Sermon 1 John 4:7-21 Abide in God

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon 1 John 4:7-21 Abide in God

May 10, 2015

Since Easter I have been preaching from the book of First John. There was a church in the late 1^st and early 2^nd centuries that had experienced division over doctrinal matters. The people who left were devout Christians who believed in the Son of God and expected to receive eternal life as promised in the Gospel of John. But they were mistaken about the identity of this Son of God thinking it to be some kind of spiritual creature. The church's pastor insisted that this was incorrect. The Son of God was none other than Jesus, a flesh and blood human being.

The pastor then went on to explain that just as Jesus is the Son of God so too are we children of God. And as children we should imitate him in order to know him and grow to be like him.

Then the pastor said, that if we are imitating Jesus Christ we should be loving each other because that is what Jesus did. Leaving the church is not the way to show one's love for one another. With this the pastor urged the people who had left to return. But loving one another is very difficult especially when we disagree with each other. So today we will read how it is possible to love one another. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

1 John 4:7-21 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 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.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

There is a story in the book, The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor, by Mark Labberton. There was woman, a member of his church, in her eighties named Doris. One day as Doris was getting into her car a young man jumped in, pushed her over, and took off. As they went down the street Doris did what any kidnapped eighty year old would do, she asked him his name. He told her that his name was Jesse and that he was kidnapping her so she would give him money out of a bank ATM. Jesse said that he needed this money for drugs. So Doris told that it was terrible to be on drugs. That was an awful way to live your live. She told him he should get off drugs. When they arrived at the ATM Jesse forced her to withdraw the maximum amount. When they got back in the car Doris told Jesse that he really needed some help. He needed God's help. They visited two more ATMs when Doris hit her daily withdraw limit. Then Jesse drove her to a deserted street and said he was going to leave her there. Before he left, Doris told Jesse that she would pray for him, pray that he would be caught and find the help he needed. Jesse then helped Doris out of the car and opened the door for her to get in the driver's seat. He helped her with her seat belt. And kissed her on the cheek as he said goodbye. It is needless to say at this point, but Doris is a very loving person.

Think of someone you know who is a loving person. This is Mother's Day and many of you are thinking about your mothers. And if your mother was anything like my mother then you were really blessed. But even though we may say that our mother or pastor or teacher or friend was loving, would we ever say that our that person is love? I don't think so. Your mother may have been the most loving person your ever knew. She might have displayed mature self-giving love. You might call he loving, but you would never go all the way to say that she is love. But the author of 1 John says that someone is love. And who might that be? Well, according to scripture God is Love.

Sometimes we make the mistake of reversing this and saying Love is God. When we do this we start worshiping love and try to turn our experience of love into a god. But scripture is very clear on this. We do not worship love. We worship God who is love.

The reason we are able to love one another is because we were first loved by God. As Christians we experience God's love in many ways. For some of us, we experienced God's love in our parents who took us to Sunday School and Church when we were young. For some of us, we experienced God's love in a Born Again experience or an experience of Getting Saved. For some of us, we experienced God's love through Spiritual gifts or in the pages of scripture or in daily devotions. My prayer is that you will all experience God's love this morning in worship.

Once you experience God's love in your life you will know God. This is because according to scripture God is love. So you will come to know God by experiencing his love. And the evidence that you have experienced God's love is that you begin to love one another. So if we claim to have experienced God's love for ourselves it will be on display for others to see as love for one another.

God displayed his love for us by sending his own Son into the world. God loves us so much he had his Son teach us the way to eternal life. God loves us so much he had his Son die for us so that we may be free from sin and live lives of fullness and abundance. God's love for us is overwhelming and undeserved. If comes to us as free gift. Shouldn't we share this gift with others by loving one another? When we love one another something happens to us. We change in important ways. Loving one another is evidence that God's Spirit abides in us. God's love remains in us. And so you are able to love one another.

So how can we, as God's children, be sure that God abides into us? How can we be certain that God's love is in us. According to 1 John we can be assured that God abides in us if we believe that the resurrected Jesus is the Son of God.

So far we have seen that our experience of God's love and our love for one another is evidence that God abides in us. And we have also seen that our belief in Jesus Christ, the resurrected Son of God, gives us the assurance that God abides in us now. So, what is the benefit we receive from having God abide in us?

According for First John, the benefit of having God's love abide in you is that you will experience no fear on Judgment day. On the day Jesus returns and we, like him, are resurrected from the dead we will stand before him. He will be our judge. But if God is with us, if God's love is in us, then we will stand before Jesus filled with confidence in our salvation. We will appear before Jesus having been made like him loving one another. And since we have loved one another we know that on Judgment Day, God will love us because God is love and his love abides in us. And so there will be no fear, because love always casts out fear.

But of course if we fail to love one another then God's love must not be in us. And if God does not abide in us then when Jesus returns we will be judged for the sin that is in us. Then we should be afraid, very afraid.

As Pastor I can assure you that if you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and believe that he was resurrected from the dead then God will abide in you, and God's love will overflow from you, and you will love one another. I can can also assure you that if God abides in you, then you will have no fear on Judgment Day.

If you have just moved to the area and are looking for a church, what should you look for? Well, if the people in the church love one another then you can be sure that God abides in that church and you should stay there. But if a church is divided and fighting with each other. If there seems to be no love for each other in that church then God does not abide in that church and you should run from it as fast as you can. My prayer is that when people visit First Presbyterian they will see evidence that God abides with us. They will see that evidence only if we truly love one another.

We are love one another not because we hope that God will love for doing so. God's love is not effected by anything we do. God loves us because God is love. And the more we know God the more we are filled with his love. And his loves spills out of us as love for one another. Remember that all of us are children of God. And so when we love one another we are really loving all of God's children.

So we have learned today that God is love. He displayed his love for us in his Son Jesus Christ. As we get to know him through prayer, Bible study and worship we find ourselves filled with his love. God abides in us. We display God's love in us by loving one another. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, thank you for your abiding love in us. Help us to display your love to the world by loving one another. This we pray in the name of your Son whom you sent to us out of your great love for us. Amen.

Sermon 1 John 3:7-21 Love One Another

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon 1 John 3:7-21 Love One Another

May 3, 2015

This is the third in my series of sermons drawn from the important book of First John. This book was written to a church that was trying to be faithful to the Gospel of John. A group in the church had been mistaken about the identity of the Son of God in whom you must believe to have eternal life. They thought this was some kind of spiritual divine being; certainly not a human being. And certainly not a human being that had been executed by the Romans. But the pastor of the church has written to assure them that the Son of God was the flesh and blood person named Jesus. Jesus had claimed to be this Son of God and his bodily resurrection proved it.

The pastor of this church then told them that just as Jesus is the Son of God so too are we children of God. And as children we learn about God, grow into Christ, and show Christ to others the same way children learn about and grow into adults. Just as children imitate adults to learn and become one so too do we imitate Christ to learn more about and grow into him. Today we will see what we must do to grow into Christ. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

1 John 3:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 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.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Evangelical churches in the United States believe strongly that Christians must love God because he loved us first. We love God by worshiping him. We love God by studying about him in Bible study. We love God by praying and meditating on scripture every day. We love God by growing his church and be bringing people to faith. The good news that evangelicals proclaim is that God loves us and so we must love God.

Mainline churches believe just as strongly that Christian must love their neighbor. Mainline Christian volunteer to feed the homeless. They bind up wounds of the injured, pray for the sick, and give clothes to those who need it. They work with their churches and government for social justice to provide for the needs of people. The good news mainline churches proclaim is that the God loves us and so we must love our neighbor.

This division has been with us since the early church. In the church of First John the group who left believed that God was a spirit and thus there was no need to care for flesh and blood people. All we had to do was believe. Those who remained in the church believed that God came to earth as Jesus in the flesh. To imitate him we must care for other flesh and blood people.

So what do we do? Do we spend our time in prayer and worship and Bible study to come closer to God? Or do we spend our time outside of the church helping those in need? The author of First John says there is no difference. There is only one command. And that one command is you must love both God and neighbor. It is not either love God or love others. It is love God and love others. You must do both.

Evangelical and mainline churches are both correct in part, but they only go half way. If you spend all your time loving God but neglecting the needs of others you are not following Christ. And if you are meeting the needs of others, but you are not enough spending time loving God with worship and prayer then you are not following Christ either. You must love God and love your neighbor.

And why are we to do this? We love God and our neighbor because that is what Jesus did. He laid down his life so that God would be glorified and people would live lives of fullness. We are not called to lay down our lives. But we are called to love God and our neighbors with all of our hearts, all of our souls and all of our minds.

But how can we do this? It's overwhelming! Well, the only way we could love God and love others that much is if we are first loved by God. And that is exactly what happens. God loves us first. We are filled with his sacrificial love. And then we are able to love God and the people God created fully.

The Apostle Paul put it this way in First Corinthians chapter 13.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The reason God loves us is because by definition God is love. He made his love manifest for us by sending his son into the world. What binds the Father and Son together is love. The Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father. The bond of love between Father and Son is the Holy Spirit. The Son loves the Father by sending the Spirit. And the Fathers loves the Son by sending the Spirit. Our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the trinity is held together by love. As children of God we are adopted into this Holy Family by loving God and loving one another.

And this is the message the author of First John sent to two groups who disagreed over doctrinal differences. God loves you. If you want to love God you must also love one another. Love must overcome differences in doctrine. The people who have left the church and people who remain must love God and love each other just as God loves them.

And what about us? God loves us. God hears our prayers. God wants us to live our lives to the fullest. To that end he sent Jesus Christ to us as a gift. He wants nothing in return. Out of gratitude we should love one another, love the people in our families and communities, and even love our enemies. If we love we get to know God better. If we love we become more and more like Christ. If we love we show Christ's love to a world in need. This is truly a full life of love.

 Let's pray. Father in heaven we thank you for the love you have given us. We thank you for the love you showed to us by sending your own son to die for us. We thank you Jesus for coming to earth and experiencing death so that we may experience life to the full. For all these reasons and with the help of the Holy Spirit we pledge to love you with worship and prayer and we pledge to love others by serving their needs. We thank you for the full life you have given us. Amen.

Sermon 1 John 3:1-7 Children of God

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon 1 John 3:1-7 Children of God

April 26, 2015

I am continuing today with the second of a series of sermons drawn from the book of First John. As we saw last week this book was probably written by the pastor of a church that has been ripped in two. People have left the church over the interpretation of the Gospel of John. Most of this is due to the interpretation of the identity of the Son of God in who you must believe to receive eternal life. 

The pastor said unequivocally that the Son of God is none other than Jesus of Nazareth who died, and was raised from the dead. The pastor saw him, touched him and ate with this Jesus. His resurrection was an experienced reality that proves his identity as the Son of God.

Today this pastor will make the analogy that just as Jesus Christ is the Son of God, so too are we children of God. We will see today what this means, but first let's pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

1 John 3:1-7 3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

The author of 1 John has called us “children of God”. So our relationship with God is similar to the relationship a child has with a parent. Consider for a moment what it would be like to be a toddler or preschooler again. Also suppose that you have a teacher. Now, let's say that the teacher want to teach you something. How would he or she do it? Or looking at it another way, how does a young child learn?

If a teacher gave a group of 2-year-olds a complete set of Encyclopedia Britannicas, and told the children to read them, what would happen? Well, the 2-year-olds would quickly figure out how to rip pages out of books. That what 2-year-olds do. And they will rip pages out the books until they get bored and move on to something else, or until an adult stops them.

Young children learn not by reading books, but by imitating adults. They see what we do and do it themselves. Over time, around 18 years or so, they see what we do and hear what we say and learn more and more about what it means to be an adult. So, if we are children of God, God's 2-year-olds, how would we learn about God? Would we learn about God by reading books? No. We would learn about God by watching what he does and hearing what he says. Then we would imitate him. And by imitating God we learn more and more about him.

This is why we are to obey the commands of God, by walking in the light of Jesus Christ. Jesus loved God and loved others. So if we imitate him by loving God and loving others we learn more about him. Every time we worship or work in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter or pray, we experience some of the things Jesus experienced and we come to know him better. We can't fully know Jesus by reading about him. We must do what he did. And by imitating him we come to know him, just like we know what it means to be an adult by imitating adults when we were young. So to be children of God means that we imitate Christ to get to know him better.

Of course we could decide to disobey God. We could do those things God does not want us to do. Or we could refuse to do what God wants us to do. And in our disobedience we would also learn something. We would learn more and more about the devil. Cheat on your spouse, steal from your employer, lie to your friends and you will know more and more about the devil who does all these things too. Don't do this. Imitating the devil is never a good idea.

We have found that children learn about their parents by imitating them. But there is something else that happens when young children imitate their parents. When children do what their parents do they grow up into adults. They learn to be adults by imitating what adults do. This is a process that takes eighteen years or so. So too in our relationship with God. As children of God if we do what Christ told us to do then we become more and more like him. We grow into the full stature of Christ. So as we feed the hungry, care for sick, and nurture children we become more and more like Christ who also did all of these things. This is the goal of all Christians: to become more like Christ. As children of God we do this by imitating Christ.

Of course we could grow up imitating the devil. By doing what he does we become more and more like him. We grow in sin and become more and more evil. Don't do this. It doesn't end well.

So far we have seen that as children of God we can know more about God and we can become more like Christ by obeying his commands. But something else happens as well. Let me explain.

How does the world know about God? How would the tourists coming to Ocean City this summer learn more about God? How would the international students who come here to work know more about God? How would the immigrants who study ESL in our church know more about God? How would the people in AA or those working on GEDs come to know about God? We could give them a book to read, but they would probably just rip out the pages or throw it away. The way people in Ocean City come to know God is by watching us. They hear what we say. They see what we do. And if we are faithful in our imitation of Christ then they will see God in us. If visitors to Ocean City imitate us then they will know more and more about who God is, and they will become more and more like Christ. And this is how faith in Jesus Christ grows.

Of course the other is true as well. If we imitate the devil others will too. So if we hang out in bars, engage in casual sex, and pass out drunk on the streets we will become more and more like the devil and visitors to Ocean City will do the same. Don't do this. Don't lead people to Satan by your lifestyle, what you do and say.

I can remember talking to my grandmother. Her mother prayed and read her Bible every day. Her mother took her to church every Sunday. When my grandmother became an adult she continued these practices. To remind her of the importance of obeying Christ's commands a friend gave her a picture with the the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. My grandmother hung this picture over her bed so that every morning and every evening she would be reminded to pray and obey God's commands.

When my mother was born, my grandmother put this picture in her room so that my mother, by imitation, would learn the importance of daily prayer and righteous living. I found this picture in my Grandmother attic. The newspapers which held the picture in the frame were old and faded. She told me the story of how the picture was given to her after her father died and she had to go live with her brother. She told me how it hung in my mother's bedroom. So I asked for the picture and hung it in my bedroom to remind me to pray every day and obey God's commands. Today that picture hangs in the Pastor's office of First Presbyterian Church reminding me that I am a child of God.

I am concerned about young Christians today. So many of them choose to worship only with other young Christians. Churches have been established just for the young with musical styles and fellowship that caters to them. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it means that young Christians will not have the opportunity to be in church with people who have been imitating Christ for decades. They won't have the role models of faithful living that young people have had in the past. My prayer is the one day all generations will worship together so young Christians can learn about Christ from people like us.

I recently heard a story about a Presbyterian church in Lake Park Iowa. The pastor of this chirch preached a children's sermon on Jonah. He explained to them that Jonah was reluctant to go to Nineveh to proclaim the love of God. He said that many Christians today also have this reluctance. Well, the children of the church decided to do something about this. A couple of 3^rd and 4^th graders got the other children in the church to contribute almost $100 to support Leisa Wagstaff, a 

Presbyterian educator serving in the southern Sudan. The children of Lake Park wanted to help the children of the Sudan to go to school. Presbyterian children in the Sudan were overjoyed when they received the gift, and one boy said, “They know we exist!”. The adults in Lake Park realized that sometimes real children know how to act as children of God more than adults. So they decided to imitate their children and begin supporting Presbyterian mission activity too. (http://www.pcusa.org/news/2015/3/18/childrens-sermon-moves-iowa-children-support-missi/)

We are all children of God. Our responsibility is to know God as a parent. We do this through the process of imitation. We obey God's commands and do what Jesus did. As we do these things we learn more and more about our God, we become more and more like Christ, and we bring more and more people to Christ by what we say and what we do. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we are your children. We thank you for the love you have given us. We thank you for all the blessings we have received. Strengthen us to imitate you so that we can know you better and be more like you. Use us as role models to help others find you. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sermon 1 John 1:1-2:2 Touched with our Hands

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon 1 John 1:1-2:2 Touched with our Hands

April 19, 2015

Today I am beginning a series of sermons drawn from the book of 1 John. This letter was written to a group of people who had left the church after a disagreement about the meaning of scripture. The author, possibly their pastor, wanted them to come back. So he or she has written a pastoral letter trying to persuade them to return. We will get to the first chapter of this letter shortly. But first, let's pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

When I want to communicate with a person at the church I have the ability to pick up a phone, or send an email or text, or sometimes a card or letter. In ancient times it wasn't that easy. Letters were written by hand with ink on parchment paper and delivered either on foot or on horseback to a recipient who could be many miles away. It could take weeks for a letter to get from one place to another. And even more weeks could pass getting a reply. This was the only way that pastors in the first century could communicate with people far away.

Today we are looking at one of these letters from a pastor to a group that has left the church. We don't know who the pastor was or where his church was located. Church tradition tells us that this letter was written by an aging Apostle John who had written the Gospel of John to witness to his church about his ministry with Jesus. This letter, 1 John, is his attempt to correct some false teaching about his gospel.

Churches at the end of the first century and the beginning of the second did not have the full New Testament as we do. They had only parts of it. And the community that received 1 John probably had the Gospel of John and was trying to live their lives in a way consistent with this gospel. In the Gospel of John we read this:

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.

This is a most important verse because it tells us about our salvation. We receive eternal life only if we believe in God's son. But the church was divided over what it means to believe, and the identity of this Son of God. The people who had left the church believed that the Son of God was a divine being who was with God at creation. This idea came to them from the very first chapter of the Gospel of John.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life,and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness,and the darkness has not overcome it.

They believed deeply in the divinity of the Word, the Son of God, but they doubted his humanity. How could a ordinary human, Jesus of Nazareth, have been with God at creation? And how could an ordinary body die and then come back to life and live in heaven? They said that all this was impossible. Instead, Christ, the Son of God, was a spirit. And this spirit was in them.

This had important implications. If the Son of God was within them he would purge their sins away. Therefore all believers would no longer be sinners. And since they were free from sin they no longer had to worry about their salvation. The Son of God would guarantee them eternal life.

The people who believed this were devout Christians who were trying to live their lives in accordance with John's Gospel, but the church was divided over these matters. And many people left. The ones who remained wrote a letter and sent it to the people who left. Here is part of what it said, the first chapter.

1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.

So the people who remained in the church believed that it was Jesus of Nazareth who was the Christ the Son of God. They believed this because they were witnesses. They had seen it. They had heard it. They had touched his wounds and ate fish with the resurrected Jesus. Jesus had told them that he was the Son of God. And he proved it with his bodily resurrection from the dead. There was no question about it. Jesus Christ was no spirit. He was and is a flesh and blood human who lived, died, was resurrected and now lives with God in heaven. The implications of this are most important. We are not free from sin. Rather we are under the obligation to do what Jesus commanded us to do.

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

To believe in the Son of God and receive eternal life means that we live our lives not hidden in darkness but revealed by the light God. We sin only when we think no one is looking. We think that darkness will hide us. But with Jesus, the Light of the World, everything we do is exposed to the light. Jesus sees everything. And we should always live our lives in a way that is pleasing to him.

So far we have seen that the people who left the church were wrong about the Son of God. Jesus of Nazareth, a flesh and blood human, is the Christ. He is the Son of God who was with God in the beginning and will continue to be with God in the end. Let's now explore the claim of the people who left that since they are filled with the spirit of Christ they are now free from sin. And John the Baptist said this very thing.

John 1: 29 “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

It was argued that since the Son of God takes away the sin of the world there must not be any sin left now. We must all be free from sin. Right? This was the position of the people who left the church. But the letter that John sent to them explains sin in this way.

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

So we still are subject to sin. Confession and repentance are still of the utmost importance. Any claim that we are not sinners runs directly against the teaching of Jesus Christ. Here is what he said.

John 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

So even as Christians we will continue to sin. Our sin cannot be hidden. It is exposed by the light of Christ. We must confess and repent. And Jesus Christ, the flesh and blood Son of God, with purify us by his blood bringing us forgiveness and transformation of life. John put it this way.

2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

And this is the good news we proclaim. We are all sinners. We have no hope of ever pleasing God. But by giving his life giving blood for us, the flesh and blood Son of God, Jesus Christ, assures us of salvation and promises us eternal life. All we need to do is confess our sins and amend our lives to please God. And then we can be assured of eternal life.

This is the message that the Apostle John sent to the people who had left his church. He hoped that this would be such good news that they would return when they heard it. We don't know what happened. But the church, filled with this good news, has flourished for two thousand years. Thanks be to God.

So how are we to live our lives in a way that pleases God? We will talk about this in futures weeks, but here are a few ideas for now. God wants us to walk in the light of Jesus Christ. This means that we are to be imitators of him. We must depend entirely on the cleansing power of Christ's blood to receive forgiveness. We must obey the commands of God especially to love God and love our neighbors, and we must avoid the lusts of the world and false teachings. We live in the light not by placing a check mark next to things we do or keep from doing. Rather we live in the light by understanding God's character as revealed to us in Jesus Christ and living in relationship with him. Let's pray.

Father in heaven we thanks you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ who was with you at creation and lived with us as a human. We thank you that by shedding his blood we receive forgiveness. We thank you for his resurrection as a foretaste of our own. We pledge to live in your light. This we pray in your son's name. Amen.

Sermon Acts 10:34-43 We are Witnesses

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon Acts 10:34-43 We are Witnesses

April 5, 2015

            Easter is a day for colorful baskets, new outfits and, my favorite, chocolate Easter bunnies.  But on the very first Easter there was none of that.  A group of women were scared to death by a mystery they couldn’t solve.  They had gone to anoint Jesus’ body in a tomb, but found the tomb to be empty.  We will attempt to solve this mystery today, but first let’s pray.

            May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

            We are faced with a mystery.  In our first reading this morning from the Gospel of Mark we have a group of frightened women running away from an empty tomb, and we are not certain at this point what happened.  All we know is that the body of Jesus is not where it should be.  We need someone like Sherlock Holmes to assemble all the facts and deduce what it all means. 

            Let’s review what we know so far.  Jesus died on a cross.  That was last Friday.  Before sunset and the beginning of the Sabbath Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret follower of Jesus, asked the Roman Governor for Jesus’ body.  Pilate, the Roman Governor at the time, then ordered that Jesus’ death be confirmed.  After he was absolutely certain that Jesus was dead, Pilate released the body to Joseph.  Joseph then removed Jesus’ body from the cross, wrapped it in a linen cloth he had purchased, and placed it in a tomb he owned.  He then sealed the tomb with a large rock and went home to celebrate the Sabbath with his family.  So far, so good.

            While Joseph was doing all this there were two witnesses watching him.  One was his own mother.  The other was a woman from Magdala.  Both were named Mary.  The Sabbath began at sunset on Friday night.  It ended at sunset on Saturday.  Then early Sunday morning these two women plus another named Salome went back to the tomb.  They knew exactly where it was because they had been there Friday afternoon.  They went to Jesus’ tomb with the purpose of anointing his body as was the burial custom at the time.  So far, nothing unusual.  Their only concern was how they might roll the stone away.

            Their first hint that something happened was when they arrived at the tomb and saw that the stone had already been rolled away.  They proceeded with caution knowing that something was odd.  When they looked inside things got a little stranger.  There was a young man in a white robe sitting inside.  This was too much for the women.  They didn’t know who rolled away the stone.  And they had no idea who this man was.  They were just about to run home when he spoke to them.  And here is what he said:

6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

            That was it.  The women fled in terror.  Someone had rolled the stone away.  Jesus’ body was missing.  And some stranger was babbling nonsense about Jesus rising from the dead.  What’s going on here?  This is a very strange story.  And Mark gives us no explanation.  Like the women, we have no idea what all this means.  It’s a mystery.  Let’s try to solve it.

            We know from the man in the tomb that Jesus has gone back to Galilee where he expects to find his disciples and Peter.  Possibly Peter has some idea what this is all about.  Let’s see what he has to say.

           

            Acts 10:34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

            Peter is speaking to a Roman soldier living in a Gentile city in Judah built by Herod the Great on Mediterranean Sea. The soldier’s name is Cornelius.  Peter certainly remembers how angry Jesus got just days before he died when he saw Gentiles excluded from the temple and quoted Isaiah that it should be a “House of Prayer for All People.  And Peter must remember how the Gentiles started coming to Jesus triggering the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth when his hour had come.  So now Peter, at the urging of the Holy Spirit, has entered into a gentile house to witness to the good news.  And he is about to tell us what happened in that empty tomb. One clue we have already is that Peter speaks of Jesus in the present tense.  Jesus is Lord.  Could Jesus be alive?  Let’s go back as Peter continues his testimony.

Acts 10:37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.  39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross,

            Peter has told Cornelius about the historical Jesus he knew.  This Jesus came from Galilee, was baptized by John, healed the sick and cast out demons with the power of the Holy Spirit.   Lots of people knew about this Jesus from Nazareth.  And Peter knew him better than most.  But so far Peter hasn’t told us anything we didn’t already know.  We still have no idea of what happened in that tomb and why it is empty.  Let’s go back to Peter as see what else he has to say.

Acts10:40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

            So now we know a little more.  It was God who raised Jesus from the dead, and brought him back to life.  And God had ensured that there would be reliable witnesses who not only saw Jesus, but had meals with him too after he was raised from the dead.  And so Jesus was no ghost.  His physical body came back to life after it had died.  This is interesting news, but not totally unexpected.  Jesus had brought several dead people back to life.  So it was certainly possible for him to come back as well.  We are uncovering some surprises.  Let’s keep going.

Acts 10:42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.

            And now we know what the resurrection was all about.  Jesus came back to life in order to judge the living and the dead.   This should scare us to death.  Jesus came to earth to get to know us, who we really are.  And now he is alive, in heaven as our judge.  With all the stuff we have done in our lives we have no hope.  We are condemned.  We put Jesus on the cross and we deserve to be punished for it.  But Peter has one more thing to say.  And here it is.

            Act 10:43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

            Talk about some good news.  Yes, Jesus is our judge, and we certainly deserve punishment.  But Jesus is ready to judge all of us as forgiven if we just believe in him. This is the meaning of Easter.  Jesus was resurrected from the dead to new life to be able to judge us and to forgive us so that there is no punishment.

            Whatever you have done in your life to displease God will bring God’s wrath upon you.  All the little lies you have told, all the little things you have stolen, all the people you have hurt are all remembered by God and you will be punished.  God’s justice requires it.  But if you believe in Jesus Christ, you will receive a full, unconditional pardon.  God will forgive you.

            As an ordained Minister of the Word and Sacrament, I have been empowered by God to make you this offer.  Believe in Jesus Christ and all your sins will be forgiven.  You will be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.  You will experience transformation to new life.  And you will be assured of eternal life in the resurrection.

            Cornelius heard this offer from Peter and to him it sounded really good.  He and his entire family accepted Jesus Christ that day and were baptized into the faith.   They were filled with the Holy Spirit and became disciples of Jesus Christ.  I urge you to do the same. 

            Our mystery is solved.  We now know why the tomb was empty on that Sunday morning.  God had raised Jesus from the dead to be the judge over all people those living and those who had died.  Everyone will receive this judgment.  But those who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior will also receive forgiveness.  Believe in the risen Lord Jesus Christ. 

            And so we rejoice on this Resurrection Sunday.  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead to forgive you.  Celebrate with your families and friends.  Dress up, and eat those eggs and Easter Bunnies.  This is a glorious day.  Thanks be to God.  Let’s pray.

            “Glorious Lord of life, by the mighty resurrection of your Son you overcame the old order of sin and death to make all things new in him.  Grant that we who celebrate with joy Christ’s rising from the dead may be raised from the death of sin to the life of righteousness; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.” (Book of Common Worship p.323)

Sermon – Mark 11:1-11 Getting the Donkey

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon – Mark 11:1-11 Getting the Donkey

March 29, 2015

Today is Palm Sunday. This is the Sunday each year when we remember the day Jesus entered Jerusalem. It was Passover, the equivalent of July and August here in Ocean City. Jews and Gentile believers came to the city for a great feast and worship in the temple. The Roman authorities were on hand to ensure that nothing would happen to disturb the peace of Rome. But Jesus came this day to make a political statement. He would enter Jerusalem riding a donkey, in fulfillment of prophecy. He was coming to Jerusalem as the messiah, and the Son of God. And by the end of the week he would be dead.

This then is the beginning of Holy Week, the most sacred week of the church calendar. We will gather in this sanctuary this Thursday night a 7:00 pm to join Jesus in his last supper and death. On Friday we will join with other churches in Ocean City at noon to walk with Jesus, carrying his cross. And next Sunday we will gather again right here for brunch and then worship as we celebrate the surprising conclusion to all of this. Let’s pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

We celebrate Palm Sunday thankful of our freedom to worship here in America. But in many places in the world Christians are not free to worship as they choose. One of these places is Syria. Listen to this true story.

“It was Palm Sunday 2010 in the Christian quarter of Homs, Syria, where thousands of inhabitants gathered in the area square to celebrate the holy event. People marched from their houses and churches toward the square. Parents were carrying their infants. Children, youth and young adults were wearing nice clothes and holding olive branches and candles. All were singing, “Hosanna in the highest.”

A year after, on Palm Sunday 2011, a different march with different people with different slogans took place in Homs. Thousands of Muslim men marched toward the city square, passing by the Christian quarter. That day, Christians celebrated Palm Sunday fearfully. They stayed at home or inside their churches. That same night, sounds of fighting, shooting and screaming “Allah Akbar” filled the city of Homs, announcing the beginning of a new era. Since then, Homs was never the same.

What was supposed to be peaceful demonstrations, turned out to be a cover for violence. Slogans of freedom, democracy and human rights were rapidly substituted with phrases of hatred, cursing and enmity accompanied with acts of violence. From the Palm Sunday on, violence, shooting and fighting happened every day in Homs. People from different sides or no side were shot and killed. Opposition fighters continued their violent actions against the police and some civilians, believing that aggression, assassinations and crimes in Homs — including the Christian quarter — would lead to the collapse of the ruling regime in Damascus 165 kilometers south. Days, weeks and months passed on while victims and destruction continued to increase.

In 2012, Homs could not have Palm Sunday of any kind. Rebels had occupied the old city of Homs, including the Christian quarter, evacuating the area of its inhabitants. On Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, a major displacement of more than 60,000 civilians of Christian majority happened in Homs. People left their homes and could not come back again until today. As consequence of the rebels’ invasion, civilians were killed, houses were stolen and churches were destroyed. Violence has only led to more violence, more victims and more destruction.” ¹

The people of Homs cry out “Hosanna”, which means “God save us”. They need a savior. Let’s talk about the savior who entered Jerusalem two thousand years ago.

“As Jesus was about to descend the Mount of Olives to enter Jerusalem, Mark reports, he dispatched two of his disciples to fetch a colt. A seemingly minor matter of transportation it would seem, but surprisingly, over half of Mark’s story of Jesus’ entry into the city is occupied with mundane details about acquiring this animal -- where to go to find it, what kind of colt to seek, what to do, what to say.

Though no one knows what these two disciples were thinking, I am fairly confident that they had imagined for themselves a grander and nobler role on this day than being on donkey detail. Mark does not name these disciples, but maybe they were James and John, who only hours before had proposed to Jesus, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." But it hardly matters which two they were. All of the disciples had been jockeying for advantage, angling for glory, arguing about who was the greatest. So it is deliciously ironic that on this very public and glorious day of Jesus’ ministry, a day when he will be welcomed into Jerusalem with joyous hosannas, they find themselves engaged in a most unromantic form of ministry, mucking around a stable, looking suspiciously like horse thieves, and trying to wrestle an untamed and no doubt balky animal toward the olive groves. For this they left their fishing nets?

Why does Mark allow this donkey-seeking scene to come across as a trivial matter of advance planning? In the Gospel of John, by contrast, Jesus begins his entry into Jerusalem on foot. The donkey enters the picture only afterward, when the crowd gets caught up in a palm-waving, nationalistic, king-admiring zeal. At that point Jesus finds the donkey on his own and sits on it, as if to say, "I’m not that kind of king." In John, then, acquiring the donkey is something that Jesus himself does as a dramatic gesture, and it is a beautiful symbol of his humility in the face of triumphalist misunderstanding. But in Mark, finding the donkey seems more like a delegated chore -- somewhat akin to the worship committee meeting to plan the a Maudy Thursday Service, one of those thousands of routine and inglorious details of church work that are necessary but not the real action.

In the ordination service of the Presbyterian Church, candidates for the ministry are asked, "Will you in your own life seek to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, love your neighbors and work for the reconciliation of the world? . . . Will you seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination and love?" These are bracing words, and the wind ruffles through your hair when you hear them. Such language implies that ministry is a brave white-water romp over the cultural rapids toward global transformation in the name of Christ. Never once is it mentioned that serving people with energy, imagination and love often boils down to stuff like ordering bulletin covers, changing light bulbs in the restrooms, visiting people in nursing homes who aren’t quite sure who you are, getting the brakes relined on the church van, making a breathless Saturday afternoon run to the florist because someone forgot to order the palm branches and, as two of Jesus’ disciples found out, finding a suitable donkey at the last minute.

It is right at this place, though, that Mark imparts some of his best theological wisdom. He begins his Gospel with the exhilarating trumpet call to "prepare the way of the Lord," but he makes it clear, by his description of the disciples’ activity in the rest of his Gospel, that the way to do so is not by becoming a member of the Knights Templar and gallantly defending Christendom, but rather by performing humble and routine tasks. The disciples in Mark get a boat ready for Jesus, find out how much food is on hand for the multitude, secure the room and prepare the table for the Last Supper and, of course, chase down a donkey that the Lord needs to enter Jerusalem.

Whatever they may have heard when Jesus beckoned, "Follow me," it has led them into a ministry of handling the gritty details of everyday life. Mark understands, as Markan scholar Joel Marcus notes, "the preparation of the Lord’s way in a rather prosaic manner as the arrangements people make for the ministry of Jesus."

The "arrangements people make for the ministry of Jesus" -- one could hardly find a more apt description of what we, as disciples, are called to do. This cuts two ways. On the one hand, we are called to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry, and it is his ministry, not ours, that ultimately counts. We are but donkey fetchers. On the other hand, because we are -- in ways often hidden from our eyes – "preparing the way of the Lord," the routine, often exhausting, seemingly mundane donkey-fetching details of our service are gathered into the great arc of Jesus’ redemptive work in the world.

In Mark, the Twelve are sent out to proclaim the gospel, cast out demons, heal the sick and exercise authority. But Mark wants us to know that what this looks like is often a matter of speaking a quiet word in a committee meeting, spending time with someone who is incoherent and coming apart at the seams, emptying a bedpan at the hospital and scratching a few desperate, halting words in the computer when getting ready for Sunday’s sermon. In Mark’s world, "preparing the way of the Lord" usually looks like standing hip-deep in the mire of some stable trying to corral a donkey for Jesus.²

So what Jesus wants us do is to keep doing what we already do. Keep cooking breakfasts and lunches. Keep reading books and studying the Bible. Keep sending cards, visiting shut-ins and those in hospital and nursing homes. Keep maintaining the buildings, greeting visitors and inviting friends to church. And keep praying. And in your prayers pray for the Christians in the Middle East who have lost the freedom to worship and are now oppressed. Pray that the messiah will come to save them. Hosanna! Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus we pray for Christians, around the world, who are unable to worship you freely. We ask for a savior to come to save them. We pray for the Prince of Peace to come to end warfare and violence. We pray for your kingdom to come. Amen.

1Paul Seebeck http://www.pcusa.org/news/2014/4/9/three-different-palm-sundays/

2Thomas G. Long http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3389