New Covenant Presbyterian Church
Sermon John 3:16 “How Does God See Us ?”
October 21, 2018
Listen to this sermon.
I am continuing with our look at Believe, Living the Story of the Bible to Become Like Jesus. Our God is a loving God who reveals himself to us in the Bible. To achieve his purposes on earth he changes our identities to “Children of God” and then brings us into the church where we can worship. As we saw last week, God created the church to achieve his mission on earth. That mission is to reconcile people to God through his son, Jesus Christ. But before we can go out into the world to make disciples we must first be transformed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We will see today what the first step is in that transformation. But first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
So we see from this that God loves the world, the whole world. God created every man, women, and child in the world in his image. And he loves every one of them. And remember, we are blessed to be a blessing to every family on earth until every family is blessed through us. In order to do this, we too must love the world just as God loves it. As Jesus told us:
Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
So we are to love others just as God loves us. To do this we need the transformation of the Holy Spirit to make our hearts like God’s heart. Let me tell you some stories about how the Holy Spirit transformed my heart.
When I was living in Washington I attended the National Presbyterian Church. I would go to Sunday School at 9:30 and follow that up with Worship at 11 every Sunday. Then around noon, I would go downstairs to Stone Hall for fellowship. There I would meet my friends, other young professionals, and go out to lunch. But as I grew spiritually I began to change. When I entered Stone Hall I started to see people who were standing alone with no one to talk to. So I started talking with them rather than my friends.
One person I talked with was Glen. Glen had cerebral palsy after a traffic accident when he was very young. Glen would flap his arms around uncontrollably. And he had a hard time talking. The accident had left him mentally retarded. But Glen was in church every Sunday and loved Jesus. So we became friends. And I tried to make sure Glen was included whenever my group went to lunch.
Another person I talked with was Jane. Jane was older than me. Unlike most of the members of the church, Jane’s clothing was old and worn out. I don’t think Jane was homeless, but she sure looked the part. Jane was usually alone at church but occasionally a few friends would join her. They look very poor too. I got to know Jane pretty well and when I was teaching Bethel I invited her to my class. She was thrilled to be invited and came every week for two years. I saw Jane once or twice after I went to seminary. I even introduced Grace to her. But Jane died shortly after that.
When I went to Fuller Seminary I met Grace. She was starting a group for international students who were learning English. The really wanted to practice English with American, but they were afraid to ask. I had never worked with international students before. But God wanted me to expand my experiences. So I said yes.
I was there to talk with the students about Jesus and give them rides. Grace cooked them a nice meal for them. But I had a hard time getting conversations started. Then I realized that I was the only one eating with a fork. They were all using chopsticks. So I asked them to teach me how to use chopsticks. That was all I needed to do. They knew that I was interested in them and needed their help. We all became friends. I designed my church internship around caring for this group. And they helped us organized my wedding with Grace.
In my first call, I went to a small church in a Northeast Los Angeles neighborhood called Eagle Rock. I was there for a redevelopment effort. The church had 30 members most of whom were in their 70s and 80s. There wasn’t much time before the church was to be closed. So Grace and I started a new congregation that would meet on Sunday evenings for worship and a small dinner. Our hope was that we could start a new church.
I tried to recruit new people from the preschool the church had operated for decades. But the parents and staff were quite hostile to the church. So I looked elsewhere. I put banners on the building, created a new website and used social networking. But only a few people showed up. So Grace and I went to a local farmer’s market and began passing out fliers.
I didn’t realize at that time that something was going on in the community. It was 2008 and the Great Recession had started. People were losing their jobs and their homes. They were living in their cars, trucks, and RVs. The streets and local park were filling up with the homeless living in their cars and trucks.
They started getting our fliers and showing up for a free meal on Sunday nights. But I knew that God did not want me to just feed them dinner. God wanted me to bring them to Jesus Christ. I would talk to them as they stood in line for dinner and invite them to worship. It didn’t take long and 60 people were showing up for worship every Sunday night with 20 more coming for dinner.
Several young women were coming who were squatting in an abandoned house on the other side of town. They sang well so I asked them to become a choir. They didn’t want to because they were embarrassed by their clothing and did not want to stand up front. So I found some old choir robes another church didn’t need. I dressed them up and we had a choir.
We also needed help with dinner. Grace couldn’t do it all by herself for 80 people. So I recruited Dirk to help. Dirk had owned a successful security company installing security systems in homes and businesses. But he lost it all, I think because of drugs. So Dirk lived in his truck with his dog. He began cooking for us and recruited other homeless people to help.
One day Dirk came to me with an idea. He would start a small business for homeless men. They would sew LCD lights on orange safety vests. Then Dirk would install a battery pack and the vests would not just reflect, they would glow brightly. This sounded like a good idea so I got a micro-grant from Self Development of People and got Dirk started.
Sadly I had to leave Eagle Rock when their money ran out. So I worked out a merger with a larger Philipino congregation which stabilized them financially. And I am happy to say that the Sunday evening congregation continues today with my music leader now handling the preaching too.
I have had other experiences developing relationships with people others find hard to love. Grace started a church in Princess Anne MD, the poorest county in the state. And in Ocean City, the apartments around the church became magnets for poor families in the winter time. Grace and I reached out to them to be part of the church.
Since I arrived in Middletown I have been involved with the Matthew Action Committee of the presbytery. MAC meets here monthly to talk about the needs of immigrant families who are here illegally. Last Wednesday I attended a meeting in Wilmington with Kevin Noriega. Kevin is the Director of the Opportunity Scholars Program at Delaware State. The Opportunity Scholars Program was set up by Bill and Melinda Gates of the Gates Foundation, and by the Graham Family, former owners of the Washington Post. They provide scholarships for DACA students to allow them to go to school. And I was able to meet four of these DACA students this week.
All four student grew up in America. They have little or no recollection of where they came from. They speak English and went to American Schools. The think of themselves as American and believe that through hard work they can succeed. The DACA students at Delaware State support themselves and as a group maintains a 3.5 GPA. But their stories are tragic.
One young man was in driver ed. The teacher told him what documents to bring from home to get a drivers license. So he went home and asked his mom for what he needed. But she had to tell him for the first time that she did not have the documents he needed because she was here illegally.
Another young man was in sports. He had an opportunity to go with the team to Canada. So he took the release form to his mother. But she told him he could not go because he was here with no documentation and therefore could not get back in the country to come home.
Another person applied to colleges and scholarships and received acceptances. But then, a day before classes started, she was told not to come because her parents were here illegally.
Thankfully all of these students received Opportunity Scholarship and were admitted into Delaware State University under the DACA program. But they still struggle financially because their parents are poor and they are ineligible for Federal financial aid. As a result, Kevin Noriega, the Director of the Opportunity Scholars Program, has worked out a way through the Delaware State Foundation to receive donations to help these students out. If you are interested in helping please let me know.
I am telling you these stories because all of these people we created by God in God’s image and are loved by God. We are therefore to love them and bring them to Christ. But first, we must learn to love them the way God loves them. And this requires prayer and the help of the Holy Spirit. So let’s pray.
Father in heaven, change our hearts so that we may love people the way you do. Help us to love those with physical deformities. Help us to love the poor. Help us to love the immigrant, even if they are here illegally. Help us to love everyone just as you love us. This we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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