What Do We Lose If We Forsake Paradoxes?

Here is a paradox recorded in John 4:43-44: Jesus is going into Galilee, his hometown, after saying that he will not be welcomed there. What is that about?

It's about Jesus' supreme love so sinners may see his supreme love and repent.

Jesus spent two days in Samaria, a region hated by Judaism, and he as a Jew poured out his love and salvation onto the Samaritans. He loved the people the Jews hated. Therefore, it is consistent for Jesus to go into a territory hostile towards himself in order to show them the same love.

If we write off this paradox in Scripture - Jesus going to a place knowing that he is not welcomed there - then we lose seeing Jesus' supreme love, a love that forsakes reputation and cowardice.

Here is another example of a paradox that if we forsake, then we lose so much: God despises sinners, and yet he is seeking to do good to them.

Where did I get this paradox? Here are two pieces of Scripture demonstrating it:

[1] "For behold, those who are far from you [God] shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you" (Psalm 73:27)

[2]"But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good" (Matthew 6:44-45)

In more explicit terms, the paradox is: God will put an end to those who are unfaithful to him, yet he makes the sun rise on those who are unfaithful to him so they may eat.

Why? Today, we have decided not to look for an answer to this question but rather to forsake the paradox. We are more faithful to Ghandi's statement "Hate the sin, love the sinner", who was not a Christian, than we are to Scripture. We say, "God cannot hate someone and love them." And Scripture says, "Oh, yes, he can and it is wonderful how he does this."

What do we lose if we forsake this paradox? We will lose the same thing: God's supreme love demonstrated to us in the appearance of his Son, Jesus Christ. The answer to the paradox is that: God pours out his love on his enemies so that they may repent and be his children. Here's the Scripture:

[1] "The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:9-13)

[2] "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4)

[3] "For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all" (Roman 11:32)

[4] "For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:3-7)

When God pours out his love on his enemies, he reveals to us his supreme love.

We are all unfaithful to God by our very nature. We make ourselves his enemies and he will put an end to his enemies. Yet, God is seeking to make his enemies into children through the appearance of his grace and mercy with the revelation of his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus saved us, his enemies, by bearing our sins on his cross and rising from the dead to open the pathway of righteousness for us to God our Father. We did not deserve any of this. It was all according to God's mercy. Let us not forsake this paradox, that the Son of God would hate sinners and die for them. Let us not presume about the kindness of God revealed to us in this paradox either. Rather, let us repent, believing on Jesus and receiving the right to be called a child of God, an heir with Christ, by marveling at the mercy God has poured out on us, his enemies by nature.

Don't stay an enemy. Know the supremacy of Jesus according to his mercy.

For an excellent demonstration of the glory revealed to us by the paradoxes in Scripture, watch or listen to John Piper's sermon entitled "Go, Your Son Will Live" that serves as the basis for this blog post:

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2009/4157_Go_Your_Son_Will_Live/