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SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 2008

THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

John 14:15-21 (What to do when you fall in love)

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TODAY’S SERMON THEME:

The New Testament is very clear: If we really LOVE the Lord, we will DO what He tells us to do. Jesus put it this way: "If you love me, you will do what I command." And His command is that we LOVE others, especially those who suffer and struggle in this world. We LOVE them by reaching out to them in such ways that their needs are more important to us than our own needs. When it comes to love, ACTIONS are more important than WORDS.

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1. A few years ago, a young couple came to me with a problem. At least they thought it was a problem. I'll let you decide. As they explained it to me, they had fallen deeply in love with each other and were hoping to begin plans for a wedding. They made each other extraordinarily happy, and they absolutely loved to spend time together. They sat next to each other in their college classes, went to sporting events together, studied together in the afternoons, and went out three or four nights every week. That was the good part. But something was not quite right. And that's what they wanted me to help them figure out. The PROBLEM came when they were away from each other. Once they were separated for any period of time, they had problems. They worried. They got upset. They became jealous. They had horrible thoughts. That had panic attacks. And they began to act in ways that contradicted the way they were when they were together. In other words, they experienced true LOVE when they were together; but when they were apart, they experienced other things. Ugly things. Difficult things. Painful things. As long as they were together, LOVE was great. But when they were apart, things were horrible. NOW, if you were asked to give advice to this couple, what would YOU say?

2. Before you answer that question, and before I tell you MY response to their dilemma, let me tell you about another couple that came to my office: A single mother and her young son. The mother wanted me to have a "heart-to-heart" talk with her 8-year-old son, primarily because the boy's father had long since bailed out on his parenting responsibilities. But also because she did not know what else to do. Since I was their parish priest, she figured I would be a good person to speak "candidly" with the child. The problem was a typical one: The little guy was ANGRY. VERY angry. And if he did not have his mother's undivided attention ALL the time, he broke things. Now, at school he was OK. In Sunday School, he was OK. In sports, he was OK. It was ONLY when he was around his mother -- and when she failed to pay complete attention to him -- that he exploded. The mother said this to me: "I told him that if he really loved me, he wouldn't act that way." NOW, if you were asked to give advice, what would you say to this mother?

3. Before I share my response, let me tell you the main point I want to emphasize this morning, before we look at our Gospel lesson from John Chapter 14. Here is my main point:

4. In our Gospel lesson this morning, we pick up the tail end of Jesus' final instructions to His apostles on the day before His crucifixion. It is the last gathering of the apostles, before the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. And I believe Jesus saved His most important instructions for this occasion. It is the Last Supper, in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, and Jesus has already given them the "love commandment" (John 13:34). He has already served them, by washing their feet, and He has predicted to them (for the third time) that He would be put to death . . . and would rise from the dead on the third day. He has also told them to have courage -- that they should not let their hearts be troubled. He tells them that He will be leaving them, but that they will do miraculous things in His name. And then we pick up our text for this morning:

(1) Jesus gives them their moral instructions -- the way they are to live in this world: Quite simply, they are to DO what He commands them to do. They are to follow His "love commandment" to the letter -- loving God first, their neighbor second, and themselves third. "If you love me, you will obey me," He said. It is by the love they have that the world will know WHO they are.

(2) But Jesus knows that they will have trouble with this simple instruction, so He also gives them the POWER they will need to do it. "I will ask the Father, and He will send you another Counselor, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who will be with you FOREVER."

(3) The only way we can DO what He asks is to tap into the POWER that He provides. Without Him, we cannot please Him. Without His help, we cannot DO what He requires. As Jesus said in John 14:6: "I am the way (you are to follow), the truth (you are to believe), and the life (you are to live)." We serve others, love others, through His power, not our own.

5. I believe the Lord Jesus in this little passage is giving us a glimpse into the true moral character He expects of His followers -- what He has given to us, and what He expects of us. Moral character. The behavior that He expects from us in this world. He has given us His love, His mercy, His forgiveness, His own Body and Blood . . . in addition to His words of instructions. And He has sent us the Holy Spirit -- His own life force -- to lead us and guide us through this life and into the next. What we DO while we are here -- in response to His many gifts -- will show what type of moral character we have. We don't hear much about MORALS these days -- but the Lord calls us to DO what is RIGHT and GOOD and HONORABLE in the world . . . which means we are called to HIGH standards in the way we live. Moral character is important to us, and to our faith. And there are so many great definitions of moral character:

(1) My college baseball coach said CHARACTER was how you acted when no one was watching.

(2) Eleanor Roosevelt said: "People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. That is how character is built."

(3) Helen Keller said: "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened."

(4) Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "You can judge your natural character by what you do in your dreams."

(5) Aristotle said : "Character may be the most important means of persuasion known to man."

(6) Jesus said: "Greater love has no man than this: That a man lay down his life for his friends." And this, of course, is precisely what our Lord did for us . . . laying down His own life for us.

(7) As beloved children of God, we are expected (no, commanded) to LOVE others -- especially the "least" of God's children. The moral imperative given to us IS THE COMMANDMENT TO LOVE.

6. Now, back to the first two stories I shared: How would YOU respond to the desperate young couple whose love was only TRUE while they were together? And how would YOU respond to the single mother whose 8-year-old son was out-of-control ONLY when she did not wait on him? OK. Let me tell you how I responded:

(1) To the young couple, I gently but firmly told them to grow up. They were clearly not mature enough for love or marriage; they were, in effect, ADDICTED to each other -- in lust with each other. I sent them to Galatians Chapter 5 to learn the difference between what the FLESH produces (jealousy, anger, impatience, self-centeredness) and what the SPIRIT produces (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). ACTIONS are more important than WORDS. And their actions, when they were apart, spoke volumes about their lack of maturity. True love, true commitment, means we DO what we are supposed to do.

(2) To the single mother with the young son, I gently but firmly told her to be the child's MOTHER, and not the child's best friend. The child had become so accustomed to bossing her around -- getting his way all the time -- that the mother had lost control. Her self-esteem had been damaged by her ex-husband, and she was trying to build herself up by being a playmate for her child. Her ACTIONS were not measuring up to her role as parent.

Again . . . The New Testament is very clear: If we really LOVE the Lord, we will DO what He tells us to do. Jesus put it this way: "If you love me, you will do what I command." And His command is that we LOVE others, especially those who suffer and struggle in this world. We LOVE them by reaching out to them in such ways that their needs are more important to us than our own needs. When it comes to love, ACTIONS are more important than WORDS.

And when our own strength fails us . . . remember that God has also given us the POWER -- through the Holy Spirit -- to do what He expects.