Sermons

The Divine Imperative

John 15:9-17 [9]As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. [10]If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. [11]These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. [12]"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [13]Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. [14]You are my friends if you do what I command you. [15]No longer do I call you servants,(1) for the servant(2) does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. [16]You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. [17]These things I command you, so that you will love one another. (ESV) Footnotes 1. [15:15] Greek 'bondservants' 2. [15:15] Greek 'bondservant'; also verse 20

The musical Jesus Christ Superstar has been a part of our cultural milieu for forty years. It’s hard to believe. There is probably nothing we remember more keenly from that creation than Mary Magdalene singing about Jesus: “I don’t know how to love him . . .” Can’t we identify with that? Do we know how to love Jesus? Despite his obvious humility and compassion, Jesus is intimidating to most people. We see him as divine, as a miracle-worker, and as good in all the ways we are not good. We see him as knowing too much about us for us to ever be comfortable with him. We are supposed to simply love him, but most days we don’t have a clue how to do that. Some days you have to wonder if we know how to love at all. Love still means “like” for most of us. We looove chocolate and days off, shopping and partying, golfing and kicking back. To love is to want, to desire, to need. You see what we love and you wonder if we know anything about love as self-giving and as sacrifice.

Emil Brunner, a world-class twentieth-century theologian from Switzerland, titled his volume on Christian ethics The Divine Imperative. What is the “divine imperative,” the one thing we must do if there is any hope for us? In John’s Gospel, chapter fifteen, Jesus says: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” What does that mean? He says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.” What commandments? He says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” And he says, “Greater love has no one than this, that you lay down your life for your friends.” Jesus tells them they are his “friends,” and he repeats, “This I command you, to love one another.” Mary Magdalene asks, “How do we love Jesus?” Jesus himself says, “By loving one another.” This is the divine imperative: love one another as Christ loves you.

Another Mother’s Day has come. Where is there a more sentimental love than the love we celebrate today? Mother’s love, for many, is second only to God’s love. For those who never experience God’s love, mother’s love may be the only unconditional love they ever know . . . if, of course, Mother’s love is unconditional. What do you do with a day like this if you didn’t have a mother like mine? God rest her soul. One thing we might do today is demythologize motherhood. We do not honor our mothers by making them something they are not. There are no perfect mothers.

Eugene Kennedy, in The Pain of Being Human, says it is natural for us to idealize our childhood. We would like to remember it as perfect. But no family is perfect and none ever will be. Furthermore, he says, no healthy thing is perfect. This is a basic truth of life, and when we forget it we get into trouble. Human beings, Kennedy says, thrive in environments that are healthy, but not perfect. Mothers need to be honored, not on the basis of their perfection, but because of the good gifts they have given us. Maybe Mother’s Day would be a good day for some of us to forgive our mothers their sins against us. Mothers are human.

Erich Fromm gave us a treasure in his little book, The Art of Loving. It bears re-reading, and not many books do. Its understanding of love is as compatible with the biblical revelation as any you will find in a book of psychology. One section of the book deals with parental love, and Fromm distinguishes between “motherly love” and “fatherly love.” Fromm is not distinguishing between men and women, or even mothers and fathers, but between two kinds of love:  “motherly love” and “fatherly love.” All mothers cannot give “motherly love,” and all fathers cannot give “fatherly love.” Some fathers find it easy to give “motherly love,” and some mothers naturally give “fatherly love.” “Motherly love” is the unconditional love in which life begins. Normally, as babies grow, their many experiences with their mothers are crystallized and integrated into the one experience, “I am loved.” Later it becomes, “I am loved because I am my mother’s child.” Finally, it becomes, “I am loved because I am.”

Motherly love is unconditional. “There is nothing I have to do to be loved. All I have to do is to be.” “Motherly love” does not have to be earned or acquired. It simply is. “Motherly love” is our birthright. “Fatherly love” is different. Remember, this is not to suggest that all mothers and all fathers love alike. These are two ideal types of love, and each is important no matter who gives it. The father is a secondary figure in the earliest stage of a child’s life. Mother is the home we come from, she is nature, soil, and sky. She is the infant’s natural world. Later, the father comes, representing the way into the larger world of thought, of ingenuity, of adventure. Mother has the function of making a child secure in life. Father has the function of teaching and guiding the child to cope with realities and problems outside the sphere of mother. Father shows the child what is expected, and what is not permitted. “Fatherly love” is more conditional. It says, “I love you because you learn from my guidance and fulfill my expectations.” You say, “But surely some fathers love as unconditionally as mothers, and some mothers place conditions on their love.” Of course, but these two kinds of love are important, no matter who gives them.

Fromm is saying that there are two important kinds of love for the growing child. One gives a sense of unconditional security, epitomized traditionally by Mother. The other challenges the child to seek approval, to become independent, to achieve, to act, to become responsible, epitomized traditionally by the Father. These two loves complement each other, and each of us needs both. Fromm says “motherly love” and “fatherly love” are intended to develop into a motherly and fatherly conscience, and this seems true. But I believe God speaks to me both as eternal Father and eternal Mother, and I need both. And, in Jesus Christ, I am kept under a divine imperative that is my only hope for a meaningful and fulfilling life.

A certain man went to see a psychiatrist because he was depressed. He went to see the best psychiatrist because he could afford the best. “Give me something for this depression,” he said, “I can’t work, I can’t sleep, I don’t eat.” The doctor finished his evaluation and said, “Here is your prescription. If you will follow the directions to the letter it will make you well.” The man took his medicine exactly as the doctor had prescribed. And after he had done fifty hours with “Meals on Wheels” in an East Harlem ghetto, and after two months of being a “Big Brother,” and after establishing a pattern of seeing his aged mother once a week, and after rediscovering his wife and children, he was cured of his depression. It is the divine imperative because we cannot afford to take it or leave it.

We are under the holy and glorious burden of a divine imperative. May God grant us the wisdom and the will to love as we are loved. Amen.

Faith’s Answer to Fear

1 John 4:7-21 [show]1 John 4:7-21 God Is Love [7]Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. [8]Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. [9]In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. [10]In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [11]Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. [12]No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. [13]By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. [14]And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. [15]Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. [16]So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. [17]By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. [18]There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. [19]We love because he first loved us. [20]If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot(1) love God whom he has not seen. [21]And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (ESV) Footnotes 1. [4:20] Some manuscripts 'how can he'

Someone has counted and claims that the admonition “Fear not!” appears 365 times in the Bible. Once, says the counter, for every day of the year. But there is no day when fear is not a reality in our lives. Fear is part of the human condition. Being afraid is a part of living. What are you afraid of? Years ago a team of market researchers asked three thousand Americans, “What are you most afraid of?” The No. 1 fear was speaking in front of a group. The second greatest fear was heights. Three fears tied for third place: insects, financial problems, and deep water. What are you afraid of?

When we are really afraid, it isn’t funny. Everyone is seriously afraid of something, something that threatens to take more than we are willing to give. It needs to be said, of course, that fear has some very positive uses. Appropriate fear is your best friend, your guardian. Without it, we couldn’t make it through a single day. We ought to be afraid of snakes and lightning! The person with no fear isn’t brave, but foolish. Fear can be positive. Someone once said, “A good scare is worth more to a person than good advice.”

When fear moves beyond its natural and appropriate functions, however, it can be a terrible enemy. When fear dominates us, pre-occupies us, and allows us no peace, fear is no friend. Then it becomes a malignancy in the soul, a threat to all the things that make for life. In our faith there are resources for dealing with the destructive aspects of fear. Faith has an answer to fear. Faith can conquer fear. There’s an old saying: “Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. There was no one there.” But what exactly is faith’s answer to fear? Let me share with you three stages in my understanding of fear and faith.

First, courage is faith’s answer to fear. I grew up believing that courage conquers fear. It is an understandably popular notion. Courage is fear’s opposite. Therefore, courage must be fear’s antidote. How many times were you told as a child to “be brave”? It is not bad advice. At least, sometimes it is not bad advice. Strength comes to us largely through resolve. I determine that I will be strong, and it helps me to be strong. Someone encourages me to be strong, and it helps me to be strong. “Be brave” is often exactly what I need to hear.

The problem is, sooner or later we encounter fears that are simply greater than our courage. We all possess courage in a limited supply. Courage, like gasoline, runs out. Being brave proved sufficient for getting me through walking by a “haunted house,” and for jumping off the high diving board, and for getting shots from the doctor. Being brave still gets me through some things. But in the face of certain other threats – - such as dying, or losing someone I love – - bravery is not enough. Courage runs out. Faith’s answer to fear is not simply courage.

Second, love is faith’s answer to fear. This is what we read in the epistle of 1 John, which has a lot to say about love. It says, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (4:16) It says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” (4:18) 1 John doesn’t say courage is fear’s antidote. Love is. This was a very important discovery for me. Fear is overcome in being loved, and in knowing and accepting that we are being loved.         Haven’t you found that to be true? Pastoral psychologist Myron Madden used to tell of a time during the Cold War when Kruschev was making threatening noises and everyone was feeling a little tentative about the state of the world. The Madden’s son was a little boy then, and he was greatly upset by all of this. One night the child came into his parents’ room and expressed great anxiety about whether the Russians were going to destroy them. He was terribly afraid. No amount of reasoning on the subject and no reassurances seemed to help at all. Certainly talking about America’s military strength didn’t help. Finally, almost in desperation, Dr. Madden said:  “Look, you are our little boy. We love you more than anything in the world, and we’re going to do everything we can to take care of you.” Strange, but that seemed to satisfy him, said Madden, and he went back to his play.

Knowing we are loved can be a profound antidote to fear. How many dark nights have you gotten through because you knew somebody loved you? Knowing we are loved by God can help us deal with the greatest fears of all. In that first-century world in which John was writing, the Christians seem to have been more afraid of the coming judgment than anything else. They believed Christ would return at any moment and the world would experience its final judgment. It was pretty fearful stuff. John was saying, “If you know who God is, and how much God loves you, you don’t need to be afraid of judgment.” Knowing that we are loved, knowing we are supremely loved by God, helps us deal with fear. This is faith’s answer. But there is more. There is one further discovery I made about faith’s answer to fear.

Third, the verse in 1 John actually reads “perfect” love casts out fear. “Perfect,” or “perfected” love, literally means “fulfilled,” or “completed,” or “mature” love. When love has run its course, or completed its work, fear is gone. It isn’t simply knowing that you are loved that casts out fear, but being loving. We are to grow from being loved to being loving. This is both spiritually and psychological sound. And when I am loving to the point of being “full of love,” there is no room for fear. Fear is the most self-centered of all emotions. It is the heightened awareness of self that is caused by what we experience as threats to the self. Paul Hoon (Interpreter’s Bible) says: “The cure for fear lies partly in eliminating external threats to the security of the self; but it lies more in eliminating excessive consciousness of the self. Love supremely does this.” Fulfilled love casts out fear because when I am full of love or concern for someone or something else, there is no room for this excessive concern within myself.

In 1957 a Little Rock pastor wrote a piece on Elizabeth Eckford, one of nine black high school students chosen to integrate an all-white high school. On the first day of school the Arkansas governor surrounded the school with National Guardsmen. This pastor watched Elizabeth walk up to the guardsmen with their guns, tear gas, and billy-clubs. He watched her turned away, and watched her queenly poise as she walked a long block through a howling mob, and he watched her wait thirty-five minutes in silent dignity for a bus, all the while being insulted and threatened with injury. That evening the minister when to Elizabeth’s house. He asked the girl how she had remained so calm on the surface, and if she had been afraid. She said she had been afraid she would cry, but that was all. She said that before she left home that morning she read Psalm 27 [show]Psalm 27 The LORD Is My Light and My Salvation Of David. [27:1]The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold(1) of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? [2]When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. [3]Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet(2) I will be confident. [4]One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire(3) in his temple. [5]For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. [6]And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD. [7]Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! [8]You have said, "Seek(4) my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek."(5) [9]Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! [10]For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in. [11]Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. [12]Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. [13]I believe(6) that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! [14]Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! Footnotes 1. [27:1] Or 'refuge' 2. [27:3] Or 'in this' 3. [27:4] Or 'meditate' 4. [27:8] The command ('seek') is addressed to more than one person 5. [27:8] The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain 6. [27:13] Other Hebrew manuscripts 'Oh! Had I not believed'
and should him her Bible. The pastor turned in Elizabeth’s Bible to that great psalm: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” He read on: “When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.”

Faith’s answer to fear is courage and love; and, to the extent that God’s love is perfected within us, we will not be afraid. Amen.

Selecting a Shepherd

 John 10:11-18 [show]John 10:11-18 [11]I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. [12]He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. [13]He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. [14]I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, [15]just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. [16]And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. [17]For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. [18]No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." (ESV)

Three points. First, we are all sheep – - not very bright, vulnerable, and afraid of being alone. Second, the world is a wilderness – - full of challenges, dangers, and temptations. Third, we are allowed to select our shepherd. Here is something I find very interesting. New Testament scholar Kenneth Bailey says the Early Church did not use the cross as its primary symbol as long as the cross was being used in the Romans for executions. He says it would be like us glorifying an electric chair. For its primary symbol the Early Church used the figure of a shepherd with a sheep being carried on his shoulders.

In our text from John 10 [show]John 10 I Am the Good Shepherd [10:1]"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. [2]But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. [3]To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. [4]When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. [5]A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." [6]This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. [7]So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. [8]All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. [9]I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. [10]The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. [11]I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. [12]He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. [13]He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. [14]I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, [15]just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. [16]And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. [17]For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. [18]No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." [19]There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. [20]Many of them said, "He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?" [21]Others said, "These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?" I and the Father Are One [22]At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, [23]and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. [24]So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." [25]Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, [26]but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. [27]My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. [28]I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. [29]My Father, who has given them to me,(1) is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. [30]I and the Father are one." [31]The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. [32]Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?" [33]The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God." [34]Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'? [35]If he called them gods to whom the word of God came--and Scripture cannot be broken-- [36]do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? [37]If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; [38]but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father." [39]Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. [40]He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. [41]And many came to him. And they said, "John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true." [42]And many believed in him there. (ESV) Footnotes 1. [10:29] Some manuscripts 'What my Father has given to me'
, Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd.” There were different kinds of shepherds. To this day the figure of the shepherd is prominent in Israel. In the uplands of Judea, in the south, there is a plateau that is thirty-five miles long and about half that wide. It is not agricultural land, but produces enough grass for sheep to graze. No flock grazes alone, so the shepherd is always on duty. The grass is scarce enough that sheep can nibble themselves away from the flock and even fall into a ravine. The shepherd must see to the flock’s needs, and guard them from predators, such a wolves and thieves.

Some shepherds own the sheep they guard, or belong to the family that owns them. Others are “hirelings,” outsiders hired to watch the sheep. But if trouble comes, the hireling may decide to run away. The good shepherd, however, will risk his life for his sheep. Jesus himself said: “What one of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’” (Lk 15:4-6 [show]Luke 15:4-6 [4]"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? [5]And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. [6]And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' (ESV)
)   In today’s reading, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd, and a good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11 [show]John 10:11 [11]I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (ESV)
)  We are all sheep. We need a shepherd.

The world is wilderness. Creation, in itself, is good, a beautifully good gift of God. Genesis tells the story of humankind’s fall into disobedience and sin. Sin always has consequences, which is the main reason it is a sin. Consequences. A pure, loving relationship can become a destructive clash of wills. A home can become a hell-on-earth. Kingdoms betray their founders’ vision, and nations rise against nations. Eden’s garden becomes a wilderness, and all people are at risk.       Natural causes are morally neutral, and history is ambiguous. The world is a wilderness. Humankind needs all the help possible.

How do we select a shepherd? One of our biggest problems is thinking we don’t need a shepherd. It is a most dangerous way to think. The myth of self-sufficiency rarely has a happy ending. We may be self-confident, or self-reliant, but we are not self-sufficient. We are sheep, not wolves! We should pray for people who never ask for another person’s advice or point of view, as for the person who has never said, “I was wrong.”

How do we decide who will guide and possibly control our lives? It should be someone who has our best interests in mind. But our consumer culture develops creative sales and promotional strategies that can make anyone appear to have our best interests at heart. If television commercials don’t make you cynical, nothing will! Whatever the promises the sponsors make, even if they promise to be our best friends forever, we have learned that as soon as they have our money, they vanish.

Jesus didn’t do commercials. In fact, when people came to him with a question, he rarely gave them an answer. He would send them on an assignment, or say simply, “Follow me.” When we come to Jesus, what we usually need is not an answer, anyway. It is a different perspective, or a different path. Jesus was constantly confronted with problems and questions. Here are some of his responses, which were not necessarily answers to questions: “Let the dead bury the dead and come, follow me.” “Sell what you have and give it to the poor and come, follow me.” “If any would come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their crosses and follow me.” We are sheep. We need a shepherd.

Jesus, as our shepherd, will lay his life on the line for us, and has done so. The shepherd in ancient Israel was seriously accountable for the sheep. In the book of Amos, a shepherd rescues two legs and a piece of an ear from a lion’s mouth! (3:12)  You have to get very close to the lion’s mouth to do that! Who else will do for us what Christ has done? Furthermore, who is as qualified to lead and guide us as the One in whom our humanity has been revealed in all its fullness and promise? The truth is, only Christ is qualified to be our shepherd.

What will it mean if Christ is our shepherd? It will mean being led through green pastures and beside still waters, and it will mean being led through streets running red with blood and by scenes of horror beyond belief. Christ never promised us a rose garden. He never offered us the victory of our choice, but participation in the ultimate triumph of the kingdom of God. Still, he is the One we seek and know we need. Henri Nouwen once said, “In the middle of our longings, we discover the footprints of the One who has created them.”

I recently re-connected with Weston Ware, down in Cedar Hill, a friend from the long road, whom some of you know. Weston is 79, but mostly unchanged – - easy-going, kind, the social conscience of a tiger, one of the best Baptists ever ordained. He has spent his life in the service of applied Christianity, moral and ethical issues. I don’t know what it cost him, and he would say it didn’t. We talked about Royal Lane and how proud I am of you, and he reminded me of when “North Dallas was the most conservative residential area in the nation – - on race, on women’s rights, on the economy, on everything.” I assured him God hasn’t given up on us yet. Weston is one of those who made me willing to remain a Baptist, a man whose Shepherd is Christ.

There have been others, others who selected Jesus as their Shepherd, and became an example for me. In 1969, some people thought Martin Luther King, Jr., was only seeking publicity and fame. French Christian writer Jacques Ellul wrote an article suggesting that King was actually following Christ at great risk to his reputation, with both blacks and whites. Ellul wrote: “To be on the side of the oppressed and at the same time have to tell them that their explosions of violence are futile and will bring no real change – - this is the most thankless position anyone can take. It is the position of Martin Luther King, and we know how vulnerable it is. It is also the position of Jesus in relation to the Pharisees (who wanted to organize resistance to the Romans) and the Zealots.”

You see, my sisters and brothers, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, who urge us on, all of us who make Christ the Lord our Shepherd, the Shepherd who goes after the one lost sheep and brings it home on his shoulders. Amen.

What We Shall Be

1 John 3:1-7 [show]1 John 3:1-7 [3:1]See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. [2]Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears(1) we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. [3]And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. [4]Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. [5]You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. [6]No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. [7]Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. (ESV) Footnotes 1. [3:2] Or 'when it appears'

What child has not played imaginatively with thoughts of growing up? One of the most exhilarating phrases for children is, “When I grow up.” “When I grow up I’m going to a scientist.” “When I grow up I’m going to be a ballerina.” “When I grow up I’m going to be a veterinarian.” We have all been there. When we were children the world was bursting with possibilities. To think of “someday” made the heart pound.

What a pity if we believe that because we have peaked physically there is no more growing to do.  It is especially tragic to assume that all our spiritual growth has been achieved. The New Testament is clear about growth being a lifelong adventure. What a shame to think we are ever fully grown. Rather late in his life the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians that he had not “arrived” spiritually, but pressed on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ. (3:13) If Paul had not “arrived,” chances are we haven’t either.

In 1 John, one of the loveliest letters in the New Testament, the writer says that God loves us so completely that our true identity is “children of God.” We are God’s children now, says John, and “it does not yet appear what we shall be.” What we shall be” – - what a phrase! Are we still eligible to play “When I grow up”? Yes, we are. Consider three possibilities concerning what we shall be when God’s love has rendered us fully grown.

First, when we grow up we will be free from our desperate need to prove ourselves. We will be liberated from our infantile self-centeredness, so that we can genuinely love other people. By the time we acquire all the signs of status we think will impress people, we find out that people are not nearly as interested in who we are as in who they are! Some people never outgrow the childish need to control center stage. We become more subtle about it, but we still seek attention and approval. Our actions shout: “Look at me!” “Look at me!” The saddest human tragedy is the child who never grows up. When we grow up spiritually we are secure in who we are as children of God, secure enough to love and care for others.

Second, when we grow up we will not be afraid any more. We will not be afraid of the dark. We will not be afraid of dying. We will not be afraid of poverty. Most of all, we will not be afraid of failure. Failure is the No. 1 unpardonable sin in a culture that worships success. We have been almost brain-washed that the most important thing in life is to succeed. What we do doesn’t matter as long as we are successful at it. Many of us live in fear that we won’t make it, that we won’t measure up, and that our failure will lead to rejection. You feel like it’s the ninth inning, there are two outs, it’s the World Series, and you’re the next batter. When we grow up we will be secure in who we are, and in whose we are. God’s love transforms us. In the fourth chapter of 1 John these words: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” (4:18)  We will be free enough to risk failure. When we grow up we will not be afraid any more.

Third, when we grow up we will have our values straight. We will not spend our time, energy, and other resources on trivial pursuits. We will not waste our one precious life on things that do not matter. We will not manufacture mountains out of mole hills. We will not let inconsequential remarks and petty attitudes burn our digestive tracts. We will learn to master circumstances and situations rather than being mastered by them. Kierkegaard wrote of being “trampled to death by geese.” Someone once spoke of being “slain by secondaries.” And I remember seeing a book with the title, The Tremendous Trifles of Marriage. When we grow up we will know what matters, and what does not matter. We will have our values straight.

These are not bad aspirations, are they? They sound like worthy goals. But are they realistic? Can we simply outgrow the little child who still lives inside us? Here is where we need to hear the gospel.

The gospel confirms our childish immaturity. We have set higher standards than we can reach. We are so immature. We are such children! But, the gospel says, we are God’s children! The gospel is “good news” in that it says we are accepted as we are. God loves us despite our childish self-centeredness, our childish fears, and our childish values. This is a most remarkable gospel. Not many of us have genuinely believed it, because it seems so incredible.

God understands what earthly parents do not, that love motivates growth. Far more effectively than rules and demands, unconditional love motivates growth. If you say to me, “Grow up!” that demand has confirmed me in my immaturity. You have not only told me I am a child, you have communicated the distressing message that I am unacceptable to you until I change. If, on the other hand, you say to me, “I love you as you are,” you have opened the doors of a thousand possibilities.

1 John 3:2 [show]1 John 3:2 [2]Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears(1) we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (ESV) Footnotes 1. [3:2] Or 'when it appears'
says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him.” God loves us as we are in order to make us like Jesus Christ. We become like him, not by straining, but by believing and accepting God’s love. The most beautiful thing about children is their total lack of pretension. They are who they are. This is why Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me . . . for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Our problem is that we think we are grown. We think we cannot come to God as little children, honestly, just as we are. But God doesn’t say, “Grow up!” God says, “Come home.”

Surely you have heard this Fred Craddock story. Dr. and Mrs. Craddock were having dinner in the Tennessee mountains when an elderly gentleman stopped by their table. “Evening, folks,” he said. “I’m Ben Hooper. Where’re you from?” Then when he found out that Craddock was a preacher, he pulled up a chair and said, “Let me tell you a story.” He told of being born in rural Tennessee without knowing who his father was, and of the sense of shame he had growing up. Still just a boy, he started going to a little backwoods church because no one knew him, and he liked the preacher who was loud and dramatic. Once, when he stayed too long after the service, the preacher caught him. “Boy,” he said, “who are you?” His eyes bored down on him. Before the boy could say anything the preacher said, “Wait a minute! I know who you are. You’re a child of . . . let’s see, you’re a child of . . . you’re a child of God! Yes, I see a striking resemblance.” Then he smiled, tousled the boy’s hair, and said, “Now go out there and claim your inheritance!” Fred Craddock said, “I remember hearing about a man who was twice elected governor of this state, and I believe his name was Ben Hooper.” The old man smiled and said, “Yes, and what I just told you was the day I was born.”

Beloved, we are God’s children now. And God knows what we shall be. Amen.

Walking in the Light – Dr. C. David Matthews