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First Presbyterian Church, Grand Junction, CO |
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“Claiming the Core: Loving” 1 John 4:7-21; 1 John 3:16-18; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Introduction Over the last 3 years, there has been a lot of conversation, a lot of praying, a lot of creativity, a lot of passion, a lot of excitement, and a lot of consensus when it comes to where it is that God is taking us as a church. The same Holy Spirit that hovered over the waters at creation, and hovered over the Church at Pentecost, has been moving here at FPC to help us define our (Slide) “Mission, Vision and Values.” Taking the time to discuss and define these helps keep us on track as we seek to be faithful to God. Our specific mission is: (Slide) “To Follow Christ and Share His Word.” But that needs to work itself out in some specific ways. Our vision statement helps us to bring focus to what it will look like as we Follow Christ and Share His Word. (Read through Vision Statement in its entirety as a congregation. You can view it online at www.firstpresgj.org) And then we have our eight core values. We could have had a few more, but these are the core values we were most excited about, and they are meant to remind us of our unique personality as we carry out our Mission and Vision. Our values tell us WHO we want to be and HOW we want to do ministry. Looking at our four (Slide) Ministry Values over the last several weeks we examined the ways we want to DO ministry. What we’re saying is that we want to carry out ministry that is (Slides) Relational and Creative. We’re also saying that Effective Leadership and Gift-based Ministry are the most logical avenues of carrying out that ministry. (Slide) Our Foundational Values tell us WHO we are committed to becoming: (Slide) “Christ-centered, Mission-minded/Missional, Loving, and Biblical.” That’s what we want to be about here at FPC.
You should also know that we’re working on a (Slide) Ministry Roadmap – built upon the foundation of our mission, vision and values, the guidance of our leaders, and the input of the Focus Groups we had in February. This Roadmap will determine what we focus on over the next 18 months to 5 years. It should be complete by the end of June and ready to present to the entire church during July and August.
This morning we are looking at the first of our four Foundational Values. What do we mean when we say we want to be a LOVING church? (Slide) “God calls us to love as he loves: unconditionally, patiently, and graciously. As his followers we believe that loving God and loving others in genuine and consistent ways is more important than worldly success.”
Scripture: 1 John 4:7-21
(Slides) Join me using Soren Kierkegaard’s Prayer from Works Of Love (1841): “How could love be rightly discussed, if You were forgotten, O God of Love, source of all love in heaven and on earth; You who spared nothing but gave all in love; You who are love, so that one who loves is what he is only by being in You!
A teacher once asked a boy this question: "Suppose your mother baked a pie and there were seven of you--your parents and five children. What part of the pie would you get?" "A sixth," replied the boy. "I'm afraid you don't know your fractions very well," said the teacher. "Remember, there are seven of you." "Yes, teacher," said the boy, "but you don't know my mother very well. She would give up her piece so we could have more."
Isn’t that just like a mom?
A young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, carrying her tiny baby in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard. She never reached her destination and when the blizzard had subsided her body was found by searchers beneath a mound of snow. But they discovered something remarkable. Just before her death, she had taken off all her outer clothing and wrapped it around her baby. When they unwrapped the child, to their great surprise and joy, they found he was alive and well. She had mounded her body over his and given her clothing and life for her child, proving the depths of her mother love. Years later that child, David Lloyd George, became the prime minister of Great Britain, and, without a doubt, one of England’s greatest statesman. (James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, p.375)
Love is just what moms do!
What John is saying in his letter to the Church is that LOVE is just what God’s people do.
In this part of John’s letter he makes a few things about love very clear. First of all, he reminds us that God is the source of love. In verses 10 and 19 John says, ‘We love because God loves us first.’
John also makes it clear that merely being a “loving” person is NOT enough. How often do you hear someone say they are certain a person is in heaven because they were so loving? John does say that love is essential. But mixed in with this statement are some very clear words about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit: (Slides) “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” (1 John 4:13-16) Being loving, in and of itself, is not enough. Confessing Jesus as the Son of God is essential to knowing God in the deepest sense possible.
But John also states that believing alone isn’t enough. (Slide) “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:8) We can’t just say ‘I believe’ or ‘confess our faith’ without any evidence in our lives that the love of God is present. John is very specific in chapter 3 that God is looking for much more than a bunch of churchgoers who sing some songs and recite the Apostle’s Creed but don’t put love into action. (Slides) “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 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 to help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” (1 John 3:16-18) That’s what we mean in our value statement when we talk about “loving God and loving others in genuine and consistent ways.” So loving in and of itself is not enough. And believing without loving isn’t enough. The Book of James reminds us that “even the demons believe.”
For John, there is a deep tension here that we must hold onto: loving others isn’t enough by itself, and neither is believing the right things. Loving others and believing in the Source of that love must go hand in hand.
Like a mother who gives up her piece of pie, constantly looks after her kids at great sacrifice, and keeps loving them over the years NO MATTER WHAT . . . love should permeate ALL that we do – the big things and the little things.
At Wednesday in the Word this past week, Susan Deininger shared a poem she had written in response to last week’s passage about being created in the image of God, and this week’s passage from 1 John. Here’s a little bit of it: (Slide) “God’s love is written into my DNA, Unfailing love that cannot be taken away, Inseparable from the core of my being. I am a child of love, made in the image of love, Gifted with unconditional love, that I may love others. (Susan Deininger)
Is God’s love written into our DNA? Is it evident in ALL of our mission and ministry? Does it flavor our conversations? Do we love the way that God loves?
Most people are very familiar with Paul’s discussion of love in 1 Corinthians 13. (According to this passage, what is love? Patient, kind, etc.) Most of you also know there are different words for love in the Greek language. And the word in the famous ‘love chapter’ (1 Corinthians 13) is the word ‘agape.’ It’s more than the feeling of passion that comes and goes (eros). More than the love between friends and family (phileo). It’s unconditional – with NO STRINGS ATTACHED.
What Paul says at the very beginning of 1 Corinthians 13 – before he describes love in this way – is that loving people is the most important part of our ministry as Christians and as churches. Without it, he says, we are wasting our time.
At 9:15 service (Slides)“If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.”. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 in The Message)
At 8 and 11:00 services (Slides) “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 in the NRSV)
Here’s how we might say it here at FPC:
If we have great worship services with music that gives everyone goose bumps, but do not love each other out in the lobby or parking lot, then we’re wasting our time.
If we are creatively teaching our children and have the greatest education opportunities on the Western Slope, but don’t show people what love is all about, then we may be educated but we have missed the boat entirely.
If we become known as the church with top-notch men and women who are leading the way in schools, businesses and non-profits throughout the community, but don’t know how to take time to really love someone, then our leadership is in vain.
If we keep growing, and need to build more buildings and classrooms and offices, and the buildings get paid for because we are such amazing and sacrificial givers, but nobody feels loved when they walk into our facility, then the building is worthless.
I just got back from an overnight retreat with my covenant group of pastors from the front range. Two of them are from very “successful” churches. But both of them shared that the last year of ministry has been the most difficult of their long and fruitful careers. I can’t go into details but some of their people have been very unloving. And it just knocks the stuffing out of them.
In John 13:34-35 Jesus said: “A new commandment I give you, love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another. People will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another all people will know.”
“God calls us to love as he loves: unconditionally, patiently, and graciously. As [Christ’s] followers we believe that loving God and loving others in genuine and consistent ways is more important than worldly success.” May this value be a reality each and every day. |
