This past Sunday we read about the births of Esau and Jacob and the subsequent selling of the birthright. I had a light bulb moment – God probably wonders when I’m ever going to figure the most basic things out! Thankfully, He illuminates my thinking little by little. I started thinking about this question right then….and it grew into a multi-day series of light bulb moments.
At lunch, my friend Grant asked me almost the same question that I had been pondering the 60 minutes prior….why did God have a chosen people and yet he loves everyone. How does that work? Why ‘the children of God.’ I asked Grant in return, Do I love my children more than other children? After several moments of awkward silence and one eyebrow raised, he replied, “I guess I would think so…” His hesitancy reveals something–the seeming contradiction. It is one of those types of questions that the religious leaders loved to ask Jesus because they always were thinking in terms of ‘either/or’ and usually Jesus answered with ‘and’ as He did with the Caesar question.
So, I believe the question I asked Grant was wrong, and it demanded of him a wrong response. Did/does God love his people, the Children of Israel (or in the NT, the children of God, the brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus) more than other people? That question is built on a false set of premises, and so any answer to that question will be wrong.
This method of debate happens WAY MORE than we think. I argue that it happens every day!!! The results are disastrous. It is one reason why I consume very little news media, very little other media, and ignore almost all ‘research’ that is churned out by ‘experts.’ I was one of those ‘experts’ in a former life and saw the silliness of it all. Ask a certain question, you’ll get a certain type of answer. Don’t want a certain answer?? Don’t ask that question!
I’m getting off topic…part of the problem with this ‘does God love everyone the same’ issue is that we conflate ‘love’ with favor, pleasure, joy, satisfy, and other similar words. Does God take pleasure in all people the same? No. Is he satisfied with all people the same? No. Does he love (care about in the purest sense) everyone the same? Yes. You may ask, as Paul did…but God said ‘Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated.’ Yes, He did. Is this saying God cared more about Jacob than Esau? I think not.
Zooming out, during church, I began thinking about our Father. I then began thinking about my own fatherhood. I love my children. I love all children. That means I care about all children. I also take pleasure in my own children, and they find favor in my sight. They are around me, following me, and receiving the benefits of being my children–my teaching, resources, protections, etc. All of these things, Paul says much more eloquently throughout the NT than I ever could–regarding the children of Israel in the OT.
But God….but God adopts non-children as a result of his children not taking up the blessing and responsibility He places upon his children. This isn’t hard to understand. This morning around our breakfast table, we read a few verses from the Sermon on the Mount – Matt 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Mat 5:47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
There it is again–does God care for his enemies any less than He does for his friends? Nope. And, he tells us to be children of Him by acting like Him. And, in the parable of the prodigal son (or should I say the parable of the gracious father?!) the faithful child of the father has received all kinds of blessings that accompanied his responsibilities. Further, if my children want to be part of my business, I welcome them. If they don’t, I don’t force them to, anymore than God forced the children of Israel to stay ‘in business’ with Him. If other children see the value in my business and begin working for me, they can be adopted in and they will indeed inherit the business. (don’t step into this all or nothing thinking!!!! Inheriting a business does NOT mean a transfer of wealth to be exploited for personal gain. This is such a false American construct!) Inheriting a business means a method for blessing the world, practicing biblical principles in one’s daily lives that causes human flourishing, and working together with others who share the same values as you!) In this sense, if my own children don’t want to inherit the business, then they can’t inherit the business. If other children want to inherit the business, then they can inherit the business. I take pleasure in any and all people who want to inherit my business because it means they love my values and love being with others who love my values.
Is this not what our Father and His Son have been saying all along? God’s business, His Son calls the Kingdom of Heaven, is to restore his creation so that it can be as blest as it was in the beginning. It can only be done through His grace working in the individual lives of individual people who individually decide that they want to work in his Kingdom, and they SHALL inherit it – birthright or by adoption.