Let’s consider the sort of life that flows from God into us and through us. This is part three of a four part series. Read parts one (first mark: spiritual fruit) and two (second mark: powerful prayer) now.
Sacrificial Love
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:9-10, 12-13
What does life with Jesus look like? Well, it has to look like love. As the Father has loved me, Jesus says, so I have loved you. Stay in my love!
How can I do that? Stay in his love? Obey my commandments. The Law of the Gospel is meant to train us in the love of Christ. We learn to love Jesus by obeying Jesus. As we obey Jesus, we become like Jesus. Obedience is the school of love. Love is a feeling, yes, but it’s also a posture; it’s also a decision, an action, something we learn to do. When by faith we trust Jesus and obey Jesus, we experience the love of Jesus–the love that woos us, that love that captivates us, the love that sustains us.
When we abide in Jesus, when we obey Jesus, we attend the school of love. It’s here he teaches us how to love and he supplies us with the love we need to extend to others.
Friends, something or someone is teaching you how to live. Some do it overtly, but most do it subtly. Fox News and CNN, your social media feeds, the advertisements you see, your favorite celebrities and influencers, the leaders you look up to. By the way, I’m not assessing the value of any of these things. Something, someone is forming the image of the good life in your head and in your heart. Something, someone is training you. You are abiding in someone; in something–the Christian abides in the love of God. As we stay in his love, we extend his love.
Love is the air we breathe in; it’s the air we breathe out. We receive it from God and we give it to others. If there’s a love deficit in your life, don’t look only at your struggle to love others, but give an honest assessment of the love intake.
Do you know the love of Jesus? Well, how could I? You may ask.
Good question. How can we know for sure that Jesus loves us? Well, he’s going to prove it. Jesus, the great teacher, does not just talk about love. He demonstrates it. Looking just beyond this night to the days that lie ahead, Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.”
Jesus will lay down his life for his friends, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he loves them. Here’s my commandment: love each other the same way I love you. The world will know you are my disciples by the way you love one another.
You know love is true when it costs you something. Have you ever gone somewhere you didn’t want to go because you love the person you went with? How do you know someone has been with Jesus? They’re willing to love when it costs something. Because we’ve been loved at a great cost.
In the path of sacrificial love there is great joy.