January 17, 2010Introduction
When lawyers stand up to make a case in court, their goal is to marshal all the evidence that is in their favor. No lawyer expects to win a case with just one witness or one piece of evidence. The goal is to line up as many witnesses as possible. They bring in professionals who give authoritative testimony that supports the case.
They pile up as much physical evidence as they can find. They call on character witnesses who might tip the scales in their favor. The more solid the evidence, the better chance of winning the case (I’ve learned all of this through watching countless episodes of Law & Order on TV).
The Bible builds a strong case for many of its truths. But perhaps the most prominent theme in the entire Bible is the case for love. The word love occurs over 500 times in the Bible. Over and over again God’s Word strengthens the case for loving the Lord and loving others. Beginning with an understanding of God’s love for us, we discover His call for us to love each other.
Just this week, someone asked the perennial question of a perceived difference between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New (all that war and violence in the Old Testament promoted by God compared to the gracious acceptance of the loving Christ in the New). To straighten that one out, the Bible is clear: there is one God and we are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (that’s in Deuteronomy 6:5 – not that any one of us actually love God like that). The Ten Commandments begin with: “I am the Lord your God… You shall have no other gods before me… I am a jealous God, punishing those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments” (that’s in Exodus 20:2-6).
God is both: just and merciful; judging and forgiving; damning and saving; rejecting and accepting (all in His perfect understanding and will – all of it way beyond our understanding and grasp). We must always remember that God is God and we are not. And yet, we see that the Bible consistently offers the amazing love of the Lord to all who would turn to Him in faith and trust.
The Psalms are replete with the theme of God’s love. “Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love” (6:4). “Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies” (36:5). “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live” (63:3). “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let Israel say: His love endures forever (118:1).
Then of course, the New Testament offers the same. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” (but note how this famous passage continues) “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:16, 18).
Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). The apostle John wrote, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God… He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (I John 4:7-12). And then from the great passage on love by Paul, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (I Corinthians 13:13).
I. Making the Connection (I Peter 1:22-2:3)
The witness I call to the stand today is “St.” Peter. We read from his letter to the church. “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love fro each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.” Remembering what Jesus taught, “By this everyone will know you are my disciples” (not if you’re a “good person”, not if you’re “spiritual,” not if you “go to church,” not if you “make a donation to your favorite charity” – all of those are good things); everyone will know you are my disciples if you love one another.”
You know how parents often try to help their kids with their homework. One freshman in high school had finished an essay assigned for English class. He proudly handed it to his mother and asked her to read it. An educated woman with a master’s degree, she read the paper with pen in hand. As she read she corrected the grammar and spelling, made a few suggestions in the margins, and handed it back to her son. He looked it over with all of the corrections and with tears in his eyes turned to his mother and said, “I didn’t want you to fix it. I just wanted you to like it.”
How often we busy ourselves trying to “fix” those around us, especially those closest to us – correct their mistakes and bad habits. We convince ourselves we are doing it “for their own good,” when in reality all they really want and need is for us to like them, to love them. We live in an everyday world that is not only “critical” but even purposely tries to “criticize.” Peter expects the churches to be filled with people who love one another; who give the other person the “benefit of the doubt,” who reach out and build up one another.
“For you have been born again… through the living and enduring word of God… Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, and envy… grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” Stop criticizing; start loving.
It is my hope (and I know it is the Lord’s as well) that each person here at 1st Pres will have the experience of being loved by God and one another and loving God and one another, whether you’ve been a Christian for many years or just starting out in faith, whether you’ve been a member here at this church for a long time or have come this morning for the first time. Peter reminds us all: love one another deeply, from the heart.”
II. We are Connected (I Peter 2:4-7)
Then Peter describes the church as a building of living stones. “As you come to him (to the Lord Jesus Christ) the living Stone – Christ was rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Yesterday, I walked around the outside of this beautiful building and counted the stones (well, I made a very rough estimate). There are about 20,000 carefully chosen, carefully formed, carefully placed blocks of red sandstone. What an amazing project it must have been more than a century ago when the architect, engineers, builders and laborers built this place for worship!
In our scripture this morning, Peter (remember – Jesus gave Simon the new name Peter, the Rock, the Stone) names each believer a living stone being built into a spiritual house. Here we are at First Presbyterian Church; with some 600 members and friends, believing in Jesus as Savior and Lord, worshiping God, living and serving in his name; carefully chosen, carefully formed, carefully placed by the Architect, the Builder, the Lord. And that’s just here. There are over two million Presbyterian Christians in the United States. There are over 2 billion Christians world-wide. And that’s just now! How many stones are there in the household of God over the centuries throughout the world?
It should be of great encouragement and motivation for the church to know that God is doing an amazing thing. “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Conclusion
The question is there for us to consider. When it comes to the biblical evidence for love, what kind of witness is First Presbyterian Church being as the Lord judges or as people around us (the jury) decides? Are we “declaring” the praises of God? Do we express the grace of coming “out of darkness in to his wonderful light?” Do we offer the amazing grace and mercy of the Lord for others to know, share and experience? Or as someone has put it, “If we were on trial for being Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict?
Let us pray together as those who were rejected but now accepted in the love of God in Christ. |
