For those unfamiliar with an Anglican Service there are four Scripture readings before the message. Today’s readings were: Acts:11:1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21: 1-6 and John 13:31-35.
I am sure ... that most of us have seen do-mi-noes set up by the thousands or ...... even by the tens of thousands.
And after they are arranged ... someone tips over the first one .... which sends them tumbling ... one after another.
A lot of planning goes into ... an event like that.
It must be designed, ... mapped out ...... and then .... meticulously set up ... (Pause) one at a time.
It takes hours, .... days, .... even months.
When the dominoes start falling, ... we witness a chain reaction ...which leads to a ... glorious outcome. (Pause)
Now Glory ... is one of those words we hear quite often .... that is never clearly ... defined.
It is a word that contains much emotion and much wonderment.
It is often used ... when we experience something that has a .... (Slow) ...... Wow factor.
Such as, .... "Oh what a glorious view!" ......or "That performance was glorious!" or "Honey ... you look Glorious." (Pause)
Jesus uses the word glory ... five times in our short Gospel text today.
As we reflect on the Gospel, ... we need to ask: What is the Wow factor ... that Jesus is talking about?
What is the glory ...... that Jesus is speaking about?
Let's set the scene.
Judas has left the room.
His decision to betray Jesus is now ... final.
The events which lead toward the crucifixion of Jesus ... were set in motion.
The events were now ... "Falling" into place.
The dominoes ... are tumbling.
Tumbling toward the climax ... the climax ... of the Cross.
As Michael Card, the great contemporary artist sings, Quote ... (Slow) "The climax of the cross, ...the moment our hope was born." (Pause)
The cross certainly had a ... Wow factor, ... yet not in a conventional way. (Pause)
According to John's testimony, ... Jesus final words from the cross were, .... (Slow) "It is finished." (John 19:28-30)
The dominoes have fallen .... and the glory of God in Jesus .... is displayed ... on the cross.
That is the glory Jesus was speaking of ... with his disciples ... on that astonishing night.
It was also on this night ... that Jesus reclined with the Twelve ... to eat the feast of the Passover.
They all would have looked to Jesus ... to fulfill the fatherly role ...... in the Passover ceremony.
To answer the questions concerning the importance ... of the Passover meal.
But on this night the disciple's role ... is unique.
They witness Jesus answers ... which will bring out a new meaning ... to this night.
A meaning that centers on Jesus' suffering.
His Suffering is also...... part of the ... this Glory.
It is Part of the ... Wow factor. (Pause)
So....... Why does Jesus state: "Where I am going you cannot come?" (John 13:33)
Where is Jesus going that the leaders of the Jews and his disciples .... cannot go?
Peter later in the Scriptures ... asked him that very same question, .... "Lord, where are you going?" (John 13:36-37)
The disciples cannot go because, .... Jesus is going to the cross ....and then ...... to the Father. (Pause)
(Slow) It is the Wow factor ... involving Jesus' relationship with his disciples ... that I want to focus on .... This day.
Our Lord gives a new commandment ... a commandment that is based on the disciples' relationship to him and to one another.
Hear Gods Word. BIBLE "A new commandment I give you: that you Love one another. (Pause) Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one other." END John 13:34
Now...This standard is not something that was completely new to them.
His disciples would be familiar with this law of love as it is given ... in the Law of Moses
Leviticus 19:18 States this command, BIBLE "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD." END (Leviticus 19:18)
Yet ... Jesus... this night.... takes it to a personal level... a higher level ... He says: "Love one another," ...., "as I have loved ... you."
The Wow Factor!
If Christians love each other ... the way Jesus showed his love to the world, ...then this type of Love will be unmistakable!
It will be a love ... that the world will stand in amazement ... to see.
A love that the world ... cannot comprehend.
Jesus did not simply say, "Love one another."
Jesus was very specific about the kind of love his disciples must share.
He said (Slow) ...... "Just as ... I have loved you."
Beloved ... His love is unconditional; ... Jesus' love is limitless.
Jesus' love requires Self Sacrifice!
The unmistakable Wow factor ... of this love ...is portrayed in his sacrifice on the cross!
Jesus suffered and died for the greater joy ... for the greater love... rescuing the lost ... rescuing you and I from ...sin and death.
Jesus sacrificed himself (Slow) out of His love for us,
Now that truly is truly glorious.
That is a Wow to all who are called according to His purpose.
That love is the foundation of Jesus words to Nicodemus.
Hear God's Word: BIBLE "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." END John 3:16
Jesus commands us to "Love one another," To Love each other HOW? ... "just as I have loved you."
Real love .... Christian Love...requires ... a sacrifice to self. Hear me on this REPEAT. (Pause)
One hundred years after John wrote his gospel, ... the famous theologian Ter-tul-li-an, reported what the non-Christians of his day ... said of those who were followers ... of the Christ:
"See how they love one another!" and "How ready (they are) to die for one another!" REPEAT
That is how the early church ... the persecuted church was known ... to the world.
The message of Christ is sacrificial love.
The love he commanded us to give ... sacrifices ... self.
It is a love ... that the world ... and the flesh...cannot begin to comprehend.
The Western culture .... and this postmodern world has perverted the message of self-sacrificing love.
Today's culture is obsessed .... with self.
It is self-ish!
It seeks only self, "Gratify your desires.... Always follow ... your heart, .... if it feels good ... do it."
These are the messages we hear ... each and every day.
Yet the Wow factor of a Christian Life is something completely different.
Real love, the love we are commanded by Jesus to share, ... (Slow) always ... always ... always sacrifices self.
And that is a glorious love that the world cannot... and will not ... ever comprehend. (Pause)
Beloved ... Do our actions ... do your actions ... portray to the world how deeply we truly love .... each other?
What would cause even those who persecuted the church to report, ... "See how they love one another!?"
"See how ready they are willing to die ... for one another!" (Pause)
Where do our hearts and minds need to be every day ... if we are to become ... (Slow) that kind of people?
If real love sacrifices self, ...then what should it look like?
Well John tells us in his first epistle. Hear God's Word: BIBLE "Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action." END 1 John 3:18
And In our Gospel Text today Jesus again calls the disciples ... Little Children.
Jesus has also told us that we must be as little Children.
Why? ...Because Little Children seem to understand the Wow ... in God's glorious sacrificial love. (Pause)
Some school children shared some moving stories of this kind of grace filled ... sacrificial love.
Hear are some of the children's thoughts.
My grandmother has arthritis and can't bend over to paint her toenails, ... so even though my grandpa also has arthritis in his hands, ... he paints them for her.
"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries ... without making them give you any of theirs."
"Love is what is in the room with you at Christmas ... if you stop opening gifts ... and just listen."
"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends .... even after they know each other ....so well."
Love is when someone hurts you, .... But you don't yell back at them ... because you know that it would hurt their feelings.
Love was a four-year-old child ... whose next-door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man crying on the front porch, ... the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, ... climbed onto his lap, and sat there.
When his mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, (Slow) "Nothing, ... I just helped him cry" (Pause)
We are to become as little Children .... Filled with the wonderment ... Filled with to the brim with the Love of Jesus. Pause)
We put our names on our belongings so we can identify them.
We brand cattle so we know who they are owned by. (Pause)
There is also a mark that Jesus puts on us ....so we can be identified as belonging to Him.
And Jesus tells us what that mark is.
BIBLE "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. (Pause) Just as ... I have loved you, ... you also are to love one another... By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love ... for one another." END John 12:34-35
Sacrificial Love ...... is that Mark!
Sacrificial love is that Glorious Wow Factor to the world!
What does this love look like in our lives
Beloved sacrificial love should look like: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
These qualities are the evidence that we are experiencing ... The Wow Factor ... of God's love.
These qualities are evidence ... that you are abiding to the vine ... that the Holy Spirit is present ... and operating in your life.
The fruit of the Spirit is one fruit .... One fruit ... that encompasses all ... yes all ... of these glorious sacrificial qualities.
If you allow the Holy Spirit to permeate your very being ...to work within you .... Then every single one of these qualities ... will be apparent in your life. (Pause)
We are called to not only have this love ... but to share this love with one another ... and to those that God places into our lives.
It is imperative to share this love, ...this grace ... especially to those who will not ... or cannot return it. (Pause)
If you have ever been around a hospital neonatal (ne-o-na-tal) unit, you have probably noticed what the nurses advise the parents and relatives .... concerning these tiny babies.
The families are told to come daily and to touch the babies' arms and abdomens and legs with their fingertips.
They are also instructed to softly and gently say, .... "I love you."
To say it over and over again ...... to those little ones who are fighting for their lives.
Why are they told to do that?
Because...It is virtually impossible to voice the words of love ...... without having those words take hold .... in your own heart.
The more love you have in your heart, .... the more that love ... will be felt in your touch.
No matter how old a person is, ... they still have that little child inside them; ... they still need that loving touch.
They still need to hear those 3 words: "I Love You." (Pause)
Beloved Hear our Lords words from Matthew: BIBLE "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." END (Matthew 18:3)
O' Beloved .... we must become as little Children.
To not be complacent ... and allow his presence ... His wonderment to be manifested ... in your life.
Maybe this will bring a remembrance to the child ... to the child of God ... which still lies within this temple of flesh (Pick up the Jack in the box turn the crank and sing)
All the way round the Mulberry Bush the Monkey Chased the weasel. The Monkey said it's all in fun... (Long Pause) ...... Pop goes the weasel.
O' Beloved .... we must become as little Children and be open the wonderment .... To the Wow factor that God continually places in our lives.
Experience his glory .... Experience his love and let the anticipation and joy of each moment fill you ... to overflowing.
Amen and Amen!
(Ending Two) O Beloved .... It is time to move forward in the faith.
Do not ignore our Lords words to those that call themselves his disciples!
"I give you a new commandment .... That you Love one another......By this all people will know that you are my disciples." (Pause)And when we allow this command to permeate our very being ...., the world will take notice and exclaim: "See how they love one another! How ready (they are) to die for one another!" Amen and Amen!
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