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Do we
pretend, avoid confessing and professing in the power of the Living Word in
fear of others and insecurity or lack of confidence within ourselves to apply
our convictions in the Lord? If we don't go there and love, aspire to love with
an unconditional love our neighbor yet alone the Lord, how can we know true vitality?
How can we be truly and truthfully connected to one another as children of God,
chosen, children of Grace? If we indeed are the Body of Christ in this fallen
world, do we strive with confidence to confess and be sacrificial in our
discipleship? If we don't go there, where is the gospel? Are we truncating and
perhaps even concluding the gospel with Satan's help? The gospel of Jesus is
that tree of life those Words of life, and we are to be leaves, we are to bear
the fruit… but if we don't want to love our neighbor yet alone hear spiritually
God's call to firm up our sense of convictions what can we do?
For
starters, we need to get over being in the world and focus upon living not of it.
Speaking for myself, I am a pastor for Christ not a chaplain to culture. Being
chosen by God is an all-inclusive reality of being the children of Grace. Being chosen is being a part of that great
vine where God is the one we focus upon.
The one who not only gave us initial life, but through Jesus, gave us
New Life and a new journey. This is a
developing journey that perfects itself by exemplifying the greatest fruit of
all to aspire to bear, this is love.
Love in
all of today’s text is using a form of the Greek Word, Agape. Agape is an unconditional, covenantal sense
of love. It is truly a commitment
towards a greater goal lived through a heart that hears profoundly and lives
profoundly, JESUS IS LORD, to the Glory of God the Father and through Him we
are to abide… He is what binds all us
together.
Our
housemate had another miracle the other day when her nerve dead, damaged foot
finally was able to faintly move her big toe. This could be attributed to many
factors, one being a healthy, new diet, a different environment being one of
care and a lightened load or to be prayerfully considered in addition, God is
helping her once again, to see her New Life within her and literally helping
her to get up on her feet to live into it!
One
could say that living your life pruned, shaped and disciplined by God is what
theology truly is all about. It goes
beyond books and earthly intellectualism to be truly a life seen and understood
through the lens of the Gospel of Jesus.
Everything seen, heard and experienced is discerned through a perfecting
spiritual formation that becomes a life time’s consummation. To have such faith is not easy for we are
challenged most seriously with Satan’s spiritual battle for the turf of our
heart and the seat of our sacrifice. When we can’t embrace the mission of the
cross and the resurrection’s impact upon our soul, our future… we become
centered and sacrificial only for the self.
There
has been much turmoil and things that have taken place in the world lately. All of which are stretching our capacity to
resist becoming judges and jurors over and above others. Lately the news reads
almost like the comics. A professed socialist
running for office in America, to a troubled soul realizing his confusions by
transforming himself into a woman and lastly bitter and violent despair enacted
through the chaos of looting meanwhile scapegoating a man’s misfortune, as terms
of justice! What all of these snippets of stories share is being disconnected,
out of sync with living intentionally towards a purpose greater than the ones
we’ve constructed; this purpose is Christ Alone, this solution is justified
through Grace Alone.
If we
were to look at the lesson from the Book of Acts through a judgmental lens, we
would wonder why Philip would have even considered sharing the Gospel and its
fruits with a eunuch. A eunuch is an individual who mutilated his body out of
the conviction to be pure and permanently chaste. Whether or not God wants us
to disturb our bodily features like this, is something we should not be judges
and jurors to more than living to share the Good News and Love our neighbors.
Who are
we to make the Gospel exclusive anyway, yet alone to subjugate it? Are we not to abide in God’s Living and
authoritative Word as the fruit of Grace given?
The world however is moving away from God and caters to many gods all of
whom are concerned with the self and its’ personal gospel. This kind of worldly
shaped love comes from Satan and bears the graceless fruits of sin, death and
evil.
It’s
hard for the 21st century Christian to even think of being as bold
as John the apostle. We made faith so
much more about us with its need to control, religiosity, intellectualism and
political agenda; how could we realize love as both Jesus and John wanted us to
see, experience it as? In fact, if you
think about the efforts of evil moving in the world currently through the
example of ISIS or radicalized and realized Muslim “faith…” convert or die is
definitely not from God or for God but is death itself. It can only create dead leaves falling away
from that vine to burn away, wither into dust in the rays of the sun, Son!
I read
a great article the other day, yes, of course on social media… It basically said that “ministry isn’t for
wimps.” It just simply listed a myriad
of abuses and symptoms pastors suffer through for the sake of the Gospel. The
author is right, ministry isn’t for wimps, it isn’t supposed to be exclusive
either. I’m not to be a “Pez-dispenser”
of knowledge more than I am to truly and truthfully encourage, enlighten and
guide one on their spiritual formation journey~ Philip in the Book of Acts
literally examples this, what each and every one of us in the Priesthood of all
believers should invest ourselves in.
Ministry
is not easy and you will not be accepted by many. You will either be persecuted
or ridiculed to the point of feeling despair teetering upon that edge of
insecurity and doubt. However do we or should we allow others to convict us in
our efforts to live and bear fruit for the Gospel? No, no one should have this power except for
God. The awesome and beautiful power of Grace through Christ is that we are
convicted sinners BUT aspiring saints through the Law of Love realized at the
cross and elevated in victory through the resurrection!
Abiding
with confidence in the Living Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus is realizing
that you were not only created by a loving and gracious God but chosen to join
with others and prayerfully shape a reality of Grace as love lived. Praise is merely the natural reflection of
being connected to God and committed to love Him and neighbor. Knowing God is
growing in Grace and grace is both New Life and something that cannot be shaken
unwillingly away…
I’ll
leave you with one last image to see and know that vine. As some of you know, the music minister &
I from the Gathering North have agreed to work together in a wedding consultation
ministry. We are accomplishing this
through her flower shop. She makes the flowers and arrangements for the
weddings & jointly we counsel and assist couples to consider us officiating
their weddings through the Gathering North.
It’s been fun work as well as I’ve been learning a lot about these
strange and beautiful creations of God, flowers.
Contrary
to public opinion, the majority of flowers have very long and large stems with
many leaves. Daisies in particular, are
really bizarre, they come nearly two and a half feet long with many leaves that
are trimmed away. Not many people get to
see how these flowers come into her store. All kinds of shapes and unbelievable
sizes, peculiar to one’s notions of how things should be or “seem…”
Customers
come in all day long and ask the clerk for all types of arrangements, for some
particular reason or another. These flowers were all placed together, brought
together for a particular purpose. It is
a prayerful task to share the beauty of nature as God created it… much like our
lives lived in the everyday through the lens of the Gospel. When we gather together each of us realizing
who we are through Christ Jesus, the source of life, and giving, sharing
ourselves with others for the sake of the Lord whom we know and abide in; we
are disciples.
We are
sharing what God has given us and the New Life Christ has graced us with; we
give as love in service, love in compassion, love in mercy, love in kindness
and all beautiful things, fruits, the Lord has both given and we’ve received as
children of God, children of Grace—we live through Love.
Amen
5th Sunday of Easter; May 3rd,
2015; Year B; SOLA Lectionary;
Sermon by Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm 150; Acts 8:26-40; 1 John
4:1-21; John 15:1-8
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