Earlier this summer I was part of a
conversation that turned to the foibles and frustrations of people. We’ve all had those conversations,
haven’t we? It might be about
people in general or it might be about one person in particular who makes our
lives difficult. In the course of
the conversation someone made the comment, people…you
gotta love’em! I liked that
phrase, and tucked it away as a future sermon title.
This morning, we return to the topic of love,
as presented in the book of I John.
We return to the topic of love for two reasons – one, because Jesus
talked a lot about love. Love was
the foundation of everything he did and everything he said. And secondly, because the Bible talks a
lot about love. This morning’s
Scripture text speaks very powerfully about love.
For our text we turn to I John 4:11-21 –
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we
also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love
one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him
and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that
the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the
Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.
16 And so we know and rely on the love God
has for us.
God
is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
17 This is how love is made complete among
us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are
like Jesus.
18 There is no fear in love. But perfect
love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears
is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a
brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother
and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
21 And he has given us this command: Anyone
who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
To be honest, I would feel a lot better if John
hadn’t gone from preaching to meddin’.
In this passage, he’s really meddlin’ in my life, and I imagine he’s
meddlin’ in yours as well. Like
Jesus, John doesn’t offer any outs on who we are to love. We might find some individuals who are
objectionable, but John doesn’t, and Jesus didn’t either. Jesus, you’ll remember, went so far as
to say we are to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44 – But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you). While John doesn’t mention our enemies, he does offer this very blunt
declaration – Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For
whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot
love God, whom they have not seen.
As John speaks very plainly and succinctly
about love, I will attempt to do so as well.
1.
Love is the toughest easy thing we will ever do.
I know that is a weird sentence and probably
violates at least several rules of writing, but it is true – love is the toughest easy thing we will ever
do.
What I mean by that statement is this – love is
not hard. If you love someone, you
just do. I can tell you that from
the first time I saw Tanya, it was not hard for me to love her. I didn’t have to talk myself into love,
I didn’t have to reason myself into love, and I didn’t have to be convinced I
was in love; love just came as naturally as breathing. I always loved my parents, I always
loved my siblings, and I always loved my extended family. Love is easy; it just comes naturally
to us.
That’s the good news. But there’s always some, maybe not bad news, but we’ll call
it less good news. The scope of
Christian love is not limited to those for whom we have a natural affinity and
love. Love is to include all
people. And there’s the rub. Sometimes, it’s hard to deal with
people, but then I remember that, sometimes, I’m one of those people. That’s why this is such a tough
passage. It is blunt and to the
point. In short, declarative sentences,
John challenges us with the reminder that we are to love others.
When I had my first semester of Greek and we
began translating, this is the passage to which we first turned. Dr. Henry Webb, my professor at the
time, said about the passage, and I quote, it’s
easy. I found that to be more
than a bit ironic. In terms of
structure, language, syntax, and grammar it is an easy passage. In fact, in terms of style it reads
very elementary, as though John was writing to a group of children. But in terms of content, it is not
easy, is it? It may be written
with short, simple, declarative, sentences and an elementary structure, but it
is an immensely challenging message.
What is easy about this passage?! Nothing. There are days when I really wish John hadn’t written
this. Am I alone in feeling this
way? Don’t leave me hanging here;
someone nod their head please!
Love is the toughest easy thing we will ever do.
2. John is asking us to
live up to our words.
I was reading some research the other day by
the Pew organization. I think they
do outstanding work and I take to heart what they have to say. Some of their recent research has to do
with church attendance, and I found their discoveries to be fascinating. While many people assume that church
attendance across the board has been declining, the Pew research found that for
25% of Americans, their involvement in church has actually increased, as well as their religious commitment.
One of the themes found in their research was
also the extent to which Americans distrust institutions, which includes
religious institutions, which includes, of course, churches. I think that reflects a desire for
authenticity. People want to see
that the lifestyle matches the message.
Honestly, sometimes there is too much of a gap between the two. The message, and the way the message is
demonstrated in the lives of the adherents can have, sometimes, a very wide
gap.
People often
forget our words. Words are
important, but in many ways, it’s our actions that really matter. Perhaps there are times when we simply
talk too much. People take notice if there is a gap between our words
and our deeds, our proclamations and our character, our preaching and our
living. Maybe we should talk less, and act more, especially when it comes to
love. Anyone, after all, can say they love another person, but it is
ultimately our actions that prove whether our words are true.
The
phrase, preach often; use words when
necessary is often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. While we don’t know if the phrase
originated with Francis, it is a very good piece of advice. I think that, in some cases, churches
have spoken more than they have acted.
I am not one to undervalue the importance of words, but words alone are
not going to make a difference in this world. Deeds, and actions, are of vital importance. The world would be a far better place
if the words I love you were always
accompanied by actions that demonstrated their truth.
In verse 20 John says it in very direct, plain
language – Whoever claims to love God yet
hates a brother or sister is a liar.
For whoever does not love their
brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not
seen.
John uses the language of family at the end of
this passage – using the words brother
and sister, and in doing so, he is
encouraging us to close that gap that can exist between our words and our
deeds. Such language can help to
close the gap because we will not give up on a family member. We might have our moments – and all
families do – but there is a commitment to family members that demonstrates the
bond of love that should exist. Families
stick together. I am the second of
five children. I have an older and
younger brother and two younger sisters.
My older brother, Ed, and I always got along very well. It was probably because I did what he
told me to do. He would tell me
what classes I needed to take, or give me other instructions, and I followed
his advice, which was helpful. I
tried to do the same with my younger brother, Matt. I often told him what to do, but he didn’t listen to me as I
listened to Ed. He and I argued a
good deal and had our share of conflict.
For many years I worried about him, because when he was a teenager he
decided that he was done with church and anything to do with faith. For decades, it appeared to me that he
would never return to church, but he had a spiritual reawakening and began
studying for the ministry. He preached
his first sermon in October of 2008 at Castleman’s Run United Methodist Church,
and there was no way I was going to miss it. He preached a great sermon, and I was proud of him, and
proud to be there that morning, and thought about how our bond of family held
us together over the years. If we
had only been friends, we would have no doubt drifted apart many years ago, but
our family tie kept us together.
That is what love should do.
3.
Love is always the greatest good because it lifts us and pulls us to be
our best selves, the people God has created us to be.
In several of the verses John makes the
connection between our love for God and a love for others. Love ought not only to pull us toward
God; it ought to pull us toward others as well. Love ought to remind us that if someone hates, we will not
hate in return. If someone is
cruel, we will not be cruel in return.
If someone plots and schemes to hurt us we will not plot and scheme in
return.
I have a story that illustrates this
principle. In the previous
congregation that I served we had a member name Scott. Scott was a very special young
man. When he was born, he had some
very serious health challenges and the family was told he might not survive
more than a few days. He did, but
the family was warned he might only survive for a few months. After he continued to survive the
family was told it might be best if Scott was institutionalized. But the family kept Scott at home, and
in many ways Scott thrived. Though
Scott never developed beyond the mental capacity of a five or six-year-old, he
was able to go to school and, in many ways, Scott was very insightful and very
smart.
Because of his health problems Scott made
frequent trips to the hospital.
During one of his stays in the hospital I went to visit with him one
evening. It was a busy evening of
visitors for him, and at one point there were ten or twelve of us in his
room. It was enough people that
Scott decided we could become a choir and sing a song for him. None of us were very enthusiastic about
the idea, as not all of us were good singers and we didn’t all know each
other. Becoming an impromptu choir
in a hospital room is just not one of those things that people are enthusiastic
about doing. But Scott was always
very insistent, and we realized that we might as well go along with him, so we
decided to sing Amazing Grace. As we began, I think we all assumed we
would just sing one verse, but by the time we finished the first verse the
atmosphere in the room had changed; it had become a worshipful moment and we
continued to sing, verse after verse, all the way to the end. Scott was able to take a group of
visitors to his hospital room and turn them into a choir. Scott passed away at the age of 42, and
he left a tremendous legacy of love.
I will never forget that evening in his hospital room, and when I think
of it, it reminds me of how love brings out the best in each of us and it binds
us together.
We often bemoan the fact that our country is so
divided. We often bemoan the level
of violence in our world. Yes, we
are divided. Yes, we live in a
violent world. But there is an
answer – love. That may sound
simplistic, but it is the only real answer. Nothing else has worked. It’s time we try love.
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