To Be Like Jesus--Sacrificial Love. Loyal Evangelical Church, Loyal OK

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." ~Jesus Christ, in Matthew 28:18-20

Loyal, OK

Pastor Leon Seaton

To Be Like Jesus--Sacrificial Love

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food might this contain?" the mouse wondered - - - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap! Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it." The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said, ”There is a mousetrap in the house!

There is a mousetrap in the house!" The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap . . . alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.

In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died.

So many people came for her funeral; the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them. The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So when you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

That e-mail parable is a powerful reminder that as members of the Body of Christ we all have a responsibility to care for each other. Not just the members of our local congregation or our local community, but for Christians around the world!

Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34, 35

Like the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, this is a commandment, not a suggestion! In fact, Jesus also said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. This is My command: Love each other.

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of My Name, for they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father as well. If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both Me and My Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated Me without reason.'

“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me. And you also must testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning.” John 15:13-27

True love is also sacrificial love! It is not uncommon to hear of parents that give their kidneys or part of their liver to their child to extend their life; of couples where one has kidney failure and the other donates a kidney. If fact we occasionally read of someone that gives a kidney to a stranger.

Military personnel have been known to throw themselves on a hand grenade in order to save the rest of their troop.

Some parents devote their lives to caring for an invalid child – or a spouse may give up everything to care for an ailing wife or husband.

It is said that St. Peter wanted to be crucified hanging upside down because he was not worthy to die the way Jesus did.

When St. Paul was called into the ministry he was told that he “must suffer many things for Christ.”

The verses in John 15 remind us that we can expect the unsaved to treat us poorly – even hatefully.

The latest issue of Today's Pentecostal Evangel is full of stories about the suffering of Christians in Africa. A group of believers crowded into their church hoping that they would be spared from the cruel mob. Unfortunately they angry mob set fire to the church then used machetes trying to kill everyone that escaped the fire. Many died, many escaped, but some will bear burn scars and scars from cruel cuts from that terrible attack for the rest of their lives.

Marley and Me is the humorous story about the world’s dumbest dog. Not only is this large dog dumb, he also had emotional problems. For instance, during a thunderstorm the dog would tear up the garage or cage or wherever the owners put him. The Vet suggested they just put the dog to sleep, but because of their love for their pet the family kept the dog – usually in the house – even though it meant torn-up carpets, couches and mattresses and screen doors. I won’t tell you the surprise ending, but the story powerfully illustrates the awesome ramifications of true love.

God has true love for us. Not surprisingly, He expects us to manifest that same kind of love.

However, we are not dumb animals and we do have a higher level of reasoning available to us. Therefore, God does discipline us and if we are Christian leaders we may have to impose discipline on the members of the church.

Relax… that is not where this message is going.

In 1^st Corinthians Paul told the church to separate themselves from a man that claimed to be a Christian but was living in blatant sin. However, in 2^nd Corinthians he told them to restore the man because he had suffered the consequences.

Neither does God demand that we stay in harmful human relations outside the church. If your spouse or parents are physically or emotionally abusing you, leave.

However, when we leave we are to continue loving and praying for them and for everyone else – even our enemies!

In Sweden, a nurse working in a government convalescent home was assigned to an elderly woman patient. This patient had not spoken a word in three years. The other nurses disliked her and tried to have nothing to do with her. The new nurse decided to try unlimited love.

The elderly woman rocked all day in a rocking chair. So one day the nurse pulled up a rocking chair beside the lady and just rocked along with her and loved her. On the third day, the patient opened her eyes and said, "You're so kind." Two weeks later the lady was well enough to leave the home.

It doesn't always work like that, of course, but studies are accumulating. Love heals!

The poet Elizabeth Barrett was an invalid for many years, unable even to lift her head from her pillow. One day she was visited by a man named Robert Browning. In just one visit he gave her so much joy and happiness that she lifted her head. On his second visit she sat up in bed. On the third visit they eloped.

Love heals the body! No wonder people were healed by coming into contact with Jesus. He was love incarnate and that is what He calls His church to be today. Love made flesh. Love can heal the body.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus went to Calvary to die? Oh, I know that He did it at the Father’s request. However, we need an inward motive to do something that self-sacrificial.

The two things that caused Christ to die for us were love and hope. John notes, "We love because He first loved us." Love may cost us everything we have. It certainly cost Christ! But He was able to die for us “because of the joy that was set before Him." He admonished us to "Love one another, as I have loved you."

President Ronald Reagan once told a story about World War II. It was Reagan's job was to review letters of recommendations. Many of the soldiers receiving those letters received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

One letter told of a gunner who was trapped in a hole in the bottom of a B-29 bomber. The plane had been crippled by an attack from other planes. The landing gear of the plane was destroyed. The captain feared that landing the plane would kill the gunner.

As the plane neared England, the captain realized that they would never reach an airstrip. First, he ordered everyone to bail out.

As the last man stood ready to jump, the captain then took off his parachute and knelt beside the gunner still trapped helplessly in the hole. “Sergeant” he said, “It looks like you and I are going to land this thing together." The captain did not forsake the gunner, even though he was risking his own life.

That's love. That's the kind of love that lifted Christ to the cross. That's love like unto God's love for you and me. And that is the love we need to show one another.

(Illustrations from www.esermons.com by King Duncan with illustrations from Adrian P. Rogers, GOD'S WAY TO HEALTH, WEALTH & WISDOM, (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1987). Los Angeles Times, 9/20/88, Pt. 4, p.3. Charles L. Allen, JOYFUL LIVING IN THE FOURTH DIMENSION, (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1983).)

February 17, 2008