Marks of a Christ-Follower: Keeping Your Word

John 14:23-29

If you were to do a Google search of the phrase “Keeping your word,” you would probably find some of the same quotations I discovered:

From actor Shirley MacLaine: “It is useless to hold a person to anything he says while he is in love, drunk, or running for office.”

From that iconic 20th-century humorist Will Rogers: “There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.”

That sets us up for the following comment by Nikita Khrushchev, a former president of the former USSR known more for banging his shoe on the podium at the United Nations than for his humour: “Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers.”

Back to Will Rogers for a shrewd recommendation (that any preacher wishes she or he had said first): “Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.”

And then from the Broadway play My Fair Lady: Eliza Doolittle is courted by Freddy who writes her love letters every day. But Eliza's response to all of his written promises is frustration: “Words! Words! I'm so sick of words! Don't talk of stars burning above! If you're in love, show me! Don't talk of love lasting through time. Make no undying vow. If you love me, show me now!”

If we admire people who keep their word, then we will resonate with Eliza’s “If you love me, show me now.” Let me express her attitude another way. When we keep our word, we may mean many things but we will mean at least the following:

1. We will do what we say we will do.

Whether in business or in our personal lives, we want to be with people who do what they say. I don’t remember my parents making empty promises to me or to my brother and sister. I do remember they kept their word to me when they said I would be getting a bicycle for my birthday – not a three-wheeler but my very first two-wheeler. That was a promise kept that I will never forget! Getting that bike meant I could trust my parents to keep their word if they ever said they were going to do something.

2. When we keep our word, we show we are trustworthy and dependable.

Some illustrations bear repeating and I have used something similar to this one in a previous message. A father was playing with his little boy, repeatedly throwing him in the air and catching him. The child was obviously relaxed and having a great time. “Do it again! Do it again!” he said.

A man who was watching asked the father: “Can you explain why he's so relaxed, even when he's out of control?”

“It's very simple,” the father said. “We have a history together. We've played this game before, and I've never dropped him.” The son found his father to be dependable and worthy of his trust.

3. When we keep our word, we are showing respect and even love toward the other person. We are showing we value the integrity of our relationships.

A student was looking for summer employment before going back to school. She had two job possibilities. One she wanted very much and the other she really didn't want but would take as a second choice.

As you can guess, the second-choice job was offered first. She wanted to hold out for her first choice but she didn't know if it would be offered to her or to someone else. So she accepted her second-choice for her summer employment. A few days later, as you also could expect, the job she had hoped for was offered to her. She wanted to quit the job she had already accepted and take the job she really wanted. So she went to her father.

“Dad, I have a problem.” And she told him the situation.

He looked her straight in the eye and asked, “Did you take the first job offered to you?”

“Yes,” She said.

“Did you promise you would work there this summer?”

“Yes,” She said.

Her father then said, “Why are we having this conversation?”

[George Munzing, “Living a Life of Integrity,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 32.]

I do not imagine anyone here would like to be known as someone who does not keep his or her word. I don’t imagine you would want to associate yourself for very long with someone who has that kind of reputation. Quite the opposite, I would think. But of course, you would delight in being with someone who does what he or she says, who is trustworthy and dependable, and who respects you and values the relationship between you.

Let me be straightforward: Jesus Christ wants to keep his word to those he loves. That means not only for his disciples but for all of humanity – and that also includes you and me. If we had read the Scripture this morning in John 14 from verse 15, we would have noticed that this whole section is about Jesus promising to send the Holy Spirit to live with those who love him. This would happen, he said, after he physically left them and this Earth – an event that occurred in just over a month after his talking with them – after his death, resurrection and ascension, which the disciples could not yet even imagine. But he told them the Holy Spirit would be with them in his place. In fact, the Holy Spirit would be Jesus’ presence – God’s presence too -- within them in a way that would enable him to do much more in their lives and in the lives of people all over the world than if he stayed with them physically.

Jesus Christ is the presence of God within those who love him and follow his commandments -- especially the commands to love God wholeheartedly and to love one another. Jesus wanted to keep his word to his followers. And he knew he could keep his word, his promises, to those who love him because his Holy Spirit would be with them and within them always. When Jesus keeps his word, he means many things, but he means at least the following:

First, Jesus wants to do in our lives what he said he would do. And he will do this through his Holy Spirit within us.

Second, Jesus always showed his followers then that he was dependable and worthy of their trust. And he is worthy of our trust too. Again, he expresses his trustworthiness through the Holy Spirit.

And, third, through his Holy Spirit, Jesus shows his love and respect for us. He values our relationship with him and with his Father who is our Father as well. And he wants his relationship with us to deepen and to mature.

Jesus wants to do in our lives what he said he would do. He knew his disciples were on the verge of being thrown for a loop with his impending death. Their distress would become evident even if they had trouble admitting it at that particular moment. In the midst of their anguish, the peace they so desperately would need would come at the right time – Jesus promised that. In fact, he clearly instructed his disciples to set their hearts at ease. He told them not to be afraid when he left them. He told them he was giving them his peace – a peace very different from anything they could experience in the world outside of his being with them. And this strength, this ease of heart, this peace, this renewal of spirit would be there for them because of the Holy Spirit who would come to live with them -- and even within them.

In the first verse of John 14, Jesus acknowledged that the disciples trusted God. “Trust also in me,” Jesus told them. But he did not expect his disciples to trust him without help. That’s why the Holy Spirit came to live with them – with those who believed in him and loved him and showed their love for him by doing what he told them to do.

One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to teach us and to remind us of all that Jesus said as the Spirit did for the first disciples. This is significant for us to know and understand. The Holy Spirit guided the disciples. The Spirit also wants to guide us today – to help us think over what Jesus said 2,000 years ago and to experience Jesus today. The Holy Spirit also wants to help us let our love for Jesus show up in the ways we relate to others and carry on his ministry to others. You see, the Holy Spirit helps us as followers and disciples – or learners -- to understand Jesus and his word and to love him by keeping his word on behalf of the world. A New Testament scholar once spoke of the Scripture written 50 years after Jesus’ death as a relevant source for the life of the historical Jesus by saying: “My mother has been dead for thirty years. I think I understand her better now than I did when she was alive.” The Holy Spirit can help us – and the Church -- remember Jesus’ teachings and the commands he gave us when he was on Earth.

I wonder how much we understand the deep respect and love Jesus has for those who who love him and who do what he says. Jesus values our relationship with him – he gave his life for us so this would be possible. And as we read the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, we can see that he wants that relationship to deepen and mature. And that is a choice we have the freedom to make.

Part of our maturing relationship with Jesus Christ is the freedom to ask questions. In verse 19 of John 14, Jesus had said to his disciples: “In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.” Judas (not the one who betrayed Jesus) pressed him for more information: “How is it that you will reveal yourself [that is, make yourself plain] to us and not to the world?” (John 14:22).

A good question! And Jesus answered it this way: “Whoever loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love [them], and my Father and I will come to [them] and live with [them].” These are words meant for those who who love and obey Jesus -- not for those who do not. Those who are followers of Jesus are those who keep loving Jesus by doing what he has been teaching all along, including loving one another and washing one another’s feet – that is, keeping Jesus’ word through love and service. Jesus made it clear, over and over again, that his followers show their love for him by loving and serving others.

Whether or not the disciples knew it, to live that kind of love, they would need the constant presence of God in their midst. Jesus offered that presence to those who love him when he said of himself and of the Father: “My Father and I will come to [them] and live with [them].” In other words, “We will come and make our home with them.” I love that image! It tells me where God likes to spend time – with those who love Jesus and who love to serve others!

Someone once compared the Holy Spirit to a babysitter. He said that whenever his wife puts her hand on the doorknob and her coat over her arm, their children ask: “Who will take care of us?” And she gives them the name of one of their regular babysitters. All of them are capable. But if she tells them one particular name – “Brittain” -- the children leap for joy. Brittain reads to them, romps with them, acts out plays with them and makes chocolate chip cookies with them. She nurtures their young lives with love. And as long as she is with them, the children are not afraid. That fun and secure image also fits God!

Another word for the Holy Spirit is companion -- one who comes alongside and cares for us. And in many ways – both quiet and amazing – the Holy Spirit comforts us, teaches us, reminds us, guides us, enjoys us and nurtures us as sons and daughters of God until, as Jesus said, he comes back again.

Let us rejoice and be glad that Jesus is still with us! Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and to live in us so that he could keep his word of love alive and active in those who believe in him, who love him and in those whom he loves.

May this be so for you and for me.

Rev. Chris Miller
May 9, 2010 • Mother's Day • Easter 6
OYM • Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto [website »]

Marks of a Christ-Follower: Responsive Love

John 13:1-17, 31-35 - read this Bible text online here »

“Love one another.” Every week in our worship, we say this phrase in one form or another. Read page 2 of our weekly bulletin and you will see that “love” is part of the vision, mission and values our congregation developed a couple of years ago. In our vision statement, we tell our community – and the world on our website! -- that we are a caring or loving congregation. In our mission statement, we say we strive to bring to life the teachings of Jesus Christ. The command to love one another is clearly one of Jesus’ fundamental teachings. We have just heard it in today’s Scripture reading of John 13. And in the list of our values, we include the words compassion, caring, respect and the word love itself.

Sometimes even saying the word “love” can be interesting. Perhaps you see yourself or a child you know in this conversation:

When she was three years old, a little girl had trouble pronouncing the letter “L.” Instead of saying Heather Lynn (which was her name), she would say Heather Yynn [replacing the L with a Y]. One day, she gave her mother a big hug and said, “I yove you, Mommy!”

Seeing a teachable moment to help her pronunciation, her mother replied: “I love you, too, Heather. But it’s ‘love’ not ‘yove.’ Do you understand?”

To which Heather proudly exclaimed, “Les!”
[Cathy Roberts & Heather Bennett, Christian Reader, “Kids of the Kingdom.”]

Today Jesus’ call to love one another does not seem new to us. I don’t think the call to love another person is particularly new to many in our society or in other cultures either. For instance, in our Growth Task Force meeting, one person observed that many people this person associates with talked about not going to church because they feel they are already good people. And I suppose they would also include in their statement that they are as caring or loving toward others as anyone else. There are various books on the market today with titles such as Can We Be Good Without God? [Robert Buckman] – with the expected answer “Yes we can.” Or the book titled With or Without God by United Church minister Gretta Vosper – with the idea that compassionate living does not necessarily depend on believing in God. So, for many, the call to love one another does not depend on believing in God.

Actually, the commandment to love one another goes back centuries before even Jesus himself. It is an ancient commandment that goes back 3,000 years to the founding of the Hebrew community. Would you be surprised to know that the command “Love your neighbour as yourself” is found first in Leviticus 19:18? And Jesus himself certainly repeated those words again and again while he was physically on Earth. So what was it that made what he called “a new commandment” for his followers (and that includes us) so special and so memorable?

In John 13:34, did you notice the qualifying phrase Jesus added to the words “Love one another”? He told his followers very specifically they were to love one another as he had loved them. His way of loving was to be the new pattern of their love for each other – and also for us in 2010. In one of his sermons, the late Episcopalian minister, theologian and author Rev. Dr. John R. Claypool said:

“Here is one of those places where the famous imitation of Christ’s ideal got its origin, and it raises the seminal question: ‘Exactly how did this [Jesus], who became what we are so we could understand more fully who God is, actually and realistically love?’”

Out of the many ways Jesus showed love to people, to the world, I will mention only three – but these are significant ways. Jesus’ love was sacrificial. Jesus’ love was forgiving. And Jesus’ love was full of grace.

First, Jesus’ love was sacrificial. Jesus gave of himself constantly to everyone he encountered. People would flock to hear him speak. They would throng to him because they believed he would heal them of their sicknesses and diseases. Even when he was tired and needed some rest, they still pursued him. But he would never neglect them even though he was weary. And he did find rest time because he knew he needed it. He found a place of relaxation in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus and would try to spend as much time as he could with them whenever he was in the area.

Tim Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. In his bestselling book The Reason for God, Keller reflects on the meaning of Jesus’ love as sacrifice. He writes:

“In a real world of relationships, it is impossible to love people with a problem or a need without in some sense sharing or even changing places with them. All real life-changing love involves some form of this kind of exchange.”

Keller then gave two examples of what he meant.

“Imagine you come into contact with a man who is innocent, but who is being hunted down by secret agents or by the government or by some other powerful group. He reaches out to you for help. If you don’t help him, he will probably die, but if you ally with him, you -- who were perfectly safe and secure -- will be in mortal danger. This is the stuff that movie plots are made of. Again, it’s him or you. He will experience increased safety and security through your involvement, but only because you are willing to enter into his insecurity and vulnerability.”

Then Keller made a keen observation about parenting.

“Children come into the world in a condition of complete dependence. They cannot operate as self-sufficient, independent agents unless their parents give up much of their own independence and freedom for years. If you don’t allow your children to hinder your freedom in work and play at all, and if you only get to your children when it doesn’t inconvenience you, your children will grow up physically only. In all sorts of other ways they will remain emotionally needy, troubled, and over-dependent. The choice is clear. You can either sacrifice your freedom or theirs. It’s them or you. To love your child well, you must decrease that they may increase. You must be willing to enter into the dependency they have so eventually they can experience the freedom and independence you have.”

Keller then said:

“All life-changing love toward people with serious needs is a substitutional sacrifice. If you become personally involved with them, in some way, their weaknesses flow toward you as your strengths flow toward them.”

[Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (Riverhead Books, 2008), pp. 201–202]

Essentially, that’s what Jesus’ sacrificial love is like. His love – God’s love – meant that he became personally involved in suffering the same violence, oppression, grief, weakness and pain that we human beings experience. And his love – God’s love – meant that he sacrificed his life on the cross for us, taking on himself the just punishment our sin deserved. Our love for one another – if we love as Jesus loves us – carries a similar sense of personal involvement and even suffering with one another.

Jesus’ way of loving also means forgiveness. Forgiveness is about loving in the midst of people betraying you. If we had read the entire chapter, we would have noticed a deeply troubled Jesus saying to his disciples, “I am telling you the truth: one of you is going to betray me.” Forgiveness is about loving in the midst of people denying your very existence. Immediately after Jesus told his disciples to love one another, he told Peter that he would deny him – not once but three times – even though Peter vigourously protested he was prepared to die for Jesus. Remember, it was on another occasion that Jesus gave the mathematical equation for forgiving one another to Peter: “seventy times seven.” In other words, forgiveness is like the Energizer bunny: forgiveness keeps on forgiving and forgiving. Forgiveness is also about loving in the midst of negligence and unprovoked senseless personal suffering. Jesus obviously loved like that. But can we do that too?

In 2005, a news reporter once editorialized that “Forgiveness has power to change the future” [Jay Evensen, “Forgiveness has power to change future,” Desert Morning News (8-21-05)]. He wrote about Victoria Ruvolo, a 44-year-old collection agency manager, and 19-year-old Ryan Cushing. Ryan and his friends stole a credit card and then took off on a shopping spree.

They stole a 20-pound frozen turkey and threw it from their speeding vehicle headlong into the windshield of the car driven by Victoria Ruvolo. The result: she underwent surgery for six hours as metal plates and other pieces of hardware were fitted together in an effort to rebuild her face. The prosecutor made an intriguing comment: he noted that for crimes such as this one, victims often “feel no punishment is harsh enough.” In fact, “Death doesn’t even satisfy them.”

How did Victoria react to what had happened to her? She was primarily concerned with “salvaging the life of her 19-year-old assailant.” She did not seek revenge in any way. She sought information about the youth and how he was raised, insisting that he be offered a plea deal. He could plead guilty to second-degree assault, be put in the county jail for six months and placed on one year’s probation. He could have been sent to prison for 25 years, returning to society middle-aged with no job skills or prospects.

According to the news article, “This is only half the story. The rest of it, what happened the day this all played out in court, is the truly remarkable part.” The young man walked “carefully and tentatively” to where his victim was seated in the courtroom. With tears and in a whisper, he apologized: “I’m so sorry for what I did to you.” He and Victoria embraced, both weeping. She comforted him and said: “It’s OK. I just want you to make your life the best it can be.” It was reported that “hardened prosecutors, and even reporters, were choking back tears.”

The article concluded: “Slowly, humans seem to be learning to understand the power of forgiveness. As a healing agent, it appears to be stronger than any surgery, counselling or anger-management course.”

It does appear in stories such as these that our love for one another can also be forgiving -- the way Jesus loved and forgave us.

And Jesus’ way of loving is also filled with grace. Here is a true story about a father (who happens to be a minister) and his children that illustrates grace. Pastor Bill White wrote:

“It was one of those evenings when everything goes wrong. The kids were cranky while I was making dinner, so I gave them some hot chocolate to tide them over. Timothy, who is five, decided to throw his marshmallows at his little sister, knocking her hot chocolate all over her. As she began screaming, the phone rang (and I foolishly answered it) and the doorbell rang (and I foolishly answered it -- with the phone on my ear and a screaming kid in the background). I then returned to the kitchen and hollered at Timothy, and promptly had two crying kids.

“As dinner began to burn and I deposited my daughter in the bath, I loudly announced that I was so angry I might do anything, so I declared I was putting myself in timeout. I closed the door, none too gently, and tried to get dinner to be the only thing simmering in the kitchen.

“Everything changed about ten minutes later when I caught sight of a yellow piece of construction paper sliding under the door. In the unsteady hand of a kindergartener was scrawled a message of grace that pierced my heart and turned me around: ‘From Timothy. To Dad. I still love you even when you’re angry.’”

[Bill White, Paramount, California]

Grace – God’s grace – defies reason and logic. We live in a world in which more often than not, how we act toward someone else comes back to us like a boomerang: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But love or grace interrupts the consequences of our actions. As Bono of the rock group U2 said:

“[Love] doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity.”

 [Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assaya, (Riverhead Books, 2005)]

Sacrificial, forgiving and grace-filled love is the kind of love Jesus meant when he said “Love one another as I have loved you.” Is it possible for you and me as followers of Jesus to love in the same way Jesus did? It is possible when we are connected to Jesus like a branch is connected to a tree. Because the branch gets its very life from the oxygen and sap flowing through it by being attached – otherwise it would wither and die. It is possible to love as Jesus did when we obey his commands. And we can obey when we are connected to Jesus Christ in a relationship of love with him – like a branch is connected to a tree. It is possible to love as Jesus did because, as another Scripture states, “God loved us first.” [1 John]

In John 15:12, John recorded Jesus repeating his command to his followers to love one another: “My commandment is this: Love one another, just as I love you.” But then, in the very next verse, Jesus said, “The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them.” We might look at our friends and wonder: if the moment ever came, would we be willing to die for them?

The Rev. Joachim Alexandropoulos was an Orthodox priest on a Greek island during the Second World War. He is memorialized at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. One day, the Nazis came and demanded he provide them -- the next day -- with a list naming every Jewish person on the island. When the next day came, he handed them his list. It contained only one name -- his own. He loved his friends to the end.

We might never be tested to such an ultimate limit of love. But even if we are not, we are still called to fulfil whatever works of love -- of sacrifice, forgiveness and grace -- that lie before us. And if we love one another in this way, then everyone will know that we are his disciples – serious followers of Jesus Christ.

May this be so for you and for me.

Rev. Chris Miller
OYM - Oriole-York Mills United Church,Toronto [website »]
May 2, 2010
Easter 5