A mother was making pancakes for her sons, Kevin (five) and Ryan (three). The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake, so she said, \u201cNow boys, Jesus would let His brother have the first pancake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin got the message. He turned to his younger brother and said, \u201cRyan, you be Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grace means sacrifice. Grace is never free; it always costs someone. As humans, we\u2019re far more interested in receiving grace than giving it. \u201cRyan, you be Jesus\u201d is our nature. But we also understand that we need to extend grace to those who have forgiven us. So we\u2019re willing to give grace to those who deserve it. After all, that\u2019s only fair. We\u2019re giving to those who are giving to us.<\/p>\n
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The apostle Paul said that a few of us may even be willing to die for a good person, perhaps for someone who would die for us (Romans 5:7). This is conditional love: We love those who love us back. Paul contrasted this with God\u2019s love: \u201cBut God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us\u201d (v. 8).<\/p>\n
Would you be willing to suffer and die, not for people who would die for you but for people who would abandon you, despise you, spit on you, mock you, and crucify you? That\u2019s who Jesus died for; He died for us: \u201cAll we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all\u201d (Isaiah 53:6).<\/p>\n
Jesus loves us not because we\u2019re good but because He\u2019s good. That\u2019s unconditional love. Human nature loves those who love us, but we have no strength to love those who harm us. But Jesus did: \u201cFor when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly\u201d (Romans 5:6).<\/p>\n
Jesus died for us when we wouldn\u2019t die for Him. He provided a way we can follow, despite our weak nature: \u201cWe love him, because he first loved us\u201d (1\u202fJohn 4:19). Even if we lack the ability to give grace to those who don\u2019t deserve it, we can see that Jesus is worthy of our love. After all, it\u2019s only right to give our lives to the One who gave His life for us. Jesus led in kindness so that we could follow His kindness in kind. We can live for Him because He died for us.<\/p>\n
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When we give our lives to Jesus, He gives us His Spirit, including the power of His unconditional love. With this power, we can transcend our own need for what is fair and enter into His sacrificial grace. We can forgive because we\u2019ve been forgiven. His presence in us gives us the power to love even those who hate us. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus described His own good nature, the nature He wants to give us:<\/p>\n
\u201cYe have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?\u201d (Matthew 5:43-46).<\/p>\n
I like to go to used book stores. One day the title of an old book caught my attention: Why Does Jesus Make Me Nervous?<\/em> about the Sermon on the Mount. The author said that we find Jesus\u2019 sacrificial nature so foreign to us that it\u2019s terrifying. We prefer to believe that Jesus isn\u2019t serious when He tells us to love our enemies. Instead, we absolve ourselves with the belief that no one can actually do that. But we\u2019re left with an uneasy feeling that Jesus is serious because He was human and He sacrificed His life for His enemies. In other words, Jesus makes me nervous<\/em>.<\/p>\n Day to day, we think we\u2019re doing OK because we love those who love us back. Then Jesus comes along and says that even non-Christians do that; it\u2019s just human nature. He tells us that He wants to give us His sacrificial nature. He wants to transform us from mortal humans into immortal children of God. Now what am I supposed to say to that?<\/p>\n A sacrificial nature is willing to give grace to those who don\u2019t deserve it. I don\u2019t want to do that, because that\u2019s not fair. The very idea grates against everything in my nature. But I do want immortality. I want God\u2019s grace, but I also want to keep my rights under the law. Can\u2019t I just get the benefits of Jesus\u2019 sacrifice without letting Him change my nature? Can\u2019t He sacrifice His life for me without me becoming a living sacrifice for Him? Can\u2019t I just accept Him as my Savior without accepting Him as my Lord?<\/p>\n In reality, what I\u2019m saying is, \u201cJesus, You be Jesus. I want your gift of grace, but I don\u2019t want to be like You.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How does this apply to our church?<\/p>\n The plan to transform our vision of a vibrant 21st<\/sup> century church into our reality (TVR) is a spiritual journey to help us surrender our hearts and allow God\u2019s Spirit to transform us into Christ\u2019s giving nature. TVR follows the pattern of our personal spiritual journey. In the first stage, we give our lives to the One who gave His life for us. We respond to Jesus\u2019 love.<\/p>\n When we give our lives to Jesus, He gives us His Spirit, including the power of His unconditional love. We now have two natures: His sacrificial nature and our old selfish, human nature. Our responsibility is to let go of the old nature so that we can participate in His grace. This process of letting go of our need for justice, our rights under the law, takes time. Each time we give of ourselves to others, Jesus gives more of Himself to us, and we grow in His giving nature. This is stage two.<\/p>\n With His nature, I care about justice for others because His law of love lives within my heart. However, I no longer need justice for myself. Through the power of His unconditional love in me, I can suffer injustice for others, just as Jesus suffered injustice at my hands for me. That\u2019s not human; that\u2019s divine. When others see the power of His love in me, they will say, \u201cI don\u2019t know what you have, but I want that!\u201d<\/p>\n The third and final stage of TVR is Loving Obedience. This is the Great Commission, where we allow Jesus to work through us to rescue the lost world He loves. One day the door of grace will close, all suffering will end, and paradise will begin. The opportunity to be a living sacrifice for Jesus is now, while the door of grace is still open.<\/p>\n Jesus grieves for those in peril, and we have the opportunity today to be His friend. We\u2019ll talk about that next time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A mother was making pancakes for her sons, Kevin (five) and Ryan (three). The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake, so she said, \u201cNow boys, Jesus would let His brother have the first pancake.\u201d Kevin got the message. He turned to his younger brother and said, \u201cRyan, you be Jesus.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":333,"featured_media":4202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nVision for the Church<\/h2>\n