Church Sermon - May 21, 2006

BLEST BE THE TIE THAT BINDS!

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Historical Lesson; Acts 11:19-30
Gospel Lesson; John 15:9-17
Sermon Text; 1 John 4:1-11

Becoming a member at a church is a very serious matter. And on occasion, we have someone who asks, "I would like to become a member at Holy Cross. What does it take to become a member at Holy Cross?"

I then will tell them that we have what is called ‘Adult Information Classes.’ Then I quote a Bible verse to them.

"Test the spirits

to see whether they are from God."

I tell people who want to become members here, "Before you become a member at Holy Cross, you want to test our teaching. You want to see if our teaching aligns with what God’s Word and scripture says. If it does, and you feel it does, then certainly you want to become a member here. But, if after you examine our teachings, you feel that our teachings don’t line up with scripture, then you won’t want to become a member here, because we would not keep your soul safe, if we are not teaching the pure, true, Word of God. And because you want to test the spirits, you will want to come to our Adult Information Class, where we will lay in front of you everything we teach. It is an opportunity for you to ask questions and to test what we teach, compared to what you grew up knowing."

And so, we will get a group of people coming through our Adult Information Class. Somewhere around the fifth week of Adult Information Class, someone will raise his or her hand, (it is a question I always wait for, and almost inevitably it comes). The person then asks, "Pastor, I have a question for you. There are so many different interpretations of the Bible. How do we know that the interpretation that this church has is the right interpretation?"

That is an awesome question! Awesome question! There are so many different interpretations of the Bible. How do we know that this church, this congregation has the right interpretation of scripture? And so then, we go into the discussion, where the question really is, "How do you know what is true, spiritually?"

How do you know? You have to go to some authority, to find spiritual truth. There are really only three authorities that you can go to in this whole world, to find truth, or to try to find truth.

Those are the only authorities there are. The question is, "Which authority do we go to, when it comes to determining spiritual truth?"

There is a problem with two of the authorities.

There is a problem with us, as the authority. What is the problem with me? My problem is that I am a sinner, and so are you. Sinners make mistakes. If I am going to trust myself to come up with the right answers as to what is spiritually true, I am going to make mistakes. And so I can’t depend upon myself to be the authority, when it comes to knowing what is true, spiritually.

There is a problem with others, as the authority. Others have the same problem that I do. Others are sinners and others make mistakes. And so, if I am going to depend upon others to come up with the truth, spiritually, I know it is going to lead me into error and falsehood. Our scripture reading says, "Test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Many false prophets have gone out into the world."

The third authority, which is God, is the only one that has no problems with it, whatsoever.

And so, God is the only authority that we can go to, when it comes to knowing what is true, spiritually. We believe that God speaks to us in the Bible. The Bible is God’s authority. We believe that God does not want to confuse us. He knows that we are already very easily confused. We believe that God, in His Word, meant what He said, and He said what He meant. Therefore, we take every word of scripture at its simplest, plainest, clearest meaning. And we simply let God be the authority.

Let me give you examples of these other two. Let’s imagine that you go to a church, and the church says, "Certainly God’s Word is our authority." But then, they look at a passage like this one, "Jesus took some bread and He gave it to His disciples and said, ‘This is my body.’"

What is the simplest, plainest, clearest meaning of the Word? The simplest, plainest, clearest meaning is "This is my body."

But, what if you go to a church and they say, "Well, Jesus could not have really meant, ‘This is my body,’ because how can a piece of bread be the body of Jesus? Therefore, Jesus did not really mean, ‘This is my body. He meant, ‘This represents my body. This symbolizes my body.’ He meant, "This is not really my body. It is a picture of my body.’"

What has happened there? The simple, plain, clear meaning of scripture has been taken captive to me, to my way of thinking, and my reasoning. Human reason has become the authority and it stands in judgment over what God’s Word says. Whenever we try to get scripture to line up with our human way of thinking, and let our human reason be the authority, we are going to make mistakes. The Bible says, "Test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For, many false prophets have gone out into the world."

Others can also stand as an authority. You could go to a church, where they claim that God is the authority, but then they say, "If you want to become a member here, you have to tithe, which means you have to give 10% of your income in your offerings."

You know what? You will never find that in scripture, in the New Testament. God does not command that to the New Testament Church. And so, someone has spoken on authority and claimed that you must give 10% if you are going to be a member at the church, as if it were the Word of God, when God never says that.

Or, someone may say that pastors cannot get married. And they may speak as if that is the truth. However, you know scripture never says that. Scripture never says that pastors cannot get married. And to say that is to let other people be the authority, when it comes to determining what is true spiritually.

We believe that whenever we let ourselves or others be the authority, spiritually, we are going to make mistakes. Many churches allow that to happen. We believe the only authority, the only way we can know what is true spiritually, is to let God be God.

We take scripture at it simplest, plainest, clearest meaning. And we simply let God be God.

Listen to what our scripture reading says. It talks about testing the spirits and then it says how we can recognize truth from falsehood. Talking about false prophets he says, "They are from the world and therefore speak from the view point of the world." And, the world has a view point that things should fit into our human reason, doesn’t it? "I should be the authority." Or, the world doesn’t even mind going to other authorities. The world doesn’t like to go to God, but it doesn’t mind going to other authorities. The Bible says they "speak from the viewpoint of the world and the world listens to them."

It says, "We are from God, and whoever knows God, listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood."

How do we recognize the Spirit of truth verses the spirit of falsehood? Are we speaking, and teaching, and preaching simply the clear, plain, words and meaning of scripture, as God has delivered them?

It is an awesome thing to examine the teachings of a church, and say, "I believe this church doesn’t let others be the authority, nor let myself be the authority, but lets God, Himself, be the authority." It is an awesome thing to find a church that teaches the pure, true, Word of God. It is a blessed thing!

When God’s Word is the authority, then we are united with other believers, other Christians - united around the only thing that can really create true unity on this side of eternity.

And what is the only thing that can create true unity, true unity? It is the truth. The truth.

To be united around the truth of the Word of God is such a blessed thing. The Bible says, "How blessed it is when brothers live together in unity." The Bible tells us we should be united in mind and in thought, to be united around the Word of God and the truth of God. To be united around God’s Word means that we are united in Jesus our Savior. It means that we all know, from the authority of God’s Word, that we are sinners. We have a Savior who died for our sins. And, our sins are all forgiven. To be united in the Word of God in every point of scripture is such an awesome, blessed unity, because there we are united in the pure word and the pure sacraments. Through those, the Holy Spirit works to keep us in our faith, and to create faith in our hearts. What an awesome unity that is! And, a Christian congregation that is united in the true, pure Word of God is a group of people that is holding hands, walking together,

It is very interesting, however, that after St. John the Apostle talks about the doctrinal unity that we are to find, he goes immediately from that point, immediately from doctrinal unity (which is an awesome thing) to love. He goes immediately from doctrinal unity and then he says,

If we are united in doctrine and in teaching, but we are not united in love for one another, it is a meaningless, useless unity, because it means we are not putting into practice the very teachings that we are united around. And so, a question a Christian congregation has to ask itself is this. Not only are we united in doctrine, but also, are we united in love for one another? The Bible tells us to "love one another." That is the practice of Christian unity.

There were two brothers. One was a car dealer. The other was a doctor. And they loved each other. The car dealer so loved his doctor brother that every year he would give his doctor brother a brand new car; just give him a brand new car!

One day, after this doctor got a brand new car from his brother, he made a doctor’s house call to a very poor family. After he had been in the house, he came back outside and noticed that the little boy who lived in that house was standing admiring his brand new car. The doctor asked the little boy, "What do you think?"

The little boy said, "That is a beautiful car."

The doctor said to the little boy, "Would you like a ride in it?"

The little boy said, "Oh boy! Would I ever!"

And so, the doctor took the little boy for a ride in the car. The little boy then asked the doctor, "Doctor, how much did this car cost?"

The doctor looked at the little boy and said, "You know, I don’t even know. I don’t know how much this car cost. My brother gave it to me, as a gift!"

When they got back to the little boy’s house and the doctor was about to leave, the little boy said, "Wait a second Doctor. Can you just hold on for a second?"

And so the doctor replied, "Sure."

And with that the little boy ran into his house and came running back out with his little brother in his arms, who was about half his size. (The little brother, whose name was Jimmy, was mentally retarded.) The little boy who was holding Jimmy said, "Jimmy. Look at that car. Isn’t that awesome? His brother gave it to him! Jimmy, when I grow up to be a man, I want to be that kind of brother. When I grow up to be a man, I want to be that kind of brother!"

Now, most little boys would look at that car and say, "When I grow up to be a man, I want that kind of a car." But that boy said, "When I grow up to be a man, I want to be that kind of brother." Brotherly love is ‘otherly’ love. He wanted to be able to give to his little brother, his mentally retarded brother. Christian love, which is brotherly love, is ‘otherly’ love. It means that we want to look out for the best interests of one another in this congregation. Are you doing that?

We are united in doctrine. We are united in doctrine, but do we love one another? Let me ask you some questions. Last week, when we talked about love, we said love is (do you remember the words?)

love is a choice

to put the best interests of others so important

that you will sacrifice whatever it takes

to meet those needs.

On the basis of what Christian love is, (the choice with the help of God to put the other person’s best interest so important that you will sacrifice whatever it takes to meet those needs), let me ask you some questions about this congregation. What is the greatest need that your brothers and sisters in this congregation have? Their greatest need is to get to Heaven. That is the greatest need. When you see that a brother or a sister in this congregation has stopped regularly using the Word of God, has stopped gathering around Word and Sacrament, through which the Holy Spirit works to strengthen us in our faith, do you show love to them?

And what is it that that means? That means, do you make the choice, with the help of God, to put their best interests so important (and what is in their best interest? To gather around Word and Sacrament) that you sacrifice whatever it takes to meet that need? Do you go and talk to them and bring them back to the Word of God? That is ‘otherly’ love. That is brotherly love and Christian love.

In this congregation, when you know that some brother or sister in Christ has fallen into an open sin, and they are living in sin, and you know that it is a faith stealing sin, that takes away faith in Christ as their Savior and you know their greatest need is to get to Heaven, do you make the choice, with the help of God, to put their needs so important, their spiritual needs so important that you sacrifice whatever it takes to meet those spiritual needs? Do you go and talk to them, to call them to repentance and faith in Christ as their Savior? That is brotherly love. That is Christ-like love.

When we are looking for teachers for Sunday school, (and we know that for those little ones, certainly it is in their best interest to have someone who would teach them the Word of God on their level), do you, with the help of God, (if those are your skills and abilities), make the choice to put those little children’s best interests so important that you are willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to meet those needs? If that means giving up a Saturday night so you can study your Sunday school lesson, do you do that? That is love. That is Christian love.

When you know that there are children who cannot afford, their parents literally cannot afford to send them to our Christian Day School, and you know it is in their best interest that they come to this Christian Day School, do you, with the help of God, make the choice to put their best interests so important that you sacrifice, (because God has given you enough money), that you sacrifice whatever it takes to meet their needs? That is Christian love and Christian unity. That is brotherly love. That is Christ-like love.

And yet, in this congregation we all have to admit that we do not always display that. We don’t always pray for the physical needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We know that there can be dissension among school students. We know that there can be dissension among church members and that ought not to be. Brothers and sisters, that ought not to be in a Christian congregation. We are united in doctrine and that should display itself by being united with one another in brotherly love.

Thank God we are all united in repentance! We are united in coming before our Savior and recognizing that there is much wrong with every single one of us – me included. And so, we get down on our knees before God in repentance and we acknowledge that while we are united in doctrine, we do not always display that Christ-like love that God calls us to. We repent of our sins. And thank God we are united in Jesus Christ our Savior.

Our scripture reading says,

"This is love.

Not that we love God,

but that God loved us and

gave His Son as the atoning sacrifice."

God loves you and me, and everybody in this congregation. And that means He made the choice to put our best interests so important. Our sins needed to be forgiven, they needed to be paid for and we can’t do that on our own. And so, what did God do? He sacrificed whatever it took. That passage says, "This is love. Not that we love God, but that God loved us and gave His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins." God loved us so much that He sacrificed whatever it took. And that was His own dear Son. Jesus paid for all of our sins. And all together, we are forgiven. We are forgiven in Christ and we are united. We are united in a way that the world cannot understand, in Jesus Christ and His forgiveness.

Therefore our scripture reading simply ends with this little sentence,

"Dear friends,

since God so loved us,

we also ought to love one another."

God so loved us, He so loved us that He sent His Son. We are united in doctrine. We are united in the Word of God. And certainly we should display that unity. Not because we must, not because we have to, but because we want to, because Christ has freed us from sin and He has freed us from the power of sin! He has freed us to love each other, sacrifice for one another, pray for one another, share with one another, look out for one another’s needs, and talk to one another about Christian faith. He has freed us to do that! This congregation ought to be a little paradise on earth! And may God grant that to us for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

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