Tag Archives: apostle John

Because of God’s Love!

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“Because of God’s Love!”

1 John 4:7-11 – April 28, 2024 

Have you ever had a small child run up to you and say, “I love you so much!” Children are so spontaneous! It is wonderful to be on the receiving end of that kind of running hug. It just warms my heart, remembering my small children, running up to me and saying “I love you!”

Since almost everywhere in this highly commercialized culture I look recently I am deluged by the word “love,” I wondered . . where can I find a good description of love? One of the first places I thought of was the New Testament, in the first letter of the Apostle John. When I took Greek some years ago, I translated most of this book. The apostle certainly has love for one of his major themes. Chapter 4 specifically mentions love from several different angles.

But, wait! I’m getting ahead of myself. I have to—I need to remember who I am. I am a Reformed theologian. I firmly believe in the sinfulness of humanity. I believe that as a sinful, fallen human being, I have been plunked down in this world to fend for myself, look out for number one, to be selfish, self-centered, and basically, a not-very-nice person. That’s me, in my natural, sinful, fallen state. That is all of humanity, too.

It doesn’t sound very good, does it? Sentiments like these wouldn’t sell too many Valentine’s Day cards. The Apostle John has a pretty black-and-white view of humanity, when it comes to things like sin and love. Either you are, or you aren’t. Either you do, or you don’t. Either you love, or you hate.

Here in Chapter 4, verse 20, John makes one of these kinds of statements. “If anyone boasts, ‘I love God,’ while continuing to hate their brother, they are a liar. For the person who has no love for their brother whom they have seen cannot love the God they have never seen.”

Here am I, stuck in this sinful, fallen position in this sinful, fallen world. I even drag myself to church on a Sunday and I may even boast from time to time (like a good church-goer and pew-sitter), “I love God!” But according to the Apostle John, if I have hatred in my heart for my brother (or sister), I am a liar.

            It’s so easy, isn’t it, to have hatred in my heart, to have resentment, anger, frustration, bitterness towards others. And especially towards those closest to me—my family, friends and neighbors, work associates and school classmates.

Not just that driver of the late model Ford Explorer that cut in front of me on my way to the grocery store (which is a very important destination, I hope everyone understands). Not just that pushy lady with the heavy makeup who cut ahead of me in line at the post office. I’m talking about real resentments, bitterness that goes deep, harsh frustration that continues for months, even years. Whatever negative attitude is in your life, I’m sure you can fill in the blanks.

What was my original question?  Where did love come from, in the first place?  1 John 4:7 says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God.”

Do you remember how stubborn small children can be? Folding their arms across their chests, refusing to do what you ask, sometimes even running away across the playground when you tell them, “It’s time to go home!”

A number of times in Scripture, God’s people are referred to as small children. I can relate. I’ll be the first to say that I am very much like a small child, sometimes. Wayward and stubborn. Can you relate, too? Love is how God has chosen to communicate with us wayward, stubborn children.

If I understand the Apostle John correctly, then, the only way I can have love in my heart at all is because God loved me first. And moreover, God loved me so much that He sent His Son as an atonement, a covering, an offering, a sacrifice. God sent His Son Jesus, the blessed Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, as an atonement for my sins, in fact, this verse says for our sins.

It is not our own, faulty, limited kind of love that John is talking about here. It’s not about saccharine-sweet pop songs about love, about stars in the sky or about lovey-dovey billing and cooing. Instead, John tells us about “the radical death-defying love of Jesus, the savior of the world. It’s not about [us] earning or deserving love, either. It’s about a love so amazing and so limitless that it continues to pour forth in bread and wine, Word and water, and Spirit-wind. Love is, in fact, the very nature and essence of God, and we are only able to love because God first loved us.” [1]

God gave each one of us a one-of-a-kind gift, God gave us Love, revealed in Jesus Christ on that Christmas morning in Bethlehem, even though we don’t deserve it!

God loved us first, even though we were (and are!!) sinful, fallen, mixed-up, broken human beings. The only reason we have the ability, the capacity to love is because God loved us first. God demonstrated that love through our Lord Jesus and His death on the cross as a sacrifice, an atonement for our sins.

What is more, God gives us a next step. We have a God-given responsibility. One commentary says, “God continues to do this by expecting each of us to be a part of loving relationships and communities. We both receive communications of God’s love through the love of others and are communicators of God’s love when we live in love.” [2] 

Something for all of us to remember. Something for all of us to practice, too.

Praise God for God’s love, revealed to us in Jesus Christ. God showers us with love, whether we deserve it or not. What amazing, immeasurable, wondrous love is this.

Thanks be to God. Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.stewardshipoflife.org/2015/04/abiding-in-love/

[2] https://revgalblogpals.org/2014/07/29/love-love-love-narrative-lectionary-for-august-3-2014/

“Love, in Truth and Action!”

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1 John 3:16-23(3:18) – April 21, 2024

            Children love stickers! I can remember as a piano teacher years ago, I always let my piano students choose stickers after their lessons. I would have all different kinds of stickers – animals, dinosaurs, flowers, cars, space ships, and hearts, among other designs. I love stickers, too! When my children were young, they used to put them all over their notebooks, too!        

            Hearts and the heart stickers I passed out before the sermon help us think about this Scripture lesson we read today. We are commanded to be loving, sure! But, the elderly apostle John has some specific words for us – we are to love, in truth and action!

            Let us start at the beginning, with love, and where it often begins. When many people think about love, love can be a concept, an idea. Love is something people can buy in a store, with flowers and candy. Many people start thinking especially of Valentine’s Day or other Hallmark holidays, with stores and card shops full of red and pink displays and hearts and roses. Sweets for the sweet, as the old saying goes!

            That is definitely not what the apostle John has in mind, here in his letter to scattered believers in Christ. Let’s get right into it: John hits us all with a one-two punch. He says in chapter 3, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

            Wow! That is a really long way from some pretty, nice idea of hearts and flowers and Valentine’s Day cards, isn’t it? John was not playing around. He was very serious about his Lord Jesus and Jesus’s love. The amazing, sacrificial love of Jesus has been all-important to John for over fifty years at this point.  The love of Jesus is so important to John, that John gets banished to prison, in isolation on a tiny island in the Mediterranean Sea because of it.

            Let’s go back to the idea of hearts. Sure, when we see hearts on a Valentine’s Day card, that can be cute and sweet. But, it isn’t at all the idea that John is thinking of here!

When you and I really mean something, we often say we put our heart into it. “That’s how we indicate something is really important. That’s how we show that we are really committed, really involved, really connected. Right? Put your heart into it. When we really mean it, our hearts are in it. When they aren’t, when we are half-hearted or worse, then nothing happens. Or nothing of significance anyway.” [1]

            I suspect the apostle John thought about the love of Jesus a lot. I also suspect he really put his heart into communicating the message of the love of Jesus, too!

We are celebrating Shepherd Sunday this fourth week of Easter, with our Scripture readings this week focusing on the Shepherd. Our Gospel reading is from John 10, where Jesus portrays Himself as the Good Shepherd. The psalm for this Sunday is that wonderful psalm describing the Lord as our loving Shepherd – caring for all of the sheep. (even the sheep you and I don’t particularly like)

            As we consider the Shepherd theme, the Gospel of John tells us the Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. Here in 1 John 3, the elderly John tells us more about that sacrificial love: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”   

            The next verse is important, as well! “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” This cautionary word from John is another one-two punch, for sure, and it really hits home! I can tell you that I feel it deep down in my soul. I wonder if you do, too?

“If we have all we need and see another person who has nothing but do not share what we have, we cannot say we love God.  Love is not what we feel, but what we do.  God wants us to love each other with actions.” [2] God insists that we love one another not only with our words, but with our deeds – our actions – and to put our whole hearts into it, too!

            Things do not always go smoothly or lovingly, however. Some people are just half-hearted, or even less. “The problem is, we have learned to guard our feelings; we have learned to change the channel when the pictures of the hungry children appear. We have learned to turn the page when the paper is full of need and want and brokenness. “Nothing to do with me,” we think to ourselves. We have shut off our emotions; we have closed our bowels, says John.” [3]

            Who remembers several years ago, when our Church Council got together after a Council meeting and packed some disaster response kits for people affected by flooding downstate, here in Illinois? That was loving in word and deed! That was loving each other with actions! Helping others, full of need and want and brokenness, no matter what.

            Certainly, John is asking us – all of us – to do something! Actions big or small, it doesn’t matter. Spend your money wisely, where it makes a difference. Get involved! Write or call your town or state representative when you feel strongly about a local issue. What about hunger, poverty, and need? Our church supports our local food pantry, and the Salvation Army’s outreach to the homeless community in the Forest Preserves. Be sure you support these outreaches, too!

Each of us can make a difference, one person at a time, one prayer at a time, one action at a time.  John wants each of us to put our heart into it! Love truly, in action and in truth. Alleluia, amen!   

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/how-shall-we-live/fourth-sunday-of-easter-year-b-lectionary-planning-notes/fourth-sunday-of-easter-year-b-preaching-notes

[2] http://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2015/03/year-b-fourth-sunday-of-easter-april-26.html

[3] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/how-shall-we-live/fourth-sunday-of-easter-year-b-lectionary-planning-notes/fourth-sunday-of-easter-year-b-preaching-notes

Wipe Away Every Tear

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“Wipe Away Every Tear”

Revelation 7:9-17 (7:17) – November 5, 2023

            Memory is a precious thing. People remember lots of things: birthdays of loved ones, victories of sports teams, anniversaries of weddings or graduations or even the dates of those who have died. Many, many people remember Pearl Harbor, or the day John F. Kennedy was shot, or that terrible day of September 11, 2001.

            Our Scripture reading today comes from the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible. Revelation has much that is foreshadowing, and much that is cloudy. This book also has passages that are incredibly scary and sad, and some that are hope-filled and even absolutely awe-inspiring.

            This reading today is certainly a joy-filled reading that gives hope and promise to even the saddest and most despondent follower of Christ. The Revelation was written late in the 1st century by the elderly apostle John, in exile. He wanted to give some comfort and encouragement to his fellow believers, it is true! This reading today does exactly that – in the midst of great sadness and tribulation.

            Let us pause, and think about this day. This is a special Sunday, when we remember. That is why I want us to think hard about memory and remembering today, of all days. All Saints Sunday is the day when we not only remember those our church has lost in this past year, but all of our loved ones who are no longer here on this side of the River Jordan. We also remember that great cloud of witnesses, all the saints who are in the presence of the Lord.

In the many-part vision that John saw, he wrote this: “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”

            Many churches practice the tradition of honoring the members of congregations and families who have died during the past year on All Saints Sunday, each year. Many churches also remember all of their loved ones who have passed on throughout many years, that great cloud of witnesses, and truly have a corporate memorial time in the service.

            As the United Methodist minister Rev. Dr. Derek Weber says, “This observance is worth taking the time in worship to give thanks and honor the saints of the church. The founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, loved All Saints Day. So, we suggest you take this day and let it stand alone as a celebration of the church that was, the church that is, and the church that will be.” [1] In all its diversity, with different looks, languages, cultures, and customs.

            I know from my end-of-life work with families and their loved ones in the hospital, in skilled nursing facilities, and in homes throughout Chicago, that many people grieve even before their loved one has died. So many factors, so many features of life slip away while we are journeying with loved ones. We see a stopping of familiar activities, decrease in mobility, downsized living space, and any one of many other poignant, heart-tugging losses. The person or the family can grieve each loss as it comes, and sometimes several at once.

            At the same time, there can be quiet contentment, sharpening awareness, or gentle expectation wrapped up in this journey alongside, on the prayerful way through aging or end-of-life. You and I can see our families, our loved ones who have passed on as part of this heavenly congregation that the apostle John talks about in Revelation.

            “Yes, there is grief in the recognition of death, but there is also joy in the promise of eternity and the gratitude for the legacy that remains. On this day, we proclaim that we are who we are because of those who have gone before. But we also give thanks for the saints who are still with us.” [2] Today, All Saints Sunday, is not only a memorial time for those in the great cloud of witnesses surrounding us here, but also a celebration of the life and ministry of the church today, here and now. As the apostle Paul tells us, we are all saints! Each one of us is, for real.

            As we reflect on this Scripture reading set in the heavens, the apostle John tells us “he who sits on the throne will shelter [the saints] with his presence. 16 ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.” Yes, we might see the “saints” as those dressed in white, in the heavens, gathered into the church triumphant. But since you and I are also called saints, couldn’t we also be considered present, before the Lamb who sits on the throne?

            To all of those who are struggling to find hope or healing, or to find the strength to continue being a caregiver, or to go to that difficult job for one more day: Jesus Christ’s promise to “wipe away every tear” is a word that all of us may appreciate hearing, today! [3]
            I encourage each of us to reflect on an everyday saint, someone you know or who you remember as being an everyday person, yet a special child of God. How was that person special? What did they do or say that makes you think of them as a saint? Today is not only a memorial and remembrance, but also a celebration. What is your favorite memory of that everyday saint? How can you best honor that person?  I encourage all of us to think of those everyday saints, our loved ones, family or friends. Think of how we can honor them best, and then do that.

Remember, the apostle John “is describing a vision: there are countless people from all over the world with different looks, languages, cultures, and customs. And they’re all worshiping God! These are the ones who have gone home to God.” [4]  We know that God was with those saints, every step of the way, just as God is with us – and we are God’s saints, too.  

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/from-every-tribe/all-saints-sunday-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes

[2] Ibid.

[3] https://www.davidlose.net/2014/10/all-saints-a/

[4] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/from-every-tribe/all-saints-sunday-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes/all-saints-sunday-year-a-youth-lessons