INSTANT REPLAY – The Practice of Posting Last Week’s Sermon Manuscript
“TRUE RELIGION – August 16, 2015 – Shawnee Church of the Nazarene
Author: Jason T. Rowinski
Calendar: Ordinary Time [Family Worship Sunday w/kids K-6th grade in the whole service]
Sermon Series: “LOVE LETTERS – Lessons from 1 John”
Sermon Text: 1 John 3.14-24
Homiletical Method: Eugene Lowry’s “Homiletical Plot”
Note: (1) The small variances between manuscript & live sermon is because I preach from a one page outline. Consequently, I don’t say everything exactly the same. For my personality, it’s just as important to be physically engaged and relational in my preaching disposition. (2) The images you see here are the visual media I use with the text on screen as I preach, similar to a Ted Talk.
1 John 3:14-24 (NRSV)
14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. 16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 17 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?
18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 19 And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; 22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.
23 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. 24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
NOTE: This sermon is designed to be inclusive of children. This was a family worship Sunday where kids from kindergarten through 6th grade stay through the whole service (once per month). At Shawnee, we believe in intergenerational community. Inclusivity means more than “being in the same room at the same time.” We do a lot to truly engage children during these services. This is reflected here in the sermon illustrations.
OOPS – UPSETTING THE EQUILLIBRIUM
Pastor Kyle Tyler introduced me to this video a few years ago, kids:
537,261,633 viewed this Norwegian brothers as of August 15th. Perhaps those of you who believe that our world is on a downward trend, are correct. You may not be able to get that REPETITIVE tune or a video out of your head for a very, very, very long time. Look on the bright side, parents. At least your children now have an alternative to “Let it go” the theme song from Frozen. Now, we know that what the Fox says is not of ultimate importance, of course, unless you’re a zoologist. We are not here to talk about zoology today. We’re here to talk about ecclesiology – the doctrine of the Church. Ecclesiology helps us to know what it means to be a Christian community, followers of Jesus Christ. It’s of ultimate importance for anyone called Christian, because you can’t be Christian without the Church. We’re studying 1 John, the Apostle John’s love letter in his old age to the young Christian church, probably written just before John passed from this life to the life to come. John has an important message for the church. Important messages need repeating.
St. Jerome tells this story about the apostle John. “When the venerable John was very advanced in age and could no longer walk to the meetings of the church but was carried by his disciples, he always uttered the same address to the church; he reminded them of that one commandment which he received from Christ himself, as comprising all the rest, informing the distinction of the new covenant. “My little children, love one another.” When the brothers and sisters, Wearied of hearing the same things so often, asked why he repeated the same thing he replied, “Because it is the commandment of the Lord, and if this one thing be attained, it is enough.” This is true religion.
I think everyone wants to know that whether the religion their investing their lives in makes a difference. The question is, are we truly practicing our religion?
->Micah 6:8 says: What does the Lord require? Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your God.
->James 1:27 says, Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
->1 John 3.18 says, ‘Little children, love one another. Not with your words, but in truth and action.’
We need to look at our not only our official doctrine of the church – though that matters – but more informally along the lines of “do we practice what we preach?’
If someone were to give us a test to determine what we believe through our actions, not our words, would we pass the test?
What does our faith say?
Old John the Apostle says, “Little children, Love one another.” This is true religion.
UGH – Analyzing the Discrepancy
John’s test of true religion is simple: We know our religion is true because we love one another. It’s a matter of life and death. This is how we KNOW we are alive in Christ and not dead in sin. John says that even those who hate their brother or sister in the Christian community are murderers. That may seem a bit harsh to our modern sensibilities, but John knows that what lies within our hearts shapes our lives. Jesus says as much in the sermon on the Mount, when he warns that what’s in our hearts, like hate, manifests itself in life. The background is the story of two brothers – Cain and Abel. See how quickly murder– between brothers–appears in the Bible – it’s only chapter 4! Sadly, this quick turn to murder isn’t surprising. The distance between hate and murder is not that great.
Love and hate belong to two very different realities. It’s as if love and hate come from two different lands. Hate belongs to the death-land. Love belongs to the life-land. Where we choose to abide (the word John uses) – where we live, where we dwell, where we rest, put down roots – matters.
KIDS: What is this a picture of?
MORDOR: The evil land from Lord of the Rings. It’s a dark, barren, desolate land. Nothing good comes from MORDOR. Nothing good is in MORDOR Everything that’s part of it is bad. It’s a death-land. Murder belongs to the death-land.
To love means to live and to cause to live. It’d be easier for our consciences if John didn’t associate murder and hate. Most here today are not murderers (though you may be thinking – What do you mean by most, pastor?) – but hating our brothers and sisters…? We’ve probably all been guilty of that at one time or another, stirring up discord in the church when our music preferences, political opinions, or when anything disturbs our church comfort. Hate brings all kind of discord. We’re all a little guilty here.
Kids – How do you know someone is your friend? (Wait for answers from kids) What makes someone a bad friend? (Wait for answers from kids). We know a friend by how they treat us, by what they do not just that they call themselves. Actions speak louder than words. A friend is what a friend does. How do we know that we love? Do our actions create more life or death? The problem is, we don’t always recognize the death-land when we see it. True religion isn’t found only on the negative side of “don’t murder” and “don’t hate” – it’s found on the positive side, the command to “love.” Love is easy to say, harder to practice. Especially if you don’t know real love. Knowing real love is a matter of life and death.
Old John the Apostle says, “Little children, love one another.” This is true religion.
AHA – Disclosing the key to Resolution
John says, that love that gives life is love that lays down it’s life. For Christianity, love is defined concretely, not abstractly. It’s not just a proposition or a philosophy. We see it in the person and the passion of Jesus Christ. THIS is real love: a crucified God.
Most of us think we don’t have the opportunity to lay down our lives for another person, perhaps only associating that with the military – though those aren’t the same thing, exactly. John disagrees, saying that we have regular opportunities to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters in community – through sacrificial servanthood. The English translation is here is weak compared to the Greek. The English of verse 17 reads: “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet does nothing? When the Greek reads more like this: “How can God’s love abide in you if you take a long hard look at your brother or sister in need and you clench your bowels?” The ancients saw the bowels as the place of our emotions. When you see that person you love, you get butterflies in you stomach. We say we have “gut feelings” about a situation. When we’re anxious we literally get upset stomachs. KIDS – Imagine tightening your stomach on purpose, like you would to prepare to be punched. That’s the kind of “clenching” means. To “clench our bowels” means we’ve chosen selfish-indifference over compassion; we’ve put ourselves above community. Is denying someone life when we can help them truly any different than taking life from them? Both cause death. False religion deals in death.
Old John the Apostle says, “Little children, love one another.” This is true religion.
WHEE – Experiencing the Gospel
It’s easy for us to feel bad at this point: again, while most of us are not murderers, we’ve likely crossed paths with a little Christian hatred and almost certainly chosen selfish indifference. None of this comes as a surprise to God. God KNOWS EVERYTHING. That’s a little bit frightening, isn’t it? You can’t keep secrets from God. People have used this to manipulate people into conformity. In our mind, total knowledge ensures compliance – because secrets can be used to control. Don’t believe me?
KIDS: what is this and what is used for?
The “Elf on a Shelf” can be anywhere. He’s watching you. He’s reporting your behavior back to Santa. (I’m not really sure of the effectiveness of this method, but Google image searching “Elf on a Shelf” gives me a good idea of what your future therapy bill will be). But I do know that God is not like the elf on the shelf. God is like Jesus Christ. He knows everything and still laid down his life for us. God’s total knowledge of who we are is not meant to bring anxiety, but peace. Why? Because God loves like Jesus and because of Jesus we know what real love means. John says, ‘If we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings.” A French proverb says: To know all is to forgive all. God’s love in Christ forgives all.
False religion brings condemnation and true religion brings confidence. False religion deals in guilt and manipulation. True religion loves in truth and action. The path of true religion is through two inseparable commands: (1) Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. NAME is used in the biblical sense of not just what someone is called, but its a reference to the whole nature of a person and their character. To believe in Jesus name is to trust him as the full revelation of God’s love, the giver of grace, the author of life – and enter relationship with God & his people through him. (2) We must love one another – feebly & imperfectly – but with the help of the Holy Spirit we must press on to love each other like Jesus loves us. For all who call themselves disciples, or Christians – which means “little Christ” – our aim must be to follow our Lord and Savior.
Old John the Apostle says, “Little children, love one another.” This is true religion.
YEAH – Anticipating the Consequences
Our actions reveal our beliefs. Let me ask this question: What does your faith say? When we think of our faith and whether we’re practicing it well, it’s easy to get caught up in the “belief-as-proposition” game and try to analyze our faith from that angle. Then we think the answer to our faith problems is “more knowledge.” John comes at it from a different angle. If we want to understand our faith, if we want to grow in our faith, we should focus on the practice of sacrificial love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Simple acts of sacrificial love reveal our true religion.
What if we set aside selfish indifference and simply loved one another?
->Imagine a church where we have more than enough nursery volunteers!
->Imagine a church where people are investing time in Celebrate Recovery and people from inside and outside our community are set free from life’s hurts, habits, and hang-ups!
->Imagine a church where people took the time to walk patiently alongside each other in grief with deep compassion; where people take the time to write “Barnabas” encouragement cards!
->Imagine a church that is truly “Salt & Light” – practicing medical hospitality by sharing life together with one another and people who don’t know the love of God in Jesus Christ!
->Imagine a church that never has to beg for money because everyone does their part to take care of our commitments to one another and to be present in this community!
We can be that church! The choice to be a cruciform community is a matter of priority and practice. John says that whatever we ask for we can receive. Not because God is some kind of cosmic Santa Claus or boundary-less parent, but because our love is in alignment with his love. Our sacrificial love for one another is how the Holy Spirit assures us that our faith is real and our religion is true.
Old John the Apostle says, “Little children, love one another.” This is true religion.
AMEN.