Greater Love Has No One

Introduction

Well, good afternoon.

It’s a privilege to be here today — especially on a day like this — Veterans Day.

Now, I know for most of you, today, it probably means a something little different. Maybe it’s an assembly, maybe it’s a time to thank someone who’s served, or maybe, if we’re honest, it just means a shorter class schedule, right?

But listen, I wanna slow us down for a minute and just help you see something deeper — because Veterans Day isn’t just about uniforms, or flags, or ceremonies. It’s about love.

Let me explain.

After 9/11, when the towers fell, I made a decision that really changed the rest life. I chose to serve in the army. I didn’t know everything that decision would mean at the time — the places it would take me, the things I’d see, the people I’d meet, the things I’d do — but I knew one thing: I wanted to protect others. I wanted to serve something bigger than myself. I wanted to prevent something like 9/11 from happening again.

And here’s the thing I learned in my 6 years of service — you can’t really understand sacrifice until you understand love.

Because the best soldiers, the best Marines, the best sailors — they don’t serve out of pride or ego. They serve out of love.

Love for their country. Love for their brothers and sisters beside them. Love that says, “If it costs me something, so be it — because some things are worth more than comfort, more than safety, even more than life itself.”

And that kind of love — that willingness to lay down your life for someone else — it points us straight to Jesus.

That’s what He said in John 15:12–13:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

When I look back on my time in the army, I see now that my service was just a small reflection of a far greater sacrifice — the love of Jesus Christ, who laid down His life not just for His friends, but for sinners, for enemies, for people like you and me who didn’t deserve it.

Veterans, they remind us of that kind of love — love that costs something. Love that chooses others over self. Love that points us to the Cross.

And so this afternoon, I want to walk us through three truths from Jesus’ own words — what I’m calling: The Call of Love, The Cost of Love, The Cross of Love.

Because if you really wanna honor the sacrifice of those who’ve served — if you really wanna understand what makes their love so powerful — you have to look to the One who showed us the greatest love of all.

And so, if you have a Bible…and I hope that you do…open it up with me to John 15 as we look Jesus’s statement and how it relates to Veteran’s Day.

I. The Call of Love

Again, point number one…the call of love.

Look again at what Jesus says in verse 12:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

Now notice something here — He doesn’t say, “I’d really prefer if you loved one another.” He doesn’t say, “Try your best to be nice.” He says, “This is my commandment.”

In other words — love isn’t optional for followers of Jesus. It’s not a suggestion, it’s not a personality trait for the “nice” people in the room — it’s a calling for every believer.

You see, in the military, soldiers don’t get to pick and choose which orders they feel like following. When a command comes down, you obey it — not because it’s easy, but because you trust the one giving the order. You trust their authority, and their wisdom, their purpose.

In the same way, when Jesus gives this command to love, He’s not giving us a motivational speech. He’s giving us a mission. A mission that starts with obedience. A mission that reflects His own heart.

But listen, if we’re honest, the word love gets tossed around a lot today, right? Like, we say we “love” pizza, or we “love” our favorite band, or our dog. But that’s not what Jesus is talking about here. He’s not calling us to an emotional feeling — He’s calling us to an action.

He says, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

And so, how did Jesus love us?

Think about it — He loved the people who rejected Him. He washed the feet of the one who would betray Him. He prayed for the very soldiers who nailed Him to the cross. He laid down His life for people who didn’t deserve it and couldn’t earn it.

That’s the kind of love Jesus is calling us to — a sacrificial, others-first, cross-shaped love.

And that’s completely different from the way the world defines love. The world says, “Love people who love you back.” Jesus says, “Love your enemies.”…The world says, “Do what feels good.” Jesus says, “Do what’s right, even when it costs you.”…The world says, “Put yourself first.” Jesus says, “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.”

That’s the call of love — to love like He loves. To reflect the same grace we’ve received. To love people who can’t pay you back. To love when it’s inconvenient. To love when it hurts.

But let’s be honest — that kind of love’s rare, right? Even in the church. It’s easy to talk about love, to post about it, to sing about it. But it’s a lot harder to live it when someone gossips about you. It’s harder when your friend turns their back on you. It’s harder when you’re tempted to just blend in instead of standing out for what’s right.

But that’s what Jesus calls us to — not comfort, but courage. Because love — real love — always costs something, which we’ll talk about more in a second.

But that’s where Veterans give us a powerful example. They understand something about love that most of us forget. They know that real love takes action. It looks like showing up when it’s hard. It looks like sacrifice. It looks like courage under pressure.

When a soldier runs toward danger instead of running away from it — that’s love in motion. When a Marine puts his fire team before himself — that’s love in motion. When someone chooses to serve instead of sit back — again that’s love in motion.

Jesus calls His followers to that same kind of love — the kind that acts, the kind that serves, that gives, that forgives. To love when no one notices. To serve when no one says thank you. To forgive when it would be easier to hold a grudge.

That’s the call of love — to live a life that looks like Jesus.

Listen, the greatest way to honor those who’ve sacrificed so much for us… its to live out that same kind of selfless love every single day.

II. The Cost of Love

Point number two… the cost of love.

Jesus doesn’t sugarcoat it. Love isn’t free. Love isn’t easy. Love oftentimes demands something from us — sometimes everything. Look again at John 15:13:

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

That’s a high bar. That’s not a casual, “be nice” kind of love. That’s a love that cost something. That’s a love that hurts. That’s a love that sacrifices comfort, and safety, even life itself.

Think about veterans for a moment. The people we honor today — they know the cost of love. They’ve seen it. They’ve felt it. They’ve walked through fear, through uncertainty, through pain, all because they loved something bigger than themselves. They’ve left their families behind, they endured long deployments, carried the weight of responsibility for the lives of others, they’ve faced dangers most of us can’t even imagine. And they did it without guarantee of reward or recognition — they did it because love demanded it.

And that’s exactly what Jesus is calling us to. Loving others the way He calls us to love is costly. It may cost your time — maybe the time you’d rather spend on comfort, or hobbies, or rest. It may cost your comfort — standing up for what’s right even when it’s inconvenient, or forgiving someone who’s hurt you deeply. It may cost your reputation — going against the culture, taking a stand for truth, loving someone no one else thinks deserves it. And sometimes… yes, sometimes it may even cost your life.

William Phillips (a Scottish preacher) he said, “We don’t understand God’s love until we understand its cost.” That’s exactly what Jesus shows us on the cross. He didn’t just die because it was convenient. He died because love demanded it. He laid down His life because we couldn’t pay for our own sin. He bore the full weight of judgment so that we could live free.

And here’s a truth I want you to really hear: if we’re unwilling to pay some cost for love, then we’re missing the point entirely. Comfort and safety, they’re not the standard. Sacrifice and obedience are. That doesn’t mean you have to be a soldier or go to war — it means that love is never passive. Real love always requires something of you. It asks for your time, your energy, your resources, your patience, your humility, and yes, even your pride.

Veterans remind us of that truth in a tangible way. They remind us that love is brave. Love is costly. Love requires stepping out, stepping up, even when it’s dangerous or unpopular. They show us that love isn’t just words — love is action. And the cost of love points us straight to the cross. Because Jesus didn’t just talk about love — He showed us the ultimate cost of love. And if we wanna follow Him, we have to be willing to count the cost as well.

And so, the question I want you to ask yourself is this: What am I willing to give to love like Jesus loves? Am I willing to step out of comfort? Am I willing to forgive the unforgivable? Am I willing to put others before myself, even when it hurts? Veterans remind us that these sacrifices, they’re not meaningless — they protect life, they preserve freedom, they reflect the heart of Christ.

III. The Cross of Love

Which leads us straight into our third point…the cross of love!