Sermon 16th June 2013

Today, one of our Lay Readers, Trevor Tayleur, continues our study of the book of 1 John. The reading is from 1 John 3 verses 11-24.

Love One Another

This is a story told by a man called Orson: “Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"

He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What denomination?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"

He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"

“Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.”

“For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” The point that Orson missed, of course, is that love is one of the most basic marks of being a Christian. “Love one another.” And John makes the point that his message about love isn’t a new one.  He’s very much echoing the words of Jesus who said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Love is something that will never go out of fashion. People throughout the ages have searched for love; it’s a basic human need to love and to be loved. So it’s not surprising that we read a lot in the Bible about love, but the specific point that John is making is this; “Love one another.” Why is he focusing on this? The reason is that John was writing to a church that had gone through division. As Cameron explained at the start of this series on John, we know there were big issues afoot in the early church. The church had been split by heresy and false teaching. And many of John’s readers were no doubt deeply troubled by this. They faced many questions. How do we identify the true believers in the midst of all these divisive issues we’re facing? Are we genuine in our own faith? How do we stay true to our faith?

Last week’s sermon title was, “Children of God.” This links in with verse 10, just before the start of today’s reading; “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.” Loving one another is part of being a child of God. So we really do need to think about what it means. Why is that we need to love one another? I’m going to start answering that question with a verse that comes about half way through our reading; “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (verse 16)

We love because God has lavished love on us. We don’t love so that God will love us. No, we love because God has first loved us.

We are children of God, and love is a hallmark of being a child of God. The Bible teaches us that we already are the children of God, and John is spelling out the implications of this; he is spelling out the implications of who we are. We do not love to become children of God, but we love because we are children of God. John is encouraging his readers to love because of the glory of who they are. In effect he’s saying, “You should be honest, faithful and loving because of who you are. Don’t contradict who you are by being something different.”

Are we being who we are? Are we working out the implications of being sons and daughters of God? If we do, the world will know that God loves us and that we are Jesus’ disciples. There are those who say we should be good because if we aren’t, God will punish us. We find God by being good. But that isn’t how Christianity operates. It says, “Love, because God first loved us. Be loving because you have been lavished with love by God.”

We love because God first loved us.  And John says that this is the mark of a true believer, that we love one another. And he doesn’t leave his readers to define what love is. He spells it out. First of all he does it negatively. And for this he turns to Cain, a model of hatred. He warns. “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.”

The root of Cain’s problem was jealousy. His jealousy grew into hatred and ultimately into murder. Jealousy/envy made the first baby into a murderer. He hated his brother and robbed him of life.  And in contrast to Cain, Jesus provides the model of true love. While hatred sacrifices others for the good of self, love sacrifices self for the good of others. As John says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” Cain took a life; Jesus laid down his life. There couldn’t be a starker contrast.

And John continues, and this sounds very challenging, “And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” But what is self-giving love? To lay down one's life for another sounds noble and heroic, but what does it mean in practice? It’s highly unlikely that any of us will literally have to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. So how are we supposed to go about it? But before I tackle that question, a word of caution.

The idea of self-giving love is often misunderstood and misused. To tell the woman or child who is being abused that they are showing "self-giving" or sacrificial love is bad advice and bad theology. Sacrificial love based on Jesus' example doesn’t enable others to behave in a destructive manner. Instead it encourages them to actions that lead to love and life, and that lead to healing and wholeness.

Self-giving love doesn’t mean being a door-mat. So what does it mean – to lay down my life? It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it. Well, let me ask you a different question. Now I sincerely hope this is something none of us will ever want to do, but here’s the question anyway: How would you eat an elephant? Anyone know the answer?

It’s quite simple: one mouthful at a time! Or to put it another way – in bite-size chunks. In a way John’s answer is the same. How do I lay down my life? We start by laying down those things we can lay down – like our wallet, or the money in it. Or our prized evening off. Or a much looked forward to treat. John is very specific in verse 17; “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?”

We may be materially rich, or have a particular skill, or maybe just the time to spend with someone. If we have any of these and we see someone in need, then if we have the love of God in us, we will help that person.

It’s very easy to become overwhelmed by all the needs there are in the world. It’s right and proper that campaigns such as the IF campaign are fighting for the changes needed to combat world hunger. But let’s not allow our support for such campaigns to distract us from needs closer to home – perhaps just sitting a few seats away in church this morning. GP Lewis once wrote, “It is easier to be enthusiastic about Humanity with a capital “H” than it is to love individual men and women, especially those who are uninteresting, exasperating, depraved, or otherwise unattractive. Loving everybody in general may be an excuse for loving nobody in particular.”

 So John says, “Let’s do it, let’s love,” or rather, in the words of verse 18, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. “

“Love one another.” Last Sunday we had a special service on “Celebration” and one of the activities we did was to write down on a piece of paper what we liked about our church. One of the things that came out from that was that many of us felt tremendously supported and loved. We’re actually not too bad at loving one another with the ministry of food which provides meals, the hardship fund, the play group and everyone who helps in Children’s Church to name just a few of the many things that are going on.  So thankfully today I think that I am preaching to the converted. But let’s not become complacent; let’s not rest on our laurels. I’ve lived locally for quite a long time now and I first set foot in this church about 29 years ago. And I can truthfully say both our churches are loving and supportive communities, but we’re not perfect; it is possible to miss things. Quite some time ago there was a woman who came to one of our churches and was very much involved and part of the church family. She had a couple of years living out of London during which her mother became seriously ill and died. We were in fact very concerned for her and her mother; we prayed for them both and they were in our thoughts. But we didn’t communicate our love and concern to this person who not surprisingly didn’t feel supported and cared for. We can’t be complacent.

We love one another because God first loved us. We don’t love to earn God’s love, but we love because God first loved us. And the example we follow is that of Jesus. But perhaps you may be thinking, “This is all very good; but isn’t it a bit inward looking, all this talk about loving one another?”

If we stopped there, then there would be a danger of being inward looking, of becoming a holy huddle. However, if we go back to the Acts of the Apostles, we can see that through loving one another, the early church was able to reach out. In Acts 2, verses 44 onwards we read; “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” The loving generosity of the early Christians was a major factor in the growth of the Church.

As the early church spread out from Jerusalem, one of the most divided cities it reached was Antioch, a city in which there were perhaps as many as eighteen identifiable ethnic quarters. These ethnic quarters were walled off from each other. But when the news about Jesus reached Antioch the city changed. People started crossing the race-dividing walls. Families from different quarters were praying to the same God. Jews were eating with non-Jews. Citizens addressed slaves as brothers. Acts 13 describes the leadership of the early church there and shows that it reflected the ethnic diversity of the city. There was Barnabas, who was Jewish and came from Cyprus, Simeon who was black, Lucius, a Roman from Cyrene in North Africa, and Manaen, who in his youth was a companion to a prince, Herod Antipas.

Christianity could no longer be seen as an off-shoot of Judaism and, unsure about how to refer to members of this new religious phenomenon – cultural and ethnic labels no longer applied – others in the city first coined the term “Christian”. Through their love for each other, the early Christians broke down massive human barriers.

Sometimes we may not feel particularly loving. But the fact that at a given moment we don’t feel loving is not an excuse for failing to act in a loving manner. At these times we need to remember who we are, children of God; we need to remember what God has done for us through Christ; we need to remember that Christ laid down his life for us. And we need to remember that being a child of God means loving one another. And by doing that, we will be able to reach out to the people around us.

Let’s pray: Heavenly Father. Thank you for the love that you have lavished upon us. Thank you for Jesus’ love – that he laid down his life us. Help us to be a loving church family, to love one another as Jesus loved us so that we can bring Jesus to our community. Amen.

Sermon 2nd June 2013

 Today, one of our Lay Readers, Adjoa Andoh Cunnell preaches based on the reading from 1 John verses 18-29.

Why are there no Asprins left in the jungle?

Becoz parrotts eat them all!!

As some of you will know I have been away one way or another for almost all of this series on John's first letter, or not quite letter as Cameron discussed some weeks ago.

For a chunk of my away time I was doing Julius Caesar in America, in New York and Columbus,Ohio.

Just like the birdlike medication wordplay we can often get confused by language,

It was said by Sir George Bernard Shaw that 'England and America are two countries separated by the same language'.

and working in America  recently it seems little has changed...

Uk speak - A show described as 'going down a bomb' - a great success

In US speak -the show bombed - a disaster

Uk - cricket - a game in which new Zealand just won the 20/20

Us - a cute green insect and pinocchio's friend..

Is it

A Fanny pack or a bumbag - that's quite 80's now i know...

are they

Pants or trousers?

do you like

jelly or jam

have you got a torch or a flashlight

do you need

An eraser or a rubber - don't get those mixed up...

At the heart of the play, Julius Caesar lie word play and the power of argument to sway the listener,

The angry crowd after the assasination of Caesar are convinced by Brutus that he and his fellow conspirators killed Caesar for honourable reasons,

then Mark Anthony speaks to them crowd and by the time he finishes they are so enraged with Brutus and co they drive them out of Rome.

In this morning's reading from our continued series on John's Letters, rather than speaking to a crowd, John is concerned about arguments used by breakaway Christian sects to sway the faith of believers and so writes to the early Christian church at Ephesus and possibly to surrounding churches as well, to pull believers back to the truth of who Jesus is.

We are told that at the time, these breakaway sects were misusing John's gospel to back up their own particular slant on the early Christian faith:

 The two breakaway movements to research would be Gnosticism, and Docetism; or you can ask the vicar for a summary, as he offered several weeks back -

By now John is an older man than the John who wrote his Gospel, he has moved to Ephasus after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70... and  he is the last disciple still alive.

John fears the distortion of his eye witness account of the Jesus he knew, the teacher , the healer, the man of miracles and inexplicable power, who John came to understand was in fact God made flesh,

Jesus who could suffer and die like any human, but who could heal, cast out spirits and triumph over death to rise from the dead and ascend into to heaven.

Here was no ordinary man, no prophet gifted with divine power, here was the Christ, the Messiah, God the son, come from the Father  to change the relationship between we human beings and our creator God forever.

John had experienced life with Jesus, the last disciple left alive who knew the truth of who Jesus was.

So we can feel in this letter the urgency for John to challenge the dangerously misleading teachings now being preached by former members of the church;

John's needed to make abundantly clear regarding Jesus the Christ, what was truth and what was untruth;

 He had been there, he had been commissioned by Jesus himself to spread the Gospel.

In a literal translation of the Greek, John writes at verse 18

"Little children, it is by nature the last hour",,

ie we're living in the last hours before our world is completely superceded by God's world.

Or

we're living in post crucifixion, resurrection and ascension times,

Christ has overcome death and returned to the father, His kingdom on earth has begun and is drawing closer by the day

John tells us, because of  the reality of God's Kingdom we are to live our lives differently now.

This imminent Kingdom,  is solid and real while "the world passes away".

We are challenged that at any moment the Messiah may return and what are we going to say to Jesus when we come face-to-face with Him?

Are we ready to say to him we have truly lived a life with him at it's centre?

John urges us

GN

28 Yes, my children, remain in union with him, so that when he appears we may be full of courage and need not hide in shame from him on the Day he comes.

NIV

28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

So how are we to live?

John has repeatedly emphasized that the key to this close fellowship, this membership in God's family, is obedience to His commands. J

ohn often talks of walking or being in the light (1:5,7; 2:9,10). He says each one of us has sufficient spiritual discernment to determine which direction we are facing and to what degree we are walking towards that light (2:20).

In Ghana when we have a baby there is a naming ceremony that takes place. Water is in one bowl and schnapps is in another

Don't ask me why it's schnapps in particular, something colonial no doubt, but that's what it is.

A finger is dipped into the water and then into the babies mouth.

Then a finger is dipped into the schnapps and then into the baby's mouth.

Finally the water and schnapps are mixed together and everyone present takes a sip

The point is to illustrate that water is one thing and alcohol another, they are both liquid and they both can be drunk but they are not the same,

and if you consume them the effect on you will not be the same either.

The symbolism here is to encourage the child and those involved in the rearing of the child to understand that truth is truth and a lie is a lie and we must learn to recognise the difference and the different outcomes of absorbing one or the other.

Or as Anthony Buckley put it when he preached here, quoting Elvis

 Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away

Truth remains truth, but how were the early church and how are we today, to discern what is the truth?

John wants the church he is writing to, to differentiate the truth of who Christ is, as he has reported and they themselves have experienced in accepting Him into their lives as lord and Saviour, from the distortions of those who have already broken from the early church.

And the eternal truth of Christ like the sun in our British summer is that it may be shut out for a time but it isn't going away

He is Christ the Messiah

He came to triumph over death and in so doing give us the promise of eternal life with the Father

When he physically returned to the Father he left in his stead the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told his disciples in John's gospel ch14 v 26

GN

26 The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.

NIV

26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

When we listen to the guidance of the Spirit and live in that guidance we are also living in the Son in whose name the Father sent the Spirit, our triune God, three in one - the Holy Trinity.

This is our truth as Christians, the coming of Jesus to earth revealed the Triune nature of God, in which the God of Abraham reveals himself to us not as a burning bush, nor a deafening voice nor a pillar of cloud nor of fire, but rather as Father Son and Spirit.

2 weeks ago it was Pentecost when we celebrate the Holy Spirit's arrival, last Sunday was Trinity Sunday when we celebrate our Triune God, Father , Son and Holy Spirit and today as a church we will celebrate in Communion all of this story -

Jesus of Nazareth, God made man, the Christ who suffered and died to carry our sins, who rose again with the promise of life eternal in his triumph over death; Christ who left us with love and the hope of the life eternal to come, and a guide for this life in the Holy Spirit

Christ who left us the ritual of remembrance and celebration of this eternal truth,  in the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine as a Christian family in communion.

Don't get fooled, don't get conned by any Anti Christ into believing any other version of the Truth John tells us.

And what is the anti Christ

The Greek gives us

 anti :meaning instead of or against

and

Christos, Christ: meaning anointed one, the Messiah;

So an Anti Christ, is an opponent of the Messiah, one who usurps the place of Christ, who opposes Christ but will also offer themself as another Christ, a substitute Christ.

John says at verse 22

GOOD NEWS

It is those who say that Jesus is not the Messiah. Such people are the Enemy of Christ (the Antichrist)—they reject both the Father and the Son. 23 For those who reject the Son reject also the Father

NIV

It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father

In his concern that the Anti Christ will have no sway on our faith, John makes no assumptions about Christians leading a life of godly perfection,

indeed we have already heard from him at  2:1

GN

2 I am writing this to you, my children, so that you will not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have someone who pleads with the Father on our behalf—Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

NIV

2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Peter Ruckman writes in, The Books of the General Epistles

 “I’ve got an Advocate...My Advocate found me guilty on all counts and sentenced me to hell. Then He went through it for me while forgiving all my sins. Then heaping mercy on mercy, He gave me eternal life as a free gift and furnished me with a perfect guide Book. If that were not enough, He sent me out of court with an infallible, inerrant, living “Comforter” (the Holy Spirit)  to take me on my way "

John's aspiration for us, is that we do not sin but live right living lives, with Christ to plead for us when needs be and the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us.

While I was in New York I attended the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church and the Abyssinian Church of Harlem that's for another day , but I  found echos of John's aspiration for us in the sermons there.

Among other things we were reminded that however imperfect we think we are, we have our advocate in Jesus and our hope, for we are told in Matthew 12

GN

18 

“Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
    the one I love, and with whom I am pleased.
I will send my Spirit upon him,
    and he will announce my judgment to the nations.

19 

He will not argue or shout,
    or make loud speeches in the streets.

20 

He will not break off a bent reed,
    nor put out a flickering lamp.
He will persist until he causes justice to triumph,

21 

    and on him all peoples will put their hope.”

NIV

18 

‘Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
    the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
    and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

19 

He will not quarrel or cry out;
    no one will hear his voice in the streets.

20 

A bruised reed he will not break,
    and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he has brought justice through to victory.

21 

    In his name the nations will put their hope.’[b

 Inspite of this great encouragement, I came back from America in some ways dis-spirited by the worldly relentless emphasis on

working hard to be top dog, in order to succeed and be materially rewarded -

with that being the primary measure of a person's worth.

 It was both overwhelming and undermining,

what if you work hard and don't succeed, are you worth less than the successful person?

what if you don't work hard and do succeed, are you worth more than the unsuccessful hard worker?

What is the measure of a person's worth?

Life in Christ means we aim to live “life, and that more abundantly” according to God's values.

And where do we see those values lived out - we see them in Christ, God the son ,a baby born in a cowshed, the most vulnerable and low status in society, who called on fishermen and tax collectors and prostitutes to be his ministers, telling the Good news of the abundant eternal life His heavenly father has made us for.

What is the measure of a person's worth to God?

We are all worth the death of his Son.

John encourages us not to be drawn to the world's values but to “abide... continue... remain in union” in Christ.

 The first step in leading a successful life that God will bless is to abide in Christ. All else flows from that.

In this way we will shield ourselves from being seduced away from the truth of Christ and into the mirage of the world, be it  money, promotion. success, relationships, ambition, bitterness

all these playing on our pride, our vanity and all our fears and insecurities and all trying to lure us away from Christ and His truth.

In rejecting teachings Anti to Christ, John guides us to abide in Christ through obediance and love.

We are to hold firm to Christ's commandment to love.

Whoever claims to live in him, must walk as Jesus did John writes(2:6).

He has already said that hating your brother is not something we can do if we are loving God (2:9).

9 If we say that we are in the light, yet hate others, we are in the darkness to this very hour. 10 If we love others, we live in the light, and so there is nothing in us that will cause someone else[a] to sin

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister[a] is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister[b] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.

So if what John's readers were hearing was tempting them to hate or turn against particular individuals or groups of people, John is reminding them and us that that is incompatible with abiding in Christ.

Jesus called his teaching on the meaning of love, a “fresh” commandment (Jn 13:34).

Living as children of God, Jesus' commands us to love not just God and neighbour, but also strangers and even enemies. (Mt. 5:43-48).

Last week we saw faith used as it has been for centuries as the reason to carry out acts of brutality, one faith in hostility to perceived wrongs carried out by another.

On our doorstep in Woolwich, we have seen the devastation caused to three families,  the death of one young man and the ruination of the lives of his two murderers.

But ....we also saw great acts of love

This from the Daily Mail

'A mother and daughter, dubbed the 'Angels of Woolwich' because they bravely risked their own lives by comforting a soldier left dying in the street, stepped forward 'because no man should die alone'.

Gemini Donnelly-Martin, 20, and her mother Amanda Donnelly, confronted the suspected killers and asked the attackers if they could be by Drummer Lee Rigby's side. When it became apparent Drummer Lee Rigby was beyond their help, they shielded his body from further desecration.

Amanda, 44, insisted she be allowed to pray for the dead man even when confronted by one of the killers.

Kneeling at his side, she cradled him gently, seemingly unfazed by his horrific wounds.

Not wanting to talk about it herself, Amanda's son Simeon, 22, said the two women acted out of love.

He said: 'My mother was just driving past and she saw something and wanted to try and help.
'She just showed a bit of motherly love. She just did what any mother would have done'

The Guardian reported on the 3rd Woolwich Angel, practicing Catholic and Scout leader Ingrid Loyau- Kennett, helped

' prevent further injuries being inflicted on the gathering crowd by calmly engaging the men in an extraordinary 10 minute conversation until armed police arrived'.

Dismissing the suggestion she did something exceptional, she said

'I just instinctively did it. The same as if anyone had been crying and lying hurt on the ground.

I am a mother. It was the same for the Caribbean lady.

We both felt it was the right thing to do'.

The real danger, the real loss when we hold onto hate, or look to the world for our life and identity is that we stop abiding, drawing on, living in, the great, good love and presence of our triune God.

 John reminds us over and over that it all comes down to abiding in Him. Whatever is going on in our lives, whatever we are struggling with, we are to hand it all to Him, and to rest in, wait on, live in His presence and peace.

We can be sure that "every one who does right is born of him" because we know Jesus is righteous.

And this doing right is living in Christ, letting Him tell us who we are, letting Him work in our lives and in the lives of others around us, counting on Him and obeying Him out of our trust that He is our light.

And so My prayer for all we dear children of God today is a prayer of Brother Lawrence's, asking for Christ's continual presence in our lives,

FEBRUARY CHURCH TIMES 2013GOD'S PRESENCE

"O my God, since Thou art with me, and I must now, in obedience to Thy commands, apply my mind to these outward things, I beseech Thee to grant me the grace to continue in Thy presence; and to this end do Thou prosper me with Thy assistance, receive all my works, and possess all my affections."

Amen

And thinking of John's words to us we pray in song now as we ask Jesus

speak o lord as we come to you

let the truth prevail over unbelief

till your church is built

and the earth is filled with your glory

......... so lets sing