Sacrifice Series

From the Ashes

Week 5 - Sacrifice

Scripture: Philippians 2:6-8, Luke 14:25-33, Galatians 2:20, Hebrews 4:15-16

Introduction

Today, we’re going to be talking about the sacrifice of Jesus and the impact his humble actions have had on all humankind.

To illustrate the idea of sacrifice I want to share a story with you from the trenches of World War II.

“John Robert Fox was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in May 1915. By all accounts, he was a smart, diligent young man and he earned a place at Wilberforce University. Here, he signed up for the Reserve Officer Training Corp, meaning he not only finished college with a graduate degree, but with a rank of Second Lieutenant. When war broke out he took his commission and joined the 92nd Infantry Division, a segregated division for African-American soldiers that fought with distinction throughout the conflict.

With his unit, Fox was sent to the European theater of war. In 1944, he found himself fighting the Nazis in Italy. It was here where, in December of that year, he was tasked to stay behind in the small village of Sommocolonia, in Tuscany. The village had been overrun by Nazis, and Americans were in retreat. Fox found a house to hide in and, from the second floor, he used his radio to contact his colleagues. He called for artillery fire to be directed at the village in order to give the US forces time to retreat, regroup and then launch a counter-attack. Fox specifically ordered a barrage of fire on his exact position. The gunner who received the message pointed this out to him, assuming it must be some mistake. Fox, however, simply said: ‘Fire it. There’s more of them than there are us.’

Fox’s act of sacrifice was not in vain. As he planned, the artillery barrage did indeed give his comrades the chance to regroup and launch a successful counterattack. When the US army entered Sommocolonia, they found Fox’s body surrounded by the bodies of nearly 100 Nazi’s. ”

This story is to highlight the idea of sacrifice- specifically giving your life for someone else. In this case, The sacrifice of John Robert Fox gave life, opportunity, and victory to his fellow soldiers in a decisive battle with the Germans.

More importantly, The sacrifice of Jesus Christ also gives life, opportunity, and victory to all who would believe. The sacrifice of Christ is so completely sufficient that there’s no need for any other work to be done.

There is much to learn from Christ in this area, so let’s get started with a word of prayer.

Prayer: “Jesus, thank you for your sacrificial life. Without your life, death, and resurrection, we would all be lost in our sin. Remind us today that we’re no longer slaves to sin, but alive in You. Help us to live our lives sacrificially, and be willing to lay our lives down for others.

Big Idea: The Hebrew people experienced the temporary forgiveness of sins by the blood of an animal sacrifice. That gave them a unique appreciation of the sacrifice of Jesus, who left heaven, became a human being and offered himself as that sacrifice. This atoning sacrifice is and was effective throughout eternity. Through Christ we are completely redeemed from the ashes of our former life.

Start- Main Teaching

Humility & Sacrifice

Philippians 2:6-8

6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

NIV

We already covered humility in week 2, so we won’t cover that point again. But I do have to take a moment to recognize where there is sacrifice… there is humility.

Christ willingly gave up Heaven to come to earth as a sacrifice for our sin. He did not hold onto His position and power, but instead laid it all down to be a humble servant and give up His life on a cross.

He knew, in order to rescue the world from the curse of sin, it would cost Him His life.

And that brings us to our first point this morning about living a sacrificial life-

There Is A Cost

If you are going to follow in the footsteps of Christ, which is what it means to be a disciple, then you are going to experience sacrifice.

In fact, I’ll just come out and say it- if you chose to follow Jesus, there is and will be a personal cost to you in this life.

Jesus is very straight-forward about this and He tells us this in the gospels. Listen to his words from Luke 14;

“Large crowds were now traveling with Jesus, and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.