Sacrificial Love
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you.” John 15:13-15
God the Father loves His Son, Jesus Christ, and He loves all people. God sacrificed His only Son for people. Jesus loved His Father and showed His love by being willing to be sacrificed to pay man’s penalty for sin. Matthew Henry wrote: “As the Father loved Him, who was most worthy, He loved them, who were most unworthy.” Think about giving up one’s son for sinners. Years ago, my uncle was teaching our Sunday School class, and he was speaking about God allowing His Son to die for people like you and me. He then said, “I wouldn’t give up my son for anyone.” He wasn’t being selfish; he was being honest. Who on this earth would give up his or her child so that sinners could be forgiven of sin and made right before God? God did what no human could do because of His great love and mercy.
Jesus commands us to love one another. God is love, therefore, there are no other options except to love. You cannot be Christlike if you don’t love. When we have repented of sin and placed our faith in Christ, we receive the joy of the Lord. It is difficult to put into words what it means to have the joy of the Lord, especially to unbelievers. Believers know that this joy is not necessarily shouting hallelujahs all day with a big smile on our faces. Sometimes we don’t feel like shouting hallelujahs or dancing in the street because we cannot be on the “mountain top” 24 hours a day. There are too many distractions that bring us down in the valley sometimes and make it difficult to express our joy. However, true joy in the Lord is an underlying truth deep within our spirits that give us purpose to continue on in our walk with Christ, knowing that we are never alone, that our sins are forgiven, and a time of complete peace and rest will come one day. We do have something wonderful to which to look forward. As far as attempting to describe this joy to an unbeliever, it’s almost like telling them, “You had to be there”. They must experience the new birth for themselves in order to understand what it means to be born again and have the joy of the Lord. If they see that joy in our lives, even though we can’t describe it, perhaps they will begin to be thirsty for that joy.
There is no greater love than dying in the place of another. It is very honorable for a man or woman in the military service to be willing to lay down their lives for the sake of freedom for others. Likely, most of these soldiers don’t expect that they will be the ones to take a bullet or otherwise die in the line of duty. I doubt that any intend to lose their lives for their country. However, it’s a different decision to intentionally die for another. There is no greater proof of love than to die in the place of another. Jesus died for friends and foes alike.
Who are Jesus’ friends? He said that His friends are those who obey Him. We keep His commands by serving Him, but we are more than servants–we are His friends. We are not familiar with kings and servants in today’s modern world, but we do know about employers and employees. Employees are not privy to everything concerning their employer, and they are usually not best friends with their boss as we understand the definition of friends. I know of an employer who hired his best friend from high school to work for him. That is usually not a good idea, and it wasn’t in this case. A situation arose causing the boss to verbally blast his friend/employee in front of other employees. It was only a short time before the friend turned in his notice and moved back home. Their relationship basically ended. It is different when we serve Jesus, the King, because we can serve and still be friends. Even if He had to chastise us for some sin that we committed, He would do it privately and help us back on the right track.
I have heard folks say that we should find out what God is doing and then join Him in His work. Jesus will let us in on so many things that He and the Father are doing, revealing whatever we need to serve Him. When Jesus called His disciples, He called those whom He chose. They did not come up and volunteer. However, when He called them, they sensed that this is what they needed to do–to follow Christ. They were chosen to spread the gospel in order that the kingdom of God would grow and in order to bring glory to Him. They were to be obedient, live Christlike lives, and love others. I would say, judging by the words of the New Testament, that they did what Christ desired for them to do–love and serve. Isn’t that what He calls us to do as well?