Pastor Steve sermon
October 7, 2012
RLC Core values - Love
We’re talking about core values that we’ve adopted together at Richland Lutheran
Church. You may remember, as we’re approaching our annual meeting date at the end of
October, that a year ago we voted and adopted core values as a congregation. Last week we
talked about spirituality. This week we’re going to talk about love.
Now. Every organized group has core values. They may be expressed outright. I went
to the internet and just for kicks I looked up Battelle’s core values. Those of you who work at
Battelle no doubt have these memorized, but I’m not going to ask you to give those before us
because I’ll just read them; accountability, agility, courage, integrity, respect, and trust. Those
are their written core values.
Then there are groups that meet that don’t write out their core values. They don’t have a
way of formalizing core values -- like gangs. We have gangs in the Tri-Cities. Gangs have
certain values by which they live and conduct themselves. Now, gangs’ core values are a little
bit different than Battelle’s core values. amen? They value intimidation, violence, hierarchy,
coercion, and oppression for some. Now, that’s a lot different than what Battelle looks like, and
in the church if we aren’t deliberate about formalizing our core values -- that is prescribing
values through Scripture -- how we’re going to act with one another and the community, we’re
going to end up going in a direction that may not honor God.
And so we’ve used the great commandment that Jesus gave. We heard it read here for us
in the Gospel of Luke and that is to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. But then we
asked the question, what does that look like? Love is one of those words that we get all mixed
up in our language. Did you know in the Greek there are at least four words for love, some
would argue that there are five different words for love.
It is interesting that last night when we welcomed new members we had a delicious
chicken dish. And I loved that chicken dish. But I have to be honest with you, I love that
chicken differently than I love my wife. Amen? And it’s true. But we use the same word to
describe a tasty chicken dish as we do when we’re talking about the person that we love the most
in this world. And so what does it look like, then, that we say we will hold to the core value of
love?
I believe that in our text, 1st John. You can turn there. I think it’s 12:28 if you want to
use a pew Bible. You have your own Bible perhaps. Maybe a bulletin in front of you or you
have memorized it but there are options for you today. I want to look at this text a little further
as we talk about how we’re going to live out this core value of love.
Now, John understands love. This is the apostle John, the youngest of all the disciples of
Jesus of the 12. This is the same John who writes the Gospel of John and when referring to
himself in the Gospel, he never uses his name but he self-identifies by using these words, the
disciple whom Jesus loved. And so John understands love from God. He understands love as he
pours out his heart to God and now as he preaches to the early church he is going to explain to
them how they might love each other. John also writes his letter, this same John, this apostle,
and look at verse 5 then. So the first six verses I would suggest to you, maybe even seven, talk
about what it looks like to love God.
Verse 5 John says if anyone obeys his word. If anyone obeys God’s word is what John is
talking about here. In fact, in verse 1 he talked about following God’s commands, commands
and God’s word are synonymous here. They’re the same thing. If anyone follows God’s
commands, if anyone follows and obeys his word, then that happens? John says that love for
God is truly made complete in them. Interesting.
It’s as if there is a proof of our loving God and that proof is that we obey his commands
and that we follow his word. And this word complete means lacking nothing. That this is a true
way to love God. Obeying God means loving God. And isn’t it true? When we’re loving, we
put the other person’s pleasures and interests in front of our own. It’s 1st Corinthians 13, the socalled wedding verse, although it wasn’t written for marriage, it was written to the church. And
it’s a reminder that it’s selfless love that is the kind of love that God wants from us. When we
put God’s commands, when we put God’s word before our own commands and our own
pleasures, then we are truly loving him. And then what does this look like?
Perhaps you remember the story of Abraham and his son, Isaac. There are many stories
of Abraham and Isaac but it was well after his 90th year, the Bible tells us, that Abraham had a
son by his wife, Sarah. Now, 90 years old, friends. That’s old even in that time to have a baby.
And so he is now well over 100 years when God comes to him and now his only son, Isaac, by
Sarah, he is supposed to take the son up into the mountains, build an alter to God and then what?
Sacrifice him.
Now, we might some of us think that this is just a myth, it’s a nice little legend or story.
But those of us who believe in the authentic word of God know that this is not a myth, it is not
just a story to illustrate a point. This is reality. God has come to test Abraham and now
Abraham has to take his son Isaac to sacrifice him? How does he respond? Following God’s
commands. Why? Because he loves God.
I’ve often thought of the conversation between Abraham and Isaac as they walk up the
mountain. What do you say to your boy? He is asking questions. He is even the one that is
putting together the altar. He is constructing this thing. Then he puts the wood there and he
turns to you, his father, and says where is the sacrifice, Dad? You. How does that go over?
How do you explain that one to your son whom you love?
You start to tie him up. You put him on that altar of sacrifice. You pull out your knife.
Abraham was fully committed to doing the thing that pleased God even if it meant sacrificing his
only son. God intervenes, of course. We know the ram is caught in the bushes and they --Abrham and Isaac together sacrifice this ram unto their Lord. Friends, loving God as a core
value simple looks like this. That we obey his commands and follow his word.
But there is a second part of this greatest command of Jesus. Not only are we to love
God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength but we are now to love our neighbor as
ourselves. Verse 10 you might look at it there in 1st John. John says this, anyone who loves
their brother and sister. So this is a proof again of love, not of God this time. The proof of love
of God is that we follow his commands, that we obey his word but now we hear from John the
proof of loving our neighbor comes in this. That we live in the light and there is nothing in them
to make them stumble. Another perfect or complete love. It’s whole, it’s true, it’s worthy.
But what does it mean, then, if loving God means we’re following and obeying his
commands and his word and loving others means that we’re living in the light, what does it mean
to live in the light? Well, we have to get into the theology of John to understand what that means
and so we go back to the Gospel of John and in verse 9 of the first chapter John says to us that
God is light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. This is
John’s poetic introduction to the Gospel. God becoming flesh in the person of Jesus Christ in the
manger. It reminds us that it is Jesus Christ who is the true light that came into the world and
then Jesus himself, in the same Gospel, John 8:12 says about himself one of the “I am”
statements of John, I am the light of the world. And so when we say that we must live in the
light in order to love others, we’re saying that we’re living in Jesus Christ. None other. That it
is Jesus in whom we live.
Number two, light and darkness are mutually exclusive. You can’t have both. Have you
ever been in the dark, dark? I mean pitch dark. Go up in the Cascades when there is no moon
and no stars and it is pitch dark. You can’t see this far in front of your face. But the light has
come into the world. John reminds us again in his poetic introduction to the Gospel, the light
shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. And so Jesus in the light that has
come into the world.
The light dispels the darkness, that’s the evil and sin that entangles us that can’t be living
in the same space. They are mutually exclusive and then lastly if we’re going to be living in the
light, we need to know that we can become children of the light. Children of Christ, children of
God himself. John 12:36 the apostle writes, believe in the light while you have the light.
Talking about Jesus. So that you may become children of light.
And so to recap, when John talks about loving God he equates that by following God’s
plans and obeying his word. That’s what it means to live out practical love and that’s how we
live out that piece of our core value. And when we love others we are living in the light. That
is the light that is Jesus Christ and no darkness has any piece of that . And we are children, then,
of that same light who is Christ. We may ask, then, what does this look like?
If Abraham and Isaac lived like living out the commands of God and loving him what
does it look like to love our neighbor? How about we use our Gospel text as illustration, Luke
10. To test Jesus, the religious leaders said to him who is my neighbor? And then we have the
story, many of us are familiar with it, of the good Samaritan, right? The good Samaritan that
helps out in time of trouble. We have a man going from Jerusalem down to Jericho. We assume
because he is coming from Jerusalem and going to Jericho that he is Jewish. That’s a good
assumption. And so he is beat up by robbers along the side of the road and then a priest, a
religious leader, not unlike the one who is testing Jesus here, who is my neighbor? So he says
this priest sees this man probably half dead at this point. And in the law of Moses that was
handed down to them, the priest is probably thinking to himself, well, I don’t want to be defiled
by this unclean body. I don’t want to be defiled by this person so I’m just going to walk around
him. He is not even there. I don’t see you. And then a Levite, another religious leader, another
Jew going down the same road from Jerusalem to Jericho. He sees this man over here and does
he help? No. Another religious leader. One who leads in the temple. He walks by. He may
also be thinking I don’t want to defile myself. And so Jesus, in his illustration says, these two
leave the man and now -- now we lose the significance in our day and the age of the Samaritan.
Because we have, most of us, not a clue the relationship between Jews and Samaritans.
Let me give you one. There was no love lost between the two. And so Jesus says about
the Samaritan who is not Jewish, who is at odds with the Jew, the Samaritan sees this man half
dead and what does he do? He walks over. He bandages his wounds. He puts him on his own
donkey so he is walking now leading the donkey. The man is on the donkey. He takes him to
an inn. Takes money, gives it to the innkeeper and says take care of this man. I don’t know
him. He is a different ethnicity that me. Our ethnic backgrounds preclude us even from being
with each other and yet I’m doing this thing. And he says I’ll be back, just in case the money I
gave you doesn’t take care of it and he walks away.
And Jesus says to the man, the religious leader, which of the three was the neighbor to
the man. Well, the leader is convicted at this point. “It’s the one who shows mercy.”
When we are walking in the light of Jesus Christ and loving him as we love our
neighbors as ourselves, we are reaching out. We are reaching out and taking care of those
around us. We are putting our needs and our interests behind the needs and interests of others.
We are walking in the light.
Friends, our core values are not just lip service. Our core values aren’t just in our
ministry plan to take up space. They do define who we are as we choose to live in the light of
Christ and by the word of God. I would like to close with the last verse of the hymn we already
have sung today as a reminder of the kind of congregation, that kind of Christ community we
want to be.
“From O Christ your heart compassionate, O love that made the distant stars, yet
marks the sparrow’s fall, who arms stretched wide upon a cross embrace and bear us all.
“Come make your church a servant church that walks your servant ways, whose
deeds of love rise up to you, a sacrifice of praise.”
AMEN.