Easter Continues To Unfold….A New Story Is Being Told: 
“Making Love Real”  John 10:11-18, 1 John 3: 16-24
May 3, 2009

Can you ever really know anyone?  Even yourself?  Do you even know yourself?  In today’s wisdom teaching, who do you know better….the other sheep?  the fox…maybe more commonly known as the neigh-sayer or trickster…the ones you say:  You can’t?  Do you know better the hired hand?  the shepherd?  Who you know best probably depends upon where/who you put your focus and so spend your time and energy….and this shapes your perceptions about what’s really real and what’s not.  It’s the difference between I can’t….and I can!

So, where is your focus?  Last week we realized we often put it on our fear.  When we focus on fear, we can’t see ourselves clearly and we usually are pushed off the bed, out of silent reflection and our ability to make right choices….into reacting.
 

You don’t have to put your focus on your fear, on your perceived enemies: the fox, the hired hand, the “can’t doers”, the politicians, headlines, the deficits…personal or national, the building, those people who just mess up everything and keep you from having your way.You are free to choose where you put your focus.

This choice makes you or breaks you.
 

If your focus is on God…a God known to us in the living Jesus and risen Christ…rising above all else, beating the odds….living by being willing to lie it down for others….if your focus is on the shepherd and how he offers to shepherd you…..then you can relax…take some breathing room….and discover you have a life competency that will bring you great joy no matter who you know or don’t know….even if you’re not so sure you know yourself very well!

The first letter of John makes clear that our core competency, main focus as Christians is to love one another.  We’re made for this!  The love of Jesus is more than a nice idea and a noble concept — it is, in fact, a pattern of behavior that is supposed to be displayed by us in action….for our own good!  “How does God’s love abide in anyone,” asks John, “who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?”

Short answer: It doesn’t. God’s love lives in those who see a need, and respond with help.  Not responding?  Are you so sure you are really Christian?   And it’s not just about responding to those we live with…although sometimes that’s no easy thing either…but those we don’t even like! …and responding with acts of selfless love…not just words.
 
Making love real.  Putting love into action. That’s what John is talking about when he challenges us to love one another.  So why is it so hard for us to concentrate on this core Christian competency?  To make it our focus?

• Most of us find it easier to argue with our political opponents than to care enough about the issues to get involved.
• Most of us are more comfortable taking a stand on abortion than taking care of a woman with a problem pregnancy or no access to birth control, or in an abusive relationship.
• Most of us would rather write a check to a homeless shelter than spend an evening there.
• Most of us would prefer to make pronouncements on homosexuality than to do the hard work of figuring out what it means to be gay and Christian…let alone heterosexual and Christian!
• Most of us find it so much simpler to define our religious duty in terms of attending church and making offerings, rather than doing the complicated and challenging work of feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and visiting the imprisoned….and most importantly, doing something about the world that creates these needs in good people….good people.

Basically, we’re lazy.  (Edited during preaching…to we’re afraid. )

No kidding. We take a fairly easy path and putting our energy into fighting about politics, abortion, homelessness and homosexuality. These topics give us the comfort of a black- and-white view of the world, one in which there are good guys and bad guys, angels and demons, winners and losers. But Jesus was never about crushing his opponents —evening heaven our enemies sit at table with us…..instead, Jesus challenges his followers by saying, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45). If we are really in the fold, we are going to have to take the difficult path of putting love into action and making it real. It is much harder to love one another than it is to fight one another.

The key to rising to this challenge is to realize that love comes from God, not from human beings.  You already have everything you need to love.  Let it flow.  If your focus is on God and God’s deepest desires for us and other….your love compels you to act.  You can’t live with yourself if you don’t!  Any love we show is a sign and a signal that God’s love is working in us!

In a sense, this lets us off the hook. We can say to critics, “Hey, don’t blame us — blame God!”  We’re not required to figure out precise and perfect positions on all the tough issues of the day, we are required to love one another.  John doesn’t say we will be blessed by God once we achieve a political victory or articulate a flawless moral position.  No, he says we will receive from God whatever we ask when “we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.” Our world is in desperate need of a church that puts love into action and makes it real. Like customers looking for a good burger or a simple, solid, small car, there are people all around us who are searching desperately for a community that actually practices what it preaches. Jesus was looking for followers, not admirers.  He wanted people willing to be changed, not simply to volunteer.

At Tippe, you are invited to walk the talk, to put your focus on the ministry and not on personalities or disagreements.  You are invited to trust.  At Tippe, you are offered the chance to lead, to shape the ministry, not just to show up but to make a difference in each other’s lives and the lives of those beyond this building.  At Tippe, we tithe our support as well as our money to the things we say are important to us. Our focus is in constantly reforming, living grace out into the world, being the church….by knowing ourselves and each other and moving beyond this world’s expectations of what it means to be competent, secure, happy. Who do you really know?  Do you even know yourself? Who do you know better….the other sheep?  the fox…the neigh-sayers?  the hired hand?  the shepherd?  Who you know best probably depends upon where you put your focus and so spend your energy. Where is your focus?  What are you looking for?  Focus!  You are the one you’ve been looking for….and together….we can!  Yes!  We Can!