The Life of Sacrifical Love

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Intro

“Let love be Genuine”
Let me tell you a story of a young couple.
They grew up in church. They became Christians in christian families who went to church come hell or high-water.
Yet when they got married they stopped going to church.
For no good reason they pulled away from the churches that they had long been involved in where they had been loved and served.
They just stopped.
Oh, they had excuses for themselves like “We’re just taking time to get settled as a married couple,” “we’re taking a break for ourselves” but really there was just a bad attitude toward God, toward his people, and a lack of love for the Bride Jesus died for.
After a while of lazy, selfish absence from the church, one of the couple's parents got in touch. They said “Oh, we heard of this new church plant in town, we’re going to visit this Sunday, would you like to come with us?”
The young couple did visit that church plant.
The couple happened to have bought a house. Being early-20 somethings they had bought what little they could afford - a rundown house in need of a lot of attention.
Bought is a bit of a stretch. The condition of the house was so bad that they had not been able to get a bank loan. So they had organised some bridging finance while they scrambled to make the property good enough for the bank. Yet there was a limited window for the young couple to make the transition from the bridging finance. The day was fast approaching where they would either have secured finance for their home, or they would have to face the prospect of loosing the house. But they put those worries aside and headed to church.
The young couple went to church with their parents. They met new people and chatted with nice christian folks. They sat through a normal church service with regular songs and bible readings and prayers. Who knows what the preacher spoke on that Sunday!
As they spoke to the people of this new church eventually it came up that they were furiously trying to get their house good enough to get bank finance and that they weren’t sure how it was going to happen.
Then something amazing happened.
The next Saturday half of that church was at the young couple’s house with paint brushes and sandpaper in hand, shovels under foot.
There was a flurry of activity as a whole bunch of Christians who didn’t know this couple descended on that house, with or without handyman experience, and they served others with their precious time.
They barely knew each other, but that didn’t matter.
That church had genuine love, and genuine love is observable, tangible.
It was seen in the way that they poured out love on this young couple.
This couple didn’t really know much about this new church. By God’s grace it was a church that had sound theology, a good leadership and it was healthy, but the couple didn’t know any of that, they were enveloped by genuine love.
The couple secured the finance on their house, thanks in large part to the crew who came to help.
And they started going week after week to this church plant.
They were warmly received. And it wasn’t long before they were round at other people’s houses serving with their time and love. They would end up serving and being served in that church family for over 10 years until they were sent out to serve Jesus’ church in a different town.
You know this couple. Their names are Samuel & Laura.
Why do I tell this story?
Because it’s the Aussie way to be self deprecating! So i have to tell you that I have been a dolt!
But seriously I tell it because it is a great example of what genuine love looks like and the effect that it can have on the lives of others. It is one of the most obvious ways that I have seen love poured out on others who were undeserving, and relatively unknown.
It’s not always easy to see. A lot of the time genuine love is relatively unseen, as
you feed your baby in the middle of the night,
you put on your boots on every morning to go provide for your family,
you put another knit into a blanket you’re making for someone else,
you stand over a stove once again to make food for others to eat,
You turn up early to church to put out chairs and you stay late to stack them up again,
you press “transfer” to send off your hard earned money to support the church’s work,
You pray silently for the salvation of your friends and family,
You hop in the car to go to church, you’d rather stay home and be comfortable and rest, but you go to serve others, to encourage your brothers and sisters and because you love Jesus.
Love is not always in big flashy shows of affection, often it is hidden in a thousand small actions that flow out of a heart that is seeking to Love God and Love your neighbor.
Whether our genuine love is obvious and visible, or whether it is quiet and unnoticed, there is one thing that characterizes genuine love: It is Sacrificial.
True Christian love is sacrificial.
And we know this because we saw the greatest act of sacrificial love in the life and work of our Lord Jesus.
He gave up his position of honour and glory in heaven
He came to earth in a humble birth to working class parents in a rural town.
He lived among the dust and filth of an ancient agrarian society.
He served others, he fed them, healed them, taught them and eventually he would give his life for them
The Son of man came not to be served, but to give his life as a ransom for many!
He willingly gave his life for others, culminating in the sacrifice of his life through a jerry-rigged court, brutal torture and roman crucifixion.
He hung there, arms outstretched praying fro his killers “forgive them father, for they know not what they do”
Romans 5:8 ESV
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Sacrificial love from God brings salvation.
By faith we have been made right with God and rescued from hell.
But what do we do now? If we’re saved by God through Jesus’ sacrificial love, what do we do?
We’re called to live a life of complete sacrifice ourselves.
We’re called to give up everything that gets in the way of serving Jesus.
We’re called to essentially place our bodies, our life on the altar and give ourselves over as a sacrifice to God.
As a response to the mercy we have received, we give our whole selves:
Romans 12:1 ESV
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
You might say, “I love Jesus, and I want to go to heaven when I die, but that’s a high bar. I’ve got my own stuff going on, I dunno if I’m ready for that. Can’t i get my ticket to heaven and just do my own thing? What’s the minimum amount of effort I have to put in to secure my place?”
If that is you, I would encourage you to rediscover the Gospel. When it comes down to asking about minimum requirements to serve God, minimum requirements to secure salvation, you have missed something about the greatness of Christ and what you have gained.
Jesus deserves everything we have. And we don’t sacrifice ourselves for him because it secures our place, but because we love him and want to honor him.
A child doesn’t love their mother because they are trying to keep a position in the family, but as a natural affection that flows to those who have given of themselves to us. We receive love, and love flows back in return.
We worship God through sacrifice. It was in the past, and it is so now, albeit a different kind of sacrifice. We don’t need bulls and goats, we need Christ blood, poured out for us to make atonement, and then we come forward with our freewill offerings, our thanksgiving offerings worshiping with our most valuable asset, our very lives. We offer ourselves as a loving sacrifice.
Our sacrifice is a thanksgiving offering! It is a freewill offering! We give ourselves to his cause!
All of ourselves, no part is left in reserve.
Life modeled after Jesus
In our remaining time together this morning, I want to walk through Romans 12:9-18 and flesh out what a sacrificial life of love looks like. There is so much to say, but this section here will get us well on our way to living a life of Sacrificial Love.

v9-10
Romans 12:9 ESV
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
Genuine love is visible. It is active. Words of love are not the same thing as actually loving.
Vehemently hate evil - Because we love God, we hate evil.
Our hobby horses - abortion, homosexuality, and others are rightly because we hate evil!
Instead hold fast to what is good, cling to it. make it your way of life.
Romans 12:10 ESV
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
COmpetition is good! COmpete to show honour!

v11-13
Romans 12:11 ESV
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Romans 12:12 ESV
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Romans 12:13 ESV
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

v15-16
Romans 12:15 ESV
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:16 ESV
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

Pursue Peace

v14, 17-18
Romans 12:14 ESV
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
Romans 12:17 ESV
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
Romans 12:18 ESV
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

So What?

The Life of Sacrificial Love
Is demonstrated by Jesus
We follow in his footsteps and offer ourselves as a sacrifice
This is how we worship God, serve God.
What does this look like in our lives?
Genuine love for God and others, hatred of evil
Fervent service
Living together in harmony
Pursuit of peace.
How are you going to let your love be genuine?
Far too many of us have become entrapped by the things of the world and have become bu
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