We Will Learn That Love Involves Deep Sacrifice and Commitment

SACRIFICIAL LOVE 

1. GOAL

We will learn that love involves deep sacrifice and commitment.

2. INTRODUCTION

We are often told that marital love should be a nonstop, romantic epic. We are also told that love in friendship should be an uninterrupted series of beer commercials where old college buddies toast everyone’s success and say, “It does not get any better than this.” Some say, “Love is a flower. Love is a rose. Love is a many-splendored thing.” It was said that love is a scintillating opportunity to meet someone’s need, which will result in miraculous bonds of mutuality, lifelong respect, and admiration. But why doesn’t love ever work out that way for most of us? In this session we will take a whole new look at love that comes from biblical viewpoints. Rather than seeing it as a fluffy feeling or constant romance, excitement, or perfect harmony, we will learn that love involves deep sacrifice and commitment. Love involves a deep giving of ourselves. Our ultimate example of sacrificial love is found in Jesus, who gave His own life for His friends. We are called to follow His example.

3. QUESTIONS

What are some of the things God has done to show His love for you? In light of the way God loves you, how would you define true love?

4. CONTENT

Love has a whole lot more to do with servanthood than hero-hood. When we set about the task of loving, we usually end up giving instead of receiving. It inevitably costs us something. People tend to protect their time, energy, or resources because they have these things in limited quantities. Love is demonstrated to other people while costing us time, energy, and money. It involves ourselves. Love is synonymous with sacrifice; that loving someone is going to require that we give what is so precious to us.

Copyright © 1999 by New Hope International Church, Seattle Sacrifice Love CG Corr John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” 1 John 4:9-12 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. The world’s view of love is a myth and fantasy. Love is more a sacrificial thing than a splendored thing. “For God so loved” means that God was so concerned about the well-being of people who are precious to Him. God gave up, He parted with, He expended, He sacrificed someone very precious to Him – His Son Jesus – for the sake of those that He was concerned about. It is being so concerned about the well-being of other people that you decide to willingly give up, part with, expend, sacrifice whatever is required to meet their needs or contribute to their life. Usually that means giving up, expending, parting with or sacrificing time, energy, and resources. God will reward you for expending yourself for the sake of others. Sacrifice will bring about great meaning and fulfillment and satisfaction.

The Greatest Commandments We live in a culture that teaches selfishness rather than self-sacrifice. We are constantly bombarded with books, radio shows, television programs, magazine articles, and newspaper articles that shout “protect your time!” Culture urges us to conserve our time so that we can have more of it for ourselves, to conserve our energy so that when we get some leisure time we have energy to expend on ourselves. Our culture says to accumulate resources, amass them, stockpile them, invest them, double them, triple them so that we have more at our disposal. We have had those values drummed into our minds so much over the course of our lives that it is impossible to live in our culture without being affected by them. True personal fulfillment will never come through self-gratification. True, lasting, personal fulfillment comes when a person gives himself away to God and gives himself away to people.

2 Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said to him," `You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and great commandment. 39"And the second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” If you say you love God, you will be so concerned with His purposes, His glory, His plans that you just offer yourself up. You will be willing to lay down your life to Him and to those who matter to Him. Mark 8:35 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.” Remember Jesus’ statement, “Do you really want to find life? Then lose your life.” Give life to others, and you will find life. Do you want to be first? Then you should be last and push others up first. Do you want to be great in God’s eyes? Be the servant of all. Love and expend yourself.

True Gratification True gratification in life will never come through self-gratification. It will never come from protecting yourself and pleasing yourself and hoarding things for yourself. That is a dead-end road. True fulfillment comes when you give yourself to God and to the service of His people. We have to make a choice. Every day, many times a day, we are going to come to crossroads that afford us rich opportunities to love people, to expend our time, energy, and resources for them. What will we do in these opportunities? It is only when we decide to live lives filled with sacrificial love that we discover true and lasting gratification. The more we give of ourselves and our resources, the richer we become. Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

Sacrificial Love in Marriage When it comes to marital love, the world says each spouse should look out for their own needs, making sure that each is getting the best out of the relationship. But God has other plans for those who marry. He calls us to serve our spouse and to think of their needs, desires, and dreams as even more important than our own. Each partner in the marriage should be trying to out-love and out-bless and out-serve the other. That is exactly the kind of sacrificial love that God wants for His children. Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.

3 Titus 2:4 …that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children… Each partner should look their spouse straight in the eye and say, “I love you. I am so concerned about your well-being that I am committing myself to serve you, to build you up, to cheer you on, knowing full well that it is going to cost me some time and a lot of energy and a lot of resources. But I want to put your interests in front of me. You go first. I will serve you.”

Sacrificial Love in Friendship John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.” The world teaches you to keep a healthy detachment from your friends so that the relationship does not get muddied up with commitments or expectations. You relate with them at a safe distance. That advice works out until you experience a pressing problem – a loss, a tragedy, a death, and illness. And suddenly the realization comes crashing in on you that no one really cares much about you, your life, or your problems. Your friendships are based on convenient love, not sacrificial love. The Bible teaches us to expend ourselves for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are going to take time and make time to be together regularly. We will fellowship with them and talk deeply about life and faith and seek to build each other up. We are going to let the waters get muddy and get into each other’s lives, encouraging, counseling, challenging, and rebuking each other. We are willing to share what we have. We will give away what the world tells us to cling to if we see our friends in need. If we approach our friends with this kind of mind-set, we will be blessed by God.

5. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Who comes to mind when you think of sacrificial love? How have you seen the love of Jesus through this person’s life? 2. Why is sacrificial love an essential element of any healthy marriage? 3. How can you develop characteristics of sacrificial love in your friendship? 4. In what area of your life do you see yourself holding back love and not being willing to give sacrificially?

4 6. A COMMITMENT TO MEMORIZE SCRIPTURE

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.”