10th Sunday after Pentecost – Outdoor Service –
In a book by Charles Sell, titled Unfinished Business, he brings together some amazing evidence
compiled by a woman named Rene Spitz pertaining to the absence of touch. In a South American orphanage, Spitz observed
and recorded what happened to 97 children who were deprived of emotional and
physical contact with others. Because of
a lack of funds, there was not enough staff to adequately care for these
children, ages three months to three years old.
Nurses changed diapers and fed and bathed the children. But there was little time to hold, touch, and
talk to them as a parent would. After
three months, many of them showed signs of abnormality. Besides a loss of appetite and being unable
to sleep well, many of the children lay with a vacant expression in their
eyes. After five months, serious
deterioration set it. They lay
whimpering, with troubled and twisted faces.
Often when a doctor or nurse would pick up an infant, it would scream in
terror. Twenty-seven, almost one-third,
of the children died the first year, but not from lack of food or health
care. They died from a lack of touch and
emotional nurture. Because of this,
seven more died the second year. Only 21
of the 97 survived, and most of these suffering from serious psychological
damage.
If there ever was evidence that everybody needs to feel
loved, this is it. Love makes us feel
that we have worth. Love makes us feel
that we are somebody. Love keeps us
alive. But what is love? Well, that is a question that has been thrown
around, discussed, sung about, written about and debated for years. And while each of us may have an answer to
that question…we let God’s Word answer it today. What is love?
Love is…sin forgiven; fear removed; and life worth living.
1 John 4:9-10,15-21 - This is how God showed his love among us: He
sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This
is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins…If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God
lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us
so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment,
because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect
love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The man who fears
is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his
brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has
seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command:
Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
To really understand love, we must first understand
ourselves. We are unlovable. And that is not just a generic “we.” I mean each of you personally. I’m talking about me personally. I’m talking about every single person in this
world. That’s kind of hard to hear,
isn’t it? Does it make you mad? Does it make you cringe? Maybe it even makes you want to get right up
and walk out. But it’s true; and in
order for you to know love, you must know this.
But
why are we so unlovable? It really is simple
– it is because of sin. Sin is a lack of
perfection. And a lack of perfection
ruins our relationship with God; it closes the door to our Heavenly Maker; and
it cuts us off from the Source of all that is good. Whether we like it or not, the truth of
Scripture that “All have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God” (Romans
Have you ever lied?
Just once! Just one small one! Have you ever stolen? The value is irrelevant! The Bible says that “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery
with her in his heart” (Matthew
There can be no doubt that we are unlovable! But here’s the amazing thing! Though you are as unlovable as could possibly
be, though everyone in the world is unlovable, God loved you. He loved us, he loved the world, he loved sinners so much that he sent his Son Jesus. He sent his Son to take on human flesh and
live in our world. This is what we
celebrate at Christmas. But Jesus didn’t
choose to take on our flesh because he was enchanted by the fun of childbirth
in an animal pen. No, Jesus took on
human flesh so that he could humble himself and die on a cross. But he didn’t take on human flesh in order to
die on a cross because he felt like experiencing nails and thorns. No, Jesus did all this in order that he could
present himself as a personal atonement for our sins. In other words, he did it to win forgiveness
for our sins. That’s what we celebrate
on Good Friday. Jesus came into the
world to be the substitute for sinners like you and me; to offer himself and his
life as the punching bag, as the outlet for all of God’s anger and hatred over
our sins. And, as the perfect Son of God
he was able to take all the guilt of our sin away. By his blood shed in death we have been
redeemed, that is, bought back from our sin.
By his blood shed in death we have been reconciled to God, that is, the
relationship that our sins ruined has again been restored. All this is not because we were lovable, but
because God is love.
That’s real love!
God gave his best! He did that which was good for us, regardless
of cost or consequence. That’s what real
love is! God didn’t have to love us in
this way, but he did! Now, we are
forgiven…every sinful thought; every sinful word; every sinful act. Forgiven for what we have done wrong and for
what we failed to do right.
But maybe you’re still thinking – there still is a
problem. One day I will die. You are right, and the cause of death is
explained clearly in the Bible: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans
That isn’t such a comforting thought. And it can become even more frightening when
we realize that we don’t just die, go into the ground and turn to dust – and
that’s the end of it. No, there is an
eternity afterward where a person will spend forever in one of two places. That forever time can be spent in a place
called hell, where there is nothing but bitter agony and pain, worse than anything
ever experienced or ever imagined; where every day of a persons existence they
just want to die, but know they never will; and where a person constantly feels
the awful regret of knowing all this could have been avoided. Or that forever time can be spent in a place
called heaven. Where there is nothing
but joy, all of the time – a joy greater than ever experienced; where there is
no sickness or pain, where a person never gets tired or has to be concerned
about bills; a place where there is no death.
Heaven certainly sounds good, but if “the wages of sin is death,” and not just physical death but also
an eternity in hell, how can we ever hope to experience the joys of
heaven. We certainly cannot get there
by comparing ourselves to others, saying, “I’m not as bad as them. Their sins are much worse.” That’s foolish and futile! For a person who has his or her head beneath
an inch of water drowns as surely as the one who, with
a large stone hung around their neck, has sunk a hundred yards down. We cannot hope to get there on the basis of
our good works. That’s foolish and
fatal! For it is a fantasy to think that
one good thing actually erases a bad. If
you have lied once, no amount of telling the truth removes the fact that you
lied. Before God, a “so-called good work”
does not erase sin.
But remember? Sin has
been paid for. On Good Friday, on the
cross, the punishment that sin deserves was dished out. But instead of it being aimed at us, the
lawbreakers, it was aimed at Jesus, God’s Son, the
perfect substitute. With his death, sin
was defeated and along with it, the wages of sin. Then, on Easter Sunday, Jesus demonstrated
his victory over death by being raised from the dead. By Jesus’ resurrection, we are assured that
the penalty of sin has been paid. By
Jesus’ resurrection we are touched by God’s love. By Jesus’ resurrection we are personally
touched with the assurance and promise of our own resurrection. You see, while we still die here on earth
because we are sinners, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord. An eternal home in heaven awaits
all those who have and express confidence and allegiance that Jesus is God’s
Son, that his death paid for their own sin, and that in Jesus’ death and resurrection
God did it all, it is done. Fear has
been removed!
You
see, our works are a poor basis for any confidence come the end of our life and
standing before God. They are tainted
with sin and imperfect. We would be like
the Olympic athlete who has finished their event and must now wait in great
anxiety to see whether he has scored high enough to win. We would never know if it had been
enough. But God’s love gives reason for
confidence and removes fear. When we are
brought to faith in Jesus we are united with Christ into his death and
resurrection. It’s as if we were with
Jesus when he died and rose again! His
sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection belong to us.
Now, since we have died to sin, since we know God’s love,
since we share in Jesus’ resurrection, we have a life worth living. Just think how this changes our outlook on
life. We no longer have to interpret
hardships in life as signs that God is punishing us. You don’t have to spoil your good times by
dreading when the hammer might come down.
You don’t have to stifle happiness, thinking, “I’ll pay for this
later.” No, instead you know that God
really thinks you’re valuable, and has already punished Jesus in our
place.
The
thoughts of these verses are priceless when doubts set in as to whether God is
really a loving God. You know how easy
those doubts come! When we see polio,
AIDS, sickle-cell anemia, diabetes, surgery, cancer, arthritis, war, divorce,
rape, child molestation – we wonder.
When we see economies go bell-up, taking our savings and college funds,
our jobs and our houses, our livelihood and familiar surroundings – we
wonder. But Christmas, Good Friday, and
Easter change everything. God has in
fact prepared the greatest response possible to all human misery – he has found
a way to let us come live in his world.
For free. Through
Jesus.
The truths in these
verses are priceless when we need motivation: to get through the day and not
get down on ourselves; to love and forgive those who have wronged us so terribly;
to reach out and touch others with our kindness; to speak up and share this
message with others; to stay with a spouse long after the fun is gone from the
marriage for no other reason than the Lord asks him or her to; to give up the
freedom and travel vacations for years in order to take care of an elderly
relative; to cheerfully watch money go to piano lessons, braces, and tuition
instead of new golf clubs; and oh so many other things.
The truths of these
verses hold out relief in knowing that we don’t have to save ourselves, renew
our own dead hearts, transform our own hostile minds, climb up to God, or earn
his approval. God has made all the
moves. It is done for us.
Remember the illustration at the beginning of our
sermon? As hard as that scenario is for
us to imagine, what if we had to live without the love of Jesus Christ in our
lives? No doubt, we would show signs of
abnormality. We would be unable to sleep
because of fear and worry. We would walk
around with a vacant expression in our eyes and with an empty feeling in our
heart. We would lie whimpering, with
troubled and twisted faces. We would die
an eternal death.
But we don’t have to!
If you have been living without the love of Christ in your life – see
today how it is offered to you. Soak it
up and then never let it go. If you have
been living on the fringe of his love – stop and consider what you are
doing. Then, change your course of
life. If you have been so richly blessed
to have Christ’s love in your life for many years – stop and consider how
fortunate you are, and don’t take it for granted. Be sure to always thank your loving God!
What
is love? God is love. See what he has done for you, continue to
hear it, believe it. Amen.
