So many in our culture, even in our churches, have a deformed understanding of the biblical nature of love and sacrifice. Our modern concepts are a wretched parody; an insult, to the biblical portrait of what divine revelation has shown us of these virtues.
Because these concepts are so essential to both Christian theology and Christian living, it is a matter of life and death that we understand them correctly. Yet not only understand them - absorb them. Absorb them and embrace them. In order to do that, we have to first be willing to see that the old concepts must go, and something much more magnificent must take its place.
For us, sacrifice has come to mean "something I can learn to live without." In essence, it is something that if given up, really won't cause any pain or inconvenience. As we will see, the biblical concept of sacrifice goes way beyond this. Rather than give you a brief definition of sacrifice, I want to show this concept as it is depicted and taught in the life of Jesus.
The first thing we must realize about sacrifice is that it is motivated by love. We see this in the all too familiar verse of John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son..." It is here that we see the essence of biblical love. Biblical love is both covenantal and incarnational. Out of nothing more than His good pleasure, God makes a covenant with His people, and sends His Son to enact that covenant. This covenantal love is so rich, that it causes God to do something utterly selfless: The Father sends the Son, and the Son willfully goes. Love is incarnational. Love does not factor itself into the equation, but empties itself, enters into the dire circumstances of others, and gives itself so that the objects of that love can have God.
This is what Jesus does in the incarnation. He empties Himself by taking on the form of a servant (Phil. 2) and becomes obedient to the will of the Father. Love causes Jesus to stop clinging to His rights as God, forget about Himself, enter into a sinful world, and reconcile a people to God. There is the essence of sacrifice. It is the letting go of all rights and privileges. It is a willful act of obedience, and a determination not to factor oneself into the equation of life, so that the will of God can be done to the uttermost.
What should this look like in the life of us, Christ's disciples? 1 Corinthians 13. Here we see that in a situation where we should be impatient, we enter into that circumstance and manifest the patience of Christ. When people deserve no kindness whatsoever, we forget ourselves, enter into their lives, and manifest the kindness of Christ. 1 Corinthians 13 is Paul's way of showing us what incarnational love looks like. It is the forgetting of oneself so that we can enter into circumstances and situations and manifest Christ. That is incarnational love. That is the very heart of sacrifice. If we do not understand this, then we will never go beyond a superficial concept of sacrifice.
Next, we see that Christ's entire life, from beginning to end, was one of sacrifice. It was a life lived on behalf of others. In His life, He was accomplishing what we could not - perfect obedience to the Law and to the Father. The temptation in the wilderness? It was for us. The obedience He learned through suffering (Heb. 5:8)? It was for us. The opposition He endured? It was for us. It was all so that He would be a merciful and faithful High Priest, who is able to stand in on our behalf, as well as sympathize with us. Jesus also said the He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mk. 10:45). John 13 and the washing of the disciples' feet was simply a picture of what Jesus had been living His entire life, and He wanted nothing more than for His closest friends to grasp the important truth of sacrificial service.
Thus, we have another facet of sacrifice: It is the giving up of one life for the betterment of another. This is a truly selfless act. So many are willing only to give or "sacrifice" as long as it doesn't "put them out" or cause some inconvenience. Yet according to the biblical concept, this is not sacrifice. Sacrifice is two fold- it is that which cost me greatly in order that others may be blessed greatly. Yet this ideal only comes through the revelation that our only proper place is one of a servant. Even more than that, we are servants who have an eternal inheritance. We are servants who can give relentlessly with no thought of ourselves because God has more than enough resources to take care of us. Therefore, as servants, the dominating thought in our minds is the blessing and enriching of others. We then see all of our time, talents, and treasures as God given means to glorify Him by giving them away to others.
Finally, in the life of Christ, sacrifice involves death. As High Priest over the house of God, He died for sins once and for all so that God's wrath could be appeased, and so that His people could be reconciled and enjoy God. Through Jesus' priestly work (death, resurrection, and intercession), the people of God now have access to divine life, divine promises, and divine blessings. We are a kingdom of priest, and co-heirs with Christ. All the spiritual blessings in heavenly places are now open and accessible to us. What this means is that now we have the power to love. We have the power to sacrifice. We have the power to obey. We have the power not to factor ourselves into the equation. We have the power to love and live incarnationally. The sacrifice of Christ has united us with God, reconciled us with God, and made it to where Christ can now live His life through us. This now means that when it comes to the nature of love and sacrifice, there is no longer an excuse for us not to manifest it.
In the next post, we will talk about the necessity of sacrifice.