John 13:34-35
"Authentic Religion"
A headline on the front page of the paper this past Tuesday caught my eye.
It read: "Bomb Suspects Driven by Faith."
It went on to say: "The two brothers suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon appear to have been motivated by their religious faith."
Another article in that same paper told about two outbursts the older brother had at a mosque in Cambridge.
The first outburst came in November, just before Thanksgiving.
"a preacher gave a sermon saying it was appropriate for Muslims to celebrate American holidays."
At that, the suspect is said to have, "stood up and argued that 'celebration of any holiday was not allowed in the faith.'"
The article went on to say, "In January" there was a similar outburst.
"This time, the sermon included praise for Martin Luther King, Jr., and this time" the older of the suspected bombers, "shouted, calling the preacher a 'non-believer' and 'hypocrite' who was 'contaminating people's minds.'"
In report after report on the television we have heard that the older brother--especially--had become more and more "religious" over the past couple of years.
And this is not cited as a "positive thing."
I recently finished reading a memoir written by Lauren Drain; Lauren is a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church.
The Book is entitled: Banished: Surviving My Years in the Westboro Baptist Church.
The church has been made famous by their picketing of military funerals.
They hold signs that say "God Hates You."
They even picket other churches.
And they get a lot of press coverage.
They are considered to be a "hate group," and they love this title.
The reason is that they truly believe God hates everyone in the world, except maybe their small church of a couple dozen people.
They also believe God has called them to tell the world how much God hates them.
And they don't do this in order to convert anyone.
They are strict Calvinists, which means they believe that God "predestines" certain people to be saved (which would be them) and everyone else is condemned to hell no matter what they do.
They hold these pickets because they believe they are supposed tell people how much God hates them.
End of story.
That's it.
And they are a "religious group."
They are even "tax exempt."
Their faith is their excuse for "hating people."
The persons who slammed the planes into the towers of the World Trade Center Towers on 9-11 thought they were doing the will of God.
You might say, "They were very religious."
What other things are done in the name of religion, in the name of God?
We could stay here all day listing them.
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning, Jesus said to His disciples and to us: "I give you a new commandment: Love each other.
Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other.
This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other."
How are you doing at that?
How am I doing?
Do people know you are a Christian simply by the way you show them love?
James, the brother of Jesus, writes in James Chapter 2: "what good is if people say they have faith but do nothing to show it?
Claiming to have faith can't save anyone, can it?
Imagine a brother or sister who is naked and never has enough food to eat.
What if one of you said, 'Go in peace! Stay warm! Have a nice meal!'
What good is it if you don't actually give them what their body needs?
In the same way, faith is dead when it doesn't result in faithful activity."
He goes on to say, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
What does blowing the legs off men, women and children have to do with taking care of widows and orphans?
It's making widows and orphans, is it not?
What does killing people have to do with love?
It's the exact opposite, is it not?
It's Satanic!!!
Last week, after the bombings in Boston, the Secretary of State said that the United States has been "confronted by pure evil."
And yet those suspected of doing the bombing, claim they were doing it because of their faith.
The members of Westboro Baptist Church tell people God hates them because of their faith.
And if we think this is something new, we ought to remember that those who hated Jesus, those who plotted to kill Him, those who demanded that Rome crucify Him were the Religious leaders.
And the reason?
He healed the sick on the Sabbath...which, according to their strict religious rules was illegal.
He cast demons out of people on the Sabbath, which, according to their strict religious rules was illegal.
He touched dead bodies and brought them back to life, which made Him religiously unclean.
He hung out with people who were considered to be "sinners" and "outcastes" by the religious leaders...
...and they didn't like that.
Jesus spent time with a hated Samaritan woman--letting her know that God loves her.
And it changed her life.
He even used the hated Samaritans as an example of what it means to "love our neighbors," by telling the story of the "Good Samaritan."
Jesus allowed a prostitute to pour perfume on Him and dry His feet with her hair.
The religious people were incensed!!!
His closest followers were hated tax collectors, poor fishermen, women, prostitutes, lepers, beggars, invalids, children--you name it.
These were folks whom the religious people of His day had written off, banished, kicked out and considered unclean.
They wouldn't have given them the time of day.
And Jesus said that these religious folks were "hypocrites," who "shut the kingdom of heaven in men [and women's] faces."
He said that they were "blind guides," "blind fools," who had only looked at the outside of things while neglecting the "important matters...--justice, mercy and faithfulness."
Even the man who would become The Apostle Paul, the great Christian whom God used to write much of the New Testament, started out as a Jesus--hater.
He had been one of the most religious men in the land.
And if he had been living today we would have called him a "terrorist--a terrorist who was driven by his faith."
He played a part in murdering the first Christian martyr--Stephen.
The Bible tells us in Acts Chapter 8: "On that day a great persecution broke out against the church..." and Christians "mourned deeply."
Saul, who would become Paul was-- quote: "breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples."
And on his way to Damascus, where he was planning yet another terrorist attack the risen Jesus met him on the road saying, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
Saul was saved that day, and Jesus gave him a most important task--to spread the Gospel to non-Jews--and set up churches in most of the known world of the day.
This is the same man, now changed by Christ, who later wrote in 1st Corinthians 13: "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."
There is a lot of junk out there.
There is so much hate.
We are warned in 1 Peter Chapter 5 that our "enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."
In 2 Corinthians it says that, "Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light," and, "It is not surprising then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness"...but..."Their end will be what their actions deserve."
Could it be that many who think they are serving God, are in reality, serving Satan?
In 1st John Chapter 4 we are told, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning Jesus tells us: "I give you a new commandment: Love each other.
Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other.
This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other."
This is both the center of Christian teaching and the center of authentic Christian life.
One scholar has noted, "This new command is simple enough for a toddler to memorize and appreciate, and it is profound enough that the most mature believers are repeatedly embarrassed at how poorly they comprehend it and put it into practice."
What Jesus wants us to know is that although people fight wars over who holds the correct beliefs, Jesus' primary concern is that we love one another.
What a relief!!!
What a great God we have!!!
After all, Jesus did not say, "They will know you are my disciples if you believe the right things."
He didn't say, "They will know you are my disciples if you declare a holy war against all those who do not say the Apostle's Creed in worship, or call yourself a Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran or Anglican."
He said people will know we are His disciples when we love one another...and this is the real kicker--"As I have loved you," Jesus says.
Well, how has Jesus loved us?
He created us.
He stuck by us, even though we disobeyed Him and fell into sin.
He loved us even as we rebelled against His love.
As a matter of fact, "God so loved the world," that He took on human flesh, lived among us...
...and became our Sacrificial Lamb...
...dying on the Cross, in our place, so that we don't have to.
That's how much Jesus loves us.
That's what Jesus' love looks like.
Two Chapters after our Lesson for this morning--in John Chapter 15--Jesus repeats what He says to the disciples, and He says it this way: "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends..."
Is that authentic religion or what?
A very early document written by a guy named Athen-a-goras in the year 120 A.D. makes these observations:
"The difference between Christians and the rest of mankind is not a matter of nationality, or language, or customs.
Christians do not live in separate cities of their own, speak any special dialect, practice any eccentric way of life...
Nevertheless, the organization of their community does exhibit some features that are remarkable, and even surprising...
...They show love to all men--and all men persecute them.
They are misunderstood, and condemned; yet by suffering death they are quickened into life.
They are poor, yet making many rich; lacking all things, yet having all things in abundance...
...they repay curses with blessings, and abuse with courtesy.
For the good they do, they suffer stripes as evil-doers."
This is remarkable, even surprising...
How many millions upon millions of people have been converted and saved due to the witness of Christians who have actually lived Jesus' command to love as Jesus loves?
Religion and even Christianity is getting a bad rap today, due to terrorism, politics, and groups who claim to be Christian and yet "hate."
This is a direct violation of Christ's commandment.
This is Satan masquerading, devouring, destroying.
This is not God.
This is not authentic Religion.
But so many who are lost, broken, fed-up and starving for some hope, something to believe in do not know this.
What are we, who have been loved so greatly going to do about this?
How can we help change the trend?
How will we let our community know that hatred and killing people is not what the Living Lord is about?
"Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this all [people] will know you are my disciples, if you love one another."
