I want to talk to you about “Unconditional Love.”  However, to begin I must talk about conditional love.  I must talk about it because all of us have experienced it.

We live in a world where conditional love is pretty much the norm.  Often it is stated as an expectation either implicitly or explicitly going something like this, “If you really loved me, then you would _________.”  That blank can be filled with thousands of words or phrases about what you would do if you really loved the person making the statement.  Husbands, wives, children, moms and dads have all heard it hundreds of times.  Then it becomes time to either pass or fail the test.

Contrast that attitude with the one expressed about Jesus in Romans 5:8, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  There were no conditions put on Christ’s love for us.  Not once did anyone hear Him say:

• “Ifthe people would just understand me then I would do so many things for them.”
• “Whenpeople begin to act better then I’ll go down to earth.”
• “As soon asthe world accepts me then I’ll die for them.”

That’s not the way Christ approached things!  He attached no conditions.  Rather, the scriptures say concerning Jesus, “…though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6).  The term “conditional love” was not a part of his vocabulary.  John tells us, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us” (I John 3:16) and “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:10).

What do you do with this kind of love? 

• First, you must realize what it is: that it is not conditional—Christ has already given it to you…He has paid the price for you.  Or as Paul said in Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” 
• Secondly, You must accept it.  A gift given but not accepted is useless to the one rejecting it. 
• Thirdly, you should rejoice in it.  Or as Paul says in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” 
• And finally, you should remember it. 

This is where the Lord’s Supper comes in.  As we gather for a time of worship, it gives us a wonderful opportunity to participate with others in the proclamation that Jesus died for us, that he was buried and then raised from the dead and that he will return again to receive us to himself.  What a blessing!  This is what participation in the Lord’s Supper is all about.