Seventh Sunday of Easter

Seventh Sunday of Easter 5/20/12 Text: John 17:11-19 Title: God’s Word, a Love Letter to You. Jesus, as we read earlier in our Gospel reading for today prayed on the eve of his arrest that God the Father would keep his disciples in the faith that he had been teaching them. He did this because he knew that after his ascension they would be subject to much trial and tribulation, even death for teaching the Gospel of Jesus. There are two ways that God the Father can keep them and us in faith. He could take them and us out of the world, but that would not work very well because there would be no one to tell others the wonderful news of forgiveness and acceptance by God thus negating Jesus’ command to go out into the world baptizing and teaching the Good News. That would not work. The other way God the Father could keep them and us in the faith would be through the work of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God. This plan works because, well the disciples and we remain in the world where we can fulfill Jesus’ command to baptize and teach the Good News of Jesus to the world. Psalm one, our Psalm for today is a prime example of how God the Father keeps Jesus’ disciples in the faith. It shows us that if we follow God’s instructions, as they are written down for us, we will stay in the true faith and thus be blessed, as God promises in Psalm One. Following God’s direction given to us in Psalm One and all the other commands found in God’s Word that give us direction on how a follower of Jesus is to live their life you would think would be a no-brainer. It should be, but as we all know it is not. God tells us that we are to love God above all things and our neighbor as our self. We know that, but find it difficult at best and at times nearly impossible to live the life God commands, as we are pulled back and forth between our own self-interest, the demands of the world, and God’s demands. We are caught in a terrible predicament, at least we believe we are; living in the world or living as God commands us to live. It seems, as if we are doomed no matter what we do, so we generally pick the easiest path of living even as we know it goes against God’s commands. We do that because we have missed a critical part of God’s Word where he tells us that while we live in the world, when we are his we are not of the world, just as Jesus was not of the world, even while he lived in the world. That short statement of Jesus makes all the difference in how we should view our lives as we live them in the world. You see because of Jesus saving act we can live our lives as God commands us to live even though we cannot live them perfectly. We, who believe, not just say we believe, but truly believe have been reborn through the water and Word, or as some would say the water and the Spirit. We are no longer who we were before we were reborn. We are no longer, even though we struggle living the lives God commands us to live are no longer slaves to the temptations of Satan, our sinful minds, or the enticing messages of those in the world, for are Christ’s. In Jesus’ prayer that we read part of earlier he prays, “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” While Jesus was specifically praying for his disciples that night he also includes, as we read a little further down in the reading all of those who believe in Jesus as their Savior. Jesus asks God the Father to make all of those who believe in him as their Savior to be one, as he and the Father are one. It is an important prayer, for to be one with Jesus and the Father is a big deal because when you are one with God you are one with each other. Think about that for a moment. That member that you have never introduced yourself to is one with you. That child that sometimes disrupts your worship time is one with you. That visitor who is setting next to you or set next to you last week is one with you. That street person who is a Christian is one with you. That criminal who has come to faith in Jesus is one with you. We are one not because we think alike or act alike, for we don’t. We are one because God the Father has accepted the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. The pound of flesh so to speak has been taken, not from us, but from Jesus. We are now one with Jesus and the Father. To be one is to know, as the children’s song tells us, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” To be one then is to know Jesus’ love and the Father’s love for they are one. Think about that, in your oneness with Jesus you are one with God the Father; that my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is a good thing, for he literally holds our lives in his hands. And the only way to know him is to know God’s Word, for it is only in his Word that we can know of God’s love for us and Jesus saving act on our behalf. Psalm One, the psalm we read responsively a little bit ago is a good example of how God the Father answerd Jesus’ prayer. You might want to turn to the psalm in your service folder. It is right before the Gospel reading. Pay particular attention to the first two verses. Let’s read them together. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” The wording of that psalm is very important for it shows how sin progresses. A good illustration of this can be shown by a person walking past a magazine rack, in say a grocery store. On that rack are magazines whose covers show scantly glad women or men, maybe both in embrace. You walk by and the covers catch your attention, but you keep on walking, maybe a little slower as you cast your eyes over the covers, but you keep on walking. The next time you walk by the magazine rack you stop and browse the covers taking them in, but once again you continue walking. The third time you go by the magazine rack with all those racy covers you stop and not only look, but stop and pick up one or more of the magazines to buy so that you can take it home to read later in the privacy of your home. You could use any number of other illustrations such as television programs who have gotten progressively worse and internet content that is definitely evil, to illustrate the lesson that God wants us to learn. Sin is never innocent. It will always progress to worse sin unless we stay in the Word of God the only place we can find permanent relief from the agony of sin that so oppresses us whether we want to admit it or not. Want to be blessed by God then read and believe his Word to you. Meditate on it, for his word speaks to you personally with a love beyond understanding. It is after all a love letter from God to you. Amen