Believe and Love

Common English Bible Chapter 3

16 This is how we know love: Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 But if someone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but refuses to help—how can the love of God dwell in a person like that?

18 Little children, let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth. 19 This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts in God’s presence. 20 Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence in relationship to God. 22 We receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love each other as he commanded us. 24 Those who keep his commandments dwell in God and God dwells in them. This is how we know that he dwells in us, because of the Spirit he has given us.

Introduction

The year I graduated college, I did one of the dumbest things of my life.

My friend and I were both working in the same town, and so we decided to rent a house together.

However, we were new “adults,” and as such we owned absolutely no furniture.

So we went to Ikea, and we purchased everything together in the same color: birch wood.

Beds, dressers, end tables, coffee tables, whatever we needed.

What followed was the night of a thousand curse words.

Because we were not the brightest crayons in the box, we decided to excitedly open every box at the same time in the same room.

I’ll remind you that every thing was in the same color.

We couldn’t figure out what piece went with which piece of furniture.

We took what should have been a pretty easy set of instructions, and made them tremendously and exponentially more difficult.

Two Parts of the Commandment

John reminds us that for as much as we might try to complicate this faith, things really boil down to one commandment that comes in two parts.

And these commandments are deceptively simple.

When we first read them, they seem so self-evident and easy to follow along.

But when we dig in a little bit more to what’s going on here, we see that they might be a bit more complex than we give them credit for.

Believe in the name of Jesus Christ

In churches all across this country, I would bet that most folks say they wholeheartedly agree with this one.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Yes! Absolutely!

But I would also bet that a shocking majority of folks are missing the point here.

The Hypothetical God

To go with the annoyance of name tags from last week.

I hate when I should absolutely know someone’s name, and it has escaped me.

It happens all the time, and it will likely happen to some of you here, and just know that it drives me absolutely crazy.

There are some strategies and tips that can help a person through this though:

Hey there…buddy!

How’s it going friend?

Or my favorite as a Christian, since we’re all brothers and sisters in Christ, is to lean on that.

What’s up…brother?

But since I know the strategies, what’s interesting is I’m starting to be able to figure it out when someone’s doing that to me.

You don’t know my name, do you?

Listening to the way a healthy chunk of Christians talk about their faith, I’m wondering if they’ve forgotten someone’s name.

I absolutely believe in God!

God is right there with me.

God will make everything ok.

And to be sure, we do believe in and worship our Father God.

But to listen to some folks, it almost kind of sounds like they’re talking about a hypothetical God.

It almost sounds like they have no biblical witness to hold up to their hypothetical God.

It sounds like they haven’t had a divine encounter with their hypothetical God.

It sounds like the spiritual equivalent of “Hey…buddy...” to me.

Our God has a name.

Flesh and Blood

In fact, God was so aware that this was happening with us that God decided to do something about it.

As Eugene Peterson paraphrases it, God took on flesh and blood and moved in to the neighborhood.

We don’t have to imagine what God would teach us, because Jesus did.

We don’t have to imagine what God’s priority list would include, we can take a look at Jesus’

We don’t have to wonder how to relate to God, Jesus has already shown us what that relationship looks like.

Teachings

This flesh and blood God Jesus had a lot of things to teach us.

That generosity was a better way of life than greed.

That forgiveness was a better way of life than hostility.

That no one should ever go to bed hungry if we have even two loaves and a few fish to offer up.

That a lot of people play at religion, without actually understanding what God is doing.

That violence is absolutely never the answer, and in fact those who live by the sword will die by it.

One of the fastest ways to tell if someone is clinging to a hypothetical God is to hold that God up to Jesus teachings.

People that talk a lot about God but have hoarded tremendous resources? They may have a hypothetical God.

People that talk a lot about God but always seem to have enemies to rail against? They may have a hypothetical God.

People that talk a lot about God but believe that the poor ought to take care of themselves and get to work? They may have a hypothetical God.

People that talk a lot about God when they’re in a church building but seem to loose sight of God out in the world? They may have a hypothetical God.

People who talk a lot about God, and particularly about their God-given right to defend themselves or their family or their country with violent means? They may have a hypothetical God.

What we believe

Obviously this leads us to a question to ask ourselves in a profound way:

What do we believe?

Do we believe in a hypothetical God who remains nameless, or do we believe in God in the Flesh in Jesus Christ?

Do we believe in a hypothetical God who always agrees with us and makes us feel better, or do we believe in Jesus Christ who may challenge and push us to grow from time to time?

Do we believe in a hypothetical God who is hard to explain, or do we believe in Jesus Christ who comes alive in the pages of our scriptures?

Do we believe in a hypothetical God who is more than a figment of folk’s imaginations, or do we believe in the resurrected Jesus Christ who is alive and well and interacting with us on a daily basis?

As we can see, the first piece of the commandment is deceptively simple.

But as we can also see, belief alone is not enough.

Love Each Other As He Commanded

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.”

Love as an active verb

I am a tremendous fan of clearing low bars.

Like I have a to-do list item every day to do some kind of exercise.

More than a few times I’ve run from the basement up to the kitchen to grab a few cookies, and determined that the run up the stairs was enough to cover me.

But I also feel like sometimes the low bars aren’t enough.

Christians all too often trade in love for coexistence, meanwhile harboring resentful thoughts toward those who disagree with us.

Christians all too often trade in love in any kind of active sense for just “thinking good thoughts” about our brothers and sisters in need.

Christians all too often trade in the love that Jesus showed us for a mushy, sentimental, Hallmark movie kind of love.

These are all bars that are way too low, and we are given a much higher calling.

We are to love the way that Jesus loved.

We are to be active in our love, not passive.

We should be seeking out the people who need love most.

We should be engaging in love that is going to cost us something.

What will this love cost us?

John is very explicit that we ought to love one another the way that Jesus Christ loved us.

And truth be told, Jesus love cost him absolutely everything he had to give.

John tells us that we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

And I know, I can hear the objections forming in our brains already.

I’m not one of those people, I’m not one of those martyrs that could actually die for the faith.

And you know what, I’m not sure I could either!

For what it’s worth, I think John heard our objections too.

The very next line in the text reads:

“But if someone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but refuses to help, how can the love of God dwell in a person like that?”

How indeed!

It’s one thing to not be sure that we could die for our faith, but it’s quite another to have extra resources while our brothers and sisters around us are in need.

And look, sometimes that could be individual acts of giving, like giving to the homeless beggar we come across, or supporting our own charitable causes,

Or sometimes we can come together as like minded believers, pool our resources, and tackle ministries and missions much bigger than any one of us could ever do individually.

You might call such a group “Church” and it’s why it’s important that we stay on top of our stewardship!

What I think John is pointing us too in both cases is the reality that love that doesn’t cost us anything isn’t really love at all.

If love comes easy, if love only benefits those we care most about, if love never asks anything of us, can we really even call it love?

And while I’m asking kind of probing, and difficult questions:

Who needs our love?

A few years ago I had one of the hardest nights of my youth ministry career.

As always, we were encouraging the students to bring their friends to youth group.

And one of our kids actually took us up on it, and invited their friend from school to come.

All week this kid was so excited for us to meet their friend, and for their friend to meet us and enjoy time together at youth group.

And then that kid walked in to my church building…wearing a Philadelphia Flyers jersey.

I’m supposed to show love to someone like that!?!

While this is a silly example, we do it all the time.

We try to build fences around who we really need to love, and who we’re actually allowed to just tolerate, or maybe even hate.

Even prepping for this sermon, as I was reading through the scholars and commentaries around this passage, half of them suggested that this command was to love everyone in the world, but about half suggested this commandment only extended to folks who were already Christians.

Talk about adventures in missing the point!

A guiding question for figuring out who is deserving or needing our love?

Where here do people hurt?

Where in this sanctuary are there people who aren’t doing so well, and could use a helping hand?

Where in Pancake are there folks who are down on their luck, and could use some love?

Where in Washington are those people who feel like they are totally and completely unlovable?

Where in this country could we be a force that is bent not on being yet another wedge of division, but a force for love in a weary world?

Where in your life do people hurt?

And then follow it up with the question: What does Jesus want you to do about that?

Take Aways

Say My Name

The “Good Morning” Jar

I have in my closet downstairs a small little mason jar that I only need to use about three times a year.

Any time there is an evening worship service.

Because when I’m wearing the robe, and Dennis is playing the organ, and the choir delivers a lovely introit, I step up in to this pulpit and say with gusto:

Good morning, church!

For the evening services...

So I have the little mason jar to help me, I put a dollar in every time I say good morning when it’s long past noon.

But I do this to hold myself accountable, to help me break out of a habit that isn’t exactly useful in this moment.

Say Jesus instead of God

I don’t know if you need a jar or not, but this week, try to train yourself away from saying “God” for everything relating to your faith.

Again, all apologies to the Father, who is an important person in the Trinity and we’ll get back to that later...

But even for this week, when you are talking about your faith, or thinking about your faith, or praying, try your best to bring Jesus name to your lips first and foremost.

Give Jesus Christ the credit for all that is good in your world right now.

Pray to Jesus Christ himself for all that you feel you need in this season.

Let Jesus Christ, the human one, teach you your paths forward when you’re faced with a difficult decision.

Let’s move our faith out of the hands of the hypothetical gods of our world, and in to the pierced hands of the resurrected, living, breathing, and eternal Son of God Jesus Christ.

Shoe Laces

The first dog that Sarah and I had together was a Labradoodle (a word I’m still not comfortable saying outloud) named Marley.

She was such a sweet girl.

She would spend I don’t know how many hours curled up at my feet on the couch while we were napping.

She loved to be bouncy and energetic, but she spent as much time as that just being lazy.

And she loved being lazy with me. I don’t know if it’s something about my personality or what...

At some point, Marley began one of the sweetest protests I’ve ever seen.

Because she loved being lazy with me, she hated when I went to work.

And somewhere in there she figured out that the last thing I do before I go to work is sit down in the chair in our living room and put my shoes on.

So Marley started running up to me when I’d sit in that chair every morning and start standing on my feet.

If I couldn’t get the shoes on, I couldn’t do anything, so we could just stay home and be lazy together.

Eventually it became our little ritual called Shoe Time, where Marley would come stand up against me every morning, and I’d scratch her ears before I head in to work.

I wonder if we can take our cue from Marley, and turn the lacing up of our shoes in to a daily ritual and reminder?

If we’re going to lace up our shoes, what kind of actions are we going to be living in to?

If we’re going to lace up our shoes, who are we going to walk with and towards in love?

If we’re going to lace up our shoes, how can we turn love in to an active verb today?

My hunch is that you’re going to lace up some shoes just about every day, unless you (like me) are a big fan of the slip on...

It can serve for us as a daily reminder that we are call to be active in love.

Material Possessions

It’s a topic that no pastor wants to deal with in the pulpit, but John straight up called us out in this letter, didn’t he?

Part of how we love people is how we use the material goods, possessions, and yes, cash that God has given to us.

Part of how we love people is to give to the church, not so that the Pastor can have cooler clothes (some of you might want to take up a separate collection for that…) but so that we can do more to love the world together than we could do as individuals.

Part of how we love people is how we use the home that God has given us to be hospitable, to welcome in those who may not have a safe space, or to just be a warm and welcoming presence in the community.

Part of how we love people is found in exactly how we react the the person on the street with the sign.

Wrap Up

I mean, that’s really it. That’s the entirety of our faith right there.

Believe in the name of Jesus Christ.

Believe that Jesus is a real flesh and blood person.

Believe that Jesus loved you enough to give up that life for your benefit.

Believe that Jesus loved you enough to rise from the grave .

And then take all that love that Jesus Christ has poured in to you, and pour it in to others.

Yes, the people that are easy to love, and the people who are…less so.

Yes, the kind of love that is going to require you to lace up your shoes and get to work.

Yes, the kind of love that requires our material possessions be put to good use.

Yes, the kind of love that serves as a reflection of Jesus Christ himself…and here’s the fun bit...

Allows others to believe in his name.