The Greatest Love

Psalm 23 ESV

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

John 10:11–18 ESV

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

1 John 3:16–24 ESV

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B, Volume 2 Theological Perspective

Sometimes self-sacrifice can mean physical death. We know that when we stand beside victims of injustice or hate or racism, we might become the next victim. If we go in love to those who are under daily threat of violence or war and share with them a witness for healing and peace, we have to expect that the next bomb or bullet will find us. In every age, Christians have acted with such Christlike love, going where they do not have to go and suffering what they could easily avoid.

1 John 3:16 ESV

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

When we hear scripture about giving up our lives, stories like this one from G. Curtis Jones come to mind:

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching A Living Sacrifice

Clark Vandersall Poling was a classmate of mine at Yale Divinity School. In due time he became a chaplain in the army. On a dark February night—the third to be exact—1943, the cargo transport Dorchester, carrying 904 men, was torpedoed at 1:15 AM and sank in iceberg-infested waters within twenty-five minutes. The ship was within ninety miles of her Greenland destination. Six hundred and seventy-eight men were reported “lost in action.” According to the quartermaster Frank A. Benkler’s affidavit, there were four chaplains aboard, including Clark—Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant. Without regard for personal safety, each chaplain unfastened his life jacket and gave it away. The courageous men were last seen standing hand in hand, praying for the safety of their men.

“Greater love has no man than this …” (John 15:13).

I’ve had alot of people ask me if I feel safe going to Israel right now. I leave in exactly one week from today and I’ll be there though the 16th. On the 14th, the American embassy to Israel is supposed to begin it’s very divisive move from Tel Aviv - a city that belongs to Israel as per UN rulings - to Jerusalem - a city that is claimed by both Israel and Palestine and is declared by the UN as a city that should be international, or without an official country, much like Washington, D.C. is not in any one American state.

That story is powerful and beautiful. It is quite a dramatic example of someone laying down their life for another.

Many people are pretty upset about this move and there is the possibility of some serious conflict because of the move. Regardless of who you feel has the rights to Jerusalem either in part or as a whole, this embassy move shows potential to destabilize that city and cause some serious issues.

There are some important to ask about this story.

How many of us, however, will ever find ourselves in such a situation? And how then, can we show that sort of sacrificial love on a day to day basis?

Serious issues in Israel and Palestine rarely result in marches or peaceful protests. Serious issues in Israel and Palestine make what happened a while back in Charlottesville look tame.

And how then, can we show that sort of sacrificial love on a day to day basis?

So, people ask me, “Aren’t you afraid to go?”

Nope.

I mean, I totally understand things could get wacky while we’re there. But that’s exactly why we’re going.

Laying down our lives for others does not literally mean dying for another person. It can lead to that, but what John is really getting at here is living for the good of others first. If you live for the good of others first, that might mean handing someone your life-vest when they haven’t got one. But that’s not all John means. It’s not even his main point.

Laying down our lives for others does not literally mean dying for another person. It can lead to that, but what John is really getting at here is living for the good of others first. If you live for the good of others first, that might mean handing someone your life-vest when they haven’t got one.

1 John 3:17 ESV

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?

John has little tolerance for people who have means and yet do not use them to look out for those with less privilege.

John is talking about using your resources to protect others, such as being careful what companies you patronize because lets face it, there are some companies out there that treat people terribly. There are manufacturers that exploit children for production of goods, there are ones that have destroyed local economies, ones that don’t care well for their employees’ health and financial needs and more.

Self-sacrifice is little daily actions, as much as the big once in a lifetime ones.

Self-sacrifice might mean letting the antsy driver trying to merge in before you. Laying down your life might mean allowing that person who has just cornered you talk until they are done without you making excuses to bow out. Maybe it’s getting up a little early to start the coffee for your loved ones.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B, Volume 2 Theological Perspective

We lay down our lives when we put others first. We lay down our lives when we live for the good of others. We lay down our lives when we make time for others. To love others is to lay down our life for them. When we lay down the completely normal human desire to live for ourselves, and when instead we allow the love of God to reorient us toward the needs of others, we are laying down our lives.

John is pretty hard on Christians who say they have the love of Jesus in their hearts but do not share their material goods with those in need. We can only imagine what he would say of us today in a world in which almost half the people live on less than two dollars a day. The challenge of global poverty can overwhelm us. Perhaps that is why John does not speak of the poor in a collective or generic sense, but speaks of a brother or a sister, the one in need who is before us at that moment. If we close our hearts to that sister or brother, we close our hearts to God.

All those little things add up to a life of thinking of other people first. It is a mindset and a spiritual focus that changes how we act in even the smallest of moments. And they change something about you. Christ-like love changes us. It changes us when we realize how much Christ gave up to show us love and it changes how we see the world when we consciously re-orient our own lives and actions.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B, Volume 2 Pastoral Perspective

Speaking up and out for the good of the people is risky. Jobs, relationships, money, life are taken away when individuals take on responsive and responsible activity for the good of the people—especially people in need. Most people do not have what it takes to be a martyr. This passage, then, is very easy to pass over. No one is really willing to be burned at the stake, hanged, or shot as a result of speaking truth to power. There is a tendency to move on from this passage and look for an assignment in the Gospel that has a much more accessible entry.

Just before this passage, John has said that those who don’t really love one another are living in death. Loving one another is to turn away from a life lived in the shadow of death and fear and self-interest in order to live in the light of Christ. And here, John says that the only way to truly love is to act sacrificially just as God did in Jesus Christ.

Even if we want to, we cannot ignore this fundamental commandment to love sacrificially because this commandment to love is grounded in the love that Jesus showed for us on the cross. Jesus DIED to show us the power of this commandment. The commandment to love requires us to remember that our standing before God is made whole because of Jesus. It is our confidence in the love of Christ that gives us the confidence to go forward and love others like Jesus did.

Just before this passage, John has said that those who don’t really love one another are living in death. Loving one another is to turn away from a life lived in the shadow of death in order to live in the light of Christ. And here, John says that the only way to truly love is to act sacrificially just as God did in Jesus Christ.

So yes, sometimes this love leads to death in order to save another.

The commandment to love is grounded on the love that Jesus showed for us on the cross.

The commandment to love is a command to act.

1 John 3:18 ESV

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Just as we know Christ’s love through his action on the cross, others know God’s love through us by our actions.

The commandment to love is made possible through the spirit.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B, Volume 2 Theological Perspective

Love is known in action. How do we know God’s love? It is through God’s action in sending Jesus Christ into the world, and through Christ’s action of laying down his life for us. The actions of God show us what God is like.

The same test applies to our love. How do others know what is in our heart? It is by our actions. Just as God’s love is known to us through the visible action of Christ, so our love is known to others through concrete actions that mirror Christ’s own. Christ lays down his life, and we are to lay down our lives.

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching The Contagion of Love

The early Latin writer, Tertullian of Carthage, declared that the one thing that converted him to Christianity was not the arguments they gave him, because he could find a counterpoint for every argument they would present. “But they demonstrated something I didn’t have. The thing that converted me to Christianity was the way they loved each other.”

1 Corinthians 13:1 ESV

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

John 3:18 ESV

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

1 John 3:18 ESV

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 ESV

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B, Volume 2 Pastoral Perspective

Perhaps the portion of this text that is worth investigating is “let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” This short fragment of the entire pericope invites everyone who has language for, or a concept of, love to take on the work of sacrifice. This text, in this instance, does not really ask for strong political response or a powerful momentous action. It calls for the people who have resources and goods to open their hearts to the people who have need.

1 cor 13:4

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B, Volume 2 Pastoral Perspective

The lessons are clear. In this text, intentions and words are not acts of loving response.

When I am asked to preach about this particular passage at weddings - which is about 90% of all weddings - one of the main things I say about this passage is that it isn’t about romantic love, it’s about Christian love modeled after Jesus Christ and it’s a great list of how to put others first in action. is a passage for those ready to take self-sacrificial action.

Let’s face it, when we are impatient or unkind, who are we putting first? Self. When we are envious of what we don’t have or boastful of what we do have, who are we focusing on first? Self. When we are arrogant or rude? Self.

Actions speak louder than words. If you’ve ever been separated from a loved one by physical death – which most of us here have – you have probably experienced this from the other side - as the recipient of the words or actions. People say many things to grieving families and friends. Sometimes their words feel nice, sometimes they don’t. But rarely do we remember exactly the words people say to us in those times of need and loss. What stands out in those moments is their presence – the sacrifice of their time. We remember who brought us food – sacrifice of time and resources. We remember who was there with a hug – sacrifice through loving action. We remember who sat for a very long time and just listened to us mourn - sacrifice of time and self.

Matthew 21:28–32 ESV

“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B, Volume 2 Pastoral Perspective

In the justice movement of the sixties a small black girl in New Orleans, Ruby Bridges, went to school and sat alone in a classroom for one year to integrate a public school. Responding to the needs of the community, her action of love was obedience to the court system and the sacrifice of her own comfort and security to make a better learning environment for other children. Ruby was respectful and responsible. Her source of “goods” was simply the patience of a small child to take the time necessary to make a difference for her young brothers and sisters.

If you’ve ever been separated from a loved one by physical death – which most of us here have – you have probably experienced this. People say many things to grieving families and friends. Sometimes their words feel nice, sometimes they don’t. But rarely do we remember exactly the words people say to us in those times of need and loss. What stands out in those moments are their presence – the sacrifice of their time. We remember who brought us food – sacrifice of time and resources. We remember who was there with a hug – sacrifice through loving action. We remember who sat for a very long time and just listened to us mourn.

This is the sort of thing John’s talking about here. Words are cheap. Love is cheapened when we reduce it to nice words or leave it up to those brave enough to go down with the ship. Real love is big. Love is powerful. In showing sacrificial love, we give meaning – reality – to the Gospel that we say with our words.

Sacrifice – giving up our lives – means giving up the control over our stuff and our actions. Sometimes, it looks like a missionary called to a dangerous place where they could literally die taking the gospel to or caring for other people. Sometimes, it’s selling everything or quitting a stable and well paying job to start a new mission or ministry. But it’s not usually that apparently drastic.

Sacrificial love also puts a piece of clothing it likes back on the rack because the maker is unethical. It uses its daily actions as a way to look out for other people.

Sacrificial love sits next to the Muslim woman who’s being harassed on the bus because of her attire. It looks out for a person in a dangerous or humiliating situation with no regard for it’s own safety or dignity.

Sacrificial love looks the homeless man in the eye and says, “Hello. God bless you, dear brother.” It upholds the dignity of all other people. It sets aside our earthly claims of status and says, “We’re all just people here.” It welcomes the unwelcome and loves those the world calls unlovable – treating them as beloved children of God.

Sacrificial love stops and takes the time to listen to a distressed brother or sister, no matter how much else is on the calendar that day. It sets aside the constraints of calendars and clocks and the false importance that comes with being busy and puts others first.

Sacrificial love serves others no matter what their beliefs or lifestyles are – there are no conditions on this love. Sacrificial love does not refuse anyone love or service or Gospel or hope because of who they are and what they believe. It stands up for the Jews and Muslims who are in refugee camps and prison camps and war zones just as confidently as it stands up for Christians in those camps and war zones.

Sacrificial love gives more than the bare minimum dollar amount to support the church and other charities. It doesn’t set an artificial percentage or dollar amount of “this should cover me” to financial giving, but gives above and beyond what seems reasonable or normal.

Sacrificial love looks out not just for family and friends, but for all those around them – in fact it especially serves and protects those that seem the most unlikely or undeserving.

Sacrificial love turns from a life lived in the shadow of death, the shallow waters of empty words, the false doctrine of “giving enough,” and embraces the truly loving life of sacrifice.

“ We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 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? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”

The commandment to love is made possible through the spirit.

Blessing and glory and wisdom and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!

This sort of love defeats doubt by making it irrelevant.

Amen.

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching The Contagion of Love

The early Latin writer, Tertullian of Carthage, declared that the one thing that converted him to Christianity was not the arguments they gave him, because he could find a counterpoint for every argument they would present. “But they demonstrated something I didn’t have. The thing that converted me to Christianity was the way they loved each other.”

This is the sort of thing John’s talking about here. Words are cheap. Love is cheapened when we reduce it to nice words. But real love is big. Love is powerful. GOD is love. In showing sacrificial love, we give meaning – reality – to the Gospel that we say with our words.

Sacrifice – giving up our lives – means giving up the control over our stuff and our actions. Sometimes, it looks like a missionary called to a dangerous place where they could literally die taking the gospel to other people. Sometimes, it’s selling everything or quitting a stable and well paying job to start a new mission or ministry. But it’s not usually that apparently drastic.