When we think of Jesus’ sacrifice, what we think
of first is Jesus on the cross, right? Jesus, even though he had done
nothing wrong, willingly gave up his earthly life. He took the punishment
that should have gone to each one of us for our sins. He did that so that
our sins could be forgiven and we could have eternal life, if we accept what he
did and believe in him as the Savior.
That’s obviously an incredibly important thing, and we’re
going to talk about it. But that was not the only sacrifice Jesus made
for us. Jesus made all kinds of sacrifices in order to do what he did.
So, in these Wednesday night services, we’re going to look at some of
those sacrifices. The first one we’re going to talk about is this:
Jesus, by coming to earth, sacrificed his life in heaven.
Think about it. The
apostle John, in our reading for tonight, calls Jesus “the Word”. And
listen to what he says about the Word, Jesus:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has
been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all people.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
That’s who Jesus is. You
know, we sometimes think of Jesus’ life as having begun in a manger in
Bethlehem some two thousand years ago. And that is when Jesus’ life began
on earth. But Jesus existed in heaven long before he was ever born in
Bethlehem.
And of course, Jesus did a lot
more than just exist in heaven. Jesus was active. He was powerful.
Think about those things John says about him. Jesus was with God.
In fact, Jesus was much more than with God. Jesus was God--God the
Son. Jesus was there in the beginning. And Jesus was much more than
just there. It was through him that all things were made. All
things. Nothing was made without him. Everything that exists was
made through Jesus Christ.
And even that’s not all.
In Jesus was life itself. All life. There is no life without
Jesus. Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness
has not and will not overcome it.
It’s the same thing we just
said in the Nicene Creed. Jesus is eternally begotten of the Father.
Jesus is of one being with the Father. Again, Jesus is God--God the
Son. That’s who Jesus is.
Before he was born in
Bethlehem, Jesus had always been in heaven. Think of how long a time that
would’ve been. In fact, the whole concept of “time” probably has no
meaning in heaven, because Jesus is eternal and heaven is eternal and eternity
exists outside of time. But still, Jesus had always been in heaven.
And think about what an
incredible place heaven is. We’ve talked a little bit about it in our
Sunday sermon series on revelation. It’s a place of constant peace.
Constant love. Constant joy. A place where all our needs are
met. A place where there is no sadness or pain. A place where
everyone is in the presence of the glory of God, feeling the overwhelming love
God has for each and every one of us.
So, put yourself in the place
of Jesus. Well, we cannot really do that, of course, but just try.
You’re the one through whom everything was made. You’re the light
of life. You’re living in heaven. You’re in the presence of the
glory of God and in fact are part of that glory.
And you willingly give all that
up. You give up all that power. You give up all that glory.
You give it all up. And for what?
To live among human beings.
To live among a bunch of weak, sinful people. People you created,
and yet people who’ve constantly turned their backs on you. People who’ve
completely ignored you when they’re not blatantly defying you. People who
instead worship gods who don’t exist. People who worship hunks of metal
they’ve created. People who worship themselves and their own selfish
desires. People who worship everything in the world but you.
Why would you do that? If
I was Jesus looking at these human beings, I’d wonder what I did wrong.
I’m not saying Jesus can make mistakes, but if I was Jesus I’d think
maybe I had. These human beings that were created through him had turned
into the most ungrateful, selfish, ignorant, arrogant beings you could ever
imagine. If I was Jesus, I’d probably be thinking about just wiping them
out and trying again. I mean, I know God promised Noah never to do that
again, but if I was Jesus I’d have been tempted. What a bunch of jerks
these human beings turned out to be.
But of course, that’s not what
Jesus did. Instead, Jesus came to earth. We have no idea when or
how that decision was made, of course. We really don’t understand how the
trinity works. But somehow, in some way, God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit decided that Jesus would come to earth. Jesus would
remain fully divine, but he would also become fully human. He would live
among those ungrateful, selfish, ignorant, arrogant human beings and give them
the chance for forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.
And there’s one other aspect of
this, too. It’s one that we don’t think about or talk about nearly
enough. But think about this. Before Jesus came to earth, God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit were all in heaven, right?
God in three persons. The blessed trinity, as the old hymn “Holy,
Holy, Holy” puts it. The three persons of God somehow existing in perfect
unity and harmony in heaven.
And now, suddenly, Jesus is not
in heaven. He’s separated from the other two persons of the trinity.
It’s the first time ever that that’s happened. He’s still the
divine Son of God--he’s still a part of the trinity--but there’s some degree to
which he’s separated from the rest of the trinity. It seems like that
must have been a really hard thing for him.
I was trying to think about how
that must have felt. What I think it might be a little bit like--and
some of you here have been through or observed this--is like when you see
people who’ve been married for a really long time--fifty, sixty, seventy
years--and then one of them is gone. The one remaining just never feels
complete. They never feel whole. They may find a way to go one, but
they always feel like a part of them is missing because their spouse is no
longer there.
Take that feeling, and multiply
it by a whole lot, and that has to be how Jesus felt when he was separated from
the other two persons of the trinity. He’d have felt incomplete.
He’d have felt like part of him was missing. I suspect that’s one
of the reasons Jesus went off by himself to pray so many times in the Bible.
There were other reasons too, I’m sure, but I suspect one of them was
that he simply was trying to get that feeling back, that feeling of wholeness,
of completeness, that he’d had in heaven but no longer had on earth.
I wonder how much Jesus could
remember about what heaven is like while he was on earth. Maybe all of
it, I don’t know. But maybe not. Maybe he could just remember
pieces, glimpses, impressions. And that would’ve made the separation even
harder.
The point is that Jesus
sacrificed a lot just by agreeing to come to earth. Why would he do that?
There can be only one answer. He did that because he loves us.
Jesus loves all of us so much that he came down to live among us
ungrateful, selfish, ignorant, arrogant human beings and give us the chance for
forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.
There are times in our lives
when God calls on us to make sacrifices. And sometimes we’re okay with
that, but sometimes we’re not. Sometimes we’re reluctant to make the
sacrifices God asks us to make. That can be especially true we think the
person we’re making a sacrifice for really does not deserve it.
The next time that happens, think
about the sacrifice Jesus made for us. Jesus, the divine Son of God,
willingly coming down from heaven, willingly giving up part of his connection
to the trinity, willingly lowering himself. Lowering himself to live as a
mere human being with all of us mere human beings. Doing that not because
we deserve it--Jesus most certainly knew that we do not. Whether we
deserve it is never the point with Jesus. Jesus has never done anything
for us because we deserve it. Jesus does things for us because Jesus
loves us.
Let’s try to follow Jesus’
example. When we’re called to make sacrifices, let’s not think about
whether the person we’re sacrificing for deserves it. Let’s think about
how much Jesus loves us. And let’s make the sacrifice out of love.
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