"Abiding Action"

April 29, 2012

Epistle Reading: 1 John 3:16-24

¹⁶We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. ¹⁷How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? ¹⁸Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. ¹⁹And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him ²⁰whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; ²²and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

²³And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. ²⁴All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.   

Sermon: Abiding Action

Pop quiz time!  If there were one verse in the Bible that is the most widely known what would it be?

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16 is everywhere. Tim Tebow wore it on his eye black in the 2009 NCAA championship game.  The California-based food chain In-n-Out Burger gives you a Diet Coke with a side of Scripture by printing John 3:16 on the cup.  Clothing chain Forever 21 gives you the same with your trendy treads by printing it in a tiny font on all of their shopping bags. 

But leave it to us Texans to take it to whole new level!  Christian-owned Kwik Kar Lube & Service in Plano, Texas lets customers who recite John 3:16 get a $19.99 oil change.  Unfortunately, when one non-believing customer refused, his bill more than doubled to $46.  I believe he left without an oil change or a heart change to Jesus. 

Now, I’m a fan of John 3:16 and think it sums up the heart of the gospel pretty well, but having read our 1 John reading for this morning, I’m tempted to put a “1” in front of all those “John 3:16” appearances in popular culture.  You see, if John 3:16 tells us what the gospel is, 1 John 3:16 tells us why it matters: how it changes the way we live, now in this life.

We know love by this, that Jesus laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

It’s certainly good to know that God loved the world so much that Jesus would come and die and rise again that we would have eternal life.  But if that knowledge becomes only something we wave like a golden ticket into heaven – or a good deal on an oil change – we miss the abiding, heart-changing truth there. 

If we are worth Jesus laying down his life for us, so is every single person on the planet.  And if God thinks they’re worth dying and rising for, so should we.

1 John makes it clear:  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 help?

In the Greek it is stated even stronger, asking how God’s love can possibly abide in someone who sees their brother or sister in need and shuts their heart to them.  Not helping when we can goes against the heart of the gospel.  But closing our hearts to need and injustice to the extent that we don’t even see it or feel it: this makes a mockery of the gospel. 

Like a patient Grandpa wanting to be sure we really get the point, 1 John urges us,  Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

It is not enough to share God’s love printed on a cup or bag or through an oil change.  Words and speech: our world has plenty of this.  Too much, actually (says the preacher as I preach!).  Truth and action is what we really need. 

All the words we say in this place: “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, the peace of Christ be with you, this is the Word of the Lord, thanks be to God, I believe”…these words have no power if we don’t translate them into loving action.

If we tell someone we love them while treating them as less than human, our words fall flat.  How much more meaningful would In-and-Out Burger’s witness be if instead of printing John 3:16 on a cup, they donated food to those in need?  Words don’t fill hungry stomachs and desperate souls: food does.  Love does.  What if instead of trying to save souls through a Bible verse on shopping bags, Forever 21 showed compassion in giving clothing to those affected by homelessness, caring for their bodies as well as their souls? 

Abiding in God is not enough.  We have to abide in one another.  Like Jesus’ explaining the greatest commandments of loving God and neighbor, they go hand in hand.  If God intended our faith to be in a vacuum, why would Jesus have even bothered coming to this troubled earth? 

Abiding action requires much more of us than just reciting a Bible verse (even if it’s a great one).  It requires much more than just wearing our Christianity like a label on our clothing or ballot.  It requires that we actively love as completely as our Risen Lord does: laying down our wealth, our privilege, our pride, our very lives for others. 

Sounds a bit dramatic, doesn’t it?  Sure, I can let someone into my lane in traffic, I can say “good morning” to a stranger and I can even be intentionally pleasant to someone who drives me crazy, but laying down my life?  I’m not sure I would do that for my dearest friends, much less the patronizing person who says scripture reveals that I should, as a woman, be silent in church.  You can all picture that person for you: the voice of criticism and frustration. 

If we’re called to hold John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16 together, as I believe we are, this means being willing to lay down our lives for that person.  Gosh, Jesus, why couldn’t you have just set the example of buying someone a cup of coffee instead of such a grand gesture?  That Son of God…what an overachiever!

If we are to abide with God, we are commanded to abide with our brothers and sisters whom we might consider the misfits of our human family.   We’re not only to tolerate them, we’re to lay down our lives for them.  Because as Grandpa 1^st John reminds us, “we know love by this: that Jesus laid down his life for us”…all of us. 

That is our example and our path: the constant reorientation of our lives in every moment away from our own selves to others.  And like flowers instinctually turning toward the sun, we will see that it is in turning to those around us – even the frustrating ones – that our hearts are turned to God once more. 

This does not mean that we as individuals do not matter.  It means that we can only fully realize who we are as individuals, who we are before our Creator, when we abide with our community.

This level of relationship is not an easy task.  For every product in our culture emblazoned with John 3:16, there are a hundred others telling us that we should look out for number 1 because no one else will look out for us, that our words and speech matter more than the truth and action of other people’s lives and experiences.  And there’s absolutely nothing in our politics and newspapers or on our televisions telling us to lay down our lives for one another.  Even the most altruistic causes don’t go that far.

That is a Jesus original.  And amidst all the hateful words and meaningless babble of our time, that call to action rises above it all, urging us to love as we have been loved.

We are able to love this sacrificially because love is no stranger to us: we have seen it in the One who gave fully of himself for all.   We have seen it in the One who rose again and continues to breathe new life into this divided, distracted world.  In the One who abides with us no matter what life brings.  We have seen it in the One who gifts our church family with talent (like we saw last Sunday), and with humor and sincere care for eacn another. 

John 3:16 is made complete by 1 John 3:16.  Our abiding faith in God is made complete only when we abide in one another through loving, selfless action.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life…and we know love by this, that Jesus laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

Alleluia! Amen.