Rev. Dustin ParkerRemain in His love
We have seen His salvation..
therefore we have become His friends!
What does this mean?
John 15:9-17
† IN JESUS NAME †
May we realize, that because of the grace and mercy of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we are counted as the Beloved, to the extent that He confides in us!
The Power Strip Redux
I’ve often heard, and even made comments at times, about church and Bible Study being times when people are re-charged, when they come in from the work of the world, and spend time regaining the energy and strength needed to go out into the world and do the work God has called them to do.
There is truth to the fact that this place, this time, like Sunday School and Wednesday nights are times of refreshment. Yet, if we think of church as a recharging time because God is present in our lives now more than on Tuesday in the office, or Thursday in a classroom or Friday evening while we are having a nice Lutheran beverage, we need to step back a moment… and think.
We aren’t like spiritual cellphones, plug them in for a couple hours and go a day without contact to what gives them power. Like Michael preached last week, we are more like… a power strip. If we think Sunday, or 10 minutes in prayer at the beginning of the day is our recharging, we’ve pretty much done this. (plug power strip into itself) Where is the energy now? Where is that which makes the difference in this item’s existence?
Yet, I think for many, that is how they see God, and their relationship to us. The key word last week is heard again at the beginning of the Gospel reading today….
Remain….
Last week, remain in me as I remain in you.. Jesus taught. In the same way today, He encourages and establishes us by telling us we “remain in my love..” and then calls us His friends… or more accurately… His Beloved ones… as we remain… in Him…
The sermon today.. will simply continue to explore what that means… to be His beloved, to remain in His love… as Jesus describes it.
The Love that Envelops us…
As we look at the love Christ would have us remain in, the love He would have surround us, we need to first look at the love that is expressed within in the Trinity itself. For Jesus makes it clear – that He remains in the Father’s love, and that is the very kind of love which envelopes us, as we remain in Christ.
Could we even begin to comprehend the measure of love God the Father has for Jesus, His only begotten Son? Is there a way to measure love of that magnitude? Is there a way to even describe it? Surely we hear the love of God the Father, as He rends open heaven to speak at the baptism of Jesus, and again at the transfiguration.
There is another way to “measure” the love of the Father, and that is to examine the reaction of Jesus to that love. Simply put, the stronger the Father’s love, the more it would impact Jesus, the larger the reaction to it. Or as Jesus says, “I obey the Father’s commandment – because I have remained in His love. We’ve heard these words “obey" and “commandments” before, commandments isn’t talking about one singular command, but all the Father has ordained, all that He commissioned – and obey is actually much more powerful – Jesus treasured and guarded that which the Father revealed to Him….
In treasuring that which the Father commissioned, Christ made it happen – even though it meant suffering in this life, and dieing on the cross – that what the Father desired – to live with us as His people would be accomplished. The value that the Son places on the Father’s love is inestimable – but it is seen as He does that which the Father planned – and saves us…
In doing so, He literally changes our status, as we go from being enslaved to sin and death, to being His friends, or as the Greek puts it – the beloved ones. That was the goal of the Trinity, for us to share in the very love that is shared in their presence….
For as the Son remains in the Father’s love, so we are kept in Christ’s love. We aren’t talking about a moment of prayer – we are talking about constant companionship, constantly remaining in His presence.
The same love – that same incredible love that binds the Trinity, is what courses through us, in us, because that is what it means to remain in Christ, to remain in His love…
To begin to realize this is beyond incredible, it’s astonishing, it is mind blowing and does, as Jesus tells us, when we for a moment can consider how great is God’s love for us, fills us with a level of joy that leaves us speechless.
Joy overflowing, our cup runs over it – as the shepherd wrote – as he considered how he was shepherded by the Lord God…
We are the Beloved, the friends
The Love that Confides in us..
We know that which the Father shared with the son
As we look what it means to remain in Christ’s love – to have the presence of God with us, much as this power strip could have the electrical current coursing through it, it is amazing how much the relationship of the Trinity is reflected in the relationship we are saved to.
Hear an explanation for why Jesus calls us His beloved, His friends.
5 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you
Speaking for myself, it seems beyond belief that reveals to us everything that the Father had revealed to Jesus. God chose us to confide in, to share with us the Big Picture. He reveals to us the Father’s plans, desires, everything. With us, Jesus has shared the very Opus Dei, the incredible work of that the Father commissioned, that the Father sent Jesus to accomplish.
The incredible work of re-creating us, renewing us, enveloping us in His love…
And sharing with us His work, the very Opus Dei, the Missio Dei, that which God crafts and creates – the work of God in this world!
Jesus invites us to not just see the Father’s desire, but to be part of seeing that desire fulfilled. To see intimately into what pleases God, what brings Him the greatest joy, and then Jesus helping us to see that made possible, to see it happen. He confides in us, shows us the big picture, and then encourages us to get it done. He invites us to participate in the establishment of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of heaven… by simply remaining in Him, as He pours His love through us, to a lost, broken and hurting world.
A work that is done, in the same way it was done to us – through His love, the love the Father shares with Him, and Jesus shares with us, we are to share with each other..
What Jesus commissions us to do, the command at the basis of all commands…remain in my love… love on another… another being anyone created by God…
What about this asking for what we need?
One final thought, as we come to the end of this sermon..
In the beginning of the sermon, I mention that church isn’t the place where we re-charge, to go out and face the world without God. Imagine again the power strip model and the idea of walking away from the source of the power that gives it purpose and meaning. It doesn’t work, and neither do we, if we try to go it alone. We are not deists – we don’t believe God left us alone here…with expecting us to last 165 hours before charges…
Church, Bible Study, Prayer, the Sacraments do refresh us though, in that they call to mind that we live every moment in the presence of God, that we do remain in His love. That was the place He has chosen for us, and for all who He “plugs in” through us, all that He rescues from darkness, as He loves them through us, even as He loves us, even as the Father loves the son. Even as the Son laid done His life, He appoints us, He has crafted us, to lay down our lives – that they too produce others who will remain in His love…
God calls on us to produce fruit that remains, Jesus tells us, just as He has.. in producing us, in saving us. It is what He confides in us for – that we share in His work, But we don’t do it by our own power, we do it walking, remaining, living in His love. Knowing that He will free us from all anxieities, concerns, even the sin which hampers us, as we so treasure what He has commanded – Jesus even promises we can ask for what we need in His name, as we demonstrate that we remain in Christ, as we love each other…
For in love, there is His peace… which goes beyond our understanding, and yet the peace in which we remain, because Christ causes us to remain in Him, to remain in His love… and this is incredible!
AMEN?
therefore we have become His friends!
What does this mean?
John 15:9-17
† IN JESUS NAME †
May we realize, that because of the grace and mercy of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we are counted as the Beloved, to the extent that He confides in us!
The Power Strip Redux
I’ve often heard, and even made comments at times, about church and Bible Study being times when people are re-charged, when they come in from the work of the world, and spend time regaining the energy and strength needed to go out into the world and do the work God has called them to do.
There is truth to the fact that this place, this time, like Sunday School and Wednesday nights are times of refreshment. Yet, if we think of church as a recharging time because God is present in our lives now more than on Tuesday in the office, or Thursday in a classroom or Friday evening while we are having a nice Lutheran beverage, we need to step back a moment… and think.
We aren’t like spiritual cellphones, plug them in for a couple hours and go a day without contact to what gives them power. Like Michael preached last week, we are more like… a power strip. If we think Sunday, or 10 minutes in prayer at the beginning of the day is our recharging, we’ve pretty much done this. (plug power strip into itself) Where is the energy now? Where is that which makes the difference in this item’s existence?
Yet, I think for many, that is how they see God, and their relationship to us. The key word last week is heard again at the beginning of the Gospel reading today….
Remain….
Last week, remain in me as I remain in you.. Jesus taught. In the same way today, He encourages and establishes us by telling us we “remain in my love..” and then calls us His friends… or more accurately… His Beloved ones… as we remain… in Him…
The sermon today.. will simply continue to explore what that means… to be His beloved, to remain in His love… as Jesus describes it.
The Love that Envelops us…
As we look at the love Christ would have us remain in, the love He would have surround us, we need to first look at the love that is expressed within in the Trinity itself. For Jesus makes it clear – that He remains in the Father’s love, and that is the very kind of love which envelopes us, as we remain in Christ.
Could we even begin to comprehend the measure of love God the Father has for Jesus, His only begotten Son? Is there a way to measure love of that magnitude? Is there a way to even describe it? Surely we hear the love of God the Father, as He rends open heaven to speak at the baptism of Jesus, and again at the transfiguration.
There is another way to “measure” the love of the Father, and that is to examine the reaction of Jesus to that love. Simply put, the stronger the Father’s love, the more it would impact Jesus, the larger the reaction to it. Or as Jesus says, “I obey the Father’s commandment – because I have remained in His love. We’ve heard these words “obey" and “commandments” before, commandments isn’t talking about one singular command, but all the Father has ordained, all that He commissioned – and obey is actually much more powerful – Jesus treasured and guarded that which the Father revealed to Him….
In treasuring that which the Father commissioned, Christ made it happen – even though it meant suffering in this life, and dieing on the cross – that what the Father desired – to live with us as His people would be accomplished. The value that the Son places on the Father’s love is inestimable – but it is seen as He does that which the Father planned – and saves us…
In doing so, He literally changes our status, as we go from being enslaved to sin and death, to being His friends, or as the Greek puts it – the beloved ones. That was the goal of the Trinity, for us to share in the very love that is shared in their presence….
For as the Son remains in the Father’s love, so we are kept in Christ’s love. We aren’t talking about a moment of prayer – we are talking about constant companionship, constantly remaining in His presence.
The same love – that same incredible love that binds the Trinity, is what courses through us, in us, because that is what it means to remain in Christ, to remain in His love…
To begin to realize this is beyond incredible, it’s astonishing, it is mind blowing and does, as Jesus tells us, when we for a moment can consider how great is God’s love for us, fills us with a level of joy that leaves us speechless.
Joy overflowing, our cup runs over it – as the shepherd wrote – as he considered how he was shepherded by the Lord God…
We are the Beloved, the friends
The Love that Confides in us..
We know that which the Father shared with the son
As we look what it means to remain in Christ’s love – to have the presence of God with us, much as this power strip could have the electrical current coursing through it, it is amazing how much the relationship of the Trinity is reflected in the relationship we are saved to.
Hear an explanation for why Jesus calls us His beloved, His friends.
5 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you
Speaking for myself, it seems beyond belief that reveals to us everything that the Father had revealed to Jesus. God chose us to confide in, to share with us the Big Picture. He reveals to us the Father’s plans, desires, everything. With us, Jesus has shared the very Opus Dei, the incredible work of that the Father commissioned, that the Father sent Jesus to accomplish.
The incredible work of re-creating us, renewing us, enveloping us in His love…
And sharing with us His work, the very Opus Dei, the Missio Dei, that which God crafts and creates – the work of God in this world!
Jesus invites us to not just see the Father’s desire, but to be part of seeing that desire fulfilled. To see intimately into what pleases God, what brings Him the greatest joy, and then Jesus helping us to see that made possible, to see it happen. He confides in us, shows us the big picture, and then encourages us to get it done. He invites us to participate in the establishment of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of heaven… by simply remaining in Him, as He pours His love through us, to a lost, broken and hurting world.
A work that is done, in the same way it was done to us – through His love, the love the Father shares with Him, and Jesus shares with us, we are to share with each other..
What Jesus commissions us to do, the command at the basis of all commands…remain in my love… love on another… another being anyone created by God…
What about this asking for what we need?
One final thought, as we come to the end of this sermon..
In the beginning of the sermon, I mention that church isn’t the place where we re-charge, to go out and face the world without God. Imagine again the power strip model and the idea of walking away from the source of the power that gives it purpose and meaning. It doesn’t work, and neither do we, if we try to go it alone. We are not deists – we don’t believe God left us alone here…with expecting us to last 165 hours before charges…
Church, Bible Study, Prayer, the Sacraments do refresh us though, in that they call to mind that we live every moment in the presence of God, that we do remain in His love. That was the place He has chosen for us, and for all who He “plugs in” through us, all that He rescues from darkness, as He loves them through us, even as He loves us, even as the Father loves the son. Even as the Son laid done His life, He appoints us, He has crafted us, to lay down our lives – that they too produce others who will remain in His love…
God calls on us to produce fruit that remains, Jesus tells us, just as He has.. in producing us, in saving us. It is what He confides in us for – that we share in His work, But we don’t do it by our own power, we do it walking, remaining, living in His love. Knowing that He will free us from all anxieities, concerns, even the sin which hampers us, as we so treasure what He has commanded – Jesus even promises we can ask for what we need in His name, as we demonstrate that we remain in Christ, as we love each other…
For in love, there is His peace… which goes beyond our understanding, and yet the peace in which we remain, because Christ causes us to remain in Him, to remain in His love… and this is incredible!
AMEN?
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