Monday, April 27, 2015

How We Know Love

April 26th, 2015                         “How We Know Love”                   Rev. Heather Jepsen
1 John 3:16-24 with Psalm 23
          Poor Henry Croes has been complaining about the Psalms he has been assigned all month long.  One might think I threw him a bone this week in giving him what is arguably everyone’s favorite Psalm to read, but this Sunday the 23rd Psalm is actually in the lectionary.  The fourth Sunday after Easter is sometimes called “Shepherd Sunday” and always features a reading of the 23rd Psalm and then other shepherd themed texts.
          Although a favorite for funerals, the 23rd Psalm can be a tough sell on Sunday mornings.  It can be hard for a preacher to squeeze out one more observation, one more sermon illustration, or one more witty remark on a text that is so familiar.  This week I chose to pair the reading with another secondary text from the lectionary, the letter of 1st John.  I think that some of the thoughts the author of 1st John offers on love can give us insight back to the famous words of today’s Psalm reading.
          The letter of 1st John has some very powerful statements.  “Little children, let’s not love with word or speech but with action and truth.”  While not an argument for works righteousness, that’s a pretty clear call for a faith that is lived out in a real way in our encounters in the world.  And if we have any question about what this looks like the author offers the following, “If a person has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need and that person doesn’t care – how can the love of God remain in him?”  I joked at lectionary group this week that I was tempted to simply read that one verse this morning and then sit back down and invite us to consider it silently for 10 minutes.  I like to make you uncomfortable, but not that uncomfortable!
          The writer of 1st John is telling us that our faith can’t all be about things that we think or things that we say.  Or faith can’t even simply be about the things that we believe.  Rather, our faith should call us to action in the world.  We are to live in the world in the manner of Jesus Christ, the one who lays down his life for others.  It’s a tall order.
          So, how does this connect with the 23rd Psalm?  Well, I think we love that Psalm so much because it offers us all the things that we want in life, and even in death.  We want a safe place to live, we want plenty of food and drink, we want to be free from harm – even when our enemies are within sight, and we want God’s presence to be with us – even in the darkest of valleys.  We want all of those things for ourselves and for our family members, and we want them badly.  We really want those things. 
And so, in our modern American culture, we do everything we can to get those things for ourselves.  Not only do we work hard to earn the money to buy those things for ourselves, we often knock others down in the process of obtaining those things.  I want plenty of choices for food and drink, and I don’t care that my bottled water is bad for the environment, or that the fellow who picked my tomatoes is an illegal immigrant who lives in a one room house with 20 other men.  I want to be safe in my world, so I amass my own arsenal and I defend my property with weapons, and I don’t care if the support of my right to have a gun also allows the crazy guy down the street to have the same amount of weaponry. 
In our modern American culture, we are taught to take and take what we need from the world and from each other; with no care to the cost those items may have for others in our world.  I want those things, so I am going to make sure that I have them.  When we engage in that behavior, then the Lord is no longer our shepherd.  Rather, we are trying to be our own shepherd.  We are no longer part of the flock, we are no longer part of the community, and we have made ourselves into a solitary individual, a community unto ourselves.  We aren’t sheep in the Lord’s flock anymore; instead we are one person against the world. 
We can grab all we want for those blessings of security and abundance.  We can work until we die to try to obtain them and many people do.  But as long as we maintain control, as long as we are trying to be the shepherd, we will never reach our goal.  We will always be striving, always be wanting, always be working, and never ever be at rest.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way.  If the Lord is my shepherd, then I can stop wanting those things.  If God is the one in control, then I can be at rest.  God will provide food and drink, God will provide safety, God will provide guidance and presence.  All of these things can be ours, if we simply stop trying to get them.  As much as we love the comforting thoughts of the 23rd Psalm, it can be a real challenge if we let the Psalm inform the way we live in the world.
If we live the way God would have us live, if we allow the Lord to be our shepherd, then our life would look a lot more like the life of Jesus Christ.  All that language about Jesus laying down his life is language about Jesus allowing God to be in control.  Jesus gave up striving to reach those goals, and God provided Jesus what God intended Jesus to have.  It’s certainly not an easy path, even the Christ prayed that the cup would pass from him, but it is the only path of blessing and peace.
The writer of the letter of 1st John tells us that to follow Christ is to follow this path of life-giving love.  It is to put the needs of others before our own needs.  Perhaps it would be better if we laid down all weapons in the cause of safety for all people.  Perhaps it would be better if I drank water from the tap in a reusable cup every day while thanking God for every drop of water that enters my life.  Perhaps it would be better if I paid more for my tomatoes so that the fellow who picked them could also have the money to buy tomatoes.  Perhaps if I put the needs of others, the needs of the world, before my own needs, then I would get closer to living life like Christ.  Then I would get closer to the place where the Lord is my shepherd.
I like this reading from 1st John because it reminds us of why we do so much of what we do here in the church.  If you are person of logic and reason, it doesn’t take long to start asking questions about why we do the things we do around here.  Like why do we bother supporting the Food Center?  We built that building across the parking lot, we maintain it, and we pay the electric bill.  We, together with others in the community, put food on the shelves and we work the office many days.  We put a lot of time and energy and money into that project that we could easily spend elsewhere.  Why, we could turn that into our office building.  Or we could use that money to fund some other church project.  Or we could rent that space out and start making some money for a change. 
Those would be smart things to do for sure, and the church might benefit from those changes.  But, we would be putting the church before the needs of the people.  We would be putting the life and longevity of the church, before the lives of the people of Warrensburg.  “If a person has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need and that person doesn’t help – how can the love of God remain in him?”
Well, OK, I support the work of the Food Center but what about those trips to Malawi?  Why are we wasting our money there?  Why do we have to visit them again?  Wouldn’t it be better to just send them some money?  These too, are good rational questions.  The church would save a lot of money if we ended our relationship with the people of Malawi.  But that would not be in line with the way of Christ, who lays down his life for others. 
You see, part of laying down a life is laying down a way of life.  Part of engaging with others in love is witnessing a world that we could easily ignore.  Part of following in the path of Jesus Christ is going where we do not have to go.  That is the essence of the nature of Jesus, to go where one does not have to go.  Jesus chooses to join humanity in vulnerable mortal existence.  Jesus chooses to preach an unpopular message that goes against the culture of his day.  And Jesus chooses to suffer death rather than bow to the powers of this world. 
In going to Malawi, we choose to go where we do not have to go.  We choose to be in genuine relationship.  We choose relationships that involve face-to-face conversation and hand shaking, with a people and a culture we could more easily ignore.  We choose to get to know another church and another people as equals, two communities that have gifts to offer each other.  We choose to share with brothers and sisters in need half way around the world because we have the resources, and because this is how we understand the person of Jesus Christ.
In our personal lives and in the life of the church, if we truly want to let the Lord be our shepherd, then we need to let go of some logic and reason.  We need to let go of some desire and direction.  We need to let go of the natural response for self-preservation and let God guide us.  As the writer of 1st John says, “We have confidence in our relationship with God and we strive to do what pleases God.  We believe in the name of Jesus Christ and we strive to love each other as Jesus taught us.”
The writer of 1st John tells us that the true mark of the Christian is not found in the things that we believe, it is not found in the things that we think, and it is not found in the things that we say.  Rather, the true marks of the Christian are found in our actions, they are found in acts of service and in love, they are found in putting the needs of others in our world before the needs of ourselves.  “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.”  This is the true path of faith; this is what it means for the Lord to be our shepherd.  May we have the strength and the courage to follow our Lord, for this is how we will know love.  Amen.

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