The following is written by East-West’s Executive Vice President of Ministry Engagement.

 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” -John 3:16

The Father loved the world, meaning He loved the people in the world. He loved and loves all 107 billion people who have ever lived on earth (The Population Reference Bureau). The Father’s kind of love is knowing, wanting, and acting in the best interests of these 107 billion people.

The Father knew that all 107 billion of us have a sin problem that separated us from Himself, the perfectly holy and righteous Being. He knew we could not remedy this dire problem ourselves. He knew He had to give His only Son as the Sacrifice for our sins. He wanted to restore us to Himself.

Therefore, He acted by giving His Son as a gift.

He gave His Son to die in our place. His Son paid for our sins despite having no sin of His own. Any person can be saved, fully forgiven and invited into close fellowship with God through trust in Jesus and His work on the cross.

The Father also acted to communicate this wonderful message. He is an excellent, clear, and incurable communicator. He spoke and speaks to us in creation, in the prophets, in His written Word, in the still, small voice of His Spirit, and in His Son—the incarnate Word.

The Great Commission is the command to communicate the Father’s great message. He saw our helpless condition, loved us, wanted to help us, and acted by giving His Son as the substitute for us so that we could be saved by trusting in Jesus Christ.

God the Father, the incurable Communicator, commanded us to become His communicators about this gospel message. We would not be incurable communicators. We would not be absolutely excellent communicators. We would not be absolutely clear communicators. But the Father chose to commission us as His communicators anyway. Additionally, He insured that we would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be good communicators of His Message.

We are not perfect communicators like the Father, but, empowered by His Spirit, we are good enough.

Without the Father’s gift of Jesus there would be no message. There would be no commission. No hope. Nothing to say. Nothing to know. Nothing to want. Nothing to do. In short, no love.

So, our great privilege is to imitate our Father by knowing the desperate state of every person who is apart from Christ, wanting to help them, and acting to give them the Message. In this way we become “Father-like lovers” of other people.

Again, we are not perfect communicators of the Father’s Great Commission message. But, empowered by His Holy Spirit, we are good enough.