Unconditionl Love Of God

His love is not defined by the object in any sense. It is His nature that loves. It is His innateness that loves. It is God-loving as God must love because He’s God. And so His love is forgiving and unconditional. And the third thing we told you last week, that it is self-sacrificing. God’s love is forgiving, unconditional and self-sacrificing. God so loved the world that He, what’s the next word, gave. That’s the key. It is self-sacrificing. Now listen, people, this is a very basic truth you must get. If we are to love like God loved, if we are to imitate God, then we must love people with a forgiveness that is without limits.

We must love people unconditionally, with no dependence upon their response. And we must love people sacrificially, that is, with the giving of ourselves, not the seeking of something from them. Now people listen. When you live and walk in love, it doesn’t mean you go around saying, oh I like that person, and I like this person, and you work on an emotional level. No, it means that it is your nature to be forgiving without limits, loving without even a necessary response and self-sacrificing, seeking only to give and not to gain. So we said last time that Jesus loves us.

When we sin, He forgives us. When we don’t respond, He keeps loving us. And when all we want to do is take, He keeps giving. That’s the kind of love that is to characterise our lives, unconditional, forgiving, and self-sacrificing. I would be unfaithful to my own mind if I didn’t have you look at John 13 for just a moment, and then we’ll close out those review points and go to the next. But in John 13, which I think is the most beautiful picture of the love of Christ, apart from the cross, anywhere in the Bible, John 13, now I want you to see this unconditional, forgiving, self-sacrificing love in action.

Now, you’ll remember the setting because I’ve taught it to you many times. But in John 13, the disciples are having an argument, and they’re arguing about who’s going to be the greatest in the kingdom. They’re really concerned about who’s going to rank high when Christ sets up His earthly kingdom. They want to get in on the gravy. They want to be big shots. They want to be mucky mucks. And the Lord sees them in this big argument. And the real issue here is, of course, that Jesus is about to be crucified. And He’s already told them this.

He’s already told them He has to die. He’s already given them the whole outline. But they are absolutely indifferent to what He’s going to go through. They don’t even care. They’re not even concerned about it. They are absolutely selfish. They are absolutely sinful. They are absolutely unresponsive. If there was any real love in their hearts, they would have been comforting and encouraging, and sharing that love with Jesus Christ. If there was anything of self-sacrifice in their lives, they would have been washing His feet. They would have been at His hands, saying, what can we do, Lord, because You’re the one that’s going to bear this.

But instead, their selfishness was manifest. Their sinfulness was manifest. Their self-centeredness was manifest, as they argued about who would be the greatest in the kingdom, instead of being concerned about Christ. And in that argument, nobody would wash anybody’s feet. But it was accustomed to wash feet in those days, before you had a meal, but none of them would do it, because none of them wanted to take the role of a servant. They were all fighting for the chief places. And so supper had begun, and after it had begun, Jesus took a basin.

It says in verse 4, He rising from supper laid aside His garments, took a towel, girded Himself, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet. Now, people, listen to me. Now that’s love in action. That is love that is forgiving. Here these guys were sinful. They were full of pride. They were full of self-centeredness. They were full of self-seeking. They were full of indifference to each other. They were resenting each other, because they felt that the other guy among the twelve might be seeking to get a higher rank than they were.

There was a terrible sinful aura in that whole deal, and yet Jesus washes their feet. Jesus does a kind and tender and loving sympathetic act. He didn’t even ask a response out of them. They didn’t even give Him the right response. He didn’t say, now, if you guys will cool it and love me a little, I’ll wash your feet. He washed their feet anyway, because love does it. It doesn’t have to depend on the response. And finally, it is self-sacrificing, the Lord of glory washing the feet of these sinful, self-seeking men. And you go over to verse 13.

Jesus sums it up by saying this, You call me Master and Lord, and you say, Well, for I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet, for I’ve given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. In other words, He said to them, You saw how I loved you, didn’t you? You saw that I loved you by an act of love that was unconditional, that was totally forgiving, that was totally self-sacrificing, and I expect you to do the same to each other.

And later on in the chapter, verse 34, after an interlude with Judas, he picks up the same teaching, and he says, A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know you’re my disciples, if you have love one for another. Now listen, notice in verse 34, you are to love as I have loved you. And how had he just loved them? He had just loved them with forgiveness, with an unconditional love, and a self-sacrificing love.

And that’s the very thing he’s asking for them to manifest. And he says to them, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If I love that way, then that’s the way you are to love. So that’s the positive side. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of unconditional love of God. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].