The Sacrificial Nature of God’s Love
Vision Day • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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(From Receiving to Giving to Letting Go) ,,, page 480 in Bible
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
We love the idea of love —> but we often run from the cost of love.
Have you heard the saying, “freedom isn’t free?”
Love isn’t free either.
Jesus tells his disciples/friends this right after rebuking Peter…
Jesus is talking to them about how he has to die… and how he will resurrect… Peter begins to tell Jesus he shouldn’t do this, he shouldn’t die… and Jesus rebukes him…
23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
because in this case love meant some immense sacrifice.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
We call this vision day… Because we all need vision to be well in this world. We’re casting vision for you in your time here at the Refuge.
As you heard from my dad, I believe the most important movement in our maturity is our ability to receive the love of God. [AGAIN]
The most important movement in our formation as healthy persons is our ability to tolerate and accept the generous gift of God’s love.
BIG IDEA: God’s love is sacrificial. That is universally true — for us to love well, we must love sacrificially.
Receive — accept that I am lovable and receive love.
Give — see outside of myself to the other, and sacrificially give love away.
Let go — to trust. To trust God, to trust yourself, to trust others. Let go of the need to be in absolutely control, which is a fantasy.
I. Receive
I. Receive
Matthew 16:25 (ESV)
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
A. You can’t save yourself.
i. From addiction, mental health, soul… You are not enough for yourself.
ii. There’s this picture of the American Dream — as people picking themselves up by their own bootstraps… the self-made man… not needing anyone… but this simply isn’t true.
iii. Addiction is often a means to soothe oneself… to meet our own needs in a way that becomes destructive.
a. Here we see… we have needs… You are needy… I am needy… You can’t save yourself.
b. Jesus said, “For whoever would save his life will lose it
Matthew 16:25 (ESV)
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
B. Our neediness reveals our nature…
i. We are made by God and for God, and our neediness gives evidence to that… Our longing, loneliness points to the reality that we cannot meet our own needs.
ii. We have to receive God’s love.
iii. The first invitation is to receive.
C. Maybe this is hard for you…
i. Parents were’t around when you were a kid. Caregivers weren’t trustworthy. Maybe you were abused. Neglected.
ii. Distrustful… “I can only trust me. I can only count on me.”
iii. Also, free is hard to come by… The thought of a free gift is difficult to wrap your head around.
a. God loves me… why? What do I need to do to earn that love?
iv. Maybe this is you… It’s hard. It will take practice.
a. Practice trusting God. Practice receiving kindness from someone this week. When you notice people being trustworthy… practice trusting them.
b. We are not going to make it on our own… We need to receive God’s love which requires trust.
c. What you have been through might make trusting hard, but it doesn’t make it impossible.
Choose to trust God.
Find someone trustworthy and choose to trust them.
If we don’t build our capacity to trust, we will not be able to receive love.
The evil lie is that you can’t trust anybody… the reason it is evil is because it keeps you isolated and alone, which will surely be destructive in your life.
Choose to trust God.
Receive God’s love!
II. Give
II. Give
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
A. Sacrifice
i. Deny himself
a. Does not mean to be down on self… or to treat yourself poorly
b. This means to not only be concerned with your own well-being but also others well being
c. This is consistent with what we just talked about… You can’t save yourself… Therefore, the way forward for you to flourish is not to only focus on yourself. DENY YOURSELF.
ii. Take up his cross
a. This is striking language. A cross was associated with the most horrible torture mechanism of the day.
b. Leon Morris writes, “Jesus was speaking about a death to a whole way of life; he was talking about the utmost in self-sacrifice, a very death to selfishness and all forms of self-seeking…”
c. In order to fully experience love, we also have to be willing to give love away!
meet others needs
consider others interests
sacrifice… service… delay gratification… exercise patience
iii. Follow me
a. Not follow only myself… Not follow someone else… Not follow current trends… Follow Jesus.
b. We’re all following someone:
Many believe this illusion that they’re more open-minded and don’t worship anything or anyone… and only follow themselves
You are being discipled by something and someone. Who is it?
Whose behavior or you emulating? Who’s priorities are you modeling? What story are you telling yourself?
c. Jesus calls us to follow him… His way becomes the priority.
Practically, this means it’s not ONLY about what I want anymore
It’s not ONLY about what I think anymore
It’s not ONLY what feels good to me in the moment
What would Jesus do? What does it look like to follow him in this decision?
Not to be judgemental… but as an observation, this is a challenge for the modern church and Christians…
Many people… roughly half the country would say their Christian… but not necessarily in this context…
We make the decisions we want to make. We make the choices we want to make. We think how we want to think, and then slap Christian on it.
But Christian, by definition first stood for “little Christ”… so to be a Christian means to emulate Jesus
TO FOLLOW HIM
(We’re talking about the sacrificial nature of God’s love… he freely gives love… at a high cost for himself… (1) WE RECEIVE (2) WE GIVE)
and we… have to learn to:
III. Let Go
III. Let Go
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
A. What are you holding onto?
i. What are you unable to let go of?
control
unforgiveness
wound
relationship
idea of success
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
What are you holding onto?
Is it worth your soul? Is it worth it? Is it serving you? Is it healthy? Will it lead you to growth or to decline?
B. What can you control?
i. One of the most helpful things for me in the past few years is better realizing that, “most of my anxiety stemmed from focusing on controlling things and people that I had no control of.”
The things you are holding onto, do you have any control of them? Are you worrying about things you cannot control?
ii. Do you know what you can control?
Your behavior.
Your choices.
Who you surround yourself with.
Who you choose to trust.
Who you follow…
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
who are you following? You can control that…
(We receive God’s love, we can give that same sacrificial love towards others… Then we can learn to let go of what we cannot control)
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
C. VISION:
i. Yes, we want you to be sober.
Yes, we want you to have a job
Yes, we want you to be kind
Yes, we want you to reunited with your loved ones
Yes, we want you to succeed
That is all soooo good…
ii. There is nothing that will change your life more than receiving the love of Jesus and being transformed by that love.
It’s receiving God’s love that transforms us.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Change the word “world” with “me
For God so loved “me”
You are loved! You are loved!
This is why Alisha and her team have groups and 1:1’s with you
This is why Matthew and the residential team serve you so diligently
This is why all of us do what we do… Not because we’re perfect, but because we have received God’s love and want others’ to experience that love!
This is the power for transformation!
You can change!
You can be a godly man.
You can be someone that leads and loves your family.
I believe in you!
Most importantly, God believes in you!
D. Don’t settle:
Don’t settle for JUST sober.
Don’t settle for JUST getting by.
Don’t settle for JUST good enough.
You can do so much more!
THIS STARTS BY —> (1) Receiving God’s love, (2) Giving that love to others, and (3) Letting go…
Where has you being in control got you?
You wanting to leave here with no plan? How has not having a plan ever served you?
You’re here… you’re putting in the work.
Why not choose to trust us?
Why not choose to give this your absolute best?
Why not choose to stay the course and finish what you started?
Why not show up for yourself like you never have before?
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE?
BUT I KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO GAIN…and it’s A LOT!
YOUR SOUL
YOUR LIFE
YOUR FAMILY
YOUR CHILDREN
YOUR FUTURE
APPLICATION:
APPLICATION:
At the Refuge, our desire is for you to receive God’s love
So that you can give it away to others
And let go of what you cannot control, and trust God with all of your life
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
BIG IDEA: God’s love is sacrificial. That is universally true — for us to love well, we must love sacrificially.
Receive — accept that I am lovable and receive love.
Give — see outside of myself to the other, and sacrificially give love away.
Let go — to trust. To trust God, to trust yourself, to trust others. Let go of the need to be in absolutely control, which is a fantasy.
***Let’s pray and ask God to help us receive his love, to help us give it to others, and to help us trust him…
