TEXT:
While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die--but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8 (ESV)
Having just celebrated Valentine’s Day a couple of weeks ago, I’m sure that we’ve all heard quite a bit about love lately--not that we don’t hear a lot about love all the time. The triviality that we seem to associate with love, especially in connection with Valentine’s Day, was made even more apparent to me by an e-mail that I received around Valentine’s Day from a seminary classmate. It showed an icon of Saint Valentine with these words: “Roses are red, violets are blue, I was beaten with clubs, beheaded, buried under the cover of darkness, disinterred by my followers, and you commemorate my martyrdom by sending each other chocolates.” It seems that everyone has his or her own personal assessment of what love is--his or her own standard by which to determine the sincerity and strength of one person’s love for another--his or her own way of expressing love. To one person, the sincerity and strength and expression of love can be seen in the amount of money that is spent to shower the loved one with gifts. To another, money is irrelevant--what really matters is the time that one is willing to spend with the one who he or she supposedly loves. To still another, the sincerity and strength of one’s love is demonstrated in what things that person is willing to do for the one who he or she claims to love.
All of this talk about love becomes embarrassingly insignificant when it’s compared with the love of Jesus Christ for lost sinners like you and me. Jesus will never send you flowers or cards or chocolates to let you know how much He loves you. He won’t take you to a movie or to the park or to a restaurant. He has an altogether different way of sizing up love. In the face of all of our romantic ideas about love, Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). And He goes on to tell us how our love for Him is to be demonstrated: “If you love Me,” He says, “you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Particularly during this season of Lent, it is important for us to focus our attention on these things, most especially on Jesus’ love for us, without which we would not be capable of loving Him or others as we should. So this morning let’s concentrate on how His love, made evident in His suffering and death on the cross, far surpasses the feeble attempts at love that we see and experience in our world.
The love of Jesus is seen first of all in the fact that He suffered and died for the weak. Most of the so-called “love” that we hear about and experience in this world and perhaps even the love that we ourselves have toward others isn’t really a gift; it’s more of an investment. More often than not, we love for the sake of what we might get in return. That’s why most people don’t really love the down-and-out--because the down-and-out are in no position to give them a return on their investment of love. No matter what it is that we are looking for in return for our love (be it a favor, a meaningful relationship, being loved in return, or even just a “good warm feeling”), we’re usually smart enough to direct our love to someone who can provide it.
Consider how this compares with the love of Christ for the lost. He doesn’t look at the situation in terms of what He can get in return for His love. He went to the cross bearing the sin of people who can do nothing for Him. What’s more, even if they could do something for Him, chances are that they wouldn’t. He looks at the likes of us and He loves us not because we’re so cute and lovable and not because we try our best to please Him and not because we’re likely to love Him back; He loves us simply because we are in need of His love and because it is His nature to love and because genuine love always responds to need. This is completely baffling to the human mind and heart because it goes totally against the way that we think and feel, especially the way that we think and feel about love. According to our human way of looking at things, the way in which Jesus deals with us is not loving; it’s naive. But it shouldn’t really surprise us that the love of Jesus surpasses our pragmatic way of thinking, because the carnal mind doesn’t understand the things of the Spirit--it never has and it never will.
Another thing that characterizes Jesus’ love for sinners like us is that He was willing to die for us even though we are not worthy of such great love. Here again we can see in our Lord’s love for us a radical departure from what we are used to seeing and experiencing in life. The apostle alludes to this himself in the text before us, when he writes, “One will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die.” What Paul is saying here is that we will love people and may even go so far as to make sacrifices for them in order to demonstrate that love--but only so long as we consider those people to be worthy of our love. Once they turn their backs on us or abuse our love or disappoint us in any way, then we’re done with them. They are history as far as we are concerned. We may be patient and loving and kind and understanding, but, hey, we’re not about to let anybody walk all over us or act as if our love had no effect on them. To do that would be utterly ridiculous.
Ridiculous--that’s exactly what the love of Jesus Christ is by human standards. He loves those who are unworthy of His love--those who scoff at His love--even those who reject His love. He even goes so far as to grieve over those who stubbornly refuse to benefit from what He did for them and are therefore lost forever. Even as the unworthy ones drove nails through His hands and feet He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). That is nothing short of pure, total, complete, self-sacrificing love--the kind of love for which New Testament uses the word agaph. Don’t look for that kind of love in this world--not even within yourself in your most shining moments) because you won’t find it there. This is perfect love--God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ. It is our example and goal, our inspiration and motivation, our comfort and salvation and strength. It is a love that we strive for but can never attain in this life, where selfishness and sin are always an influence in everything that we do.
Many years ago I was given a wall plaque by a lady who I had baptized as an adult. It’s not particularly unique--most of you no doubt have seen one like it (especially if you ever been in my office) and some of you may even have one of your own. It simply reads: “I asked Jesus, ‘How much do You love me?’ ‘This much,’ He answered, and He stretched out His arms--and died.” That’s love--the kind of love that Jesus has for us and that He wants us to have for one another. May His blood-stained cross continue to impress upon us the greatness of His love for us as we struggle each day with the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature, knowing all the while that in His resurrection He has overcome everything for us and has assured us of victory as well.
Amen.
May the One who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, making us kings and priests before His God and Father, lead you to a life of repentance and trust. May He also be glorified in the lives of you, His people. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.