Easter 4

Easter series

Part 4

"Loved"

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

I want to talk to you today about God's love, and it's supreme manifestation at the Cross of Christ.

Many people struggle with the idea of God being a God of love.

Atheists constantly crow that if there were a God of love, how Then are there all the wars and injustices,

Why all the suffering and tears,

Why would He allow so much pain and tragedy in His universe?

And not just atheists, but believers in God also sometimes pass through great tests of faith when experiencing trials that don't make sense...

...when it looks like God is nowhere around while a loved one suffers, or some great loss occurs in their life they can't come to terms with...

...when it feels like their faith is not being rewarded, or that their hopeful expectations of one thing or another are dashed on the rocks of disappointment.

Even believers are sometimes tempted to wonder, "Is God in charge? Does He love me? If so, where is He in all this?"

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Now, I want to bring to our minds something Jesus said to Philip one day when Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied."

Jesus responded by saying, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?" (John 14:8-9)

Jesus told Philip plainly that He--Jesus--is the perfect manifestation, the flawless representation of God the Father.

Paul the Apostle said the same thing:

Col. 1:15 "Christ is the exact likeness of the unseen God. He existed before God made anything at all."

"For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body" (Col 2:9).

So...if you want to see whether or not God is a God of love, don't focus on the injustices, pain, heartaches, tragedies and darkness that so characterize our planet, LOOK AT JESUS!

For when you see Him, you see the Father!

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So looking at Jesus, do we see GOD'S LOVE in action?

We're told in the Book of Acts that Jesus:

"Went around doing good and healing all who were possessed by demons, for God was with him" (Acts 10:38).

Everywhere He went He set people free, did good things for them, and left a legacy of love in action.

Those who were oppressed and tormented by evil spirits, He released from bondage.

More than once He provided food for thousands of hungry people.

And throughout His ministry He showed great kindness to those who were held in low esteem, people on the margins of society – children, women, tax collectors, lepers, Samaritans, prostitutes, the poor and powerless.

Often we're told that Jesus was moved with compassion, precipitating a miracle:

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See the weeping mother in her own sons funeral procession as she is approached by a compassionate Jesus who raises the young man from the dead and presents him back to her...and you see God's love.

See the terrified and shamed adulteress thrown at Jesus's feet, yet protected by Him from a judgmental mob and forgiven of her sin---and there you have God's love.

See the horribly demon-possessed man of Gadara falling at Jesus's feet as He delivers him of the tormenting demons and restores him to his right mind--and you see God's love in action.

See the two poor blind men crying out for mercy on the roadside, and watch Jesus stop in His tracks, call for them, and heal their eyes--and you see God's love manifested.

The examples are endless and reveal beyond dispute that the God who Jesus perfectly reflected while on earth is a God of love!

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Yet while Jesus performed endless acts of love and compassion while amongst us, the greatest manifestation of God's love in all of history is when...

I. Jesus died on the Cross

The things He did in His ministry are not what most fully revealed his love, but what he did in his death.

Remember, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13).

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Most of us remember the old Hallmark advertising slogan that said, "When you care enough to send the very best."

Listen: That slogan perfectly describes God--He cared enough to send the very best!

John agrees when he writes, "For God SO loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son..."

Notice, it was GOD who gave Jesus for us to die on the Cross for our sins that we might be redeemed, saved, delivered, and healed.

That is a love I can't comprehend!

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TRUE STORY: There was once a bridge that crossed a large river.

During most of the day the bridge sat with its length running up and down the river paralleled with the banks, allowing ships to pass through freely on both sides of the bridge.

But at certain times each day, a train would come along and the bridge would be connected across the river, allowing the train to cross it.

A switchman sat in a shack on one side of the river where he operated the controls to turn the bridge and lock it into place as the train crossed.

One evening as the switchman was waiting for the last train of the day to come, he looked off into the distance through the dimming twilight and caught sight of the train lights.

He stepped onto the control and waited until the train was within a prescribed distance.

Then he was to connect the bridge.

He turned the bridge into position, but, to his horror, he found the locking control did not work.

If the bridge was not securely in position, it would cause the train to jump the track and go crashing into the river.

This was a passenger train with MANY people aboard.

He hurried across the bridge to the other side of the river, where there was a lever switch he could hold to operate the lock manually.

He would have to hold the lever back firmly as the train crossed.

He could hear the rumble of the train now, took hold of the lever, and leaned backward to apply his weight to it, locking the bridge.

Many lives depended on this man’s strength.

Then, coming across the bridge from the direction of his control shack, he heard a sound that made his blood run cold.

“Daddy, where are you?”

His four-year-old son was crossing the bridge to look for him.

His first impulse was to cry out to the child, “Run! Run!”

But the train was too close; the tiny legs would never make it across the bridge in time..

The man almost left the lever to snatch up his son and carry him to safety.

But he realized that he would not get back to the lever in time if he saved his son.

Either many people on the train must die--or his own son.

He took but a moment to make his decision and....held the lever...

His son perished so that hundreds could live!

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This helps us understand just a little bit better the feelings our Father in heaven must have experienced when He sacrificed His Son to bridge the gap between us and eternal life.

As Jesus hung on the Cross, God held on to the lever!

It's no wonder that He caused the earth to tremble and the skies to darken when His Son died!

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Another reason that Jesus's death on the Cross was such a stunning act of love is that...

II. He gave his life for his enemies

Paul the Apostle really thought that one through, moving him to write:

Rom. 5: 6-8 "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."

You might say, "But Jeff, you said He died for His enemies; I'm not God's enemy nor have I ever been!"

The Bible says otherwise: "He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault" (Col 1:21-22).

That's love!

When we hated Him, when we were strangers to Him, He loved us enough to turn His Son over to the Cross for our sakes!

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So.....

First--the greatest act of love in history was Jesus dying on the Cross.

Second--He died for His enemies.

And the third thing that makes Jesus's death on the cross such an incredible display of love is that...

III. It was completely voluntary

No one compelled him; he did it of his own free will as He himself said to His disciples:

“The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. 18 No one can take my life from me. I lay down my life voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded" (John 10:17-18).

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And Jesus Himself didn't just give of His time, or His teaching, or His miracles...Jesus gave His LIFE!

Somewhere back in the far reaches of eternity before the world began, the Godhead held a session...

And it was there when Jesus offered His very life for us!

"God chose him as your ransom long before the world began" (1 Pet. 1:20).

Giving away your life is to give away everything--yet Jesus gave His life on the Cross, and that is INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH LOVE ON STEROIDS!

If you've been under the impression that Jesus was arrested and taken before Pilate against his will...

...that he was whipped, and tortured, and nailed to a cross because he couldn’t escape.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Jesus was completely in control at every point.

He made that clear when he was arrested---He told His disciples:

"Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" -- Matthew 26:53-54

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Jesus voluntarily laid down His life--now that is love I cannot comprehend, but love I gladly receive!

As Jesus hung on the Cross, God was shouting to the world, "I LOVE YOU THIS MUCH!"

The greatest act of love in history was Jesus on the Cross

He died for His enemies

He died voluntarily for us

Let's pray!