Exude - The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Easter 7)

(Audio)

John 15:26 – 16:4; 1 Peter 4:7-14; Ezekiel 36:22-28

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

“The end of all things is at hand.” So warned the Apostle Peter just shy of two thousand years ago. And, with the Roman occupation and persecution of Christians by both Jews and pagan Gentiles alike, it must certainly have seemed as though the end of all things was very near.

But how are we to understand Peter’s warning today? The Russian invasion of Ukraine has threatened to realign world powers. The United States, China, and India all seem to be watching and waiting to see what will happen, creating uncertainty and unease. As tensions rise and the words “nuclear weapons” roll too easily from the lips of those in power, the specter of World War III seems far less the boogeyman of the previous century. And then there are the seemingly continual and increasingly horrific, incomprehensible mass shootings in which innocent victims, even children, are cruelly and mercilessly murdered while simply doing the ordinary, supposedly safe, things we all do every day, like going to the grocery store, work, church, and school. Add to that economic distress, hyperinflation, a pandemic, monkey pox, supply-chain failures, record-low unemployment while businesses are closing for lack of workers who will even show up for their shifts. And that’s not to mention the social, cultural, and political rancor that has torn apart our nation, our communities, our families, and our congregations. Does it not seem as though the end of all things is very near. What can we do? What should we do?

“The end of all things is at hand,” warns the Apostle, “therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.” Is this an exhortation to not panic? Yes, but it is more than that. This is an exhortation to fearless, selfless, sacrificial love and service; this is an exhortation to die to your self and to live to God. That is to say, keep on doing what you’ve been doing, what Christians always do, and, as the end of all things draws near, do it all the more in sobriety and in self-control. “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Are you surprised that Peter’s instruction for what you should be doing as the end of the world draws near is essentially “Keep on doing what you’re doing”? You shouldn’t be, for this is why you are here in the first place. This is why the Church is here at all. This is why the end has not yet come. There’s still work to do: selfless, sacrificial, loving work for the good of others to the glory of God in Jesus Christ. And, when the world is running down, do we just make the best of what’s still around?  No, on the contrary, the people of God work, they serve, they sacrifice, and they continue loving all the more in everything, that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

That is why Peter instructs you “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly.” The most important thing that you are to do at the end of all things is to keep on loving one another. And Peter adds to his exhortation that “love covers a multitude of sins.” Does that sound surprising? It shouldn’t. Love is the fulfilling of the Law. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Love always gives and forgives. Love lays down His life for friends and enemies alike. Jesus Christ is the love of God for you, poured out in sacrificial love on the cross, resurrected, and ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven. God has so loved you in His Son that He now sends you to love others with His love that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

Loving one another isn’t always easy; sometimes it’s difficult even to like one another. Imagine what it must be like for our holy and righteous God to love us hate-filled, rebellious sinners, who too often put their fear, love, and trust in created things and not in the Creator of all things, and to love us so much as to sacrifice His only-begotten Son for us. If God has loved us in this way, how can we not love one another? People sometimes say that to love someone doesn’t mean that you have to like them. That may be true to a point – Peter exhorts you to love one another, not to like one another. However, I suspect our understanding of like is a human contrivance to pare down or to simplify God’s universal command to love. It’s like the lawyer who sought to justify himself by asking Jesus “Who is my neighbor?” It’s like tween-age girls asking each other “Do you like him, or do you like-like him?” We like to think that we can love our neighbor without liking them – do you hear how childish that sounds? What Peter is saying to you is that you must first love a person, and, if you truly love them with God’s love in Jesus Christ, then liking them simply isn’t an issue.

It is your enemy, Satan, who tempts you to make petty distinctions between love and like, and he afflicts our nation, our communities, our families, and even the Church of Christ severely. Satan tempts us to be petty and territorial, to view others as being critical, judgmental, and agenda-driven. Satan would destroy your love and replace it with bitterness, resentment, conflict, and strife. But Peter exhorts you that you are to use your gifts to serve one another, in love, as good stewards, good managers, of God’s grace.

Again, this is why you are here. This is why the Church is here at the end of all things, to keep on loving earnestly and using the gifts that God has given to you, gifts of time, gifts of talents and skills, gifts of financial treasure, as good stewards and managers, in service to one another in love, that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ is a beacon light shining in this world of darkness, sin, and death, guiding those lost in the darkness to Jesus, the Light of the world. The Church of Jesus Christ is a city on a hill that is visible to all the world as a sanctuary of rest from labors and a hospital for souls sick unto death. The Church of Jesus Christ is the loving heart of Jesus displayed in humble, selfless and sacrificial service to the world. The Church of Jesus Christ is the spiritual womb that gives birth to children of God in Holy Baptism by the life-creating power of God’s Word. And the Church of Jesus Christ is the sheepfold in which the Good Shepherd gives unto you His sheep living water that refreshes and enlivens parched souls unto eternal life and feeds His sheep on the best of meats and the finest of wines, laying down His own life, in sacrificial and selfless love, for you.

This is why you are here. This is why the Church is here at the end of all things. And this is why, above all else, you must love one another. “Show hospitality (graciousness and kindness) to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards (good managers) of God’s varied (and multitudinous) grace […] in order that in everything (you do or say or think) God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

On this day in which we celebrate our high school and college graduates, the 50^th anniversary of the ordination of one of God’s faithful shepherds, and the men and women who sacrificed their lives to defend our freedoms, not least of all the freedom to gather here today to receive God’s gifts and to return to Him praise and thanksgiving, we remember God’s faithfulness to all the generations before us and to ourselves up to this very day, and we remember His promise to deliver us from our enemies, even through suffering and inevitable death, into life with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that can never die. That is what love looks like: It is patient and kind. It doesn’t envy or boast. It isn’t arrogant or rude. It doesn’t insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It doesn’t rejoice at wrongdoing, but it rejoices with the truth. Such love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Such love never fails. That is the love God has for us. That is the love He has endowed, infused, and empowered us to share with all today and as the end of all things draws near. To Him belong glory and Dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.