Tuesday, May 29, 2012
PENTECOST 2012 "TUNE IN AND TURN ON!"
Readings: Psalm 104:24-34, Ezekial 37:1-14, John 15:26-27, 16:4-15, Acts 2:1-21
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on May 27th 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
I can remember last year when the storm hit, and some of us ended up sleeping overnight in the church. To cap it all, when we got home, the power went out. It was a little annoying. For some folks it was really annoying; because their power was out for days!
Today, Pentecost Sunday, celebrates the day the power came back on. Not electric power but the power of the Holy Spirit. The disciples had seen Jesus crucified. They had seen Him alive again. He had taught them, and made promises to them.
"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." (John14:18)
"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever" (John 14:16).
Christ ascended to be with the Father and instructed the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for a promise to be fulfilled, for the Helper to come. On the day of Pentecost, as we read in Acts Chapter 2, the personal presence of God, came upon them in a new and powerful way. As they tuned in to God, so they became turned on to the power that was God equipping them with to take His message into all the world.
So my message for this Pentecost morning is ... tune in and turn on.
1. Tune in to Jesus and be turned on to following Him.
The church that was born in Jerusalem was a mixture of the many different strains of Christianity that would emerge from it. It was charismatic and evangelistic. It practiced both a social gospel and preached a gospel of personal salvation. They worshipped. They studied. They prayed. They served. They shared.
They were activists, working for the rights of the widows and orphans. They were reformers, working to bring social change. They were communists, in the sense that they sold everything they had and shared a communal life. They were preachers and teachers and healers.
They were Methodists. They methodically ordered their life together. Baptists, in the sense that they called people to evidence their commitment to Jesus Christ through public baptism. They were Pentecostals. They believed in the supernatural power of God to work signs and wonders. And of course, they were also Presbyterians, for everything was done with decency and in order.
Over and above everything else, the disciples were people who were tuned into God to such a degree that their lives turned on Jesus teachings. One of Jesus invitations was "Follow me".They treated that invitation with the utmost seriousness.
They left their homes, as He did; took on voluntary poverty, as He did; taught in villages and cities, as He did; and tried to heal the sick and cast out demons as He had done. They were not always successful. They were at times amazed and shocked by the things Jesus taught and did. At times they were afraid of where following Him might lead them.
We can tune in to Jesus. Following Him we will encounter the unexpected, the surprising and the shocking. We cannot follow and stay the same. He will ask much of us, in fact everything. That is because He gave everything for us. Tune in to Jesus, who tells us that life is a matter of the heart. A heart in tune with His Fathers will, a life empowered by His Spirit will change not just our self but those whom we share our life with.
2. Tune in to your church and be turned on to loving each other.
Jesus only ever gave one commandment. "Love one another as I have loved you". We are called to love people of flesh and blood, not abstract theological concepts or distant ideals. "By this shall all men know you are my disciples" says Jesus, "If you have love one for another".
The community where that love is to be expressed is within the church, and for many of us here that means this church and this body of people we are seated with today. Remember that old disco hit... "We are Family, Brothers, Sisters, together are we..." (or something like that). That's our calling. To be concerned with each other, to be like a family, a community. That's how it went at Pentecost.
"I don't have to be involved with a church to be a Christian" some will tell me. "I've made a decision for Jesus Christ... that's it, I'm saved". Yes, it is important to decide to be a follower, and to realize in a personal way what Jesus has done for us, but that's not where it ends! The gospel is not about individuals being saved... it's about people together working out what it means to be a salvation community.
It's easy to say "I love you" to a vacuum. (That's an empty space.. not a vacuum cleaner! If you go around saying "I love you" to vacuum cleaners they will probably lck you up). It's easy to say "I love you" to something faceless and nameless. It's not so easy to love those whom you don't always see eye to eye with, or those who have different views of life and standards for living by… but that is our calling. To be a diverse group of people, who through the love of God, see each other as those for whom Jesus died and love each other with the love His Holy Spirit puts in our hearts.
Be tuned in to all that the church here is trying to do. The worship services, The Sunday School, the music and the choir, the Bible studies, Youth trips, Service opportunities, Nursery school, the way we try and make our facilities available to different groups in the community... get excited about these things;- commit yourselves to these things.. they are tangible, physical ways we fulfill the command of Jesus to love one another as He has loved us.
Get excited… tell your friends, bring them along so they can be a part of it. Turn yourself on to the nitty gritty of church life. Don't listen to the unscriptural, unhistorical, illogical voice that will tell you.. "You don't have to go church to be a Christian". Fact is… there is not one scripture in the whole Bible that gives one single indication that you can be a Christian without involving yourself in the lives of other Christians... that you can follow Jesus as a lone ranger.
Of course there are times when health or work or other unavoidable things makes it impossible to come to church. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying that to be faithful to God, the scriptures insist you be faithful in loving your brothers and sisters in Christ. And the place that should be happening is within a local congregation. Tune in to your church and be turned on to loving one another.
The Christian life is not an easy option. In fact in our own strength it's an impossibility. That's why we need to…
3. Tune in to the Holy Spirit and be turned on to possibility.
The disciples had to wait for a baptism of the Holy Spirit before they could get on with the business God was calling them to. It is no different for us present day disciples. We to have to wait on God to be powered up for service. We need regularly to recharge our spiritual batteries through worship, study and prayer. We need to ask God to turn the power on.
Think about the way God works in our lives through the Holy Spirit.
"God has poured out His love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit." When we accept the call of Jesus Christ to be His followers, He doesn't just leave us to it. As he promised His disciples, He comes to us, in a new way... as the Holy Spirit, to equip us for the task.
Until He comes we are a barren tree. But when He comes he works in our lives produce good things. "The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control".
A hymn we sometimes sings has the line ; "Open my eyes that I may see the wonderful truths in your word." It was the theologian John Calvin who spoke of the work of the Holy Spirit being like a pair of spectacles, interpreting to our hearts the written word of God so that it becomes the Living Word of our lives. The Spirit tunes us in, so we can turn our lives on, to serving God.
After all, what is there more positive than the scriptures testimony regarding Jesus Christ. A death that was turned into a resurrection, a defeat turned into a victory, a hopeless situation becoming a cause for rejoicing, a powerless group of disciples in an upper room, by the Holy Spirit, becoming fearless proclaimer’ of a gospel that has changed, is changing, and will change the world.
Tune in. Turn on. Tune in to Jesus and be turned on to following Him.
Tune in to your church and be turned on to loving your Christian family.
Tune in to the Holy Spirit and be turned on to possibility.
On this Pentecost Sunday,may the power come back on, in our lives
and the life of this, His church. AMEN!
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Messages from the First letter of John - 5. GOD BIRTHED FAITH
Mothers Day/CWR Blanket Sunday
Readings: Psalm 98, Acts 10:44-48, John 15:9-17, 1 John 5:1-6
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on May 13th 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
Mother's Day is a time that we honor those who bought us into this world, nurtured us, cared for us and guided us. In many homes, the hub of the action, the centering force of all that the home is, revolves around mother. That can be the same for single parent families, working mums, soccer mums, stay at home mums, every kind of mum that you can think of. In the absence of a mum there still has to be someone in the home who plays a mother-like role in the nurturing of a child. It all goes around mum!
Our reading this morning, from 1 John 5, brings us to the end of a series that has dealt with his themes of 'sin, forgiveness and love'. Last time we saw how it was John who penned the awesome words. 'God is Love'. In this mornings reading he again brings us back to the theme of love, but reminds us that unless we act upon the love that God offers to us, then we haven't really got it.
Today in our church calendar we are trying to act by receiving an offering for Church World Service's 'Blanket+' program. This offering helps provide blankets, food and other emergency supplies all over the world when disaster strikes. Love in action.
I like to think that John would approve of such efforts. Our reading this morning takes us a little further than just suggesting that because we are loved we should love others. He also suggests that our loving actions need to revolve around a center. In the home the center is often the mum of the household. In the household of faith, John tells us that our center is faith in Jesus Christ. He writes in verse 5 “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
Isn't John's focus on faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is a little restrictive? What's the big deal about believing in Jesus? Isn't it enough that we are generous and charitable and get along with each other? Why does John insist on muddying the waters by telling us we need to get our focus right about what we believe about Jesus Christ?
As far as John was concerned there could be no separation between belief and action. 'In fact', he says (Verse 3) 'This is love for God: to keep His commands”. Earlier in his letter he spoke about people who had become so sophisticated in their believing that they had fallen into all sorts of wrong ways of thinking that led them into wrong ways of acting. For John what you believe determines what you do, and what you do shows what you really believe.
John believed that faith is something that God has to birth within us through the action of the Holy Spirit. Faith is something that in John's gospel is described as being 'born from above' that effects the individual as though they had been 'born again'. Truly believing in God, for John is about having a God birthed faith. He gives us some reasons.
Only a God-birthed faith could give us a true love perspective.
Only a God birthed faith could create true community.
Only a God-birthed faith could conquer the world.
1. Only a God-birthed faith gives us a true love perspective.
In previous chapters John has been very careful to define what he means when he uses the word love. He always uses the Greek word 'agapé'. There were other words in Greek that he could have used. They had a word for family love 'storgé', they had a word for physical love, 'eros', they had a word for brotherly love 'philia'. John uses none of these, but uses the word 'agapé' which was particularly descriptive of the kind of love that was seen in the life of Jesus.
'Agapé' love described a life lived for the benefit of others. A love that healed and recreated and went beyond what was expected. A love that lifted up the fallen and was more concerned for the needs of the other than needs of the self. John outlines this love in chapter 4:9-10 “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.”
John sees Christian action as a response to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. The act of God in Christ is the motivation and the centering point for loving the world. When we get it right about who Jesus is and why He came, it changes the way we live.
It changes the way we see others. We cannot look down on any body else or see any person as beyond the reach of God. Because Christ died for us, He died for them. Through the eyes of Jesus there is no 'us' and 'them'. All people are people who need the love and grace of God.
'That's love' says John. It's not a feeling. It's not an emotion. It's not something we fall in or out of. It's not being benevolent or feeling charitable. It's not giving out of a sense of guilt or acting out of duty. It is centering our life in Jesus Christ, being empowered by the Holy Spirit, opening our hearts and lives to the grace of God and acting in gratitude for the blessings of salvation Jesus obtained for us through His death and resurrection. Only a God-birthed faith gives us a true love perspective.
2.Only a God-birthed faith creates true community
John also insists that if we say that we love God, but do not apply ourselves to loving each other, then we are deluding ourselves, and the truth is not in us. He goes as far as saying that people who act like that, think they are children of God, but in actuality are walking in darkness, not in the light.
In previous chapters we see that John takes sin seriously. One of the most pernicious of sins is that of failing to work at creating community. We had these words in our reading this morning:- (verse 2) “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands.” The stress is on centering our lives in Jesus Christ, and allowing Jesus to be the hub around which our community life revolves.
To truly be a community of faith we have to look to Jesus and see each other through the lens of the love of God. If we look to each other, if we look to having common interests or being like-minded as a center for our life together, then we become nothing more than a civic organization organized around a particular sense of values.
There's nothing wrong in having community organizations. They can do some great things. But they are not the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church of Christ has a higher calling. To be a place where all people can discover the love of God in Jesus Christ. A place where the outcast can find a home and those who feel unloved can be embraced by God's love. An oasis in the midst of a barren uncaring world where the hurting can find healing and the hopeless be inspired by the action of the Holy Spirit renewing their lives.
Unless we make Jesus Christ our focus none of that can happen. Unless we make Jesus Christ our center we quickly become exclusive rather than inclusive. Believe me, I am well aware that bills need to be paid, the building needs looking after and that we have to plan our programs and have our committees and maintain our records. But, please, never let us stop asking “Why?”
“Why are we a church?” Because God has called us to be a community that demonstrates to the world what living a life together focused on Jesus Christ looks like. Because God has a task for us, a task that can only be accomplished through our faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that we demonstrate by having love for each other and inviting others to be in on it. Only God-birthed faith gives us a true love perspective. Only a God-birthed faith creates true community.
3. Only a God-birthed faith conquers the world.
1 John 5: 4-5 “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
Conquer the world? Lord, who are You kidding? Lord, it's all I can do to hold my life together! You expect a 'pulled in one thousand directions, conflicted, stressed out, not always sure what I'm doing or what I really believe, things to do, places I need to be, person' like me, to conquer the world?
Friends that exactly why what we believe about Jesus Christ is so important. Verse 5... one more time... “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
When John says 'Believe' he is not asking us to intellectually give a reasoned response to a number of theological formulations or do a check-list on the Apostles Creed. He is challenging us to consider where we are coming from, what our lives are revolving around, what we are centered upon.
If we can get it in our minds, that we, you and I, here today, at this time, in this place, are God's ultimate concern, than it can change the way we see ourselves, those around us and everything about our lives. If we can see that God's love really is so committed to us that in and through Jesus Christ, God can transform everything we are and everything we do, then it's going to make more than a little difference to the way we live.
It as we allow God to make a difference in us, through the working of the Holy Spirit, that our lives start to make a difference to the world. It happens in simple ways. Like supporting a Church World blanket + program. Like inviting a friend to church. Like visiting one of our shut-ins. Like being a little more attentive to prayer and Scripture reading.
To do any of that it is important we get our center in the right place. We celebrate on Mother's Day that at the center of a loving home is the love of a celebrated mum. John reminds us in his first letter that the center for both our personal faith and corporate life as a church is our faith in who Jesus is and what God is seeking to do in our lives and the life of God's world through the Holy Spirit. Why does he do that? Because...
And to God's name be all glory. Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Readings: Psalm 98, Acts 10:44-48, John 15:9-17, 1 John 5:1-6
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on May 13th 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
Mother's Day is a time that we honor those who bought us into this world, nurtured us, cared for us and guided us. In many homes, the hub of the action, the centering force of all that the home is, revolves around mother. That can be the same for single parent families, working mums, soccer mums, stay at home mums, every kind of mum that you can think of. In the absence of a mum there still has to be someone in the home who plays a mother-like role in the nurturing of a child. It all goes around mum!
Our reading this morning, from 1 John 5, brings us to the end of a series that has dealt with his themes of 'sin, forgiveness and love'. Last time we saw how it was John who penned the awesome words. 'God is Love'. In this mornings reading he again brings us back to the theme of love, but reminds us that unless we act upon the love that God offers to us, then we haven't really got it.
Today in our church calendar we are trying to act by receiving an offering for Church World Service's 'Blanket+' program. This offering helps provide blankets, food and other emergency supplies all over the world when disaster strikes. Love in action.
I like to think that John would approve of such efforts. Our reading this morning takes us a little further than just suggesting that because we are loved we should love others. He also suggests that our loving actions need to revolve around a center. In the home the center is often the mum of the household. In the household of faith, John tells us that our center is faith in Jesus Christ. He writes in verse 5 “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
Isn't John's focus on faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is a little restrictive? What's the big deal about believing in Jesus? Isn't it enough that we are generous and charitable and get along with each other? Why does John insist on muddying the waters by telling us we need to get our focus right about what we believe about Jesus Christ?
As far as John was concerned there could be no separation between belief and action. 'In fact', he says (Verse 3) 'This is love for God: to keep His commands”. Earlier in his letter he spoke about people who had become so sophisticated in their believing that they had fallen into all sorts of wrong ways of thinking that led them into wrong ways of acting. For John what you believe determines what you do, and what you do shows what you really believe.
John believed that faith is something that God has to birth within us through the action of the Holy Spirit. Faith is something that in John's gospel is described as being 'born from above' that effects the individual as though they had been 'born again'. Truly believing in God, for John is about having a God birthed faith. He gives us some reasons.
Only a God-birthed faith could give us a true love perspective.
Only a God birthed faith could create true community.
Only a God-birthed faith could conquer the world.
1. Only a God-birthed faith gives us a true love perspective.
In previous chapters John has been very careful to define what he means when he uses the word love. He always uses the Greek word 'agapé'. There were other words in Greek that he could have used. They had a word for family love 'storgé', they had a word for physical love, 'eros', they had a word for brotherly love 'philia'. John uses none of these, but uses the word 'agapé' which was particularly descriptive of the kind of love that was seen in the life of Jesus.
'Agapé' love described a life lived for the benefit of others. A love that healed and recreated and went beyond what was expected. A love that lifted up the fallen and was more concerned for the needs of the other than needs of the self. John outlines this love in chapter 4:9-10 “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.”
John sees Christian action as a response to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. The act of God in Christ is the motivation and the centering point for loving the world. When we get it right about who Jesus is and why He came, it changes the way we live.
It changes the way we see others. We cannot look down on any body else or see any person as beyond the reach of God. Because Christ died for us, He died for them. Through the eyes of Jesus there is no 'us' and 'them'. All people are people who need the love and grace of God.
'That's love' says John. It's not a feeling. It's not an emotion. It's not something we fall in or out of. It's not being benevolent or feeling charitable. It's not giving out of a sense of guilt or acting out of duty. It is centering our life in Jesus Christ, being empowered by the Holy Spirit, opening our hearts and lives to the grace of God and acting in gratitude for the blessings of salvation Jesus obtained for us through His death and resurrection. Only a God-birthed faith gives us a true love perspective.
2.Only a God-birthed faith creates true community
John also insists that if we say that we love God, but do not apply ourselves to loving each other, then we are deluding ourselves, and the truth is not in us. He goes as far as saying that people who act like that, think they are children of God, but in actuality are walking in darkness, not in the light.
In previous chapters we see that John takes sin seriously. One of the most pernicious of sins is that of failing to work at creating community. We had these words in our reading this morning:- (verse 2) “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands.” The stress is on centering our lives in Jesus Christ, and allowing Jesus to be the hub around which our community life revolves.
To truly be a community of faith we have to look to Jesus and see each other through the lens of the love of God. If we look to each other, if we look to having common interests or being like-minded as a center for our life together, then we become nothing more than a civic organization organized around a particular sense of values.
There's nothing wrong in having community organizations. They can do some great things. But they are not the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church of Christ has a higher calling. To be a place where all people can discover the love of God in Jesus Christ. A place where the outcast can find a home and those who feel unloved can be embraced by God's love. An oasis in the midst of a barren uncaring world where the hurting can find healing and the hopeless be inspired by the action of the Holy Spirit renewing their lives.
Unless we make Jesus Christ our focus none of that can happen. Unless we make Jesus Christ our center we quickly become exclusive rather than inclusive. Believe me, I am well aware that bills need to be paid, the building needs looking after and that we have to plan our programs and have our committees and maintain our records. But, please, never let us stop asking “Why?”
“Why are we a church?” Because God has called us to be a community that demonstrates to the world what living a life together focused on Jesus Christ looks like. Because God has a task for us, a task that can only be accomplished through our faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that we demonstrate by having love for each other and inviting others to be in on it. Only God-birthed faith gives us a true love perspective. Only a God-birthed faith creates true community.
3. Only a God-birthed faith conquers the world.
1 John 5: 4-5 “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
Conquer the world? Lord, who are You kidding? Lord, it's all I can do to hold my life together! You expect a 'pulled in one thousand directions, conflicted, stressed out, not always sure what I'm doing or what I really believe, things to do, places I need to be, person' like me, to conquer the world?
Friends that exactly why what we believe about Jesus Christ is so important. Verse 5... one more time... “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
When John says 'Believe' he is not asking us to intellectually give a reasoned response to a number of theological formulations or do a check-list on the Apostles Creed. He is challenging us to consider where we are coming from, what our lives are revolving around, what we are centered upon.
If we can get it in our minds, that we, you and I, here today, at this time, in this place, are God's ultimate concern, than it can change the way we see ourselves, those around us and everything about our lives. If we can see that God's love really is so committed to us that in and through Jesus Christ, God can transform everything we are and everything we do, then it's going to make more than a little difference to the way we live.
It as we allow God to make a difference in us, through the working of the Holy Spirit, that our lives start to make a difference to the world. It happens in simple ways. Like supporting a Church World blanket + program. Like inviting a friend to church. Like visiting one of our shut-ins. Like being a little more attentive to prayer and Scripture reading.
To do any of that it is important we get our center in the right place. We celebrate on Mother's Day that at the center of a loving home is the love of a celebrated mum. John reminds us in his first letter that the center for both our personal faith and corporate life as a church is our faith in who Jesus is and what God is seeking to do in our lives and the life of God's world through the Holy Spirit. Why does he do that? Because...
- Only a God-birthed faith can give us a true love perspective.
- Only a God birthed faith can create true community.
- Only a God-birthed faith can conquer the world.
And to God's name be all glory. Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Messages from the First letter of John ' 4. "FEARLESS LOVE"
Readings: Psalm 22:25-31, Acts 8:26-40, John 15:1-8, 1 John 4:7-21
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, May 6th,2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
Everything I know about growing plants could be written on the back of a postage stamp. I claim zero experience in the green finger department. But this much I know. Nothing grows by coercion. Things only grow through nurture. If you plant tomatoes you cannot go out in the garden and terrify them into maturity. “Now come on little Tommy Tomato plant. Grow up or I'll give you a such a thrashing that you'll never even be able to say the word fertilizer'. You have to tend plants, carefully and gently.
Spiritual growth is no different. Fear can not produce spiritually mature believers. The only fertile ground for true spiritual growth is the love of God. 1 John 4:18-19 tells us“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because He first loved us.”
The last few weeks we have been following a series on John's first letter that has taken us through the themes of sin, forgiveness and love. Last week we were considering the great legacy of love that has been passed on to us .We affirmed that love is a great mystery which opens us to amazing possibilities. In chapter four John takes us further. He gives us the famous phrase 'God is love'.
One of the amazing things about the life of Jesus was how He never acted out of fear but always out of love. That is not to say that Jesus was never afraid. In the Garden of Gethsemane He prays that He may be spared from the pain and agony He would face at the Cross. There's nothing wrong in being afraid. It's part of what makes us human. But being afraid and living in fear are different things.
There are two kinds of fear.
The first is best described as 'Honor' or 'Respect', the second as 'Dread'.
When the Book of Proverbs tells us 'Fear the Lord' the intention is not for us go through the whole of our lives being afraid of what God may do to us if God finds out what we are really like. The fear we are to have towards God is by the way of honor and respect. That was the kind of fear that Jesus had towards His Father. He refused to do anything or be anything that didn't represent the love of God. His whole ministry was built upon respect for and trust in what the love of God could do.
The opposite of respectful fear, the unhealthy, negative kind of fear that John tells us to have nothing to do with, is best described as dread. John writes “Perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment”. Dread is the fear that has to do with punishment. Fear of punishment can never help us build a mature relationship with God or with each other. Jesus lived fearlessly because His life was centered in the loving heart of God.
He didn't care what people thought about Him. He was totally secure in His relationship with His Father God. He didn't have to gain favor with people or use people to get where He wanted to be. He was right where He wanted to be, in the will of God. He was able to act in complete freedom and without dread because He knew Himself a child of God. Both at His baptism and on the mountain of Transfiguration He found His identity in His Father's claim on His life “This is my beloved Son”.
What might it take for us to live lives defined by fearless love?
How can we apply these words about 'perfect love casting out fear' to our own lives?
In 1895 a lady called Clara Scott had a hymn published called “Open my eyes”.
Open my eyes, that I may see, glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key, that shall unclasp and set me free.
Only through having a clear picture of God, ourselves and each other can we unlock the mystery of fearless love. Or to put it another way...
We need to:
Redefine how we see the Divine,
Remember the claim of God's name
Reach out to others as sisters and brothers!.
Let us explore those themes a little more!
1. We need a clear picture of God … redefine how see the Divine
What are we afraid of that prevents us from letting the love of God enfold us and envelope us? Our fears can come from an irrational picture of God. Even with my lack of gardening skills I recognize that nothing grows by coercion. Growth takes place through nurture. The first picture the Bible gives us of God is as the Creator. The second picture is the Gardener. As you read New Testament the images Jesus uses are often nurture related. Sowing seeds. Vines and branches. Seeds and Weeds. Springtime and Harvest.
Many of us have picked up on negative images of God. A tyrannical father. A mean dictator. An uncaring judge. A strict disciplinarian. A God of hell-fire whose greatest delight is to punish unrepentant sinners with eternal torment. A warped policeman on high. A God of disapproval. Unapproachable. Unrelenting. Irrational. Making rules we can never keep. A Scary God.
Many times I have had people say to me,'Oh, I wouldn't want to set foot in church, probably make the roof cave in or cause the place to be struck by lightning'. A God who toys with people, who is a despot, a blue meanie, a dark disturbing brooding figure from our worst nightmares. I have heard people describe to me the god they don't believe in and found myself thinking that I don't believe in that kind of god either!
If ever those negative images of God start creeping in on you, read this passage from 1 John and see how many times life affirming love is mentioned. ' This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.' 'We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.' 'There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.'
In order to leave fearless lives we need to put our faith, not in a God we dread, but one whom we have the utmost respect for and seek to honor in the way we live our lives.
2. We need a clear picture of ourselves... remember the claim of God's name
Verse 19 reminds us 'We love because He first loved us.' Our capacity for loving others comes from the security of knowing that we ourselves are loved by God. Every Sunday following our confession of faith we celebrate that through the grace and love of Jesus Christ God claims us as God's own. There is nothing we have to do or can do to be God's children other than thankfully accept our salvation as the huge, undeserved , unwarranted gift that it is. 'Jesus loves me, this I know, For the Bible tells me so'.
“ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
In order to live fearless lives we must claim our baptismal heritage as beloved sons and daughters of a God who calls us by name and desires only the utmost best for our lives.
3. We need a clear picture of each other... reach out to others as sisters and brothers
The final verse we read this morning reminds us that the love of God isn't just about us. True, Jesus loves us, but He calls us to share that love with each other. 'Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.'
John is keen to point out that unless love is also transforming the way we see each other, then God's Spirit is not truly at work in our lives. We are called to see each other as God sees us, as people God sent Jesus to die for, as people God loves, as people, who, like us, are marred by our sins, but nevertheless have all the potential that being human gives us.
In order to live fearless lives we must treat others how we would like them to treat us. Grant them all the respect and honor that we ourselves receive from God.
There's a whole lot of teaching that John packed into these verses we've been looking at this morning.
So let me finish with a quick review.
We can't grow spiritually by coercion but only by love. And the greatest source of love in all creation is the love of God, that we see demonstrated in Jesus Christ and which impacts our lives through the action of the Holy Spirit.
In order to live fearlessly we need to;
1. Have a clear picture of the nature of God, redefine how see the Divine.
2. Have a clear picture of ourselves, remember the claim of God's name.
3. Have a clear picture of each other, reach out to others as sisters and brothers.
May God help us, through the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to live lives of fearless love that truly reflect the light of Jesus Christ. AMEN!
Rev Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, May 6th,2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
Everything I know about growing plants could be written on the back of a postage stamp. I claim zero experience in the green finger department. But this much I know. Nothing grows by coercion. Things only grow through nurture. If you plant tomatoes you cannot go out in the garden and terrify them into maturity. “Now come on little Tommy Tomato plant. Grow up or I'll give you a such a thrashing that you'll never even be able to say the word fertilizer'. You have to tend plants, carefully and gently.
Spiritual growth is no different. Fear can not produce spiritually mature believers. The only fertile ground for true spiritual growth is the love of God. 1 John 4:18-19 tells us“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because He first loved us.”
The last few weeks we have been following a series on John's first letter that has taken us through the themes of sin, forgiveness and love. Last week we were considering the great legacy of love that has been passed on to us .We affirmed that love is a great mystery which opens us to amazing possibilities. In chapter four John takes us further. He gives us the famous phrase 'God is love'.
One of the amazing things about the life of Jesus was how He never acted out of fear but always out of love. That is not to say that Jesus was never afraid. In the Garden of Gethsemane He prays that He may be spared from the pain and agony He would face at the Cross. There's nothing wrong in being afraid. It's part of what makes us human. But being afraid and living in fear are different things.
There are two kinds of fear.
The first is best described as 'Honor' or 'Respect', the second as 'Dread'.
When the Book of Proverbs tells us 'Fear the Lord' the intention is not for us go through the whole of our lives being afraid of what God may do to us if God finds out what we are really like. The fear we are to have towards God is by the way of honor and respect. That was the kind of fear that Jesus had towards His Father. He refused to do anything or be anything that didn't represent the love of God. His whole ministry was built upon respect for and trust in what the love of God could do.
The opposite of respectful fear, the unhealthy, negative kind of fear that John tells us to have nothing to do with, is best described as dread. John writes “Perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment”. Dread is the fear that has to do with punishment. Fear of punishment can never help us build a mature relationship with God or with each other. Jesus lived fearlessly because His life was centered in the loving heart of God.
He didn't care what people thought about Him. He was totally secure in His relationship with His Father God. He didn't have to gain favor with people or use people to get where He wanted to be. He was right where He wanted to be, in the will of God. He was able to act in complete freedom and without dread because He knew Himself a child of God. Both at His baptism and on the mountain of Transfiguration He found His identity in His Father's claim on His life “This is my beloved Son”.
What might it take for us to live lives defined by fearless love?
How can we apply these words about 'perfect love casting out fear' to our own lives?
In 1895 a lady called Clara Scott had a hymn published called “Open my eyes”.
Open my eyes, that I may see, glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key, that shall unclasp and set me free.
Only through having a clear picture of God, ourselves and each other can we unlock the mystery of fearless love. Or to put it another way...
We need to:
Redefine how we see the Divine,
Remember the claim of God's name
Reach out to others as sisters and brothers!.
Let us explore those themes a little more!
1. We need a clear picture of God … redefine how see the Divine
What are we afraid of that prevents us from letting the love of God enfold us and envelope us? Our fears can come from an irrational picture of God. Even with my lack of gardening skills I recognize that nothing grows by coercion. Growth takes place through nurture. The first picture the Bible gives us of God is as the Creator. The second picture is the Gardener. As you read New Testament the images Jesus uses are often nurture related. Sowing seeds. Vines and branches. Seeds and Weeds. Springtime and Harvest.
Many of us have picked up on negative images of God. A tyrannical father. A mean dictator. An uncaring judge. A strict disciplinarian. A God of hell-fire whose greatest delight is to punish unrepentant sinners with eternal torment. A warped policeman on high. A God of disapproval. Unapproachable. Unrelenting. Irrational. Making rules we can never keep. A Scary God.
Many times I have had people say to me,'Oh, I wouldn't want to set foot in church, probably make the roof cave in or cause the place to be struck by lightning'. A God who toys with people, who is a despot, a blue meanie, a dark disturbing brooding figure from our worst nightmares. I have heard people describe to me the god they don't believe in and found myself thinking that I don't believe in that kind of god either!
If ever those negative images of God start creeping in on you, read this passage from 1 John and see how many times life affirming love is mentioned. ' This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.' 'We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.' 'There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.'
In order to leave fearless lives we need to put our faith, not in a God we dread, but one whom we have the utmost respect for and seek to honor in the way we live our lives.
2. We need a clear picture of ourselves... remember the claim of God's name
Verse 19 reminds us 'We love because He first loved us.' Our capacity for loving others comes from the security of knowing that we ourselves are loved by God. Every Sunday following our confession of faith we celebrate that through the grace and love of Jesus Christ God claims us as God's own. There is nothing we have to do or can do to be God's children other than thankfully accept our salvation as the huge, undeserved , unwarranted gift that it is. 'Jesus loves me, this I know, For the Bible tells me so'.
“ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
In order to live fearless lives we must claim our baptismal heritage as beloved sons and daughters of a God who calls us by name and desires only the utmost best for our lives.
3. We need a clear picture of each other... reach out to others as sisters and brothers
The final verse we read this morning reminds us that the love of God isn't just about us. True, Jesus loves us, but He calls us to share that love with each other. 'Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.'
John is keen to point out that unless love is also transforming the way we see each other, then God's Spirit is not truly at work in our lives. We are called to see each other as God sees us, as people God sent Jesus to die for, as people God loves, as people, who, like us, are marred by our sins, but nevertheless have all the potential that being human gives us.
In order to live fearless lives we must treat others how we would like them to treat us. Grant them all the respect and honor that we ourselves receive from God.
There's a whole lot of teaching that John packed into these verses we've been looking at this morning.
So let me finish with a quick review.
We can't grow spiritually by coercion but only by love. And the greatest source of love in all creation is the love of God, that we see demonstrated in Jesus Christ and which impacts our lives through the action of the Holy Spirit.
In order to live fearlessly we need to;
1. Have a clear picture of the nature of God, redefine how see the Divine.
2. Have a clear picture of ourselves, remember the claim of God's name.
3. Have a clear picture of each other, reach out to others as sisters and brothers.
May God help us, through the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to live lives of fearless love that truly reflect the light of Jesus Christ. AMEN!
Rev Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
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