05/22/2019
We read scripture and it tells us that laying our life down for another is a singularly great act of love, but how do you go about doing this? Is it a life ending experience? I am going to surprise you by saying that there may be more to it. More often we give our life not in death, but in the unselfish and complete service of another, and if we are the recipients of this kind of love how are we to honor it?
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13 ESV
When we read this scripture we often think of someone darting in front of an oncoming car to throw a child to the curb just as the car hits us instead. Or perhaps, we use a spiritually based example like Father Maximilian Kolbe who exchanged places with a Polish Army Sergeant at Auschwitz who had been selected as one of 10 men to be starved to death as an example to the other prisoners that they should not try to escape. These examples involve someone dying for another and are the first thoughts that pop into our minds, but are they the only way that we can look at this scripture? What if I were to tell you the Jesus gave His life for us twice?
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Matthew 10:37-39 ESV
I propose to you that Jesus gave up His life in service to us by dedicating Himself in obedience to God’s will so that we would learn to love and have faith in God. He didn’t take a wife, have children, or settle down in a business, and build a home... he did none of these things that would have been considered the trappings of a good life, but instead He served you and me through His teaching. Just like men such as John the Baptist He gave up what the normal person would consider “a life” to teach of God. Then in the end He went on to offer His physical life as a blood sacrifice for us on the cross at Calvary.
“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."”
John 10:17-18 ESV
So how does offering of our life in service play out in our everyday lives? Is it the parent who gives up all their years to wait hand and foot on a disabled child? How about the child who sacrifices their own life to care many years for a sick or elderly parent? Or perhaps it is Mother Theresa, who dedicated her life in faithful service to the starving and sick children of God? There are so many examples of those who “lay down his life for his friends.”, each and every day. This is giving our life without it being a physical death.
“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”
Romans 6:16-18 ESV
For several years I laid down my everyday life in service of my aging mother and father in law. I yielded my comfort to insure they were well taken care of. My wife and I did this out of love for them. It was a difficult time; sometimes physically, but quite often emotionally... yet spiritually those were some of the greatest years of our lives. The man I was, who entered into this servitude, was not the same man who exited from it upon their death. You see, dying to ourselves in service to another transforms us; it shows us the character of God like nothing else can, but it requires that you be doing so out of love, and not with a feeling of frustration, obligation, or of being trapped by the circumstances... and it is done expecting nothing in return.
“If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV
So we give up our lives in either sacrifice, or service to another, and as we do so we receive blessings and a walk with God that changes us forever, but what about those who received such love? How do they go on with their life after someone has stepped in front of a car to save them, or gave up “lives” to nurse them through the last years of their’s? Receiving the gift of a life can be much harder than the giving of our own.
If a person dies for you, either physically or by dedicating their life, then honor them for it, and give them thanks. There is one commandment that we read over and don’t really dwell on too much, but it extends our life... By honoring our parents we are honoring the gift of loving service they have provided us, and the result is a long life with God. We tend to read this as an obligation of children in exchange for their birthright, but much more than that it is honoring the love and sacrifice that is baked into every morsel of parenthood.
“"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
Exodus 20:12 ESV
So we are to honor and thank those who yield their lives for us. Jesus teaches us to do this in several ways. One such way is to walk in righteous remembrance of them, with Jesus He gave us Communion for just this purpose....
“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."”
1 Corinthians 11:23-24 ESV
But the Old Testament tells us not to forget too..
“then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.”
Deuteronomy 6:12-13 ESV
So as we are receiving the gift of another’s life then thank them for it, honor them for it, and do this by allowing their sacrifice, given in love, to change your life. Look with fresh eyes on Jesus Christ and the Father as you have thus been bought out of bondage to your flesh by this gift, and placed in a spiritual place...
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:17 ESV
We can give our lives physically, or in service, but if we are to be transformed in the process and truly make our life a gift, then it has to be done in love. And for those who receive such an enormous offering we must do so thankfully, and by honoring it. Jesus gave us a His life twice, and both times it was in love, and in obedience to the will of God... Do you realize the life He has given you? Out of His example, and by way of honoring Him, Have you given yours for another?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who you gave us in redemption for our sins, and to conquer death. Help us Holy Father to not only live as He lived, but to offer ourselves as He did. Reveal to us those opportunities in our lives to serve you by yielding our lives to others, and bless us Lord as we do so. Make us aware of the motivation with which we give ourselves, and make our offering of life a righteous one. Show us how to offer ourselves as a vessel containing the greatest love we can have for another. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who gave His Son to us, even in the midst of our sins. Praised be your name which is love, and grace. Glory be to you always Father for the gift of life you have given us, and for showing us how to give it to others.
Rich Forbes