There is a Christian author whose name is Dave Simmons.
And Dave Simmons has two children,
Helen and Brandon who are fully grown now.
But in one of his books he tells a story about when,
when Helen was eight and Brandon was five.
He said he had taken them to the shopping mall,
in one of the shopping malls in Mississippi.
And outside the shopping mall that day was a traveling petting zoo.
A petting zoo that would travel around from city to city.
This used to be a thing.
And the would set up at shopping malls
and offer to entertain the kids
for a very small fee so that the parents could
go and get their shopping done.
So when dad saw that he thought it sounded really great to him.
The kids could be entertained
and he could get his shopping done.
He could go into Sears and look at,
and look at power tools.
That kind of shows you how long ago that was.
Sears doesn't exist any more.
So when he saw it, he tossed his kids each a quarter
because that's how much the petting zoo was the last time it was in town.
He sent them on their way
and then we went to Sears to look at power tools.
And as he was looking at power tools,
it wasn't long, a couple of minutes before
Helen, his daughter, came running to him
crying, sobbing and he said,
"What's wrong dear?"
And she said, "Daddy, it costs 50 cents. It costs 50 cents.
"And I gave my quarter to Brandon
"so that he could get in "because the Bible says that if
"you love someone you have to do something to show them.
"And so I gave him my money."
Sad face.
And dad happened to have another 50 cents in his pocket.
And after he finished up looking at the power tools,
they walked together toward the petting zoo.
And they got to the petting zoo.
They got to the fence.
They saw Brandon having just the time of his life.
And do you know what dad did then?
Nothing.
He did not give her the money.
And she didn't ask for it.
They just sat there
watching Brandon having a good time with all the animals
that Helen loved so much.
But he never gave her the money.
Do you know why?
Because love,
at least the type of love that Jesus tells us to imitate, isn't really love
unless it involves a sacrifice.
A sacrifice.
You know, "This is how people will know
that you are my disciples."
Jesus said to his disciples.
He said, "If you love one another but ..."
Of course he said you have to love like his.
And if it doesn't involve a sacrifice,
then it's not really love like his and there wouldn't
be anything all that special about it.
And Jesus wouldn't really be any different
than anybody else in this world
who tries to get you to try to follow him.
But just look at him and tell me if there is anything special about him.
Just, look at his tears in the garden the night that he was betrayed.
Sweating drops of blood
because he's filled with so much anxiety.
Overwhelmment about what was going to happen.
Thinking about us and our salvation.
You know, just picture him
gritting his teeth every time another nail is pounded in.
Telling himself not to scream.
And not to stop it from happening.
Watch him snap his neck to the side
every time the whip
rips more skin off his back.
And picture him hanging in agony as
his muscles are fatigued and his heart is literally
breaking because it is under so much pressure
from everything that's happening inside of his body.
And try to convince me that you have ever seen another love like his.
A love that will sacrifice and sacrifice and sacrifice.
To give and to give
and to give
and to give.
Love like Jesus
involves sacrifice.
It always will.
And that's what it always is.
And sometimes giving that type of love is a very hard thing.
Especially when people don't reciprocate it.
Especially when people don't appreciate it.
Especially when people don't respond to it.
But the reason that Jesus did it anyway
is because he wanted to give this world something to respond to.
In this world that is so dark.
That is so hard to love.
That is so void of love so often.
He wanted to give us one place where God's,
the light of God's love is always shining.
One place which we could always look
to see that love will truly overcome.
And whatever you have to sacrifice,
whether it's your time, your energy,
your pride, your feeling of being right.
Whatever it is that you have to sacrifice
in order to show that love to someone,
just know that God sees it.
He understands how hard that is.
And he assures you
that whatever we sacrifice for others,
his sacrifice for us will always be more.
Whatever we give for others, he will always give more.
Whatever crosses we carry to follow him,
the cross that he carries
will always be bigger.
All to assure you that it won't get the best of you.
It won't get the best of you.
His love will always overcome.
His love will always lead.
No matter what he has to sacrifice.
He will.
And he just might make you, or use you
to make a powerful difference in this world that
so desperately needs to see him.
Today we talked about how the love of Jesus sacrifices.
That's it's really not the love of Jesus without a sacrifice.
Is there someone in your life who has sacrificed for you?
Someone that you're really grateful for?
Somebody whose love was evident because of what they gave up?
What they sacrificed to be there for you?
Would you consider tagging them
with this video as a way to say,
"I appreciate you.
And thank you for the sacrifices that you've given."
As a way to show them that,
that you see the love of Jesus through their life.
Consider that as a way to give an expression of thanks
to somebody who means a lot to you.
And thanks for letting me spend some time with you this week
as we talk about a very important topic, the topic of God's love.
God's richest blessings as you continue to put it into practice.