This is my first "official" sermon. Hope you like it.
Where’s the love?
Read Romans 8:31-38 first.
In the past few weeks, we have heard about some horrible
events. From ferry boats capsizing, earthquakes, shootings of all kinds, acts
of horrid kinds to women, children and men. Cars crashing, schools shut down
because of bomb threats, the list goes on. The past few weeks it might have
been hard for you to cope. It may have been hard for us all to see the love, to
find the positive outlook, to see past the hatred, the anger, the death, the
sadness.
The cruelest of ironies is that most of these events took
place during a time of year that traditionally has established our faith.
Easter. The time of spring is when new life appears, bunnies hopping, birds
soaring, and longer days of light and frequent bright moons. It is a time when
rain comes and brings green to our yards and trees and a time for the temperatures
to finally start rising to get us all out of the funk of a cold winter.
This spring though, as beautiful as it has been has come with
it sorrow. The events I mentioned are plastered all over the news, online,
popping up on our phones. The bad news always overshadows the good news.
The glass is sometimes half empty for all of us isn’t it?
Romans: 8:31
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God
is for us, who can be against us?”
That’s a hard pill to swallow sometimes. Lets take a brief
look at the author of this passage of scripture. Paul.
Paul is first mentioned in the bible in Acts 7:58 when a man
named Stephen is being stoned to death for proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God.
The people doing the stoning are laying their coats at the feet of a man named Saul
while they go murder Stephen. It says at the end of the verse that “Saul
approved of their killing him.” In chapter 8 we learn that Saul went from “house
to house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.”
Saul was a Jew, educated in Greek culture and born a Roman
citizen. He was also a strict follower of old laws. He the last person you
would think God would use to share the love of Jesus to the world. This is another irony in today’s lesson.
The conversion story from Saul to Paul is one that you could
rip out of any modern day soap opera or hit blockbuster. The bad guy Saul, who
is awaken by his guilt, turns good and turns his life around. Kind or sounds
like “My Name is Earl.”
After an unforgettable trip down the road to Damascus, 3 days
of blindness, prayers, fasting and finally a visit by a stranger Ananias, Saul
converted to Paul and spent time learning the ways of Christ and then went on
teaching and preaching them.
He is believed to have written over half of our NT. 14 of the
27 books are attributed to him.
This man, who started out as a bad guy, an accomplice to
murder of God knows how many men and women. This man, who drug people to prison
for their beliefs… this man. This hater. This Saul. THIS was the man Jesus
chose to be “an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles
and kings and before the people of Israel.” Acts 9:15
“Who is the one who condemns? No one…” Paul later writes of
Jesus. This man, formally known of Saul, is now Paul and is pretty much telling
the world, “Hey, who are YOU to judge anyone?” That’s my loose translation. The
message says it like this about God’s chosen, “Who would dare even to point a
finger?!”
Oh and in case you didn’t know, WE are
“God’s Chosen.” And I don’t mean just us in this church, I mean US as the
world. Weather you believe it or not, GOD CHOSE YOU.
He chose me when I believed in Him the
least. He chose Paul when he was on his way to pretty much sentence people to
death. He chose you when you were broken. He chose you when you were abused. He
chose you when you felt beaten down by life. He chose you in your happiest
times and in your saddest. I’ll say it again. He CHOSE you. He chose to love
you.
Yes, hate happens. But god makes us
conquers of hate. We can choose to love over hate, we can choose peace over
fighting. We can choose a half full glass over a half empty one. In the same
way that God chose to love us, so we can love each other.
Now I did a lot of research being that
this is my first “official” sermon. I didn’t want to stand up here and sound
like a schmuck. So you know where I went first to look for facts about Love?
The most honest and truthful source there is on the subject. That’s right, the
internet.
I Googled “Love.” Guess how many hits?
1billion 670 million. Over 1.5 billion hits on Google for the word Love. Now I
could look up ying without looking you yang, so I then Googled “Hate.” I was
pleasantly surprised. Only 156 million
hits. Huh.
Could it be that maybe, just maybe the
news station might have it all wrong. Could it actually be that the dateline
specials on crime and shows like “To catch a predator” and just about every
reality show drama out there could possibly have it all wrong?
Is it actually possible that in the
midst of the latest episode of the “Walking Dead” that deep down, we all just
want to be loved? TV Stations love bad new’s, it gives them something to talk
about and high ratings. Drama in the Kardashian household? Yep, headline news
sometimes. Lindsy Lohan in rehab again? Stop the presses!
Don’t get me wrong. I’m just as guilty
of reading, watching and sometimes even relishing over some of these stories.
These shows and dramas in other people’s lives do just what they are meant to
do. They take us away from our 9-5’s and give us a scare. They take us from OUR
crazy families and show us ones that are worse. They create these dramas to
help us escape from our own, if only for a 30 minute episode…
Vs. 37-39
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Greek word here is Agape. It translates pretty much as a
love of God for humankind and vise versa.
The English language has kind of simplified a lot of
historically very complex words. The Greek language by itself has 6 definitions
of the word Love. From erotic love, to love of one self, We have combined them
all in ONE confusing word that has to be placed within it’s context to fully be
recognized as its truth.
Nothing can separate us from the Agape Love of God. Nothing.
It doesn’t matter how good you are, how bad you are, or even if you believe in
God or not. NOTHING can separate us from his love.
A great article I found from the Gaurdian.com site broke
down love into 5 theories:
1. The Physicist: Love is Chemistry
In other
words, love is like hunger or thirst. We cannot live with out it.
2. The psychotherapist: Love has many guises
in other
words, it is impossible to experience all 6 forms of love from a single person.
This is why family and community are so important.
3. The Philosopher: Love is a passionate commitment
in other
words, all forms of love have different qualities and without nurturing them
all, we will wither and die.
4. The Romantic novelist: Love drives great stories
in other
words, love depends on where you are in relation to it.
5. The Nun: Love is free, yet binds us
in other
words, love is more experienced that definable. Love cannon be bought of sold;
love is life’s greatest blessing
Love is the one thing in life that can never hurt anyone. In
its truest and most simplest of terms, agape love is the only form of love that
cannot hurt. If we truly and honestly love others with that agape love, we will
love so much that it won’t matter if we feel love in return.
Loving the unlovable? It is possible. We are conquerors of
it.
So what do we do now? What do we do with love? With agape
love? Isn’t it obvious?
We pass it on. We pass the love that Christ gave to us. The
one that was “raised to life…” who is “at the right hand of God…” the one who
is “interceding for us.” That love is what we share. God chose us and created
us to love. The least we can do, is pass it on.
