“If we love one another”

You can view the video of this sermon at this link:
https://vimeo.com/101959710

Meditation on I John 4

July 27, 2014

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     She told me her name was Barb. While I played old hymns on the piano in the fellowship hall at Christ United Presbyterian Church, she sang in her accented English. She had come for a free noon meal through Esther’s Kitchen, hosted by the Marshall church.

     Barb played guitar and harmonica, she said, as a couple more people came into the room. Some were senior citizens, but a young couple with an 18 month old baby named Abigail also came, and some men with tattoos in their 20s, 30s or 40s. I told Barb I wished she had her guitar and her harmonica with her so she could cover up my mistakes. She laughed and said she would be too nervous. But she sang, her fingers following the words in the hymnal on the keyboard. When we got to Jesus Loves Me, Abi Gasca joined us at the piano, and she sang, too.

    It was hot and humid, and I was sweating as I played in the unairconditioned basement! But I couldn’t complain about the heat because I wasn’t working in the kitchen—not like Julie, Carol, Alice, Lenae, Dawn, Bekka and Kate. Steam rose up from the meat frying and the cream sauce bubbling in a big pot on the stove. The biscuits were already out of the oven and waiting on the counter with bowls of blueberries and a stack of dinner plates. But there were smiles on the workers’ faces. Kind words exchanged. The love of Jesus was in that place!

    And then it was time for lunch. The kids ran back and forth, waiting on our “guests”—Michelle, Rachel, A.J., Abi and Bekka. They cheerfully brought out glasses of lemonade and milk, cups of coffee and plates heaped with biscuits and creamed beef and gravy.

    Some of the guests knew each other and called out greetings as they arrived. Barb sat with a woman who requested a to-go box for her husband who was sick. Seconds and to-go boxes are encouraged. The idea is to feed as many hungry people as possible—and to use up all the donated food. I moved from table to table, asking people if they needed anything, and if they had enough to eat. I sat with a lady named Gail, who told me about her daughter, and her grandson, whom she would be bringing to a free concert in the park that night. Gail usually came with a neighbor, but he didn’t answer the door to his apartment when she knocked. So today she was alone.

     When I greeted two men at one table, they said they didn’t get seconds and were denied to-go boxes at the Esther’s Kitchen supper the night before, while others were allowed to take as much food as they wanted. They rolled their eyes and looked disgusted. Their tone was gruff as they spoke to Adrian, who organized all the meals and volunteers for the program. She responded with gentleness. She apologized, explaining that she wasn’t there the night before. The group that was serving may not have known the procedure. She was at a funeral for a family member, she said, and I knew it was the second funeral for a family member in a week! The men continued to complain, without expressing their regrets for her loss. And I went off to serve other people before my joy in serving slipped away.

    Later on, thinking about how hard the volunteers worked without complaining, I felt happy to be able to serve alongside such compassionate people. But I couldn’t forget the rudeness of the two men and wonder why?  I just didn’t understand how they could be mean to people who only wanted to help them and show the love of Jesus by their kindness and generosity.

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       At Esther’s Kitchen, Adrian and volunteers from area churches are being obedient to the instruction in 1 John 3 that those who have the “world’s goods” must not refuse to help a brother or sister in need. And they are obeying the command we find repeatedly in 1 John—that those who love God must love their brothers and sisters. In 1 John 4:20, we read that those who hate their brothers and sisters whom they have seen are liars if they say that they love God, whom they have not seen! Jesus said something similar. He summed up God’s commands with love God and neighbor. But brotherly love is the particular emphasis in 1 John and the gospel of John 13:34, when Christ gave His disciples His “new” command to love one another as he has loved them so that everyone will know that they are His disciples—by their love.

      In 1 John 4:7 and 16, we find the very familiar passage that God IS love. 1 John is the only place in the Bible where we find this language. John means that God is the originator of love; love is a divine character trait. We cannot look at human love to know what love is; we are called to be imitators of God’s love. In 1 John 4:10, like 1 John 3:16’s “we know love by this,” John is again defining love by describing what it does! It isn’t a feeling! And it isn’t weak or wimpy; it has the courage to suffer and the power to conquer sin and death. “In this is love,” says 1 John 4:10, “not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

     God’s love is gracious and merciful. We don’t deserve His love, but He chooses to love us anyway. His love is what gives us boldness on the day of judgment, says 1 John 17-18, for “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment.”

     We are told “to love one another” at least 4 times in 1 John—in 3:11, and 4:7, 11 and 12. But then John says in 1 John 4:17, If we love one another, then God’s love has been perfected or completed among us. “If we love one another”—meaning we have a choice! We can decide against loving one another. And we can also choose not to love God.

    God, who has chosen to love human beings while we were still sinners, sending Jesus to die for us, patiently and passionately waits for us to love Him and one another in return!

      Chapter 4 begins with John’s warning to test the spirits. John, like the apostle Paul, is well aware of the presence of evil in this world that can lead believers away from the truth and into sin. For both John and Paul, the spiritual test is linked to correct belief and confession. Paul in I Cor. 12:1-3 says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” John, in 1 John 4:2 and 3, says, “By this you know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” For the “antichrists” have been trying to lead John’s flock astray by preaching that Jesus wasn’t really a human being; therefore he could not have died and his blood couldn’t be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. John also warns us in this chapter that those who are not from God will hate us and not listen to us. “Whoever knows God,” John says in 4:6, “listens to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

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      All are welcome at Esther’s Kitchen; there is no requirement to be a member of a church or even a believer. The ministry, therefore, reaches out with the love of Christ to some people still walking in darkness.

     Knowing this helps me to understand the attitude of a few of the men. Their rudeness makes sense when seen through John’s spiritual test. They weren’t just rude to Adrian; they were rejecting Christ who lives in her!

    Friends, some people won’t like us because they don’t like Jesus! They won’t listen to us. They won’t want to hear the truth!

    But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep on reaching out to people who might be unkind--and pray for their hearts to change. Just the fact that these men have come to a church for a meal is a good sign that God is drawing them nearer to Himself.

    People will come to know Jesus because of our love that shows the world we are Christ’s disciples. For God’s love is made perfect, is completed, among us—if we love one another.

Will you pray with me?

Holy One, God who is love, thank you for your Word that leads us into the path of righteousness and keeps us from falling into error and sin. Thank you for Jesus, God come to us in human flesh, sent to show us the way to you—and to be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. Thank you for Adrian and the volunteers with Esther’s Kitchen, including our group from Ebenezer, who are living out the truth of the gospel – and loving and caring for people because you have loved us SO much! And Lord we pray for those who are still walking in darkness, who are suffering because they don’t know the truth of your love. Help us to be a witness to Jesus Christ—to show the world we are Christians by our love. We ask that your Spirit would move in their hearts and change their lives—that they would come to know Jesus as their Savior and seek to follow after Him. In Christ we pray. Amen.