13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
Certainly, Jesus demonstrated His love for us through His sacrificial death on the cross. While all remained estranged from Him - wallowing in sin - without strength, powerless, feeble and in enmity with God, Christ died for the world. Scripture and head knowledge both tell us it is a rarity indeed for someone to die even for a righteous man yet to die for one that is steeped in sin from birth, an enemy and one so totally powerless to save himself – surely is a demonstration of an amazing unearthly love – “Agapao” – self-denying, self-sacrificing love shown at its finest through the life and death of sweet Jesus!
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
“Every revelation of God is a demand, and the way to knowledge of God is by obedience.”
William Temple
“Agapao” love is the love for our brothers and sisters in Christ which our Lord calls every true believer to. Just because something is perhaps difficult for us to flesh out does not negate the fact that we are to do it! The love He demonstrated us is to be the measure and degree of love we are to have for one another. It is a self-sacrificial love.
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” C. T. Studd
Most of us reading this will not be called on to physically lay down our lives – though perhaps some of us may - but we are certainly all called to a self-denying crucified life in the figurative sense of the word. Is this not what Paul means when he writes the following in Galatians?
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal 2:20 (NIV)
Indeed, all the gospels speak of it - the flesh is to be crucified on a daily basis in order that Christ’s love and life may be made manifest in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit:
23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" Luke 9:23-25 (NIV)
This is not an emotional feeling we are discussing here, rather it is a choice. It is a determination of the will which is rooted in the mindset of the subject - and a faith that as believes we are called to walk as Jesus walked and love as He loved, and in a manner worthy of the gospel – albeit imperfectly. It would behoove us to remember - that which our Lord calls us to do He will also empower us to do. We do not have to muster up anything – just relinquish our rights to ourselves to Him who love us and gave Himself for us. As we pour out our lives and are filled with the power of the precious Holy Spirit we are able to manifest this love which surpasses knowledge and human wisdom. This was Paul’s desire for the saints when he prayed for them to know and exhibit the love of Christ:
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Eph 3:14-19 (NIV)
Surely the more a believer knows and understands of Christ, the more they stand amazed at His love and tender care for them. Experiencing God’s love is a catalyst which drives the believer to ardently love one another.
“Love for God and obedience to God are so completely involved in each other that either one of them implies the other too.” F. F. Bruce
“He who is filled with love is filled with God Himself.” Augustine