Why Jesus Came - 3
John 3:
16 For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.
John 10: Jesus Christ says:
10 The thief's purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.
1 John 4:
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into this wicked world to bring to us eternal life through his death.
10 In this act we see what real love is: it is not our love for God but his love for us when he sent his Son to satisfy God's anger against our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us as much as that, we surely ought to love each other too. (Living Bible)
The whole point of the coming of the Lord Jesus into the world is to let us human beings know in person that God loves us. When we look at the attitude and response of Jesus to the people he came in contact with in the Gospels, this shows us God's attitude and response to us human beings.
The first reason the Lord Jesus came into the world, is to show us humans that God's kind of love is a love that GIVES.
The second reason the Lord Jesus came to the world is to show us that the God kind of love, is a love that accepts us just as we are: warts and all!
The third reason the Lord Jesus came into the world is so that we can be transformed by God's kind of love.
John 1:
41 Andrew then went to find his brother Peter and told him, "We have found the Messiah!"
42 And he brought Peter to meet Jesus. Jesus looked intently at Peter for a moment and then said,
"You are Simon, John's son - but you shall be called Peter, the rock!" (Living Bible)
When Andrew brought his brother Peter to meet the Lord, Jesus looked into Peter's heart. There Jesus saw conflict and indecision - boldness and weakness.
The name Simon means "man of sand". That was the weak part of Peter.
The name Peter means "a rock". That was the strength of Peter.
The Lord saw all of Peter's imperfections and let Peter know that up front.
How would you feel if someone read you as easily as that and described you - weaknesses and all - in front of those listening?
Some of us would be very offended!
And maybe that's why Jesus did that: to check Peter's offense levels!
Others of us would have no problem with that at all.
Peter's response evidently was: "Andrew is my brother and he knows all my strengths and weaknesses anyway!"
The love of the Lord began to change Peter and Peter understood he was becoming more like a rock than the man of sand he used to be.
Then came the big test when the Lord Jesus told His disciples that He was going to be arrested and killed. Peter immediately boasted that he, Peter, was willing and able to follow Jesus in death too!
But when the time came, Peter ran away and lied three times, saying that he didn't know Jesus at all.
That night he saw that the Simon sand-man mentality was still alive and well, and he was extremely disappointed with his failure.
But the Lord Jesus came alive after His death, and He pursued Simon-Peter, and showed Peter that God was not finished with the transformation process yet.
And after Peter had spent the next few weeks in God's presence and was baptised with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Peter spoke boldly to the crowds in Jerusalem.
As a result of Peter's bold preaching, three thousand received God's salvation that day and many more on the years following that day.
This is why Jesus came. To show us that God's love is a giving love that seeks us out even when we are at our worst.
And God's love is the only love that can transform us into the person He called us to be, when He called us into the world.
Prayer:
Loving heavenly Father,
today I bring an end to the thought that I must change the things that displease You,
in order that I can approach You.
Lord, I understand that I cannot change my wrong thoughts,
and I cannot change my shameful attitudes.
So I come to You just as I am, because I understand finally
that Your love is one that accepts me JUST AS I AM.
I put my life in Your hands,
and trust You to do all the changes in me,
and You make me to please YOU.
I understand that being my Creator and my Redeemer,
You have the right to change me Yourself.
Hallelujah, Lord Jesus Christ.
You have made all this possible for me!
Amen.
