Message 05-07-06
Series: Lectionary
Scripture: 1 John 3:16-24 [Psalm 23]
Title: How We Know
Intro: Every now and then someone talks with me about talking less. They say it in all sorts of ways. Don’t you feel like there’s a lot going on in the service? Don’t you think that the service is going over time lately? Do you think there’s some way that we could shorten parts of the service so the kids don’t arrive while you’re still talking?
There have been times when people have just said something plain like, “I think you should work on having your messages be about 10 to 15 minutes… really about 10.”
I had a good friend who once said to me, “You know Kohler if you don’t hit anything by 20 minutes you have to stop boring.”
And I admit that it’s hard for me sometimes to shorten what I have to say. And I understand that in our culture there is a lot going on. There’s a lot to think about and to do. It can feel like you’re trying to “fit” in worship. I was asked, not too long ago, by a teenager here at church, “What are some ways to fit God into your life?”
We live in a culture that is ready for the quick fix; it’s ready for the short answer; it’s looking at things that seem important and wondering how do we “fit” that in. We want it quick and easy. We’re taught to grab stuff on the go. We’re ready for bullet points of faith so we can just take them and use them.
The trouble is… well, the trouble is… God.
The trouble is that I might give you the bullet points, but then, after you get them, you’re going to have to deal with God… and with him they sort of become bullet “holes” where your soul is pierced with truth. And when that happens, it can slow you down. It can make you think. It can reach into your life and stop you in your tracks and make you rethink. You see most of what I have to say to you on a Sunday morning already comes in a time frame that’s shorter than a TV show. And I already have you telling me how you hear so much and how it makes you think so much and how you keep going over stuff.
That’s not me. I know that you’re not saying those things to me because I’ve been so clever in getting them across to you. It’s because of the Word of God that started to live in your heart.
Study
So here are the bullet points:
How do we know what love is?
Jesus.
How do we know that we’re living in the truth?
By following the example of Jesus – living in him and having him live in us.
How do we know that he lives in us?
By the presence of the Spirit of God in our lives.
Those are the bullet points. I don’t know about you, but as I consider them those become bullet “holes” of truth in my soul. Those things pierce my hide. And just in case you think that’s a bit graphic do you remember how the Bible describes itself? The Bible is God’s Word and God’s Word is “living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
That’s what’s John doing in this Scripture.
How do I know what love is?
How do we know what love is?
I know what love is. I’ve been to our Preschool. Have you been to our Preschool?
Suppose your work consisted of trying to understand a child that almost no one could understand? Suppose your work had to be one on one, hands on supervision of a child who could not function without you present, couldn’t be safe without you on hand. Suppose your work consisted of helping a child walk who could not walk? Suppose your work consisted of helping a child play who was in a wheelchair? Suppose your work consisted of helping a typical child to grow a heart that included special needs children as normal? Suppose your work was in telling the truth to little children, children who weren’t in primary school yet, telling them the truth of what some people struggle with.
The teachers, aides, helpers and specialists fill up their days working with children, but not just children. These are children who others would disregard even shun.
I know about shunning children like that. When I was a little boy my parents were good friends with a couple who had a daughter who was retarded as they used to say at that time. She could not communicate except in physical ways that she mixed with loud shouts that were not words. They lived at enough of a distance that we didn’t see them regularly but one day my mom took me along for a visit. I was about 9. We got to the house and after a little bit I was given a snack in the kitchen while the moms were talking in the other room.
The daughter of the family came in and discovered me there. I had never been with someone like this before and I only knew that something was different. I tried to talk with her but she wasn’t using words. She said something in these loud noises. She smacked the table. I stood up, scared, not knowing what I should do. I was in a corner and didn’t know how to get out. The girl, who was about 13 and a large person compared to me, began to laugh and shout and clap her hands. I got more and more frightened. I didn’t know how to get my mom and I didn’t know what to say. Suddenly the girl’s mom came bustling into the kitchen and spoke to her, calmed her, led her away, but I was still frightened.
Do you know what I noticed? Later, as an adult I realized that my arms would naturally cross in front of me as I spoke with people with handicaps or needs. I realized that I was keeping myself safe. I was protecting myself. I was still nine years old in that area of my life. I was scared. It took some concentrated effort to relax, to let my arms drop, to allow myself to be unprotected. Maybe you’re like me. Maybe you’ve been afraid of people with special needs as well.
I’ve been learning that it’s okay for me to be awkward. I’ve been learning that it’s okay to feel like I don’t know how to act, but to act. I’ve been learning that it’s okay to try to do what I can do to make things work or to make things better.
But, suppose it wasn’t your work to love children as children that other people were afraid of? Suppose it wasn’t your work. Suppose it was your life. Suppose you were mom or dad. Why would God let something like this happen to you? Or maybe the question should be what does God know about you that would make him want you to be the one taking care of this child?
Some people live into these situations and make them their own. They trust in God and they do what they can to make it better. Do you know what we call that? As Christ followers we call that laying down your life for others.
How do we know what love is?
By the example of Jesus
Therefore – we ought to follow that example
Lay down our lives for others
Share our possessions with those in need
What kinds of worldly possessions to you have? Most times when I read this passage I think of money. I think of stuff. I think of coats and hats still even though I now live in Florida and can’t imagine getting cold. But what are our worldly possessions? Time? The ability to communicate? A family experience that allows us to sit down at a dinner table together? What kinds of worldly possessions do you have?
Some people think that love is a concept or an idea or something you have to figure out. But that’s not how we know love. We know love through Jesus. We know that love is an event. It is a gift event. It is an act in which someone gives up what they have for someone else. That’s love.
We say that we know love because we say God gave up his son for us. We that we know love because Jesus gave up his life for us.
Our friend John here tells us that Love is not in us if it is not seen in our actions. Unless we are giving up our lives for others then life is not in us. We do not love unless it is active and in truth [factual] unless it is an event. Our preschool is that event.
Our lives are supposed to be that event.
We are not supposed to live our lives in virtual reality. We are not supposed to live our lives in virtual reality. Pornography is virtual reality. Video games are virtual reality. We are called into community, into reality. When you find someone who is following Jesus you find them doing things that have to do with helping people, living with people in reality.
You realize it when you see people who are actually getting it. They are doing it. That’s how we know that we belong to the truth and that our hearts can rest in God’s presence. It’s when we are living the truth, when we’re living the event.
Maybe you’re feeling guilty right now. Maybe you don’t feel like you’re doing enough. I don’t know that you ever will. Mother Teresa didn’t seem to think that she did enough. She seemed to feel like there was more to do, more that she could do. But the truth is that we probably won’t be able to do enough because the world is so big and we are so little. When you think of what you’re able to do maybe you should think of it like Bill Gates some how taking his net worth – which is supposed to be something like $440 Billion and putting it into the national debt as it stands today. Our national debt is some 8 trillion dollars. $440 Billion would be swallowed up. We can always feel like we can’t do enough. But God doesn’t ask us to do it all. He asks us to do our part with what we have. That’s how we know we belong to him, when we’re in the real truth of our lives with him.
So how do I know I belong to the truth [and how we set our hearts at rest in God’s presence]? By making sure that we don’t just talk about love, that we don’t just think of love or act like love is some feeling but by following the example of Jesus. Then even when our hearts condemn us God will bring in a touch of his love to remind us that he is for us and what we’re doing is what we should be doing [for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything]
And when we’re doing the job, when we’re living for Christ and laying down our lives for others, then we have confidence before God – that means we can stand plainly before God as we are. And that’s what we learn. We have nothing to hide and we’re willing to be told that we’re not doing enough and we’re willing to learn what we have to do and we’re willing to do what we can with what we have. Then, do you know what happens? We receive what we ask of God. We get the strength we need. We get the perspective that helps our hearts rest. We find help. We find all that because we’re obeying his commands and doing what pleases God. Now before you go off thinking of all the commandments you need to follow hear again the next word.
And this is his command that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ and we love one another. These are the commands that we follow. We believe in Jesus and we love one another. It’s not a matter of loving the whole world. It’s a matter of loving one another.
So what does that look like?
Maybe it means that some of you have to quit staying at home and go get training and volunteer in our nursery school. Maybe it means that you’ll have dinner at your house where your typical family will spend time with a special needs family and you’ll learn how life works together. Maybe it will mean that although your arms come up to protect yourself, you’ll learn to let your arms relax, and you’ll learn that’s it’s okay to be awkward and you’ll learn that you don’t give up being scared, you just give up allowing your fear to tell you what to do.
When we obey his commands we live in him and he lives in us.
How do we know he lives in us?
We know he lives in us by the Spirit’s presence. By the Spirit’s presence we can say that we love Jesus and we are assured of his love. We can say we are following him and we are receiving from him the strength we need to face each day.
