John 8:41-47
“Who Do We Love?”
By: Kenneth Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
I was speaking with the mother of two teenagers this week, and she was telling me about
how different things are these days compared to when she was growing up.
“It was so much easier back then,” she said.
Today, children are confronted with so much evil....with so many things that are not just
bad....but are plain and simply evil and dangerous...
From the hate-filled, porno-graphic lyrics of the rap and rock songs that artists such as
Marilyn Manson spew out....
To the wickedly bloody and violent video games that kids seem to be drawn too...
To the prevalence of drug abuse and a general lack of personal ethics and lack of
self-control....
The lines seem to be being drawn in the sand.
There is very little middle ground left.
She said that it seems as if people are either very committed to Jesus Christ.....
Or they are very committed to something else which is unsettlingly different.
With all the other activities that we have created to distract our attention and entertain us,
we have become a very busy people.
And the church is no longer the center of family life that it once was.
Some of you may have noticed, as I have, over the past few weeks
as we have been engaged in this year’s Lenten series pulpit exchange with four other churches
that there have been very few, if any, families who have been attending with their children.
When I was a kid, my parents brought my sisters and myself to just about every church
function of this sort--even if it was taking place at night--as did my friends’ parents.
There were always lots and lots of young families with young children at church
functions....especially when two, three, four or five churches got together.
What’s going on here?
What has happened?
Where are our priorities?
As far as I can tell the only church out of the five that has had any youth representation
at all has been Parkview.
Way back in the old days when I was a kid....and I am being facititous...If we knew that
there was a church function taking place and we had homework due the next day....we did our
homework....and went to the church function.
If our homework was not done...we were still expected to attend the church function.
The church was basically the center of our lives....and we weren’t alone--and I didn’t
even come close to growing up in the Bible-belt---Syracuse New York is just about as far
North as one can get in this country!
Sure we did plenty of other things, but if the church was sponsoring something, or if
there was a worship service, or a church picnic--whatever--we were there!
And I’m only talking about a few years ago.
Things are changing, and things are changing fast!
I’ve heard it said many times, and am afraid it is true: the Christian era is definitely
over!
It is no longer the social norm to be an active member of a church.
I was reading an ABC News Poll last week which posted that only 38 percent of
Americans attend weekly church services.
And the only reason this percentage is as high as it is--is because in the deep deep
south...the Bible belt still exists.
In southern states such as Georgia and Alabama approximately fifty percent of the
population attend weekly church worship services.....and as many as 68 percent of southern
women are the regular attendees.
The poll did note, however, that the over-whelming majority of these regular attendees
are older adults.
So, even the Bible belt is loosing some notches in it’s loop.
So, the lines are being drawn.....
And we see in our Gospel lesson for this morning that Jesus makes it clear that a distinct
line does exist.
In John chapter 8 Jesus tells a group that has surrounded him a truth that many of us
would rather not have to face.
As a matter of fact, the very idea is repulsive and horrible.
And it is shocking for some to hear that Jesus even said such a thing!
But He did, and it is the truth.
There are some of us who are not of God.
In our Scripture lesson for this morning, Jesus clearly erases the idea of the Universal
Fatherhood of God.
“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God
and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.”
So we see here that the key ingredient of what it means to be a child of God is to love
Jesus.
What Jesus is saying is that any person who is of God will love and welcome Jesus--not
reject and oppose Him.
The person who wants nothing to do with Jesus is not of the family of God; they are not
a child of God.
They are a child of some father other than the Father of Jesus.
Now, although the numbers are decreasing--there are still many people who claim--and
truely believe that they do love Jesus--that they are children of God.
But could it be that many of us are making a false profession?
After all, Jesus did say in Matthew chapter 7, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord,
Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
And the people whom Jesus was talking to in our Gospel lesson protested: “The only
Father we have is God himself.”
But Jesus told them, “You are unable to hear what I am saying.”
To hear the Word of Christ is to open our hearts to it.
But many of us do not want to do this.
Because this means that there are some changes that are going to have to take place in
our lives.
There are some decisions we are going to have to make.
Many of our priorities are going to have to change.
Jesus often calls those who desire to follow Him into some uncomfortable territory.
The Rich Young Ruler wanted to follow Christ, but he was unwilling to make that
decision because he loved his riches too much....much more than he loved Christ.
The things of this world, the lusts of the flesh, the dreams of wealth and priviledge are
very enticing...
Therefore, the decision to follow Christ is a big decision.
I think it’s George Thourogood who sings the song: “Who do You Love?”
Those words could be easily changed to “What Do You Love?”
What do you love the most?
What is most important to us?
“Whoever loves their life will lose it.....” “And whoever loses their life for my sake will
find it.”
Notice that Jesus tells those who He’s talking to that they are “unable” to hear or recieve
His Word.
“Unable” is a strong word.
The people could have understood and heard Christ’s Word...
but they would not...
They made the decision.
They refused His Word because it repelled them.
They rejected it, and they deliberately willed to turn from it.
They could see the truth.
They knew that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, but they made the decision
not to embrace Him...not to accept Him...so they blinded their eyes from Him.
The Light had shone in the darkness......
“And this is the verdict.......people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds
were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come to the light for fear that
their deeds will be exposed.”
It’s very easy to turn off the light.
Too easy.
It’s very easy to see the truth....but to make the deliberate decision not to embrace it.
We are very good at making excuses.
We are very good at lying to ourselves....
and saying...no that’s not really the truth....
awe....and that means I don’t have to accept it.....
awe....and that means I don’t have to change.....
awe.....
Many experts in the law and psychology say that it is very possible for a murderer to deny
the truth with such conviction...that even though they committed a horrible crime...they can
come to believe their own lies...that they didn’t actually do it!
Some of us have become so accustomed to and so good at lying that we actually believe
our own lies.
And I’m afraid that this is part of Satan’s dilema.
And this is the dilema that many of us find ourselves in.
When the devil lies, “he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
And those of us who choose not to embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and give our
lives completely over to Him.....when we’ve seen the truth.....but have deliberately decided not
to embrace it.... Then we have decided to follow the devil....
Then we belong to our “father, the devil,” and we want to carry out our father’s
desire.
“He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for their is no truth in
him.”
Jesus is saying that one thing is certain: God is not the father of murder--the devil is.
But note that the real meaning of murder is made clear by Jesus....
Murder is committed in the heart....
Murder is anger, bitterness, hatred, desiring a person’s ruin, striking out at a person,
slandering, maligning, speaking ill about a person, and destroying a person’s image--who
is--afterall--created in the image of God.
I believe that we all have a moment of grace, where we are confronted with the
Truth.....and where we understand what the Truth is.
And we all have a moment in life where the decision is ours to make.
Will we follow the truth, or will we run from it?
Will we become children of God, or will we remain as children of the devil?
The earliest Christian confession of faith is found in Romans Chapter 10:9: “If you
confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved.”
By confessing that Jesus is Lord, the early Christians were literally risking and in many
cases giving up their lives.
Because they were saying that Jesus is Lord---not the Emperor of Rome.
And that was against the Law!
And many were put to death because of their faith.
Who is our Lord?
What do we put to death for the sake of our faith in Christ?
What passions, desires, possessions, dreams, fantasies, lifestyles......
What do we put to death?
Who is our Father?
The line is being drawn......
The decision must be made.....one way or the other it must be made.....
Who Do We Love?
