His Love to the Father

‘*Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.’’ — Acts 2:36. ‘* But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do.’’ — John 14:31.

Our general subject this morning is the same as last Sunday, the real Christ; the Christ of God’s own appointment and of actual historical fact, as distinguished from the Christ of man’s dreams and fancies and imaginings; the Christ whose picture God Himself has drawn in the Bible as distinguished from the Christ of Christian Science, Theosophy, Unitarianism and other forms of fiction. 3

Last week we took one especial feature of the picture God has drawn, the Holiness of Christ, Christ as the absolute and infinitely Holy One.. To-day we take another feature of the picture: “‘The Love of Jesus Christ to God, the Father.’’ We have two texts: Acts 2:36: ‘‘Det all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom ye crucified,’? and John 14:31: ‘But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the

Father gave Me commandment, even so I do,’’

In our second text, the Lord Jesus, the true and only Christ of God, tells us that the one thing He wished the world to know about Him was, that He loved the Father. Let me quote it to you again: ‘‘But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do.’’ Usually in these days when we speak or think of love it is love to our fellow-man, or altruism, as we love to call it, of which we think. Modern thought is so exclusively occupied with man that it scarcely enters our minds that God should be the supreme object of our love and that our obligation to love God is immeasurably greater than our obligation to love our fellow-man. Most people echo the sentiment of the gifted poet who really exalted the one who was ‘‘a lover of his fellow-man’’ above the one who loved God. Our Lord Jesus loved His fellow-man, loved His fellow-man as no other human being ever loved His fellow-man, that we shall consider, God willing, next week; but far deeper than His love to his fellow-man, yes, the very foundation of His love to his fellow-man, high above His love to his fellow-man was His love to God, and the one thing above all others that He wished the world to know of Him was, that He loved God, loved the Father. So it should be with us.

It is indeed important that we love our fellow-man. In love to our fellow-man is the only solution of our social problems, industrial problems, political problems, international problems. No merely external League of Nations will ever set things straight. No merely external social adjustment of any kind will set things straight. No triumph of universal democracy will ever set things straight. Only love in the heart of the individual man to other men. If love ruled in the hearts of capitalists and laborers, in the hearts of Americans, Englishmen, Italians, Czécho-Slovaks, Germans, Japanese, Chinese, and the rest, all our social, industrial and international problems would be settled in a few days. And they never will be really settled until love to our fellow-man is thus triumphant in the individual heart. No philosopher and no millions of philosophers can bring in universal justice and equality and peace while selfishness rules in the hearts of men. But important as love to man is, love to God is more fundamental and immeasurably more important. God is infinite, man is finite; and it is one of the simplest axioms of mathematics that no number of finites ever equals infinity. The whole mass of the human race put together, all the fifteen hundred millions now living on the earth and all the billions who have lived on the earth in ages past, are as the ‘‘small dust of the balance’’ compared with the One Infinite God, and if we should render our full measure of love to the whole human race and fail to love the One Infinite God as we ought, where we succeeded would be as nothing to where we failed. We shall see later that in the last analysis it was because Jesus loved God, loved the Father, that He loved His fellow-man, and we shall never love our fellow-man in reality until we first love God. As John puts it in 1 John 4:19, R. V.: ‘We love, because He first loved us,’ and we through believing in that love get to loving God and so get to loving our fellow-man. As John again puts it in 1 John 4:11: ‘‘ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one amother.”’

It is the Love of Jesus Christ to the Father that we are to consider and meditate upon this morning.

How did that love manifest itself?

I. In doing as the Father gave Him commandment.

First of all, the Love of our Lord Jesus to the Father manifested itself in doing as the Father gave Him commandment. This comes out in our text, ‘‘But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do’’ (John 14:31).

The game thought is found in John 15:10: ‘‘If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide nm My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.’’

Because Christ Jesus loved the Father with a true and not merely a pretended love, loved Him ‘in deed and in truth” and not merely ‘‘in word and tongue,’’ His ear was ever listening eagerly for the slightest or the hardest commandment of God, and the moment He heard it, He did it. So will every one do who really loves God. Many of us talk about loving God, but our ears are not constantly listening sharply for His Word of Command and even when we are forced to hear it, we are slow to obey it.

It was for the sole purpose, a glad and not reluctant purpose, of obeying God, of doing the Father’s will, that Jesus turned His back on Heaven’s glory and came down to the shame and agony of earth. He says in John 6:38: ‘‘For I came down from heaven, not to do mime own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.’’ His love to the Father faltered not at forsaking the glory of Heaven for the shame of earth, because that was the Father’s will. We might well stop right here and ponder that and lay our lives alongside of His and see how they measure up to God’s standard man, Jesus the Christ.

Having come into this world in obedience to the Father’s will, His loving obedience faltered not at death; yea, the death of the cross. As Paul puts it in Phil. 2:8: ‘‘ And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedtent even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.’’

Jesus Christ’s death was entirely voluntary on his part. Some tell us in these days that it was ‘‘an unavoidable incident of His fidelity to duty,’’

but God tells us in His Word that it was the purpose for which He came into this world and the goal toward which He deliberately walked. Jesus Himself says in John 10:17, 18: ‘‘ Therefore doth the Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again. No one taketh wt away from Me, but I lay wt down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take vt again.”’

We read in Luke 9:51 of His last Journey to Jerusalem where the cross awaited Him — ‘‘ And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be recewed up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.’’ But it was not only on that last journey that ‘‘He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem’’; but when He first took upon Him the nature of man, He had steadfastly set His face to go to Calvary. The Jews, as they stood beside the tomb of Lazarus and beheld Jesus weeping, said, ‘‘Behold how He loved him’? (i.e., loved Lazarus — John 11:36). We stand beside the cross and behold Jesus bleeding, suffering, agonizing, dying, and we ery, ‘‘Behold How He loved Him — loved God.’’

II. In Keeping His Father’s Word.

In the second place, the Love of Jesus Christ to the Father manifested itself in His keeping, carefully guarding, His Father’s Word. This we read in His own Words in John 8:55 R. V.:

“And ye have not known Him: but I know Hum; and if I should say, I know Hum not, I shall be like unto you, a lar: but I know Him and keep His word. ‘The word here translated ‘‘keep’’ means “‘to attend to carefully,’’ ‘‘to guard.’’ To keep God’s Word means more than to obey His commandments. A man may obey commandments without hearty love to them, but we guard that which we regard as a precious treasure. So our Lord Jesus regarded the words of God. The Father’s word was His most precious treasure. He guarded it as other men guard their gold and jewels. This esteem for His Father’s word was a peculiar mark of His love to the Father. Oh, how many there are to-day who profess to love God who need to learn this lesson. They do not jealously guard and tenaciously hold fast to God’s word. They are quite willing to give up any part of it that the first glib talker, who claims to be an exponent of the most recent German scholarship, says, ‘‘is not authentic and that all scholars are agreed it must go.’’ Look at Prof. Kent with his infamous ‘‘Shorter Bible,’’ out of which he unhesitatingly cuts what God has revealed about the propitiatory character of Christ’s death in Romans 3, just because some do not relish the God-taught doctrine of substitution and Prof. Kent does not want to offend any one, even if he has to surrender God’s truth to please him. What is the fundamental difficulty with these men? A lack of a deep and genuine love to the

Father, such as Christ Jesus had. If they had that love to the Father they would keep God’s word. They would hold on to God’s word regardless of who was displeased. Listen again to these words of the real Christ: ‘‘ And ye have not known Him: but I know Him; and if I should say, I know Him not, I shall be like unto you, a lar: but I know Him and keep His word.’’

III, In Unwavering Submission to the Father’s Will

In the third place, the Love of Jesus Christ to

the Father was manifested in unwavering submission to the Father’s will, even when that will might require that from which His soul shrank m heart-breaking anguish. This comes out in our Lord’s words in Matt. 26: 39, 42:

‘“And He went forward a little, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, tf tt be possible, let this cup pass away from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wit. ... Agam a second tume He went away, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink at, Thy will be done.’?’ No man who ever lived on this earth so recoiled from death as our Lord Jesus did; for no other man was so full of life as He. He contemplated death with heart-breaking agony. In view of His coming death, His soul was ‘‘exceeding sorrowful, even unto death’’; but though He thus recoiled from it, He faced it and faced it gladly if it were the Father’s will, and He knew that it was. Listen again as He says, ‘‘O My Father, tf it be possible, let this cup pass away from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.’’ And ‘‘Agam a second time He went away, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink at, Thy will be done.’’ Can we follow our Lord and Christ here? We must be ready to, for He Himself has said, ‘‘If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’’ (Matt. 16:24.)

IV. In Positive Delight mm Doing the Father’s Will

In the fourth place, the Love of Jesus Christ to the Father manifested itself in posite delight an dowmg the Father’s will. This comes out in Psalms 40:8, ‘‘Z delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.’’ The will of the Father in which the Christ delighted in this ease, as the context clearly shows, was His own sacrificial death on the cross. So we see Jesus was not only submissive to the Father’s will when it required the cross, but that He positively delighted in it, though it meant the cross for Him, simply because it was the Father’s will. Do you love God like that? Love Him so that you positively delight in His will simply because it is His will, even, though it means crucifixion for you?

Oh, here lies the secret of a blessedness and a joy that nothing can ever mar.

Even in His boyhood, His delight was in the Father’s will. This appears in Luke 2:49. His Mother who had sought Him three days said to Him, ‘‘Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us? behold Thy father and I sought Thee sorrowimg’’ and He replied, ‘‘How is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?’’ The Revised Version translates “‘“Knew ye not that I must be m My Father’s house?’’ The literal translation would be “* Knew ye not that I must be in the things of My Father?’’ The meaning evidently is that even in His boyhood Jesus realized that He must be occupied with ‘‘the things of God’’ and that His delight was ‘‘in the things of God’? and in the will of God.

During the entire course of His earthly life, doing His Father’s will was His very meat and drink, His sustenance, His satisfaction and His joy. We have a striking illustration of this in the fourth chapter of John. Jesus had come with His disciples to the well of Samaria at six o’clock in the evening. He was weary, thirsty and hungry. His disciples had gone into Sychar to secure food for Him. He was too tired to accompany them. As He sits there tired and hungry on the well, the woman of Samaria appears and Jesus Christ begins to talk with her in order that He may give her the Living Water, in order that He may lead her to accept Himself and thus receive the Holy

Spirit. As He is deeply occupied in this work, the disciples return and find Him talking with the woman and the disciples say to Him as they offer Him food, ‘‘ Rabbi, eat.’’ ‘*‘But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not.’’ Then the disciples said one to another, **‘Hath any man brought Hum ought to eat?’’ And Jesus said to them, ‘‘My meat 1s to do the will of Hum that sent me and to accomplish His work.’’ He had forgotten His hunger and His weariness in the joy of doing the Father’s will and accomplishing the Father’s work. As we have said, “‘downg His Father’s will was His very meat and drink, His sustenance, His satisfaction, His joy.”’

V. In Always Doing the Things That Were
Pleasing to the Father

In the fifth place, the Love of Jesus Christ to the Father manfested itself in His always domg the things which were pleasing to the Father. Remember what He Himself says in John 8:29, R. V.: ‘‘He that sent Me is with Me; He hath not left Me alone; for I do always the things that are pleasing to Him.’’ Jesus, the Christ of God, so loved the Father that He made it His earnest study to find out what pleased the Father and always did it. That is far more than obedience to explicit commandments. A son may do whatever a father bids him, but a more loyal and loving son will not wait to be bidden, but study to find out what is pleasing to his father and anticipate the expression of his will. To know what was pleasing to the Father was Jesus Christ’s constant study: to do these things that were pleasing to the Father was His unvarying practice. There is a lesson here we all need to learn and not only to learn but to keep in mind. Many of us think that if we do the things God specifically commands us to do and leave undone the things that God specifically commands us not to do, we have done all that love to God requires of us. Oh, - not at all. Love requires more than that. It requires us and will irresistibly impel us, if we really have the love of God in our hearts, to make it our earnest and constant study to know what pleases God and when we know it to do it without waiting to be told. How it would simplify our lives and how many of our perplexing problems that would solve, if we would only proceed on that principle. Shall I go to the theatre, shall I play cards, shall I patronize the movies, shall I smoke, shall I do this, that and the other thing? The answer to all these questions is found in putting to yourself the question ‘‘ Will it bring more joy to God for me to do these things than for me not to do them?’’ If so, I will do them. Or, ‘‘will it bring more joy to God for me not to do these things than for me to do them.’’ If so, if I really love God, I will not do them. Is that the principle upon which you act in everything? What’s that? No? Then you do not love God. Learn from the Christ to love Him to-day and from this time on to make it the principle of your life to find out what it would please Him for you to do and then do it every time.

VI. In Seeking the Father’s Will

In the sixth place, the love of Jesus Christ to the Father manifested ttself mn His seeking the Father’s will. This we see in John 5:30, ‘‘I can of My own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and My judgment ts righteous; because I seek. not Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.’’ The word translated ‘‘seek’’ in this verse means ‘‘to seek in order to find.’’ It is used in Matt. 13:45 of a man seeking pearls. The thought is that the accomplishment of His Father’s will was the one object of Jesus Christ’s pursuit. As other men hunt for jewels, gold or pleasure, or position or honor, or the accomplishment of their own will, so our Lord Jesus sought for the accomplishment of His Father’s will. What are you seeking? Money, pleasure, honor, position. or just the accomplishment of God’s will?

VII. By Seeking and Accepting Testimony and Glory from the Father Alone

In the seventh place, the Love of the real Christ, Christ Jesus, to the Father mantfested itself im

His seeking and accepting testimony and glory from the Father alone. This we learn from John 5:34, 41, R. V.: ‘But the witness which I recewe ts not from man: howbeit I say these things, that ye may be saved. ... (41) I recewe not glory from men.’’ Jesus Christ so loved the Father; the Father was so utterly all in all to Him, that He sought no praise, and accepted no praise, from man. It was the Father’s testimony, the F’ather’s approval, the Father’s praise and that alone that He desired, and that alone that He would accept. What a lesson for you and me. How eagerly and persistently we seek a little admiration and praise from men. How gladly we accept it when it comes. How we treasure the fine things that are said about us in newspapers or in books. Let us have done with it! Let us so utterly love God that His approval is all we care for and all we will accept.

VII. By Fumishing the Work the Father Gave Hum to Do

In the eighth place, the Love of Jesus Christ to the Father manifested itself in His finishing the work the Father gave Him to do. You will see this by reading John 17:4:

“‘T have glorified Thee on earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.’’

Jesus Christ loved the Father, therefore, He must bring to a complete accomplishment the work the Father assigned Him, and when was that work completed? On the cross when He erled: ‘‘It as finished.’’ (John 19:30). Then and not until then. Jesus shrank, as we have already seen, from the cross in unutterable agony, but onward to the cross He marched because there and there alone the work the Father had given Him to do could be accomplished and completed. It was love to God the Father before love to you and me that brought our Lord Jesus to Calvary. We speak of God the Father loving men in Christ Jesus, which is true, but it is also true that Christ’s sacrifice for men finds its final reason and original source in obedience to the will of the Father, Who was the object of His supreme love. Has God given you some work to do? He has, each one of us. And does the completion of that work, the perfect consummation of it, lead to some Gethsemane or Calvary? Very likely. Let us then march on to our Calvary, never hesitating a moment no matter how the heart recoils from the agony that awaits us there.

IX. In Seekmg the Glory of the Father Alone

In the ninth place, the Love of Jesus Christ to the Father manifested itself in His seeking of the glory of the Father alone. This also comes out again and again in the verse just quoted, John 17:4: “‘I have glorified Thee on earth.’’ It comes out again in John 7:18: ‘‘He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but He that seeketh His glory that sent Him, the same ts true, and no unrighteousness is in Him,’’ and again in John 17:1: ‘‘These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.’’

The Father’s glory was Jesus Christ’s first and great ambition, the consuming passion of His life. It was for the Father’s glory He planned, prayed, lived, acted, suffered and died. Jesus taught that the first and great commandment is: ‘‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy sow, and with all thy mind.’’ (Matt. 22:37,38.) His own life is the supreme manifestation of this law which He taught. Is God’s glory the only thing you are seeking? Have you lost sight utterly of your own glory, your own profit, your own ease, your own pleasure, your own everything? That is what Jesus, the Christ of God, did and ‘‘He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked.’’ (I John 2:6.)