Tag: Sermons

Gentle Reader,

If I’m ever asked to preach at a camp again, I’ll do it (unless God tells me a hard “no.”) Preaching is always a privilege. A sacred responsibility. But there’s something just a little extra special about a camp. When the week began, I wondered how I would survive. When it ended, I wanted just one more day. This experience will stay with me forever.

Below is the final message in the God of Stories series, preached on Friday, August 2, 2024. God loves you.

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I can’t believe we’re here. The last message. 

I wrote this as I was preparing for tonight: I’m sitting here at my kitchen table a few weeks before camp, trying to figure out how to wrap up this thing and I could just about cry. That’s still true. I imagine that John felt the same way. There’s just so much more. But as we read during our devotional time today, “…there are so many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). The story goes on. 

And so this isn’t really a last message. This isn’t an ending. This is, instead, a sending. An invitation for you and me and us together to carry the story back into the ordinary, kind of boring routines of our lives. To remember that the God of Stories – the Author of the story of redemption, the Author of each of our own stories – is active in the ordinary. The extraordinary Divine Savior meets with you as you unload the dishwasher, hang out with your friends, go to work, anticipate (or dread) the start of a new school year.

The extraordinary in the ordinary makes the ordinary a little less boring. The ordinary is full of opportunities to join with God, to be conduits of God’s love and grace.

Now, let’s build our final bridge. Let’s find out what John says before he says the last of it – for now.

• End of Chapter 4 –
  • There is no special, secret knowledge that makes you a “better” Christian
    • The message is out there for everyone
      • Anyone can accept God’s invitation to come and belong in God’s family
        • Remember the exclusive/inclusive
  • The presence of the Holy Spirit is shown in
    • Love for God and others
      • Failing to love others while you claim to love God exposes you as a liar
    • Deepening faith in God
  • All is grace
    • God has done everything necessary for us to be saved
    • God initiates relationship with us
    • God abides in (lives in and with) and sustains (holds) us
    • God will complete what God began in us
    • Our role is to keep choosing to submit to and corporate with God, to remember that God makes the rules
  • Relational faith not bound to a legal code
    • Involvement in a love relationship with God through Christ
      • From this obedience and consistency of belief grow
    • Settling down in God’s love, taking up secure residence in the heart of God
  • Christian faith is not occasional but constant
    • Every single moment of every single day in every single relationship and activity
  • When we settle into God’s love, we no longer have to be afraid of God or judgment
    • We have peace with God, who first loved us

• Beginning and Middle of Chapter 5 –
  • John begins to bring this to a close by reiterating what he has already said so that his readers remember it
    • Ongoing belief in and obedience to Jesus Christ as Lord
    • Holy love is by nature reciprocal
      • Originates in God
      • Circles back to God as we worship God and love others
  • Disobeying God is never normal
    • We don’t only get to obey God on the things that make sense to us or are easy
    • Unwavering devotion to God
      • Not a burden to be endured
      • A joyful, free life
        • We overcome/have victory because of Jesus
          • We can live as God wants us to
  • Faith is not only intellectual or only emotional, but both
    • Your head and your heart coming under the Lordship of Christ so that he may transform all of you
  • It is our honor and privilege to share the Gospel with others
  • John again states a reason for writing: he wants them to know the truth
  • You can always talk to God
    • Take your needs to God, take your questions to God
    • Pause and listen for what God says in return
      • Never contradict Scripture
    • God doesn’t have to do as we ask, because God knows best, but God will always listen; God always welcomes you

And so we begin this last moment together in verse 18. I invite you to stand as we honor the reading of Scripture. Hear the word of the Lord.

We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. We know that we are God’s children and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

– 1 John 5:18-21 (NRSV)

This is the word of God for the people of God. And we say together: thanks be to God.

I told you John had a hard time finishing this letter. If we take verse 21 at face value, it’s wonky. Right? He has this great sign off – and then he just has to add one more thing. A warning tacked on to this warm conclusion. It’s like if you texted a friend, “Hope you’re having a great day! Don’t get eaten by a panda bear!” It’s like – what? Where did that come from? 

But if we go a little deeper, these six words sum up everything that John has been saying throughout this whole letter. Again and again he has drawn our attention to God. To the Real, True, Holy, Living God, best and most clearly revealed to us in the person and work of Christ Jesus. That’s been his whole point. Remember from our first night: Jesus is fully God. Jesus is fully human. …  Jesus models for us how to be human, how to live a life of loving obedience to God, while also being God. It’s both/and, never either/or. 

John is deeply concerned that we understand Jesus correctly. If we understand Jesus correctly, if we accept the reality of his full Divinity and his full humanity, then we understand God correctly. And there’s one more thing to know about God. The word “trinity” never appears in Scripture. But the truth that God is Three in One and One in Three is stamped all over this letter. 

Anything that is not God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is an idol. A fake god. Worthless. Any teaching that states that Jesus isn’t God, or that Jesus isn’t human, is not the Gospel. And so John is compelled to remind his readers, them then and us right now, that compromise is not possible. In fact, it’s deadly. Keep yourselves from idols. All of you – everything you are, everything you have – must be fully devoted to God. Don’t ever accept a lesser substitute. But if you do, if you get distracted, or lost in chasing something else – just turn right back around because God is there.

That’s straightforward. Pointed. Not real hard to get our minds around. If we jump back up to verse 18, we’re gonna wind up scratching our heads. How do we untangle this? What is John trying to say?

We’ve already talked about how those who are God’s children do not continue in sin as a habit, because we want to please God. We don’t want to please God because we’re afraid of God, but because we love God. Because we understand that God gets to make the rules, and whatever rules God makes are good. Even if we don’t fully agree with them or understand them in the moment. We know that God is good, that God loves us, and so if God asks us to give up something or to start doing something, it’s good.

But what does it mean that God protects us? I have wrestled with this a lot over the last year. In the spring of 2023 my mom was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Just out of the blue. She endured months of chemotherapy and had to have multiple surgeries. She’s still in treatment. She loves Jesus. Why did this happen? John says God protects those who are born of God. John says the evil one can’t touch God’s children. How do we make sense of this?

I am going to be totally honest with you: I’m not sure we can completely make sense of this. We live in the middle of two truths: God is real and present, and the world is currently broken, dysfunctional, because of sin. That’s where things like cancer come from. Now let’s be clear: you don’t get cancer because God hates you and is punishing you. Remember the atoms and all the things inside the atoms are not operating quite the way they’re meant to. So you’re not automatically protected from cancer because you know God. Some might try to teach you that, but it’s just not true. We are Revelation 21 people, people who know that one day all will be renewed, restored, healed – but right now, we still live in the aftershocks of Genesis 3. Remember, too, that we all have the freedom to make choices, and not everyone chooses to live in the light of God’s story, which sadly and unjustly often negatively impacts many people.

So rather than trying to make sense of this, I wonder if there’s a better question to ask: When suffering comes – cancer, parents getting divorced, bullying at school, a break up, not getting into the college you wanted to go to – maybe the question to ask is, “God, will you let me know that you are here with me right now? In a way that makes sense to me?” I can tell you that God did that for my mom. As she sat in the chemo chair, her little bald head covered by a beanie, she experienced the peace of God in a way she hadn’t before. 

I think that’s the kind of protection that John is talking about. He writes just prior to an explosion of persecution against the Christians living in the Roman Empire. People were murdered because they loved Jesus. People are murdered today in other places around the world because they love Jesus. And yet we can know that these children of God are protected. Their minds, their hearts, their souls are full of the presence of the Living, Loving God who promises to be with them to the very end. 

So when we face the troubles that we face, we do so knowing that we are not alone. 

We also do so knowing that evil is real, but is nowhere near equivalent to God. When John writes that the world is under the power of the evil one, he does not mean that every last portion of the globe and all of those on it are being manipulated by dark forces. Okay? You don’t have to go looking for a demon under every rock. Nor do you have to be afraid of the evil one. 

I know a lot about fear. I take a pill every night because my brain likes to misfire and flood itself with anxiety chemicals. Once I was even so low that I truly wanted to kill myself. I’ve been in therapy multiple times. So when I say, “you don’t have to be afraid,” I am not telling you to just pretend like all is hunky dory. Or to just pray harder. Bluntly, that’s ridiculous. Yes, you should pray! We’ve talked a lot about that and we’ve done a lot of that this week. But we do not say things like this to people who have diabetes. “Oh, you’re in a diabetic coma? Should’a prayed harder.” If you need help because you are struggling with your mental health, get help. If you don’t make enough serotonin, store bought is fine. 

So when I say, “you don’t have to be afraid,” I am only saying that God wins. God wins! You are set free from the burden of thinking that the evil one has power over you. You live in the light and truth of Jesus Christ! His strength and power is in you! You are held in the arms of God!

It’s never hopeless. You’re never hopeless. God is at work all the time – in you, around you, through you. God is constantly inviting everyone everywhere to come and be part of God’s family. To have life. Remember, we’re the walking dead without Jesus. All roads do not lead to the same destination. Being a child of God means that you let go of lesser allegiances. It means that you know that truth exists. That truth is real.

God comes in and clears up the mess in our minds. Looks different for each of us. Takes a little longer for some of us, if we like to be stubborn about it. But God leads all of us into truth. Into seeing things as they really are. And what really is, is this: God is real, and if you know God, then you are God’s child. That is your identity. That is the baseline of your story. You are not defined by your gender or sexuality, or how many followers you have on TikTok, or anything else you might want to fixate on and obsess over. You are defined by God, who is the Author of your story. And so I say again: If God asks you to give up something, it’s because God has better for you. Even if you don’t understand it at the moment. Even if it’s really hard. Even if that thing feels so intrinsic to who you are that you have no idea who you will be without it. Who you will be is God’s child. And God’s way is always better.

Each of us will always be faced with the temptation to shape Christ into our preferred image by ignoring or distorting things we read in Scripture. That’s what John’s original audience was dealing with. The reality is that Christ doesn’t deal with an identity crisis. Nor does God seek to conform to anything or anyone. God is God. The Holy Spirit lovingly shapes us into people who look like Jesus. And thus John’s call to uncompromising devotion to Jesus Christ. Because that is how it should be. That is who we should be.

John will write a couple more letters, and then, Church tradition tells us, he will be sent into exile to do hard labor because he loves Jesus. During that exile, he will receive a vision from God. That’s the last book in the Bible. Revelation. An often misunderstood piece of the story. We get really focused on all the weird stuff, but the point of Revelation is the same point of this letter. God is real. God is love. God wins. God writes the story from beginning to end.

And how does John end? Tradition tells us that he was released from exile and went to Ephesus, a city in modern-day Turkey. He spent his final days there, teaching others about  Jesus. With his final breath, he whispered, “Little children, love one another.” The Son of Thunder was transformed into the Son of Love by the God who is love. John gave the pen of his life to the Rightful Author, and joyfully entered into the Author’s Story.

Now it’s our turn. Camp is awesome. We’ve had the privilege of spending a week out here in the middle of nowhere, enjoying each other’s company and the beauty of nature. There’s been late nights, water fights, snacks, and tears. We’re on a high. 

But most of life isn’t a high.

Most of life is kind of normal, even boring. You go to school. Maybe you go to work. You do your chores. Your homework. It’s just the usual stuff. We have to figure out how to carry what we have learned this week back into the normal. How to give the pen of our lives to the Rightful Author not only this week, but every week.

How do we do that? We do that through what we call the means of grace – things like Bible reading, prayer, meeting together, Communion. When we choose to engage in these practices, we are met with the strengthening grace of God. That grace helps us to keep choosing God, and to keep choosing the things that keep us linked to God. It becomes a feedback loop of holy love.

Tonight we will celebrate God meeting us with such great grace through the sacrament, the sacred moment, of Communion, a moment in which we declare our dependence upon Christ our Only Savior. We look back to the events of the cross and the resurrection, and we look forward to the return of Christ. Whether you’ve participated in Communion before or this is your first time – God is glad you’re here. Let me share words with you that are not mine, but aid us in entering into this moment with humility and love: This is the table, not of the Church, but of the Lord. It is made ready for those who love God and for those who want to love God. Made ready for God’s forgiven ones and those who wish today to be forgiven. So welcome, you who have much faith and you who have little; you who have been here often and you who have not been here long; you who follow the risen Lord Jesus, you who have failed to, and you who want to begin now. Welcome. It is God’s will that those who want God should meet here.

On the night when he was betrayed, Jesus took bread and gave thanks. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, broken for you. 

Likewise, when the supper was over, Jesus took the cup and gave thanks. He gave it to his disciples, and said: “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.” The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, shed for you. 

Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again! Let’s say that together…

New Testament scholar Dr. Dean Flemming writes: “I can’t predict what God may want to write into this new chapter of my life. The story may take surprising turns. But I do know this: If I focus on the relationship, the guidance will follow. And I have the assurance that the risen One will be with me on the journey, not only walking beside me, but also going ahead of me, preparing the way.”  – “Looking for Guidance, Finding Christ,” Holiness Today, Jan/Feb 2024, pg. 11

I don’t know what’s coming next for all of us, but I do know that each of us has the honor of telling others about the God of Stories, about the God who writes a story of healing and freedom and incorporates each of us into it, if we choose. Our individual stories get to be part of a bigger, greater, more fun story. We all get to invite people to pull up a chair and join in. In each of our normals, our ordinaries, whatever they are, we know that the extraordinary God is present. Working. Loving. Always writing the story.

As we close this chapter of the story, I’d like to offer us a benediction, or a blessing, written by Dr. Mark Walker, pastor of College Church in Nampa, Idaho. If you feel comfortable, you can go ahead and extend your hands as a way of representing receiving this blessing:

As we go, we acknowledge that we cannot live godly lives in our own strength and power. We need God’s grace, and we need one another.
As we go from here Lord, help us to hear Your voice in the midst of the noise that surrounds us.
As we go from here Lord, help us to reflect your love and grace to all we meet.
As we go from here Lord, may we know that we go together and not alone.
As we go, may we go in the grace and peace that comes from the God of Stories, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

GRACE AND PEACE ALONG THE WAY,

MARIE

Image Courtesy of Jp Valery