The Summer of Love part 5: Sacrificial Love

[audio:SacrificialLove.mp3|titles=Sacrificial Love|artists=Christian St John]
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Recorded August 1, 2010

My Notes:

Over the past five weeks we have been looking at love and we have seen that love is the very heart of God, that we are to love one another closer than brothers and sisters, that we are to love our enemies, and that the best way to show the world around us the love of God is to let His love flow through us.

Today I want to look at a sacrificial love. This is the kind of love that counts the cost and yet moves forward anyway… the kind of love that refuses to give up or back down and yet let’s go when needed.

There are so many examples of sacrificial love in the Bible that it would take a lifetime of sermons to get through, so to shorten things just a tad I want to look at a couple of examples in Scripture of this kid of love.

The first is found in Luke 15:11-24

11Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13″Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17″When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21″The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.[a]‘
22″But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
In this story that Jesus told we see sacrificial love in action. The son goes to the father and asks him for his inheritance.
Now we might not see this as such a big deal and maybe we would even allow our children to have some of their inheritance early to help them out.
But the son was not asking his son if he could borrow his father’s credit card or if he could have a small handout, he was asking for the lot; he was asking for his inheritance and in those days that was a big thing because people would usually only get their inheritance when the other person was dead.
In this story we see that the son could care less about the father, he just wanted to go and live it up. So in a sense the son is saying ‘you are dead to me, give me my money.’
Many times when we look at this story we focus our attention on the son’s side of the story. But there is another character in this story that shows an incredible amount of love… the father.
When the son comes to the father he is more or less saying ‘father give me what’s coming to me, and let me go.’ Did it hurt that father that the son didn’t care less about him and could only think of his own selfish desires? Indeed it must have hurt the father. But in his love he agrees to let is son go. Not only that but he gives him what he demanded.
Now we might look at this story and think, ‘what was the father thinking?’ And I’m sure that many parents would say something like, ‘If my kid came to me demanding money and wishing me dead I would probably pop them upside of the head.’
But the father loves his son more than the money and is hoping that the son will see this. He doesn’t, but we cannot deny the sacrificial love of the father.
Skipping right to the end of the story we see that the son is in a bad way. He finds himself penniless and living worse than the pigs he is looking after. In fact he is in such a bad way that he even desired the pigs food. So he reasons that maybe, just maybe, his father would hire him back as a servant.
He realizes right then and there sitting in the mire just what he had done. He had wished his father dead and therefore the son knew that his father would more-than-likely no longer see him as a son. But maybe if he went and offered himself as a servant…
Then we see something that should knock our socks off! When the son comes before his father, the father in an act of sacrificial love reaches out and taking him in his arms tells him that everything will be ok.
Any good parent will know where the father is coming from and over the years I have seen a lot of good parents sacrifice a lot for their children. When we really think about the father our hearts should go out to him, because I believe he would have been a broken man in the in-between years of his son leaving and his son coming home.
But now his son is home and we see in the story that the father has no desire to see his own son become his servant. In fact he calls ‘his servants’ and says, ‘’Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.’
The father is overjoyed to have his son back again and instead of berating him and telling him he’s stupid and all that, he pours out his love once again. He even tells his other son, who is suffering from a major case of PMS (poor me syndrome) that his brother, the fathers son, was dead to him and now he’s alive!
As parents it’s easy, when we break it down like this, to see how sacrificial love under the right circumstances is a no brainer and should come naturally to us. After all we all probably give up and awful lot to raise and feed and clothe our children, not mention all the toys and gadgets and gizmos we buy for them.
In fact the Canadian Counsel of Social Development says that it costs parents on average around $170,000 to raise each child to the age of 18. Now we may not think about it in this way, and why, because we love our children and want only the best for them. The amount of money we spend on our kids is something we do because we love them and are willing to sacrifice the things we want for them.
I have heard it said from many a parent that they would do anything for their kids. And I think there is no greater love from a parent to child than to always want the best for them, always ready to provide for them and step in gap, and love them regardless of their choices in life.
But what about the kind of sacrificial love that calls us to love others in this same way – To be willing to stand in the gap and help those in need; to love them despite their lifestyle choices being always willing to share the ultimate sacrificial love of God with them.
One Scripture that always challenges me is Matthew 25: 31-40:
31″When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37″Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Now the traditional way of looking at this verse is that Jesus is making a blanket statement regarding all people… that we need to look out for one another in these ways. Today I want us to bring it closer to home.
Let’s look at the passage again…
34″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Jesus lists some of the things that the righteous did… some of the ways that they gave of themselves over to sacrificial love. But then the righteous ask,
37… ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
The fact that they had to ask doesn’t mean they were ignorant or that they were asking to be praised… it simply means that all the good things they did in life, all those times they gave of themselves simply came naturally to those before him. ‘When did we do those things,’ they ask. Why, because they weren’t even aware that what they were doing was anything out of the ordinary, it came naturally to them… it was to them simply an outworking of their faith and an overflow of the love within them working itself out in the real world.
40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Do we love without giving love a second thought? Do we love because it comes naturally or do we have to force ourselves to help and care for others? Jesus cared for and helped people because it was his very nature, loving came naturally to him because everything he did was guided by his love for others. He wasn’t looking for glory or fame; he didn’t desire that people pat his back and say well done big J.
In fact many times he did things even when there were no crowds and I’m sure that what we read of in Scripture is only the tip of what he did whilst here among us, an outpouring of sacrificial love unmatched before or since. An example for us all on how we are to love in this world.
This morning I want to push a little harder and ask some questions that I feel are raised by the example we have in Jesus.
Again Jesus said, ‘I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Question: If someone was hungry, someone in our church family, would you feed them? Let’s push this a little more… would you give them your last meal?
Q: If someone in this church family was thirsty would you give them your last drink of water?
Q: If someone in this church family needed clothing would you give them the clothes that you are wearing right now?
Q: If they were sick or in prison would you visit them?
Q: If they were in danger would you put your life on the line to save them?
We may never have to do any of these things to share God’s love… sometimes the simplest acts of love are the most powerful. However, if we say yes to God, that we want to love in this way, the way of sacrificial love, then God is not simply going to make us love, but give us opportunities to love. May we be ready and willing when these opportunities come our way!
As I finish this five week look at love it’s only fitting that we finish on the ultimate act of love the world has ever known – an act of sacrificial love that in turn should cause us to love in the same way.
Phil. 2 tells us:
1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
This is a call to be like Christ in our mindset and attitude, being willing to give everything to be more like him, holding nothing back as we grow in His love. This is a call for us to live lives overflowing with sacrificial love one for another, loving like we’ve never loved before.
My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will work in each of us and in this body as a whole to cause us to want to be more like Christ and love without ceasing, to love in such a way that that those around us, our families, our work colleagues, our community will take notice and in turn desire what we have.
There is so much more we could look at regarding love, and we will over time, but I will leave you with this…
Love can and will change hearts. Love can and will transform lives. Love can and will revolutionize this world.

Love is the very heartbeat of God… May our hearts beat to Your rhythm oh Lord and may Your love be in us, working in and through us, for Your glory. Amen!