Apr. 6, 2003

Lent 5

John 12:20-33

²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

²⁷ “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

³⁰ Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. ³¹ Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. ³² But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” ³³ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Sermon: “Love Your Neighbor As Yourself”

Last week I referred to a song by the Beatles, “Imagine”. We talked about the danger of trying to escape reality by ignoring it, by imagining that there is no country, no faith, no real difference between right and wrong, nothing worth dying for. Let me offer another song by a contemporary Christian group known as Mercy Me. The song is, “I Can Only Imagine.” It’s a song about heaven, the reality of eternal life. The song goes like this.

I Can Only Imagine- Bart Millard

(Performed by Mercy Me)

I can only imagine what it will be like when I walk by Your side,

I can only imagine what my eyes will see when your face is before me,

I can only imagine.

Surrounded by Your glory what will my heart feel,

Will I dance for you Jesus, or in awe of you be still?

Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall?

Will I sing Hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?

I can only imagine, I can only imagine.

When that day comes and I find myself standing in the sun

I can only imagine,

When all I would do is forever, forever worship You

I can only imagine.

©1999, Simpleville Music

Last week I made the point that there are some things worth dying for. Faith is worth dying for. Family is worth dying for. Freedom is worth dying for. And your neighbors, your community, your people, your nation should be worth dying for. I want to go back to that last one, because I’m not so sure we are in agreement about that. I wonder if we really do believe that our neighbor is worth dying for. That’s a good point to come back to the subject at hand, Apostolic Fellowship. Lets’ talk some more about apostolic fellowship.

When we hear the Great Commandments, to love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself, what exactly does that mean to you? What does it mean to love another person as you love yourself? Do we think of love for our neighbor as a fond feeling? Is it a utilitarian kind of love, that is to say, “I love my neighbor because of what I can get out of him?” Is it a politically motivated kind of love that says “I love those who think the way I think?” I want you to wrestle with this some. What kind of love do we show to our neighbors?

When a house burns down, do we say “That’s too bad. Glad it wasn’t my house”, or do we get involved in helping our neighbor through a time of tragedy? When the neighborhood is torn apart by gossip and factions, do we choose sides, prepare to argue our point of view, or do we pray for reconciliation and listen patiently to those who disagree with us to find a place where some healing might begin?

The really big question of the day: Can you look your neighbor in the eye and say, “I would die for you?”

Jesus said to His disciples, “No greater love has anyone than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends.” Then He proceeded to do exactly that, to lay down His life for us. John the apostle followed up on this with these words:

1 John 4:10-12 ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

Jesus spent His life on earth reaching out to people in every kind of need. He healed the sick. He set the demon possessed free. He fed the hungry. He taught people about heaven. He spoke forgiveness to the penitent. All of His life was spent practicing the great Commandments, loving and caring for His neighbors. Then he said to His disciples, “The things that I have done you will do also.” What do you think He meant by that? What things did He do for us that He expects us to do for each other?

You probably think first about things like teaching, and praying for healing, and telling people about heaven and about God, and standing up against sin and evil. All of these things are important, but I’m not sure that these are the first things we should jump to. The foremost thing that Jesus did for us was to die, to lay down His life for us.

We were talking about this on Tuesday at the Bible study group, and something very important came out of that discussion. Are you giving your life, or losing it? Are you one of those people who goes through life with a sense of loss, feeling like the world is killing you, or are you one of those people who goes through life with a sense of mission, knowing that you are here for a purpose, and that purpose is to give your life to those “neighbors” that God has put in your life?

I see many people who live with an attitude of victims. They feel that their life is being taken from them by their boss, or their family, or their neighbors, or their nation. Much more rare are the people who see themselves as donors rather than victims, people who live with an attitude of gratitude that God has given them something to contribute and they are glad to give it.

Are you one of those people who angrily complains, “This place is sucking the blood out of me” or are you one of those people who lines up at the Red Cross to donate blood that may save someone else’s life?

Jesus said, “No one takes my life from me. I give it freely.” If you are going to do the things that Jesus did, that’s a good place to start. Ask yourself what your neighbors need from you. And what are you willing to give them without expecting anything in return?

Secretary of State Colin Powell was in England at a large gathering. The Archbishop of Canterbury asked him if America’s plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. This was Colin Powell’s response: “Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.” It became very quiet in the room.

And what is our vision of heaven? Consider this. Does your vision of heaven include the lowering of boundaries? All of us live with boundaries, and it is a very healthy thing to understand where your boundaries are and how you manage them. Boundaries describe how close we allow other people to get to us, and what we allow others to ask of us or demand from us. In this world it isn’t possible to have a healthy relationship with another person without respecting each other’s boundaries.

Consider this. Our faith is about the lowering of our boundaries, not only toward God but toward each other. Our God does not hold us at arm’s length, which is the normal boundary between a poweful person and an inferior. Instead, God invites us into a near and intimate friendship. That lowering of boundaries that begins with God is to extend also to other people, especially those who share our faith.

Our worship gives us glimpses of this. We sing together, not something you feel comfortable doing anywhere else, but we do it here all the time. We touch each other, embrace each other, bless each other with greetings of peace. We kneel down together. We pray together, out loud. That isn’t something most people feel comfortable doing around other people, but we do it here all the time. And of course, the ultimate lowering of boundaries - Communion. We eat His flesh and drink His blood- from the same cup. Boundaries don’t get any lower than this!

Conclusion: To truly love your neighbor as yourself is to live in heaven right now. It is to see God right now and to live your life as though you were in the very presence of God right now. As St. John said, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love one another. ….

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. “

^“7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”

And if you were in His presence right now, what would that do to you?

Play “I Can Only Imagine”