Sermons

Another John 3: 16

4/22/2018

Psalm 23; 1 John 3: 16-24; John 10: 11-18
April 22, 2018

Most all of us have memorized at least partially the most famous verse in the bible, John 3: 16. And while various translations change the words a bit, the the basic verse goes like this: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” A wonderful verse of a God who gives, a verse of welcome and promise and invitation. But if we stop and consider what it meant for God to “give” his son, it becomes a much more challenging word. And so I want us to look at another John 3: 16; from today's reading 1 John 3: 16 tells us what that gift cost. “We know love by this, that Jesus laid down his life for us.” That gift of love was not free, it cost the life of Jesus Christ.

I continue in our post-Easter series in 1 John by looking at what John wrote concerning how Jesus demonstrated his great love for the world and what is expected from us as we share the love we receive with the world around us.
As Jesus was preparing to leave this world, on Maundy Thursday he gave his disciples his final words, his final advice and his final commands. In the course of his long discourse, he said the words we see on our banner, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” I begin with a couple stories:
Gary and Mary Jean Chauncey were in an Amtrak train that crashed into a river after a barge hit and weakened the railroad bridge. Water rushed into their car. They were trapped... with their eleven year old daughter who had cerebral palsy and was in a wheelchair. After much struggle, they were able to push their daughter Andrea out the window where the rescuers could reach her. However, they were not able to escape. They gave up their life so their daughter would live. Heart-wrenching, terrible, but understandable.
Robert Bonadies was a sky diving instructor. One of his students, Cynthia Hyland, made her first jump flanked by Bonadies and Jim Olko, another instructor. The three tipped and went into a dive. But then Hyland couldn't find her ripcord. Bonadies reached her and pulled her ripcord just in time...but too late for him to open his chute. He gave his life for someone he barely knew.
We are saddened by such stories, but impressed at the level of love that took. Let's go back to our 1 John 3: 16, “We know love by this, that Jesus laid down his life for us”... but that isn't the full verse, it continues, “and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” That's not a command we hear about too often. And it speaks to a level of love that Jesus demonstrated.
From the days before vaccines comes this story: Johnny’s sister was dying of a disease that he had had, and recovered from. The Doctor knew about antibodies, and said to Johnny, “your sister needs your kind of blood to make her well. Would you be willing to give your blood so that she can live?” He was frightened at the prospect, but agreed, The doctor took his blood. Johnny laid there patiently and finally asked the Dr., “when do I die?”
Only then did the doctor realize the extent of the child’s sacrifice. Johnny had offered his life to save his sister; Jesus declared that there is no greater love.
But these are extreme examples. Our love should be such that we'd give our lives, but how are we doing just loving others on a day to day basis? John asks a similar question in his next verse, “How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” It doesn't happen every day that we are faced with life or death situations. But we are faced every day with people in need. Maybe not face to face, but our world is so small, there is no shortage of evidence of people in need. In fact, if you are paying attention it is just possible that you become overwhelmed with the needs we see. But how could we ever claim to love as Jesus calls us to love if we fail to take action to help?
Verse 18, “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” It is awfully easy to speak and sing and pray about loving our neighbors, but God's word calls for action. In our prayer of confession today, we note some ways we fail to act; labels on our clothes being more important than those without; worrying about the quality of our steaks when so many go hungry. As a church, we try to offer opportunities to take positive action. You are invited to be with the clients at WINGS when we decorate cards with them. We aren't saving their lives as such, but we do provide a visible sign that someone cares. If that's not your cup of tea, we can give them material gifts that are needed as they work to reenter society clean and sober. It is a sad thing to think of teenagers lost in a world of drugs or alcohol. Often it is a boost to them just to know someone cares.
The PW is working hard to make an impact in the world with their mission projects. This past week they made surgical caps for patients undergoing surgery, they've sent dresses and sani-pads to Africa, they knitted “prayer squares” to comfort people in times of need, and pillowcases and fleece blankets for MAM. MAM is an organization giving a hand up to the homeless. It can be awfully easy to judge those who are slipping through the cracks. But many are there due to circumstances beyond their control. As we give MAM our gifts of money, we give those who are struggling a chance to get back on their feet and re-enter society with confidence and hope. Our church will again be sponsoring a dunk tank at the MAM fundraiser on June 7th in central park. If you can work, great! If you can be a dunkee, good. If you can't do those things but see its value, you can donate to the cost of the dunk tank. It is a visible, concrete action that can be taken to “love in truth and action.”
We are not asking you to give your life for these brothers and sisters, but John makes clear that loving our neighbor is not just warm, fuzzy feelings, it is action.
Our passage then looks inward a bit more. John writes about truth and reassurance and condemning and our hearts. As we examine our lives in light of the commandment to love God and love our neighbor, our actions help us see how we are doing. When love is evident in our action, it reassures us before God that our hearts are in the right place. I'm reminded with this statement of Abraham and Isaac. You all know the story of God calling on Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. They traveled three days to make a sacrifice to God and Isaac wondered where the sacrifice was, they didn't bring a lamb or a bull. Finally, Abraham told Isaac what was happening. And as Abraham was about to kill his son, God stopped him. And we often look at this as a test of Abraham, to prove to God how much Abraham loved him. But in reality, it was a test for Abraham, so Abraham would know truly how much he loved God. It is easy to love in words; not so easy in action. So we can get a feeling for how much we truly love God by how much we actually do for God by doing for our neighbors. Not to earn God's love, we can't earn God's love, but as a tangible witness that our love is more than mere words.
Again, we don't earn God's love. But we are called to obey God. Next verse, “And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” First and foremost, we are called to believe in Jesus. Paul made it clear in his letter to the Ephesians that it is grace, not works that make us right with God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the results of works, so that no one may boast.” We show love from a heart that is overflowing with gratitude for what the Lord has done for us. We don't work for rewards as some would teach; we work as grateful servants of our Lord and Savior.
Next, “All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them.”
Yeah, that sounds a bit like we have to work to obey the commandments to earn our reward. But look back a verse and see what God commands, believe in Jesus. We do that by the grace of God. And by grace, we live out the love we've been shown. It is not a chore, it is an act of love; an act of obedience.
I want to change the course of this sermon now. I want to talk about sheep. Both our Psalm and gospel make mention of the shepherd. And the shepherd is Jesus and that makes us sheep the shepherd is caring for. Now I can tell you one thing, if sheep had to work to earn their keep, they'd be lost. What can a sheep do? Eat. Sleep. Drink. Wander off the path. They don't pull a plow. They can't guard the other sheep. They don't even think for themselves. Here's a story about how “useful” sheep are. It took place in Mongolia, the shepherds had a pair of goats to help keep the sheep in line...literally. The sheep followed the goats. Now for some reason the two goats decided to jump in a lake. Well, over 500 sheep and goats followed them in. They were able to save over one-half the flock, but it took 20 shepherds and three hours to do it. Sheep just aren't very useful.
Do you all agree? Well, you are the sheep. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus laid down his life for you and me; dumb, useless sheep.
OK, that's an exaggeration. But we should be clear about this as we worship in this season of Easter. Jesus dying on the cross was not an equal exchange. The Son of God died on the cross for people who lie and cheat and kill and gossip and hoard and insult and fail to love. It is like you or me laying down our life for a sheep. But Jesus did it. Evidently, God sees something in us that makes us worth loving. And if God sees you as lovable, then you are not a worthless sheep. You are wonderfully made in the image of God. You have great potential for good. You are called as sons and daughters of the most high God. This is reason to celebrate, this is reason to get serious about living out a life of faith with our Lord.
I ran across these number this week, 98% of Americans believe in God. 80% believe Jesus is the Son of God. Yet only 40% thought religion was very important. As followers of Jesus, I would hope that our belief in Jesus would make living our faith very important.
1 John chapter one was about God as light. Chapter 2 dealt with avoiding darkness; sin. Today and next Sunday deal with love. If you've done much bible study, you have heard that the Greek language has three different terms for love and English only one. There is brotherly love, romantic love and what is in Greek, Agape' love. Max Lucado differentiates this Agape' love from what the world often sells us as love. “Agape' love (is) less an affection and more a decision; less a feeling and more an action.”1 We often see this lived out in a family, where the decision to love is a daily decision; and sometimes not an easy one.
I conclude with a story about the power of this kind of love. It is told by Dan Mazzeo about his father. “Pop” was a first generation Italian American diagnosed with metastatic liver and lung cancer. The doctors gave him less than a year to live, but he wasn't afraid to die. His wife was already gone and his children grown and on their own. But then he learned that Dan, his only son, was going to be a father. When Pop heard that, he resolved to live to see this grandchild.
Lucado tells the story, “the chemo tortured his system. Some days it was all he could do to mumble, 'Bad day,' to those who phoned. But when his granddaughter was born, he insisted on going to the hospital. The ninety minute ride tormented him. Dan wheeled him into the maternity ward. Pop's arms were too weak, so Dan had to hold the baby for him. But Pop did what he came to do. He leaned over, kissed her, and said, 'Sheila Mary, Grandpa loves you very much.'
Within seconds, Pop dozed off. Within an hour, he was back in the car. Within days, he was dead.”2
This is a mere imitation of God's love. Jesus bore much more than chemo or an uncomfortable car ride. His love is beyond compare. “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” Saying we love our neighbor just doesn't cut it in God's economy. Action; love is a noun. We show love because God first loved us. At the risk of repeating myself, we don't show love to earn God's love. God's love is ours whether we realize it or not. God so loved the whole world...not just a chosen few. He showed his love in that he laid down his life for us...we just read that. In chapter one, John wrote, that “he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” That is agape' love, an unearthly love. You can't win it by being good. You can't lose it by being a loser. But you can resist it.

Let's go forth filled with the knowledge of God's great love for us, opening our hearts and minds to receive him. And then, in obedience and gratitude, love in truth and action. Jesus is our good shepherd, leading us, caring for us, defending us, seeking us. “Thou hast loved us, love us still” And as we are loved, let us share the goodness of God. Amen.

Hymn: Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us 321 HLC
1Lucado, Max 3:16 The Numbers of Hope pg 37
2Ibid pg 38

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Walk in the Light

4/8/2018

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Psalm 133; 1 John 1: 1-2:2; John 20: 19-31
April 8, 2018

During the Sundays of Easter, except for Holy Humor Sunday, I will be preaching from the epistle of 1 John. So I think we should know a bit about this book and its author. A lot of biblical study in the last 200 years seems to be trying to prove that things are not as they appear in the scriptures, including who wrote what. But the authorship of John's writings is pretty well accepted across the board. John was an apostle; the “apostle Jesus loved” is how he is identified in his own gospel. He was the youngest of the twelve, possibly just a teenager when he first followed Jesus.

If you remember learning about the disciples in Sunday School, you may recall that John had a brother in the twelve as well, James. They were the sons of the fishing magnate Zebedee. And they had a nickname, “The Sons of Thunder.” All of the disciples were killed for their faith, martyred; all but John. He lived to a ripe old age, sentenced to exile on the island of Patmos from where he wrote the last book of the bible, the Revelation. He spent his last years serving the church at Ephesus where he died.
The story of our author John. He wrote five books of the bible, his gospel, the Revelation and three epistles; first, second and third John. We are studying first John. I said it is commonly accepted that John wrote it, but we are not sure to whom it was written. It may have been to the church at Ephesus or it may have been a general letter written for many churches to share. It differs in many ways from Paul's letters. We've noted before that Paul begins his letters by identifying himself as “Paul, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul offers grace and peace in Christ's name. John goes right into his subject, in fact he never even writes his name in his epistle. Here's his first line, “We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes,” There is an echo here from his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John describes in his epistle the Word, the God he wrote of in his gospel, which was from the beginning of everything and Jesus who was God personified on earth. And he tells us that this is an eyewitness account. “We have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it”. John walked with Jesus, he talked with him, saw him at his best and his worst; saw him after the resurrection. And he gives us an eyewitness account about Jesus, our Savior.
An overview of the book shows us that John's two main themes were the love of God revealed in Christ and how that looks lived out in the life of a believer. This first chapter uses the contrast of light and the dark to help us see these themes. “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.” Jesus used the light metaphor often. “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8: 12) (John 9:5) While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Light is associated with God from the very beginning. In Genesis 1, we read that God came into the darkness, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” You can read that the sun isn't created until day four, yet there is light from the very beginning. We could say, God was the light. Jesus was the representation of God on earth and so he was light. From John's gospel, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Darkness cannot overcome the light. If it is dark outside and your house is well lit, opening the door doesn’t let in the darkness. But if your house is dark and you open a door to the light, the light immediately overcomes the darkness.
We remembered the assassination of Martin Luther King this week. He used light and darkness in his message as well, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” If we have the light, there is no darkness in it, and so there is no sin. John makes clear that the perfection of Jesus is represented by this light. And he calls us to walk in the light. Now don't you think that that is an impossible request? Who can be perfect as Jesus is? And yet here is John telling us to walk in the light as Jesus is in the light. And Jesus makes a similar request of us, Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Pretty intimidating. And it may be something that causes us to keep Jesus at arm's length. How can we possibly live up to this kind of command?
Let's consider what living in this perfection, this light, might look like. Does it mean no mistakes? And you know it can't because we can't be perfect; even if Jesus tells us we ought to be. Does it mean no sin? No, scriptures are clear that all sin. So where does perfection come from? It is from walking in relationship with Jesus; not in perfection but in relationship. Our perfection, our righteousness is imputed upon us; ascribed or attributed to us through the righteousness of Jesus. I know, that is religious talk. Let's simplify a bit. When we enter into relationship with Jesus, God looks upon us and sees, not our sins and shortcomings (which are very real), but God sees the perfection of Jesus. We are justified by faith, and the simplest way to define our justification is this: God looks at us 'just-as-if' we'd never sinned. We have sinned, but in Christ , God sees righteousness. In Christ, we receive justification; in God's eyes, it is just as if you never sinned.
Here is another way to look at justification, if you look through a piece of red glass, everything looks red, through a piece of blue glass, everything is blue and so on and so on. When God looks at us through the Lord Jesus Christ, he sees all in the white light of Jesus. No longer does the darkness of sin show in God eyes, rather the light of Christ is our new appearance.
You know as well as I do that you are not going to leave church today and be perfect this week. But you can leave the church under the righteousness of Jesus. And in gratitude and in loving service and in obedience we live the best life we can. Darkness, sin, interferes with our relationship, and if our life is more darkness than light, God gets crowded out. God allows himself to be crowded out for he doesn't force any of us to obey, to walk in his light. It is our choice. But we do have help. Seek the Holy Spirit's power to overcome the darkness.
God calls us to walk with Christ so we are living in the light. John wrote, “If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true.” Fellowship, relationship is destroyed when we walk in the dark. But...John goes on, “if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” Here's the word fellowship again. First it was fellowship with God in Christ, here it is fellowship with one another as we walk in the light—in Christ. Side note, the Son cleanses us from all sin gets back to the that justification thing. John does go round and round and keeps reviewing what he has written.
But let's consider fellowship and light. We like to talk about our fellowship here at church. But we should always be aware that the fellowship here is not the same as the fellowship at Lion's Club or the PTA. We have a specific source for the basis of fellowship; Jesus Christ, the light of the world. And so if we play cribbage in the church fellowship hall, it is not the same as a cribbage tourney at the Legion. There is the understanding that it is different. We don't get too competitive, we don't shortchange anyone in points, we are patient with each other; it is fellowship in the spirit of Christian love. Coffee hour is not just a social gathering, it is where we find out about Dr. visits and family concerns and personal situations. And those conversations are often carried home to be lifted up in prayer. That is light. Caring for one another with the love of Christ.
But there is another step we are to take when we consider the light, we are to share the light with the world. That's why studying God's word is so important. So much of the faith community drifts along with general ideas of God without learning what God teaches us. Study God's word so that that light you present in the darkness is truly God's light. Then you are not hiding the light, but shining it into the darkness. Jesus said in Luke 11:36 “if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.” Fill your life with light and let the light shine on those around you as it has shined on you. Jesus put it this way, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. (Matthew 5: 14, 15) We have a responsibility to know what we believe, why we believe it and that what we believe is theologically correct.
Speaking of lighting a lamp under a bowl, a circus owner was walking down the street in a tourist district and saw crowd of people around a table watching a show. On the table was a pot turned upside down and a duck tap dancing on it. The circus owner was so impressed that he offered to buy the duck from its owner. After some haggling the owner agreed to sell the duck and the pot for $10,000.
A couple of days later the circus owner returns to the owner. “Your duck is a rip-off!” He says angrily. “I put him on the pot in front of a big audience and he didn’t dance a single step!”
“Well,” asked the duck’s former owner, “did you remember to light the candle under the pot?”
This is not what is meant by putting your light under a bowl. The light of Christ is to affect how we live, just as that candle affected how the duck danced. We come to church, we read the bible, we converse with God in prayer to keep that candle, the light shining hot and shining bright. Hot to keep us motivated, brightly so it shines beyond ourselves. Letting our light shine means living the life you profess when you are in church out in the world the other six days of the week. I've quoted ex-executive Presbyter Sue Coller before, she said that Sunday may well be the least important day in our walk with Christ. Living in the light all week long is the most important part of our Christian walk.
John concludes this first week's reading talking about sin. We've talked about being perfect as Jesus was perfect. Jesus never sinned. But John then wrote this, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We lie if we claim perfection is the absence of sin. When darkness creeps in and temptation overtakes us, all is not lost. “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Jesus cleanses us from unrighteousness, making us righteous, justifying us in God's eyes. Again, we circle back to John's theological point; justification by faith.
John adds this, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” Lot's of theology here. But I like to say when we pray that we have an advocate for us; Jesus advocates for us in our prayers, but here we are told he advocates for the forgiveness of our sins. And this is a very inclusive statement... the forgiveness extends to the whole world.
Let's see if I can narrow all this to a good three point sermon. One, God is light-goodness perfection, holiness and we are to live in this light. Two, fellowship is key to our Christian walk-fellowship with God and with each other. And three, when we do stumble in the dark, when sin gets between us and our fellowship with God, Jesus is there for us. Jesus offers forgiveness, Jesus advocates on our behalf, Jesus cleanses us from sin and justifies us...and we live in God's light again...and for forever.

Hymn: This Little light of Mine

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Meeting the Risen Savior

4/1/2018

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Isaiah 25: 6-9 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11; Mark 16: 1-8
April 1, 2018

Before I begin, a disclaimer, there were no animals harmed in the making of this sermon. You'll understand later.
We don't often read from the gospel of Mark for his account of that first Easter morning. We are much more familiar with John's account. Mary Magdalene and the other women get to the tomb and find it empty. They run get Peter and John. They race to the tomb; go in and see empty grave clothes. They leave and Mary recognizes Jesus when he says her name. Mark is much briefer and the women leave seized by terror and amazement.

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I Am Barabbas

3/18/2018

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Jeremiah 31: 31-34; Hebrews 5: 5-10; Mark 15:6-15
March 18, 2018

Many of you listen to at least some Public Radio. On Saturdays at 11:00 they have a game show I particularly enjoy. It is called, “Wait, wait, don't tell me”. It has a three person panel and they do various quizzes about current news events. The toughest one they do is where each panelist reads a news story about something strange in the news. One is true, the other two are made up. It doesn't sound too difficult; but we listeners discover that truth is often much stranger than fiction. I seldom correctly pick the one that is true. I'm going to ask us to play a similar game this morning.

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Another John 3: 16

Walk in the Light

Meeting the Risen Savior

I Am Barabbas

Pastor Gordy

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