The Sacrificial Love

“As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; continue in My love.” (John 15:9)

Jesus shared some last Truths with His disciples after the Last Supper, before leaving for the Garden of Gethsemane. In our Scripture of study, He relates His love for us to the love the Father has for Him. How has the Father loved Jesus? We will look into the Scriptures to find this out and also find how Jesus loves us.

Let’s look at some Scriptures that confirm the Father’s love for the Son. One was at the baptism of Jesus. In each account except for John’s, the apostles record that the Father called Jesus His beloved Son. “And Jesus, when He had been baptized, went up immediately out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him. And lo, a voice from Heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17) The Father calls Jesus Beloved Son in the Gospels of Mark and Luke also. ( Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22) In John’s Gospel, John narrates what happened but not in detail except for the confirmation he received that Jesus was the Messiah. “And I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water, that One said to me, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon Him, He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I saw and bore record that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:33-34)

The word “beloved” is a derivative of “agapao” which means to love. It’s a form of the word “agape” which is a love different from emotional love. Agape love is the highest form of love because it is the love of God for people. It’s also the kind of love that we have for God. It’s different from brotherly love and from sexual love. Agape love is a selfless and sacrificial love in which we put others first place before ourselves. It’s the kind of love that is expected of the children of God, those redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, adopted by the Father and who are expected to be like the Father.

So, then we know that the Father loved Jesus because He said it, calling Jesus the Beloved Son. “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand." (Joh 3:35) God loves Jesus so much that He put all things into His Hand. The Father gave Jesus authority over all flesh. “Jesus spoke these words and lifted up His eyes to Heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that Your Son also may glorify You, even as You have given Him authority over all flesh so that He should give eternal life to all You have given Him.” (John17:1-2) And Jesus said it Himself, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority is given to Me in Heaven and in earth.” (Matthew 28:18) All things have been given to Jesus. “All things are delivered to Me by My Father. And no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son will reveal Him.”  (Matthew 11:27) And the Father has placed all things under the feet of Jesus and in submission to Him. “For He put all things under His feet. But when He says that all things have been put under His feet, it is plain that it excepts Him who has put all things under Him.” (1Corinthians 15:27) God has made Jesus the head of all things. “And He has put all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church,” (Ephesians 1:22). The Father has given to Jesus all the inheritance. “...has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds,” (Hebrews 1:2) He has given Jesus the nations as His inheritance. “I will declare the decree of Jehovah. He has said to Me, You are My Son; today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession.” (Psalms 2:7-8) The Father has exalted the Name of Jesus above every name. “Therefore God has highly exalted Him, and has given Him a name which is above every name,” (Philippians 2:9).

And just as God loved Jesus. The Father and Jesus love us. It’s with agape love. He loved us so much He sent His Beloved Son. “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.” (John 3:16) The word that was translated “loved” is agape love. The Father sacrificed His Son Whom He loved with a sacrificial love because He loved us with a sacrificial love that wouldn’t allow Him to let us perish forever.

Agape love is a supernatural love. The world doesn’t understand it because it doesn’t exist in this world. We cannot have this kind of love unless we have God in us. When we come to Jesus, believing in Him and surrendering our lives to Him, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. He is God in us. It’s through Him, God the Holy Spirit, that we are able to have this agape love. But this love doesn’t just magically appear. Remember we have this world flesh that is constantly fighting the born-again spirit of God that we now are. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do.” (Galatians 5:17)

Agape love is spiritually developed. When we take a look at the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians we see how much we need to grow into agape love. “And though I give out all my goods to feed the poor, and though I deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, I am profited nothing. Charity has patience, is kind; charity is not envious, is not vain, is not puffed up; does not behave indecently, does not seek her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil. Charity does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth, quietly covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity never fails. But if there are prophecies, they will be abolished; if tongues, they shall cease; if knowledge, it will be abolished.” (1Corinthians 13:3-8) In this translation agape love has been translated charity. In the forty-six translations that I looked at only two translated love to charity, the King James and the Modern King James. In the Latin Vulgate, Jerome used the actual word “agape.”

According to 1 Corinthians 13, agape love is patient. That’s a biggie with me. I am impatient in circumstances and with others. Are you parents impatient with your children? If you are a teacher. are you impatient with your students? At work are you impatient with your co-workers or bosses who don’t understand the workers’ views? As students are you impatient with teachers who don’t understand the students’ needs and pressures? It’s not hard to understand why Paul maybe placed this characteristic of agape love first. When we have absolute patience. then we can say agape love is developed in us. Another biggie is agape love thinks no evil. Anything that is contrary to God’s Word is evil. This is another area that is difficult for us. We live in this world where the enemy is constantly bombarding us with evil thoughts. We have to capture those thoughts and make them obedient to Jesus. “For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, pulling down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ;” (2Corinthians 10:4-5). Another character of agape love is that it doesn’t seek her own. A worldly characteristic of humans is to think of oneself first. It’s just a natural characteristic of people on earth. It’s difficult to put other people first in certain situations which require us to sacrifice ourselves or our families for others’ needs. Agape love “...believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things...” The word “all” in that phrase is what clinches agape love and which is difficult for us. We may believe all things and ascend to it in our minds, but our actions and words many times betray our true beliefs and hopes.

So we learn that the Father loves the Son. He has given Jesus authority over all things and has placed everything in His hands. And just like the Father loves the Son, Jesus loves us. We know He loves us because He went to the cross and took our death for us. “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.” (Ephesians 5:2) Jesus took our punishment, our death, our sicknesses and sins because of His love for us. “But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on Him; and with His stripes we ourselves are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) He demonstrated His love in the greatest act of all by laying down His life for us.

In the last part of our Scripture of study, Jesus gives us a command. “... continue in My love.” The word continue means to stay, to abide or live in, be present, remain and stand in His love. (Strongs) In other words, don’t stray from the love of Jesus, don’t go after other loves or seek love, the sacrificial kind of love in others because it can’t be found in any other except in Jesus. His sacrificial love didn’t stop at the cross. It continues on to eternity. Jesus keeps giving of Himself and of what He has, giving us part of His inheritance. Paul who is traditionally thought to be the author of Ephesians wrote an eleven verses long description of this. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ; according as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He has made us accepted in the One having been loved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He caused to abound toward us in all wisdom and understanding; having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, for an administration of the fullness of times, to head up all things in Christ, both the things in Heaven, and the things on earth, even in Him, in whom also we have been chosen to an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His own will, for us to be to the praise of His glory, who previously had trusted in Christ; in whom also you, hearing the Word of Truth, the gospel of our salvation, in whom also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance, to the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:3-14)

Concluding, we see how great God’s love is for Jesus and for us in Jesus. And we see how great Christ’s love is for us. It’s sacrificial and eternal which is forever.

Let us pray:

Father God, Thank You for Your Love. It’s hard to imagine that from the beginning of the world, knowing how sinful my darkness would be, You still loved me. You still had mercy on me. You still rescued me. But more than that, You gave me gifts that help me to live in Jesus in the here and now and in the heavenlies for eternity. I am grateful for Your gifts. They are eternal and never cease.  I sing “How great is Your love...”  Words here on this earth cannot describe the fathom of Your love. Father, I am not worthy, but the Blood of the Lamb is worthy and was able to make me Your child. I thank You for all Your blessings here on this earth and for the mighty blessings in the heavenlies to come in eternity. Agape love is hard to live out on this earth, but I thank You my Lord that the Holy Spirit will help me to obey and to live in agape love with those that are difficult to love. I love You my Lord and thank You for Your goodness, Your mercy and Your love. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.