Introduction: Have you ever heard a story and wondered why did they do that?
Beauty and the Beast, a Walt Disney animated movie, tells the story of a beautiful French girl, Belle, who finds the love of Beast, a prince condemned long ago to live a life of shame and ugliness because he was rude and self-centered.
One night, Belle’s father, Maurice, gets lost in a forest and is thrown from his horse. When the horse returns without Maurice the next day, Belle sets off to find him. She follows her father’s horse to an imposing castle, set deep within the forest. The castle looms over Belle, its twisted, hulking form inspiring fear. When she finds her father’s hat lying inside the gate, she cautiously enters, despite her fright.
Once inside, a talking candlestick leads Belle to a dungeon where she finds her father huddled in a cell—alone, cold, and sick. Maurice, having seen the monstrous beast, who put him there, pleads with Belle to leave. Belle refuses and tries to free him.
Suddenly, a booming voice growls from the darkness. "What are you doing here?" Beast challenges Belle from the shadows.
Belle learns that her father is being held for trespassing and that there is no escape from the punishment for his offense. As her father gasps and wheezes, Belle offers, "Take me instead!"
Beast is momentarily startled and asks, "You would take his place?"
"If I did, would you let him go?" Belle bargains.
"Yes, but you must promise to stay here forever," answers Beast.
"You have my word," Belle vows.
"Done!" Though puzzled by her sacrifice, Beast makes the trade and frees Belle’s father.
Citation: Beauty and the Beast (Walt Disney Productions, 1991), rated G, written by Roger Allers and Linda Woolverton, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise; submitted by Jennifer Tatum
Why would she do it? The Beast wonders all through the movie until Belle’s love changes him and then he understands.
In A Book of Saints, Anne Gordon tells the story of Father Maximilian Kolbe, who was a prisoner at Auschwitz in August 1941. A prisoner escaped from the camp, and in reprisal, the Nazis ordered that ten prisoners had to die by starvation. Father Kolbe offered to take the place of one of the condemned men. The Nazis kept Kolbe in the starvation bunker for two weeks and then put him to death by lethal injection on August 14, 1941.
Thirty years later a survivor of Auschwitz described the effect of Kolbe’s action: "It was an enormous shock to the whole camp. We became aware that someone among us in this spiritual dark night of the soul was raising the standard of love on high. Someone unknown, like everyone else, tortured and bereft of name and social standing, went to a horrible death for the sake of someone not even related to him.
"Therefore it is not true, we cried, that humanity is cast down and trampled in the mud, overcome by oppressors, and overwhelmed by hopelessness. Thousands of prisoners were convinced the true world continued to exist and that our torturers would not be able to destroy it.
"To say that Father Kolbe died for us or for that person’s family is too great a simplification. His death was the salvation of thousands. ... We were stunned by his act, which became for us a mighty explosion of light in the dark camp."
Citation: Bill Norman, Markham, Ontario. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 2.
Why did he do it? What motivated Father Kolbe to volunteer for starvation?
Author and pastor Leith Anderson writes:
Several years ago I was visiting Manila and was taken, of all places, to the Manila garbage dump and saw something beyond belief. Tens of thousands of people make their homes on that dumpsite. They’ve constructed shacks out of the things other people have thrown away. And they send their children out early every morning to scavenge for food out of other people’s garbage, so they can have family meals. People have been born and grown up there on the garbage dump. They have had their families, their children, their shacks, their garbage to eat, finished out their lives, and died there without ever going anywhere else, even in the city of Manila. It is an astonishing thing.
But Americans also live on the garbage dump. They are missionaries; Christians who have chosen to leave their own country and communicate the love of Jesus Christ to people who otherwise would never hear it. That is amazing to me. People would leave what we have to go and live on a garbage dump. Amazing, but not as amazing as the journey from heaven to earth.
The Son of God made that journey, and he knew what he was doing. He knew where he was going. He knew what the sacrifice would be. He journeyed from heaven to earth on a mission to save the human race.
Citation: Leith Anderson, "A God’s-Eye View of Christmas," Preaching Today #208
Why did Jesus do it? Why would the King of Heaven become the Suffering Servant? Why would God sacrifice himself for us? Why would God go to such lengths to make us part of his family? Why did he do it?
The apostle Paul answered with these words in Titus 2:11-14 (NIV).
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Thesis: Jesus Christ sacrificed heaven and finally his life on the Cross because he wants an intimate, endless relationship with you and me.
Key Question: But why did Jesus make such a great sacrifice? What were we lacking that he needed to die for us?
A. Jesus’ sacrifice PARDONED OUR GUILT.
We all … have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).
Whenever we choose to do what we want instead of doing what God tells us to do, we are guilty of sin. Guilt ultimately results in judgement but Jesus took our place. Our guilt is pardoned because of his sacrifice.
He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
B. Jesus life, death and return to life PURCHASED OUR FREEDOM.
Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:34-36).
The Bible is clear about the attitudes and actions that are sin. They are complicated – often involving many choices over our lifetime. They are complex because not all these choices are made consciously. But most devastating of all – sin is addictive. Ignoring God and living as we want is an obsession. Once a person starts to sin it becomes his or her master and only the sacrifice of Jesus can set him or her free.
C. Jesus’ sacrifice makes us a PURIFIED PEOPLE.
Our guilt is not pardoned and our freedom is not purchased so we can go on as before.
God’s purpose in becoming one of us and dying for us was to change us. God’s goal is to make you and me like Jesus. However, “we cannot change by ourselves” and “we cannot change without ourselves” (D. Thompson with G. Eikhoff, Holiness for Hurting People).
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
D. All that Jesus did for us gives a PURPOSE FOR LIVING.
Jesus’ sacrifice for us proves that we have worth. Our lives can have purpose and meaning. We are not the sum total of a series of accidents spread over billions of years.
If you ever wonder what you’re worth, look at the Cross. God established you’re value for all eternity when he chose to die for you. If you ever wonder why you’re here, look at the Empty Tomb. It’s proof that God plans for you to carry on the work Jesus began.
[We] were dead in [our] … sins, in which [we] used to live when [we] followed the ways of this world … gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like [every one else], we were by nature [guilty and subject to God’s punishment]. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you [and I] have been saved … through faith…. And this … is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:1-10).
Our purpose for living must be to do the good God created us to do in Jesus’ name.
Conclusion:
The week before September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer and his wife, Lisa, had spent a romantic getaway in Italy. The couple, returned home Monday rested and relieved to be reunited with their boys David, 3, and Andrew, 1.
But more family time would have to wait. The next morning Todd had to be at a sales rep meeting in Northern California. He kissed Lisa, who was five months pregnant with their third child, goodbye and headed to the Newark, New Jersey, airport where he boarded United Flight 93 for San Francisco.
About 90 minutes into the westbound flight, the Boeing 757 was approaching Cleveland when three hijackers onboard identified themselves to the passengers and crew and proceeded to take control of the cockpit and cabin. The plane, piloted by the terrorists, made a sharp turn to the south.
Todd reached for the GTE airfone in the back of one of the seats and was connected to a GTE supervisor on the ground. He explained to her what was happening and indicated that he and the other passengers would not likely survive. He presumed the pilot and co-pilot were already seriously injured or dead.
The GTE employee explained to Todd what had already happened at the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Upon hearing this news, Todd must have realized that the hijackers were intent on crashing the plane into another prominent building near Washington D.C. Even though the hijacker nearest to Todd had a bomb belted around his middle, the former college baseball player told the GTE representative that he and a few others were determined to do whatever they could to disrupt the terrorists’ plan.
He then asked the person on the other end of the phone to call his wife and report their entire conversation to her (including how much he loved her). Before hanging up, this committed Christian and devoted family man, who taught Sunday school each week, asked the GTE employee to pray the Lord’s Prayer with him. With the sound of passengers screaming in the background, she complied. When they concluded the prayer, Scott calmly said, "Help me, God. Help me, Jesus."
The GTE employee then heard Todd say, apparently to the other businessmen he’d alluded to earlier: "Are you ready, guys? Let’s roll!" With that the phone went dead.
Within a few minutes, Flight 93 was nose diving into a rural field 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, where it left a crater 40 feet deep as it disintegrated upon impact. Because Todd Beamer was committed to Jesus Christ and his Kingdom, he was willing to do whatever was necessary to put the needs of others above his own fear of danger and imminent death. Thanks to him and the others who joined with him, the intended target in the nation’s capital was not reached and who knows how many lives were saved because of that. No one on the ground was killed.
According to Todd’s wife, Lisa, "His example of courage has given me, my boys (and my unborn baby) a reason to live."
That’s what can happen when we follow Jesus Christ’s example and put the needs of others ahead of our own.
Citation: Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, Illinois; source: Chicago Tribune (9-17-01), San Francisco Chronicle (9-17-01)
Application: How can we follow Jesus’ example of loving sacrifice in less dramatic situations? How can we live like him in every day life? How can we enjoy the intimate, endless relationship he sacrificed so much to have with us?
Simply and wholeheartedly commit your life to doing good in Jesus’ name.
NEXT STEPS: Let me offer some practical suggestions:
1. ASK for pardon whenever you are aware of problems. If you never have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior this is the time to do so.
2. Promise God that you will LIVE in the freedom of doing what he directs you to do.
3. Commit yourself to ENJOY the process of becoming more like Jesus.
4. Determine to let God help you to SHAPE your behavior around your desire to do good.
Responding to God:
1. Please stand if you are able.
2. Bow your heads and close your eyes so you can focus your attention on God’s Holy Spirit.
3. Are you willing simply and wholeheartedly to commit your life to doing good in Jesus’ name? Do you want to be filled with a zealous drive to sacrifice for others as Jesus did?
4. If you are, please raise your hand. Don’t be ashamed of your commitment to be like Jesus. Let me know so I can pray for you.
5. If you’d like to pray at the altar rail please feel free to come as we sing.
