Since I had to miss the 10:30 worship service on May 16 this is the "letter" I wrote to be read in place of the sermon. Thank you to Jim Spawton for reading it!
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
I am sorry that I am not with you this morning. My duties as the conference dean have taken me to Reformation Lutheran Church in Rochester. As some of you may know, Reformation has decided to sell their building. Today is the last Sunday they will be worshipping in it. It is a sad time for them. They’ve been at that location for over 150 years. Their building has also played a large role in the faith history of Rochester. It has hosted decades of vibrant worship, congregational activities, and countless community groups. Unfortunately the cost of maintaining the building has become crippling. It is being sold to another congregation who will hopefully continue to use it for ministry and worship. It is important to point out that Reformation is not closing. They are just selling their building. They have not found a new home yet.
Almost all churches in our nation are struggling and declining. Many will eventually close. That is very hard news for us. We think of the church as something that is permanent and ever growing. We ask ourselves if we’re doing something wrong when a church declines. Our own congregation is doing okay, but it is not growing the way we would prefer.
There are no easy answers to these questions. It is important that we remember that the church is God’s, not ours. The church is in God’s hands and God will surely take us into the future. That takes us to today’s worship theme – Judgment Day and the end of time.
In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke Jesus takes some time and teaches about: the end of the world, judgment day, and the ultimate revelation of God.
John’s gospel, however, has no such teaching. As John presents it, God is fully revealed to the world in Jesus. There’s nothing important left to reveal. As John presents it, if you want to know God look at Jesus. Jesus is the fulness of God’s nature.
Jesus’ arrival in the world then brings the world to a moment of decision. As it says on the cover of the bulletin, “If one accepts Jesus as God’s revelation then one has judged oneself and decided to follow. If one rejects Jesus then one has also judged oneself, and decided to reject God’s love and promises.”
There is a lot of sense to this. If you live now in relationship with God then you need not fear any possible future judgement. You’re already in relationship with God. You’re accepted. And if you reject relationship with God now, then even now you’ve removed yourself from God.
John’s gospel is very complex and often hard to understand. In the midst of it all though, we discover that John does not depict God as a judge at all. People judge themselves.
Keep
that in mind as you hear these famous verses from John 3:
“For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish
but have eternal life. Indeed, God did
not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through him. Those
who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are
condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son
of God. And this is the judgment, that
the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than
light…” John 3:16-19
Do you see how God does not want to be a stern and cruel judge? God does not stand above us ready to smite us for every wrongdoing. Centuries ago preacher Jonathan Edwards gave his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.” In that sermon Edwards describes sinners as spiders or loathsome insects God is dangling over a fire of destruction. It is only by God’s supernatural forbearance that they are allowed to exist at all – but it would be God’s relief to let them fall into damnation.
That is not at all the way John 3 depicts it. You can feel in John that God really desires to save and restore all of creation; and everything in it. In John’s gospel the word “world” does not mean the earth or the universe. It means that which has turned its back on God, or that which has rejected God. It is that which hates God. In seminary the world was called, “the sphere at enmity with God.” And yet God so loves that which hates him that God is willing to die to save it.
In
John’s gospel we realize just how deep God’s love is. God is longing, actually yearning, for people
to live in accordance with his love. God
does not want to condemn anyone. God
wants to draw all people to himself. And
God is deeply patient and persistent.
But according to John God does not force anyone to accept his love. God will invite but not force. God values our free will so that when we do respond to his love it is a genuine love.
As you read through John’s gospel you meet a number of people who encounter Jesus. Many of them (like Peter, Nathanial, the Samaritan woman at the well, and others) meet Jesus and immediately accept him. They respond and become his disciples. That does not mean their fears and questions cease. But they are on the path to discipleship.
And many of them (like the religious leaders, Pilate, the soldiers, and others) meet Jesus and reject him. Some of them see Jesus as a threat and seek to harm him. John portrays the love of God as a threat to the powers that be in the world.
And
there are some who encounter Jesus, like the Pharisee Nicodemus, who can’t seem
to make up his mind. Nicodemus struggles
to understand. We never know what he
decides, but he does represent a response to Jesus. I think John includes him because he shows
the authentic struggle many people have. What is important is that these people are
still turning to Jesus in their struggles.
What does this mean for our lives? The fact that you are in a church for worship on a Sunday morning suggests that you have encountered Jesus and decided to follow. There are loads of other things you could be doing!
What it means for our lives we find in John 17. There Jesus prays for his disciples and all who come after him. There Jesus sends his followers into the world so that they may spread the good news of God’s great love. However, he also knows that the world may not like that love. His followers may meet resistance and even outright opposition.
Do we shirk from that resistance? Do we fear it? Probably we do. But we also need to hear Jesus’ promises. Jesus said in his prayer, “I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.” John 17:13
Challenging
and difficult as it can be, the task of sharing the truth and love of God is
not only fulfilling, but it is joyful.
Sharing God’s truth and love does not mean shouting it from a street
corner. Jesus didn’t do that. Jesus’ simply shared God’s love with every
person he met and in every situation.
That is something he can equip us to do too.
God does not desire to condemn the world. John’s gospel does not see some end-of-time judgment day. Instead John sees God reaching out to embrace the world in love each and every day. But there are those who reject that embrace. They refuse it. And in so doing they have judged themselves. They are placing themselves outside of God’s grace. Rather than wanting to destroy them, I believe God mourns their decision.
Since
we have God’s promise that we are loved into eternity we can take comfort and
live in that love now. Live securely in
that love and let it guide you through every day.
Blessings,
Pastor Jon
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