God's Sacrificial Love

God's love is holy in another way. It is not only a holy love that expresses itself in wrath. God's love is holy and good because it leads God to sacrifice for us. This is beyond expression. It's incomprehensible to think of such an incomprehensibly great God… who wants to die on our behalf!

In Romans 5 we read:

"For 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.

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

Take a moment to write down a list of people you would die for. Willingly, joyfully, people you would sacrifice your life for so that they could live.

Ok, now that you're back, how many names did you come up with?

The truth is, there are very few people - if any - that we would want to die for. In my most honest moments, it might be as little as somewhere between 0 and 3.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We define love as good vibes, as warm fuzzies, as lustful fulfillment, as an emotional experience.

But how does God define love to us?

Sacrifice.

To the point of death.

For our benefit.

I hope this helps you hear John 3:16 in a new light, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

That statement is inconceivable except that we are talking about a God whose very nature, whose identity, is love.

It's even more shocking in light of what we reflected on in our last lesson: God's love is why he is so totally opposed to our sin. His loving opposition to our sin led to the cross!