May 17, 2020 John 14.15-21 “When Love Disappears“ Pastor
Jacqueline Hines
In this seventh week of
our sheltering in place, these are still the days that the Lord has made. We
are continuing to rejoice and be glad in them.
Our gospel lesson is from John 14.15-21
The Promise of the Holy
Spirit
15 ‘If you love me, you will keep* my
commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
Advocate,* to be with
you for ever. 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with
you, and he will be in* you.
18 ‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19In a
little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I
live, you also will live. 20On that
day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21They
who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who
love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to
them.’
Don’t we all enjoy a
beautiful love story? Weddings are a sight for sore eyes. Romantic movies give
us goose bumps. Photo albums with smiling children, all bundled up in arms of
love, warm our hearts. Love stories keep our interest because they fill us with
hope and rekindle sweet memories of our own stories.
I remember Ron shared
during worship about a couple who had been in a terrible automobile accident. The
car was turned upside down. In the midst of all the debris that was tossed
around, was a wedding band standing its edge, prominently placed – maybe on the
dashboard – placed as if by the hand of God. For many it was a reminder, if not
a sign of how keeping a covenant of love sustains us during life’s terrible
moments.
We often say love is
unconditional. That is a small part of love. For the most part, love has
conditions. Jesus says in John 14. Verse 15, if you love me you will keep my
commandments. That’s a condition. The bible tells us what love is. Love is
patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It
is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no
record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.
Unconditional love is just a small part of love. For
the most part, love has to have conditions because love is not a feeling. Love
is an action. Love is an action that we can only accomplish with the Spirit
that Jesus says in within us. 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with
you, and he will be in* you.
There is a spirit in us that makes the power of love a reality in our lives.
If we love Jesus, we
keep the commandments, we let go and let God rule and reign in our lives, in our
hearts, in our homes. If God is not in charge of our home, we shouldn’t think
for a minute that we are.
Love is not just a warm
and fuzzy feeling of being on cloud nine.
A popular song from the
60’s says:
What the world needs
now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing
that there's just too little of
What the world needs
now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some
but for everyone.
It is wonderful to have
the love of family, the love of friends, the love of the community and the love
of the world. The disciples were in training on how to love when Jesus was with
them. They had lessons from Jesus on keeping families and communities strong.
Jesus taught lessons on generosity versus greed, forgiveness versus grudges,
and faith versus fear. We learn lessons of love from those around us. Jesus is
around us and in us.
In verse 18 Jesus lets
the disciples know he would be leaving them but it would not be forever. 18 ‘I will not leave you
orphaned; I am coming to you. He was leaving, but he
was not abandoning them. He was leaving but it wasn’t to hurt them, it was to
help them. When love disappears, our hearts ache, our minds grieve, our spirits
sigh, our bodies faint.
These same feelings can
be felt in emergency rooms after terrible accidents and medical crisis. Loved
ones disappear into eternity and the love we know evaporates. We have all witnessed
long goodbyes at airports and train stations as love disappears into the
sunset. The tears flow and the hugs tighten, even if we expect to see one
another again.
Even harder, are times
when love turns its back on us. Love can disappear into a night of betrayal, a
path of racial hatred or a season of violence. Dreams of lasting love can slowly
become nightmares right before our eyes and even healthy relationships may
slowly give way to disease and distress.
However, and whenever
love disappears, Jesus always, always comes to us and revives love. Jesus
restores love. He is our reminder that love never, ever, ever fails.
Love never fails, but
love is so hard, isn’t it? One of the hardest things about love is that love is
not just for us. Love is for our enemies, too. An even harder thing about love
is that love suffers, not always for a short while, but for a long time. I Corinthians says love is longsuffering. Loooooongsuffering.
In our humanness, God
knows we do not usually wake up in the morning looking for our enemies so we
can love on them. We are a work in progress. We often want revenge for our enemies, but “Vengeance is
mine,” says the Lord. “I will repay.” God’s ways are not our ways. God’s
thoughts are not our thoughts.
Love is hard when we want to love the way we want to
love instead of the way God guides us to love. It is hard to love someone when
we believe they do not deserve love, or when they hate on us, or when we think we
are more deserving of love than they are, or when we withhold love from our
neighbor so that they won’t have more love than we have, which might make us
feel less loved.
Love requires that we think and pray and keep that
conversation going with Jesus. You have certainly noticed that Jesus often asked
questions of those who came to him. His questions are helpful to us today.
Jesus’ questions help us search our hearts so we can dive deeper into the
spiritual treasures that God has for us, so we can experience the extraordinary
love that Jesus talks about in verse “21They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love
me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love
them and reveal myself to them.’
Jesus asked over a
hundred questions. Let’s look at three of Jesus’ questions that may help us in
our journey to love Jesus and each other. Jesus asked a man seeking healing,
“Do you want to get well?” That seemed like a strange question until I reflected
on my addiction to sugar and cheese. I am not always in a hurry to eat less
sugar or less cheese in order to take care of my health. Our honest answer may be “no” we do not want to get well if it means giving up something or changing
something. Do we want to be spiritually healthy and love everybody? It may be a place to invite Jesus to come and revive
and restore love in our lives.
Jesus asked the
disciples an important question before he multiplied the loaves and fish. He
asked them, “How many loaves do you have? As good stewards, we ought to be mindful of the tools and resources we have as we serve God. A young Christian
woman was blessed with a brand new car. A coworker was down and out and asked
if he could borrow it a couple times. She found out that the coworker was using
it to visit female friends that he did not want his wife to know about. At
first she thought it best to mind her own business. One morning in her prayer
time she sensed God’s still small voice saying, “I did not give you the car for
someone to do dirty work with it.” Love changed her mind. If the way we use our
blessings does not agree with the mind of Christ, it may be a place to invite Jesus
to come and revive and restore love in our lives.
When the disciples' boat was beginning to capsize during a terrible storm, they asked the lord, “Don’t
you care about us, Jesus? But, Jesus countered with the question, “Where is
your faith?” So it begs the question. Where is our faith? Our answer may
be that our faith is in being emotional. If we show enough fear or blame or anger or
sadness or gladness or irresistible puppy dog eyes,
When love disappears,
we can dive deep into the treasures of God’s love and ask ourselves “Do we want
to get well? Do we want to love God’s way? What are we doing with what we
receive from God to do ministry and mission. To what are we clinging besides our God?
And when will we learn that God’s got this and we do not have to control our
own lives. Whatever our answers, we have the blessed assurance that when love
disappears, Jesus will come to revive and restore. Let us pray.
God, we know you are with us and will
never leave us. You know our needs before we ask. Give us appetites for your
love that will never fail to satisfy our deepest longing for a closer walk with
you and that is sure to accomplish your will. We pray as you taught the disciples. Our father who art
in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth
as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.
May
the love of a holy God protect and revive you today and always.
If you would like to make your
contribution to the ministry and mission of Bethel, the website is bethelumchurch.com or send to 952 Bethel
Church Road, Spring City, Pa. 19475
Join us next week when we go to Luke 24 with
the topic “Let Jesus Open Your Mind” God bless you!
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