Does God Love us Because We're so Lovable?

Gary: You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Coming up, Dave and Tom continue their weekly in-depth examination of the doctrine of salvation, so please stay with us.

Now, “Contending for the Faith.” In this regular feature of our program, Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and subscribers. Here’s this week’s question: I’ve been on the fence concerning your views of self-esteem and self-love. But I think you’ve really missed the mark when it comes to our self-worth. I recently read The Secret of Loving by Josh McDowell. He’s no slouch when it comes to biblical apologetics, and he says we are worth the price God paid for us: the death of His Son. Doesn’t that make us of infinite value to God?

Tom: Well, are we worth the price God paid for us?

Dave: I don’t think you can put it in those terms, Tom. Remember, John the Baptist said to the Jews, “Think not to say yourselves, We are Abraham’s seed. I tell you, that God can from these stones raise up seed unto Abraham.” I mean, God creates out of nothing. To say that God couldn’t create billions more people, why would it be of infinite value? You just can’t talk about value. God loves us, and you love someone not because they’re worth something. I mean, I would say “my wife is worth it”? You know? That would be an insult, really. You love someone because of who they are and the love that God puts in our hearts. But the fact is that there’s nothing that would cause you to think you were worth a great deal, that would build up your self-esteem and so forth, when it comes to the cross. The fact is that Christ died for us because we’re sinners, not because we’re worth something. And the great—the price he paid is only because of our sin and his infinite justice. So, his death upon the cross was to satisfy the claims of his justice. And now, the whole thing gets turned around and he does it because I’m worth it? So, it becomes self-centered.

Tom: Right.

Dave: It becomes humanistic, and God is not glorified in this. But he does it because I am of such great value, so one day I can walk the golden streets and I can say thank you, “God, it’s wonderful that you loved me and Christ died for me and paid the penalty, but after all, you did it because I am worth it. And that’s the value you put upon my soul.”

Tom: Yeah. You know, when you ask the question, “Why would this be an issue?” Why would—why would you have to think, or want to think that God did this for you because of your worth? When people—it’s almost like people don’t realize what they’re doing here. That they’re diminishing God’s infinite love. You know, when Charles Wesley writes, “Amazing love! How can it be that thou my God wouldst die for me?”

Dave: Yeah, but it’s not amazing, Tom, because we’re worth it.

Tom: [laughs] Right!

Dave: They’re destroying the whole thing.

Tom: Yes.

Dave: I think of the woman, the sinful woman, remember, in the house of Simon the Pharisee?

Tom: Mm-hmm.

Dave: And Simon the Pharisee is looking down his nose at Jesus, you know, in his heart and saying, “If this man were a prophet, he wouldn’t let this sinful woman touch him.” And Jesus says, “Simon, I’ve got something to say to you. There was a creditor and he had two debtors. One owed him a very small amount and the other one owed him a huge amount. And when neither of them had anything to pay, he forgave both of them. Now, who do you think would love him the most?”

And Simon says, “Well I guess the one who he forgave the most.”

And Jesus says, “Exactly. I came into your house. My feet were dusty [maybe muddy even, I don’t know] from walking, you know, on the roads. You gave me no water—you didn’t wash my feet. You gave me no towel. This woman has not ceased to wash my feet with her tears, to dry them with the hairs of her head. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. To whom much is forgiven—she loveth much.”

And so Jesus is saying, “The more I’m aware of my unworthiness, the more I am aware of the horror of my sin in contrast to the holiness of God and the depths to which Christ had to go in order to redeem me, the more grateful I will be for his love and his mercy and his grace.”

Grace has nothing to do with my worth. If I’m worth it, it’s not grace. It’s not mercy. So, this idea, it sounds good and we have this—again, it comes from psychology. How could I really believe…Robert Schuller teaches it for example, in his book Self-Love: The Dynamic Force of Success or Self-Esteem: The New Reformation. How could you really believe that God would love you if you don’t have a high sense of self-worth—you don’t realize that you’re worth it? And it would be terrible to say to anybody that you’re a sinner—you’ve got to tell them how good they are so then they can believe that God would love them.

On the contrary, Tom, I’m sorry, it makes me weep! No one is good enough for God to love them! It’s not that we are good enough to merit God’s love and the redemption of Christ. It’s because he loves us in spite of our unworthiness and he reached into the depths of sin and judgment and took the penalty that his own justice demanded in order to save our souls by his grace and mercy. And then to say he did it because I’m worth it and that this is the value that he puts upon a soul!

Tom: It’s demeaning. It diminishes the love of God, this amazing love that we mentioned earlier.

Dave: Right.

Tom: The other thing about it, Dave, it’s not practical. The woman—the example that you gave, the woman who washed Jesus’s feet [with] her tears and dried his feet with her hair—she was self-less. Emptying out self…

Dave: Right.

Tom: …and filled with God’s love. That’s what’s practical. That’s what motivates us. That’s what gives us the heart. You know, we do things we’re supposed to do things according to the Scripture because the love of Christ compels us!

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Tom: Well, if I’m looking into self for itself, I’ve just tripped up all of that. Self has taken the throne. Self is in place there, even in a miniscule way. I mean, we all wrestle with that problem. But the solution is Matthew:16:24Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
See All...: “Deny self, take up the cross. Be energized. Be fulfilled with God’s love, filled with God’s love.”

Dave: The idea that Christ did it because I’m worth it, and that the penalty he paid, the precious blood of Christ shows my value—that builds up man. But to recognize that he did it because of his love, in spite of my unworthiness, that glorifies God.