Rev’d Jonathan Gale
Acts 10: 44 – 48
Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit
While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, 46for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, 47‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ 48So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.
1 John 5: 1 – 6
Faith Conquers the World
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ* has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. 5Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Testimony concerning the Son of God
6 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.
John 15: 9 – 17
9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants* any longer, because the servant* does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
We have today reflected on the love that our mothers (in some cases mother figures) displayed towards us and how this love has affected our spirituality.
The overwhelming thing we gather from all who speak of their mothers, is love. Mothers love their children. It is highly unusual to find a mother who does not love her children, unless of course she suffers from an illness of some kind. It is the very basic programming of mothers to love.
You cannot love someone you do not value highly and generally speaking mothers value their offspring highly. Mothers undergo a great deal in order both to bring children into the world and send them out into the world equipped to deal with it well.
In the end they give up control and give away what is extremely precious to them: their children.
Now God does something similar, and I’m not talking about his giving Jesus up for crucifixion because he loves us so much. He certainly does love us and that is supremely demonstrated in his handing Jesus over to death – God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
It’s true, as we read in Vs 13 that 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Again, it’s not the actual sacrifice of Jesus I refer to. We take that as a given – i.e. the tremendous love demonstrated towards us in Jesus giving up his life for us.
The clue here lies in the final word “friends.” Like a mother, Jesus gives up control.
There is a huge difference between the relationship between creator and creature on one hand, and Jesus and friend on the other. Between Lord and servant on the one hand, and lover and beloved on the other.
Jesus says in Vs 15:
15I do not call you servants* any longer, because the servant* does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
You see a servant does exactly what he or she is told to do. A friend is under no such compulsion. A friend seeks to please because they love the other person. It is a different kind of relationship altogether.
15I do not call you servants* any longer, because the servant* does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
Friends are not kept in the dark. Jesus says I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
Friends are empowered, drawn close, let in on what is going on – all in order that they might exercise their free will to love.
So what I’m talking about is God giving us freedom so we can be lovers rather than robots. I think faced with that choice we’d all prefer to be empowered lovers than enslaved robots.
Mothers are prepared to give up everything they have in order to equip their children to function well in the world. Jesus gives us the status of friends (not servants) so that we can live meaningful lives, conduct loving relationships and freely choosing to follow him.
It is the loving fellowship that results from this kind of relationship that causes us to want to live in line with the things God loves. When we love God back we don’t find his commands burdensome. We live lives that are in sync with his because he’s our friend; we hang out with him (as it were) and develop a love for the same values.
This is risky for God because this gives us the potential to let him down. But his love is so great he’s prepared to risk that in order that we might have the option to choose to love and obey instead, and therefore be blessed beyond our imaginings.
No mother would lock her child away in a cupboard for fear that it might get damaged in the big wide world. Mothers all let their children go so that they might choose freely to love them, to live adjusted and fulfilled lives – to love voluntarily in return.
When our lives line up with God’s then we share the same likes and dislikes as God does. Another way of stating that would be 14You are my friends if you do what I command you
So what is God’s supreme command? In other words what is it that reflects God’s values? ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Love is the central telling characteristic of God and it is the central telling characteristic of those who are God’s friends. It is the evidence that we love God.
And God has one reason for why he wants this, and it is for our benefit: 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
Joy eludes people who are not centred in God. God does this all for more than just our salvation. He is interested in the quality of our saved lives. He wants joy for us.
I want to conclude with this thought. Last week I spoke about Jesus’ illustration in John 15 that he is the vine, we are the branches and that we should centre our living in him. The choices we are faced with according to the story are stark. Either we are fruitful branches who remain i.e. abide in the vine (in other words develop our relationship with Jesus) and allow God to prune us (to get rid of the things that get in the way of living godly lives), or we are branches that are cut off by God the Father and are thrown onto the fire because we are not producing fruit.
Someone had been listening carefully because they said to me afterwards, “Where is the option of failing and being restored?” Good question! The New Testament is full of failure and restoration. Peter is the great example of this.
But Jesus doesn’t give this option in the story and there’s a very good reason why he doesn’t. The stories Jesus told were designed not to comfort, but to confront. They were designed to elicit an active response.
If the options are make or break and our hearts are keen to please God, then we respond accordingly – almost instinctively – with a desire to be fruitful. That involves a mental and emotional move towards God. In other words it is an act of faith.
It occurred to me that the response Jesus looks for is a test of our love and that it is very much the way we would respond if we heard our mother’s voice calling us. If your mother were standing behind you now and you heard her call your name, you would swing round immediately. That is an act of faith; a move towards the beloved.
Love is the motivation and the action that it motivates is faith.
Which is a great place to end because in the words of that inimitable apostle to the Gentiles, St Paul, The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5: 6b)
Love one another!
God bless you.
Amen.
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