what we deserved. Instead, Jesus satisfied the righteous demands of God by paying the price for our sins. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:4–5).

Grace is like the flipside of mercy. Grace is giving people what they don’t deserve. Because of God’s mercy, He looked for another way to satisfy His justice so that we would not have to pay our own wages for sin, which is death. Because of His gracious nature, He gave us eternal life. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Grace is unwarranted favor. It cannot be purchased and it cannot be earned. We can only respond to a gracious gift by humbly receiving it, giving thanks, and then praising the character of the giver.

In order to bear the sins of humanity, Jesus “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:7). He became one of us in order to be our “kinsman redeemer.” He became our scapegoat (substitute) by taking our place on the cross. There is another benefit of Jesus’ becoming one of us: He can relate to us in every way. He faced every temptation, suffered every hardship, and was totally rejected. He spoke the truth and loved sacrificially. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

Being omniscient, God fully understood the suffering and hardship of fallen humanity. He didn’t have to become one of us in order to know and feel our plight. God already knew what we thought and how we felt, and His plans were in place long before Jesus came. The limitation is in our understanding, not His. It would be harder for us to believe that Jesus actually does “empathize with our weaknesses” if He had never suffered or been tempted as we are.

People don’t want to share their burdens with someone they don’t think can relate to them or understand their situation. Nor do people unburden themselves to those who are unable to help them. Jesus not only understands, but He also responds to us kindly, because He is kind and loving by nature. God gives us what we need, not what we deserve, because by nature He is gracious. He has called us to do the same to others: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). In other words, don’t give to others what they deserve; but don’t stop there. Give them what they don’t deserve—that is, love one another.

What is the difference between justice, mercy, and grace?

For what two reasons did Jesus take on the form of humanity?

How can we know that God understands our suffering and hardships?

How does it help you to know that Jesus was tempted in every way and suffered to the point of death for your sake?

What will happen to you if you come boldly before the throne of grace? What will happen if you don’t?

How is it that we should “approach boldly”? Because now it is a throne of grace, not a throne of judgment. Therefore, boldly, “that we may obtain mercy,” even such as we are seeking. For the affair is one of munificence [very generous]; a royal largess [liberal giving]. “And may find grace to help in time of need.” He said well, “for help in time of need.” If you approach now, He means, you will receive both grace and mercy, for you approach “in time of need.” . . . Now He sits granting a pardon, but when the end comes, then He rises up to judgment.

John Chrysostom (AD 347–407)