The Path to God: Love One Another!

1 John 3: 16-24

Roger Lynn

August  13, 2017

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

Believing in God can be a rather nebulous thing sometimes. We say we trust, but we are, after all, only human. We get distracted. It’s hard to stay connected with a God we can’t touch or see. So, down through the years, various people have come up with various ways to make sure – pray a particular prayer, with your body in a particular position, at a particular time each day; profess belief in a particular statement; give a specified amount of money to a particular organization; sacrifice an animal in a particular way; eat certain foods; don’t eat certain foods; cut your hair; don’t cut your hair; obey certain rules; associate with certain people; don’t associate with certain people; and on and on the list goes. Admittedly, there can be a certain comfort that comes from knowing what you have to do to be in God’s good graces. Except it’s hardly ever quite that simple. What if I didn’t do it just right? What if I made a mistake and didn’t even notice? What if I do everything just exactly right, and it still doesn’t feel like God is with me? What if . . . ? What if . . . ?

It seems that the people in the church to whom the letter of 1 John was addressed were having some of these struggles. They were worried about whether they were living “good enough” lives – that maybe they weren’t “worthy” of  God’s love. How do we know? How can we be sure? To which the author of 1 John responds, in essence, “You’re making things way too complicated! You say you are following Jesus. Well, just do what Jesus told you to do. Love one another! It’s not always easy, but it really is that simple.”

We can talk about it all we want. We can use all the proper theological language. But if we really want to find a connection with God that we can touch and see and experience, the answer is as close to us as our nearest neighbor. “Love one another,” is what Jesus said. The writer of 1 John spells it out this way – “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” (1 John 3:17)

So you want a spiritual practice that will lead you to a closer, more vibrant connection with God? You want to find a path that will help you experience the presence of God in a personal way? The path to which Jesus points us begins and ends with these three words – love one another. There is no act more sacred, there is no practice more holy, there is no path more spiritual than to reach out beyond ourselves and touch the life of another human being with love. Not just with words. Not just in theory. But in real, concrete, down-to-earth practical action. When we join our lives together we find that the connection which is formed links us not only with each other but also with the Sacred Presence of the Divine.

We who call ourselves Christian seek to follow where Christ leads. In fact, one way of understanding what it means to be Christian is that we are called to become “Christs” for the world – God’s anointed representatives of love. So when John’s Gospel describes Jesus as the good shepherd and tells us that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, the write of 1 John picks up that theme and suggests that “we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” (1 John 3:16) In the first century, to talk about a shepherd laying down his life for the sheep was to describe the reality of joining life with them completely – living with them, sleeping with them, facing dangers with them, putting your life on the line for them. 

Love one another! Lay down your life for each other! Live like we are connected (because, in fact, we are). Act like God is present in every person you meet (because, in fact, God is). The specifics of what that looks like will take us a lifetime to even begin to figure out. Of course there will always be situations which seem complicated and confusing. We cannot do everything, and the chances are good that sometimes the actions we do take will not be helpful. That’s why it’s called a spiritual practice. It is a path, a journey, a process of learning and growing. All that is required is that we begin. And sometimes it really is simpler than we try to make it. Love one another. It may not always be clear exactly what that means, but it’s a pretty safe bet that it doesn’t mean killing each other. It’s a pretty safe bet that it doesn’t mean watching some people starve. It’s a pretty safe bet that it doesn’t mean excluding them, or ignoring them, or marginalizing them. It’s a pretty safe bet that it doesn’t mean only when it’s easy, or convenient, or safe. I’m pretty sure I’ve shared this Ann Weems poem with you before, but it bears repeating. 

He said, “Feed my sheep.”

There were no conditions:

Least of all,

Feed my sheep if they deserve it.

Feed my sheep if you feel like it.

Feed my sheep if you have any leftovers.

Feed my sheep if the mood strikes you,

if the economy’s OK. . .

if you’re not too busy. . .

No conditions . . . just, “Feed my sheep.”

Could it be that God’s Kingdom will come

when each lamb is fed?

We who have agreed to keep covenant

are called to feed sheep

even when it means the grazing will be done

on our front lawns.

(“Feeding Sheep” by Ann Weems in “Searching for Shalom”)

When we set off down the path of loving one another, we cannot know for sure where it will lead us or what it will cost us. For Jesus it led to the cross and cost him his life. So it is not something to be taken lightly. But one thing is clear. Wherever it leads and whatever it costs, what we will find in the midst of it all is the loving presence of God.