The followers of Jesus know something of the terror of Hell and that  motivates them to dedicate their lives to tell the world the good news of how Jesus gives eternal life, heals hurts and builds dreams.
2 Cor. 5:15 Romans 14:7-8

What's the most important factor in getting good grades in school? Is it I.Q., hard work, attentiveness or homework? I remember reading about an educator who achieved a break through in teaching children with low I.Q.'s. She determined that motivation, not I.Q. was the determining factor in learning.

God wants us to understand what it is that motivates us. When I review my life I discover a whole mess of conflicting motivations, mostly negative. Some are fear of failure and fear of punishment.  The hope of reward and the sense of duty are powerful positive motivators. Something within most of us recognizes moral obligations and seems to constrain us to take a line of duty. God's love for Paul motivated him to live for others instead of himself.

I. Jesus' Death for us motivates us to Live Our Lives For Others.
"And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."  (2 Corinthians 5:15 NIV)

This verse tells me that the death of Jesus for me should motivated me to serve others instead of myself. God wants to transform my selfishness into a life of selflessness. Paul understood the joy of serving others and wrote to the Roman Christians, "For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone."  (Romans 14:7-8 NIV) Each of us chooses what we're going to live for in life. The love of Jesus motivates us to live for God and others.

Not every born again person appreciates what they've been saved from. That is one reason we don't get excited about our salvation and Saviour. I believe there is a wonderful Heaven to win and a horrible Hell to shun.

Jesus said, "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where "'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:47-48   NIV)  A worm is something which eats away at us. All of us know the feeling of eating and not being satisfied. We buy and buy and buy and still want more. There is a worm eating away at us.

The hell of Hell is that eternity after eternity after eternity rolls by and the worm dies not, there is no satisfaction. We burn with desire but no matter how deeply we drink of the cup of lust, all we want is more and more and more. We're never satisfied because "The worm dieth not."

Heaven is just the opposite. There the fulfillment of our deepest desires, are met in Jesus.  Like the song we used to sing, "He satisfies, joy He supplies. Life would be worthless without Him."

Paul understood the horror of the Hell he was saved from. Paul also knew the changer the gospel made in his life. That change motivated him to live for God and others.  "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.  The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 1:12-14 NIV)

A God Who effects this caliber of change in a person captures his attention and mesmerizes him. Jesus motivated Paul to give his life to help others find this wonderful power to change. To give your life in service you must in a dynamic way meet the God you're serving.

In the convent of San Marco in Florence, in cell after cell Fra Angelico painted scenes of the crucifixion of Jesus. In each scene was St. Dominic who represented the Christian soul as it contemplates the spectacle of Jesus crucified.

In the first scene St. Dominic stands before the cross in bewilderment as he contemplates a sight that is shocking, horrible and bewildering. You pass into the next cell and the scene has changed. St. Dominic is looking up at the cross in questioning bewilderment. He has not yet understood the meaning of the scene, but he sees in the crucifixion depths of misery and truth.

In the third cell St. Dominic understands and sees in Jesus One who is suffering for human sin. In the fourth painting St. Dominic has found the joy of forgiveness which comes from the loving heart of Christ. He kneels there and contemplates in ecstasy Jesus who has forgiven him.  In the next scene he is standing with his arms outstretched, as one who simply contemplates in admiration the glory of that great love for all the world which beams from the cross.

In the last picture he is kneeling on one knee, as one who is half in homage, half in recognition that this cross lays upon his life the allegiance of a great service. The fact that "Christ died for me"  has motivated Dominic to a life of selfless service. How does Jesus and His gift of eternal life motivate you? Have you contemplated Jesus with the intensity of a St. Dominic?

II. The Power of God's Love Ensures That Our Ministry is not in Vain.
The miracle of the good news about Jesus will change other lives. "And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."  (2 Corinthians 5:15 NIV)

To be a successful salesperson you must be convinced that your product does what it says it will do. Part of the motivation for not serving myself is the great blessing that I receive every time someone experiences the unconditional love of Jesus.  A young girl we'll call Cindy grew up in Traverse City, Michigan. Her conservative parents, overreacted to her nose ring, the music she listened to, and the length of her skirts. "I hate you!" she screamed at her father after an argument.

Cindy ran away to lose herself in Detroit. Her second day on the street she met a man with the flashiest car she's ever seen. He offers her a ride, buys her lunch, arranges a place for her to stay. Some pills he gives Cindy make her feel wonderful. She concludes that her parents were keeping her from all the fun.

She calls the man with the flashy car "Boss". He teaches her a few things that men like. Since Cindy is underage, men pay a premium for her. She lives in a penthouse, and orders room service whenever she wants.

After a year the signs of illness appear, and the boss turns mean. Cindy is abandoned to the street, a pennyless sick little girl. Dark bands circle her eyes and her cough worsens. Its winter and she finds herself sleeping on metal grates. "Sleeping" is the wrong word, a teenage girl at night in downtown Detroit can never relax her guard.

Cindy no longer feels like a woman of the world. This abandoned little girl begins to whimper in the cold. She is frightened, lonely and desperately in need of a fix. Shivering, Cindy curls in a tight ball under the newspapers.

Something jolts her memory of May in Traverse City, when a million cherry trees are in bloom and her golden retriever is chasing a tennis ball. "God, why did I leave,"  she says to herself, and pain stabs at her heart. "My dog back home eats better than I do WOW!" Cindy is sobbing, and she knows in a flash that more than anything else in the world she wants to go home.  Three phone calls and three connections with the answering machine. The third time she says,  "Dad, Mom, it's me. I was wondering about catching the bus that gets there about midnight tomorrow? If you're not there, I guess I'll just stay on the bus until it hits Canada."

During the seven hour ride Cindy realizes the flaws in her plan. What if her parents are out of town and miss the message?  Shouldn't she have waited until she could talk to them?  And even if they are home, they likely wrote her off as dead long ago.

She rehearses what she'll say to her father. "Dad, I'm sorry, I know I was wrong. It's not your fault; it's all mine. Dad, can you forgive me?"  Cindy's throat tightens as she rehearses her speech. She hasn't apologized to anyone in years.  The bus finally rolls to a stop at the sation. The driver announces over the microphone, "Fifteen minutes, folks. That's all we have here."  Cindy thinks, Fifteen minutes to decide my life.

She checks herself in a compact mirror, smooths her hair, licks the lipstick off her teeth and wonders if they'll notice her nicotine stained fingers—if they're there. Cindy apprehensively walks into the terminal.

Not one of the thousand scenes that have played out in her mind prepared Cindy for what she sees. There, in the Taverse City terminal stands a group of forty brothers and sisters and great-aunts and uncles and cousins and a grandmother and great-grandmother to boot.
They're all wearing goofy party hats and blowing noise-makers, and taped across the entire wall of the terminal is a computer-generated banner that reads "Welcome home!" Out of the crowd of well-wishers breaks her Dad.

Cindy stares through her tears quivering in her eyes and begins the memorized speech, "Dad, I'm sorry." "I know," he interrupts her. "Hush, child, we've got no time for apologies now. We can't be late for the party and banquet."  "And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."  (2 Corinthians 5:15 NIV) And because God is so lavishly generous in His forgiveness I am motivated to not waste my life serving myself. Cindy's story tells me that my labour for the Lord is not in vain.

The generous, lavish love of my Heavenly Father shows me that I will gain the whole world if I throw away my life in service to others. But if I save my life I will lose it and then what will happen to all the Cindys of the world? Today, Jesus wants to know what you plan on doing with your life.

Read these other messages about the magnanimous love of God.

Love, the Mark of True Discipleship
Love Walks the Second Mile
The Lavish Love of the Father.
Loving God Supremely
A Prostitute Finds Love

1. What motivates you to help others? Need, guilt, duty, fear, or hope of reward? None of those listed.
2. Read 2 Corinthians 5:11-17. What does the phrase "Terror of the Lord," mean? Compare Psalm 76:6-8 ; Nahum 1:3-6 ; Matthew 25:46 ; Hebrews 10:31 ; Jude 1:23 ; Revelation 20:15 .  How does the reality of these verses motivate us?
3. Read 2 Corinthians 5:15 Where and how do we draw the line between serving self and others? What light does 1 Corinthians 10:33 shed on the question?
4. Read 2 Corinthians 5:14. Explain the constraint of Love and how you have felt this in your life. Compare John 14:21 ;
5. What do the following verses tell us about how we love God? John 14:15-21 15:10; 1 John 2:5 ; 5:3; Revelation 22:14 .
6. Read Matthew 16:25-26 . At what point does a person cross the boundary between saving and loosing their lives?