Sometimes words are easy to dole out. Things like love, caring, giving, etc., are all spoken with great frequency, and it is proper to have such concepts in our minds. The real challenge, however, is to show our concern for others by taking an active role in their lives. Perhaps we go out of our way to give a ride to someone who cannot drive. Or, maybe we take money from our own pockets and give to someone who needs a meal or a coat. The truest, and costliest, way to show love is to take action on behalf of others.
Jesus said in John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. “ If true love is expressed by expending some effort on another’s behalf, then the ultimate expression of love is to give everything that one can give-nothing held in reserve. At this time of year much of the religious world is celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, yet likely without understanding the fullest significance of this event.
The story begins with the choices of mankind, namely what people do in response to God’s laws. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve decided to overrule God’s command and sinned, Genesis 3. The consequence was the entrance of death and separation from God. This separation was clearly identified when Israel was told in Isaiah 59:1,2, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. “ As each person commits their first sin today, including you and me, we are immediately separated from the Creator, exactly as Adam and Eve were, and have become His enemy.
Is mankind left to this lot, never again to be near the Heavenly Father? Some means was necessary to remove the barrier of so that the communion with God that existed in the Garden could be reclaimed: It is at this point that the life of Jesus becomes pivotal to man. He did live a perfect life (Heb. 4:15), and consequently never earned separation from God. He was willing to sacrifice himself, however, for our guilt. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” This brings us full circle to Jesus’ statement that the greatest love is to lay down one’s life for friends, as that is exactly what he did.
If the story had stopped there, then nothing would have changed. However, Jesus’ stay in the grave was limited to three short days before his resurrection, a fact was witnessed by hundreds of people(1Cor. 15:3-8). Afterward he ascended to heaven where he presented his own blood as a sacrifice for sin, (Heb. 9:24-26). It is this willingness to die for us that makes Jesus’ sacrifice the ultimate expression of love, since he did it voluntarily and not of compulsion. We as Christians remember the love shown by our Friend and Savior Jesus by partaking of the Lord’s Supper, not just once per year, but one very first day of the week (Acts 20:7).
How else do we respond to this sacrifice? We are called to give our utmost in return for Christ’s life. As we recall what constitutes the highest form of love, John 15:13, we know that we must give our own lives in service to our God. Romans 6:11 says that just as Christ died for our sins, we are to “reckon [ourselves] to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. “As Paul also says in Romans 12:1, we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices in answer to Christ’s sacrifice in death for this is our reasonable service. When we try to accept the gift of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, but are unwilling to offer ourselves in return, we only reveal an ungrateful attitude within ourselves. With the new spiritual life that we have been given, let us offer the rest of our days in service to the Father who loved us and removed the barrier of sin. Will you minimize the sacrifice of Jesus and his efforts toward reconciliation? Or will you lay down your life and be a friend of God?
[The Southwesterner—July 20, 2003]
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