1 John 3:18
“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
Yesterday we emphasized that it is easy to say “I love you.” However, it is not easy to actually love people, especially when it requires us to sacrifice. Real love is selfless commitment, and that means love that acts and gives sacrificially. This is the message in the 1 John passage above. As we emphasized earlier this week, love is what motivated the Lord Jesus to make the ultimate sacrifice: to lay down his life for us.
John 3.16 says that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son ...”. Do you see the action word, the verb, in that sentence? Because he loved, God gave his son to be crucified on our behalf.
We have done nothing to deserve God’s love. We have done nothing to merit or earn it. It is not something to which we are entitled. Nevertheless, God extends his love to us. He made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Because he loves us.
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5.6-8)
In many passages the bible speaks to the sacrificial nature of God’s love for us. One of the most powerful passages is found in Philippians.
“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2.4.-8)
This is often referred to as the kenosis, from the Greek word for “emptied,” which is kenoo. Jesus emptied himself of certain divine privileges to become a servant for those he loves. He voluntarily limited himself to take on human form and submit to the pain and suffering of the cross. In this Philippians passage, the apostle Paul admonishes us to follow the example of Jesus and “have this mind among yourselves.”
Note also that the passage affirms that our own interests are not irrelevant; our personal needs and desires are important also. But the point of love is that it is motivated to seek and to serve the interests and needs of others. Authentic love gives, and sometimes gives up, and it does so sacrificially.
Love seeks to serve, not be served. Greatness in the kingdom of God is not found in those who have authority and positions of power and prestige; greatness in the kingdom of God is found in those who serve others. Jesus taught this truth in the gospel of Mark.
“Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10.43-45).
The challenge, of course, is that we tend to be self-centered. We like things our way. We like comfort and convenience. We want our needs met. We want others to serve us and support our agenda. The agape love of God challenges our self-orientation. It is the authentic love of Christ that is willing to sacrifice in order to serve and support the best interest of others.
We must get love right.
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?” – Martin Luther King
