Love Paid the Bill

John 3:16; Romans 5:8

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16, KJV).

I go to the health spa today as usual for my early morning workout. I see a young woman with the words “Love Does Not Pay the Bills” inscribed on her shirt. This is an old saying, and it is true when we think about what is meant by this saying. It simply means that you may love someone, but your love will not pay the bills. It takes money to pay bills.

As I think about this saying, it comes to my mind that while love will not pay the bills, it is possible that love can motivate a person to do what is necessary to get the money to pay the bills. Love can motivate a person to go to college so that they can get a job that pays enough money to pay bills. Let me give you an example.

In the year 2000 my wife has a stroke that leaves her unable to work. She will have to go on Social Security Disability. Getting started on disability proves to be a long process. In the meantime we still have to pay the bills. In addition to the bills my daughter is taking dance lessons at a private dance studio. I do not want our daughter to have to stop her dance lessons. So, I take on a second job. I am motivated not by the love of work; rather, I am motivated by my love for our daughter. With all of these things in mind I am reminded that God’s love for His world motivated Him to give His Son, Jesus Christ for His world. This truth is stated many places in the Bible. For me, personally, it is said best in the two passages of scripture listed above. Let us look at theses passages.

Growing up, John 3:16 in the King James Version was the best known scripture among Christians in America. I believe that it was said so much that we said it over and over again without really thinking about what the verse says. It says that God is motivated by His love. His love motivated Him to give His Son for the world so that those who believe in the Son will have eternal life. This verse along with verses 17 and 18 tells us that people are already condemned because of sin. We do not need to do anything to become condemned. We are condemned already because we have the nature of our father Adam who sinned and died. There is a bill to be paid if humanity is to be set free from the penalty of death and have life again.

The second passage says, “But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, KJV). God is not motivated because we have stopped sinning. Humanity did not do anything to persuade Jesus to die for us. His love motivates His actions because love is doing what needs to be done to bring about the best good for the object of one’s love. Again, John tells us that we were the object of God’s love.

The man and the woman are condemned to death when they sin. They are sentenced to separation from God forever. God loves Adam and Eve still, but since God is Holy and righteous He cannot abide sin. God drives the man and the woman from the garden and places a barrier that prevents them from returning to the garden (Gen. 3:23-24). However, before God sends the man and his wife from the garden God clothes them with coats of skin (from a slain animal (3:21). This clothing symbolizes God’s mercy. It symbolizes that God’s mercy covers their nakedness. Their nakedness refers to their sins being exposed to God. God hides their sins because God already has a plan for humanity to be restored to life and fellowship with God. This plan involves the payment of the debt. It is only when the debt is paid that a person can be made free from their sins. The problem is that humanity has no money to pay the bill.

God extends grace to humanity by saving Noah and his family in the flood. After the flood is over God states that He will not again curse the ground because even though Noah finds grace, and he is spared from physical death caused by the flood he still has the sin nature (Gen. 8:20-23). God makes a covenant with Noah and puts the rainbow in the sky to remind God and proclaim to humanity that God will not cut off humanity by a flood. The debt is still owed. What will God accept as payment for humanity’s sins?

God calls the children of Israel to be His covenant people. He gives Israel His Law. The Law requires that the people offer sacrifices to the Lord for their sins. The animal that is killed must meet very specific standards in order for God to accept the blood of these animals. They are to be pure; without spot or blemish. It is the animal’s blood substituted for human blood.

The Law and the sacrifices prove that humanity cannot live holy enough to pay the debt for their sins. They are incapable of keeping the Law fully. They are not an acceptable sacrifice because they are not without spot or wrinkle. Humanity is corrupt in all their ways. There are two verses of scripture that make known this truth. Paul writes, “Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law; since by works of the Law no flesh will be justified” (Gal. 2:16, NASB). The second verse is found in the book of Hebrews. It says, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (10:4, NASB). What will God do? He will pay the debt Himself.

God will pay the bill Himself because God is motivated by love. The word love is a word that describes God’s essential nature. Love is not merely one of the attributes of God. Love is God’s nature, and thus God’s love includes all the attributes of God. Paul makes this clear when He says, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous, love does not brag and love is not arrogant” (1 Cor. 13:4). These characteristics of love in the Corinthian text are essentially the same as the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22. John sums all of this up when he says “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16).

The book of 1 John gives us a comprehensive view of God’s love. Love is God’s nature. God gives Himself not because He likes us and wants to ignore our sins. If God ignores our sins, that is God tolerating sin. It is God saying, “That’s alright; it does not matter.” There was a bill to be paid and God paid it Himself. You cannot give what you do not have. No human being or animal had blood (life) that was sufficient to pay the bill. Motivated by love, God’s essential nature, God gives His Son, Jesus, so that humanity is redeemed from their sins and reconciled to God. “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him” (1 Jn. 4:9, NASB).

While in exile John has a vision in which he sees a scene in heaven that takes place at the end of the ages. He writes, “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for you were slain, and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation’ “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth” (Rev. 5:9-10, NASB) The debt is paid in full. We are now free to be united again unto God. Love Paid the Bill. Amen.