The Lutheran Hour
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"This Is Love"
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Text: 1 John 4:10
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Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed! This is love that God has kept His promise to sinful humankind and sent His Son to live for us, carry our sins for us, die and rise for us. Now all who believe in Jesus as Savior are forgiven and will live forever. May God grant this salvation to us all. Amen.
If you don’t count the Fourth Commandment’s, “Honor thy father and thy mother”; (Exodus 20:12); yes, if you don’t count that, Mother’s Day is really not mentioned in Scripture. Even so, a young preacher, indeed any preacher, takes his life in his hands if he ascends the pulpit today and doesn’t make a reference to the corsaged ladies who are gathered to hear what the Lord has to say. Understand, those women expect, they demand, they need to hear the Word of God, they want to listen to a sermon that points clearly and concisely to the Christ; they want to hear how God’s Son came into this world to keep the commandments, to defeat sin, the devil, and death. Yes, they want to hear those things and they would rightly rise up in revolt if the Savior’s story were to be omitted. Still, most mothers will be disappointed if the Lord’s spokesman doesn’t somewhere, somehow acknowledge their service and sacrifice.
Of course, on this Mother’s Day I don’t have any moms with me in The Lutheran Hour studio. There is no one to give me a frown; no one to give me an “ahem” as a Mother’s Day reminder. Since we don’t pass the offering plate in the studio, I’m not concerned anyone will hold back their contribution if I don’t mention Mother’s Day; which may mean I’m one of the few preachers in North America who isn’t obligated to talk about Moms or Mother’s Day. I’m not obligated to speak of Mother’s Day, but I’m not totally stupid, either. Right now, my own mother, Jeanette, is listening to The Lutheran Hour on WGN in Chicago. She never misses the broadcast. Mom and I have a wonderful relationship… I’d like to keep it that way. Not speak about Mother’s Day? I have a wife, Pam. We’ve been married for 39 years; I’d like to celebrate our 40th.
Which is why we begin talking about Mother’s Day in 1967. As you know, Mother’s Day is supposed to be both pleasant and pleasing. Sadly, this Mother’s Day started out with mom feeling poorly. She had a throbbing, thunderous, eye-rolling, mind-numbing headache. With mom down, her 7-year-old daughter promoted herself to caretaker and caregiver. Standing in the doorway of mom’s bedroom, she asked, “Mama, what can I do to help?” Realizing rest would be impossible until she busied her daughter mom said, “A cup of tea would be nice. Can you do that, dear?”
Mom’s wish was her daughter’s command. The girl was gone in a flash. For the next minutes mom heard all manner of clangings, clankings, and clatterings coming from the kitchen. Then silence. Silence was followed by her daughter coming into her room. She moved slowly, ever so slowly. Mom sat up, took the tea and sipped. It was good; it was surprisingly good. While she drank, mother observed her child’s face shone with an ear-to-ear grin of accomplishment. Mother acknowledged her girl’s contribution: “Dear, you have been very helpful. Did you have any trouble with the tea? “No, it was easy”, came the reply. “The only hard part was I couldn’t remember where you put the strainer for the tea… and I didn’t want to bother you, so I used the fly swatter.” To her credit mother didn’t spray a mouthful of tea across the room. Indeed, she was quite quick in hiding the look of shock and surprise which swept across her face. She was quick, but not quick enough. The little girl had noticed and assured her mother everything was OK. “Don’t worry,” she said, “I didn’t use the new fly swatter to strain your tea. I used the old one.” Mother nodded, smiled… and finished her drink. As Scripture says, “Love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).
Now you should know, Mother’s Day or not, I would not have shared that story if it was not to the purpose of our message. Please bear with me as I ask, “Why was that little girl so concerned about her mother?” “Why did she have such a desire to be of help?” And most importantly, “From whom did she learn compassion?” Almost all of you would agree: the daughter had learned these things from her mother. Most certainly others had been involved in shaping the child’s personality: father, grandparents, teachers, playmates, pastors, books that had been read; television shows that were watched or forbidden. All would have played a part, but that little girl learned to love from her mother.
Consider this, before the girl had ever been born, her mother had loved her. So her child might be given a healthy start, mom had watched her diet, stayed away from second-hand smoke, refrained from alcohol, and been faithful in exercise. Love sent mom out on shopping expeditions to buy furnishings and pick colors for baby’s nursery, one color if her baby was a girl, another if he were a boy. By the fourth month of her pregnancy mom had managed to accumulate all of baby’s basic necessities. She had searched the Internet for the best and most nutritious baby formula; she had attended three baby showers given by friends and family; she had picked out two possible colleges and forced her husband to help pick the right name for their child. When he smilingly suggested their child might be named after his great-grandparents, Hortense and Wickersham, she had responded with a lecture and not a laugh. Yes, before her daughter was born, mother had loved her.
When it came time to give birth, mom had said, “I’m doing it naturally,” and she did. She endured pain so her daughter, no matter how remote the possibility, might not be affected by medication. The first time mother and daughter were left together, before baby could open her eyes or knew who she was or where she was or what she was, before any of these things took place, mother loved her. Mom’s love was not quenched by three o’clock feedings when she functioned on sleep-deprived auto-pilot; or when she was baptized by a meal that hadn’t set well on daughter’s stomach. Mother’s love was given before daughter could recognize her voice, could see her face, could offer thanks for mother’s sacrifice, or could strain mom’s tea with an old fly-swatter. Not until she had a daughter of her own would the little girl understand this kind of love.
If you can understand what I’ve been saying; if you’ve been nodding your head because the story of this mother and daughter is also your story, you may also begin to understand the words of the Apostle John. By the Holy Spirit’s inspiration and direction, the beloved apostle wrote, ‘… this is love: not that we have loved God but that God loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’ Love. If you read through the Bible, you will find Holy Writ is preoccupied with the concept of love. Indeed, almost all the New Testament writers spend considerable time on the topic. James said (2:8) “you are doing right if you keep the royal law of scripture which says we should love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.” Paul, writing to the Romans, said (13:8) ‘Don’t have any debts outstanding except the Christian’s ongoing debt to love your fellowman.’ Peter told believers, “when we obey the truth we have sincere love for our brothers… let us love each other deeply and from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22).
Of course these men were merely repeating and explaining what they had heard from Jesus, their Savior. To be sure, the Christ had spoken regularly about love; but when He did, His words described a love that no philosopher or teacher had ever imagined. The love Jesus shared was a deeper kind of love, a powerful, sacrificial love. Before and after Jesus, wise men had instructed their listeners to treat their friends and family kindly and be respectful of others. In contrast to this rational and reasonable, common-sense approach to human relationships, Jesus instructed His disciples to love and pray for their enemies, their persecutors and their oppressors. He told His followers to love their adversaries as much as they loved their closest allies and dearest associates (Matt. 5: 43-44). When a lawyer asked Jesus, “What is the greatest commandment?” the Savior found it easy to respond: “The first commandment, the greatest commandment, is to love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”; then Jesus added, “The next commandment is like the first: love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Jesus concluded, “These two commandments are the foundation of all the other laws and they sum up everything spoken by the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). This is radical thinking on the Redeemer’s part. He was saying, “If you want to understand history from God’s perspective; if you want to summarize the 39 books that comprise the Old Testament; if you want to get a glimpse into the heart and mind of God, you need to know it begins and ends with God loving us.”
When God created the world and made Adam and Eve, He loved them. When they broke the only command they had been given, God did something you and I would not have done: He kept on loving them — indeed, He promised to send a Redeemer to save them from sin, death, and Satan. When humankind pursued sin with a vengeance, God’s love still reached out and rescued a faithful remnant from an earth-destroying flood. God loved the patriarchs when they wandered. He loved the groaning and griping Children of Israel when they rebelled in the wilderness. After He had settled them into the land of promise, He loved and remembered them when they regularly forgot Him. Scripture does not exaggerate when it says: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). And nowhere, nowhere, is the Lord’s love seen more clearly and more completely than it is in the Person of the Christ. Speaking of love, Jesus told those who would follow Him: “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you: continue in My love” (John 15:9). And to head off any misunderstanding, Jesus simplified things by saying: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
And how did Jesus love? Take a look. Jesus’ love was not an investment that expected an immediate return or instantaneous appreciation. Jesus’ love was a gift. When He was misunderstood, He loved; when He was rejected; when He was criticized; when He was threatened; when He was falsely accused; when He was arrested, beaten, crowned with thorns, whipped, and railroaded to a cross, He kept loving. Even from the cross, as He looked down through the blinding pain, past the weight of our sins, He loved enough to forgive the people who had put Him there. He loved enough to make provision for His mother’s future.
How did Jesus love? He loved sacrificially, completely, consistently, totally. His love did not grow when the crowds proclaimed Him ‘King’, and it did not diminish when they called for His crucifixion. His love did not falter or fail, weaken and wane when He was accused and abandoned, nor did it intensify or increase when He was acclaimed and applauded. From His first breath in Bethlehem until His last shout of victory on Calvary’s cross, Jesus loved. He loved His friends, His enemies, and everyone in between. This He did so you and I and all of us could be brought to faith and saved from the enslavement of sin, the shackles of Satan, and the damnation of death. John was right: ‘this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation, the Sacrifice, the Price-payer for our sins.’ And now, as Jesus instructed, the duty of God’s redeemed people is to follow Jesus’ example and reflect His love with others.
Which, of course, causes a problem. There are many of you who are listening to this message. You have no problem with Jesus and what He has done. Your stumbling block with Christianity is with Christians and not with the Christ. You know Jesus’ sacrifice is so gracious and grand that it is almost impossible not to be moved to faith. The words of Scripture are so consistent in urging God’s people to love others; they can hardly be misunderstood or misinterpreted. Of course, because Christians are sinful human beings they have regularly managed to misconstrue and misapply God’s words. A cursory glimpse at church history will give sterling evidence of how Scripture’s encouragements for God’s people to love have been origamied into shapes that the Lord never intended.
In 1209, during the crusade against the Cathar heresy in Southern France, the forces of orthodoxy besieged the city of Beziers. Finally, as the walls of the city were being breached, the commander of the crusade, Simon de Montfort, properly pointed out not everybody in the city was a heretic. He wondered how they might recognize the faithful Christians when they captured the city. A monk who was present recorded the answer of the Abbot of Citeaux, “Kill them all. God will know His own.” Which is what they did. No, you don’t have to look long or hard to find plentiful stories of Christian persecution, torture, and murder directed against heretics, both real and imagined. We are compelled to confess we have not loved others as Jesus has loved us.
For our faults and failings, sins and shortcomings, we are deeply sorry and most sincerely come to you, as well as our Savior, and ask for forgiveness. We know that Jesus forgives us for the wrong we have done and the good we have left undone. Jesus forgives us as He forgives us of all we have done wrong. But how about you? Many of you still are rubbed raw by slights and sins committed against you. You find it difficult, almost impossible, to let those things go — to look past us and see our Savior. If you feel that way, please consider this. Our wrongful acts do not negate anyone’s need for the Savior; they only show how much He is needed. Salvation does not begin with us and our conduct. Listen carefully to what John wrote: “This is love: not that we have loved God or that we loved you; but that God loved us and sent his Son to save us.”
Do you see? Did you hear? It’s not our love, or lack of it that is important; it’s not our faithfulness that should bring you to Christ, or our flaws that should send you away from Him. This is love: God has sent His Son to save you… to live for you and to suffer for you and to be crowned with thorns for you and to carry your sins, all your sins to the cross for you, to die for you. All this He did so you could be forgiven, redeemed, and be given eternal life.
Please, oh my friends, please do not let your pride or Satan, the father of lies, use our failings to cloud the great and gracious love that has come to you in the Person of the Savior; do not let our shortcomings short circuit the joy that is in Jesus. Does your mother love you? Jesus loves you more! Has your mother made sacrifices for you? They are not as complete or as consistent as the sacrifice made by the Savior. Would your mother give her life for you? Jesus already has. Look to the cross and the risen Savior’s empty tomb. Look to the Christ and learn to love. And if you need to hear more about that love of the Savior, The Lutheran Hour has shared His story for 78 years. We care about you, which is why we make this offer: please call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for May 10, 2009
Topic: Confess or Cover Up?Announcer: Is it better to confess–or cover up? I’m Mark Eischer and Pastor Ken
Klaus is here to discuss questions about conscience.Klaus: Hello, Mark.
Announcer: Today we’ve got what I think might be an interesting question, one that we’ve never handled before. This comes to us from a mother of four. The two oldest kids are teenagers and the other two are close to that age. Naturally, they are asking questions.
Klaus: Naturally.
Announcer: It’s these questions that are causing the mother some problems. She says she was not always a Christian and was brought to faith in Jesus later in life. In fact, her husband was the biggest influence in that.
Klaus: Good for him.
Announcer: Prior to that, she admits that she lived a life that was less than exemplary. And we don’t need to go into detail here. That all changed when she met her husband, started attending church with him, was baptized, and became a member of the church. She says her marriage has been wonderful, her husband better than wonderful, and their children are a great blessing.
Klaus: That’s about as good as it gets. Forgiveness, a Savior, a changed life.
Announcer: One might think. Now here’s where we get to the question. The lady says, “My children don’t really know about my previous life. There has been no need to tell them. But now they are asking questions. Innocent questions, like “Tell me, mom, what was it like when you were our age? Mom, what sort of things did you do when you were a teenager?” She’s not really keen on sharing too many things from her past.
Klaus: Understandable.
Announcer: She says, on the one hand, she doesn’t want to lie to them. On the other hand, she doesn’t necessarily want to tell them the truth-out of fear that it might damage the respect they have for their parents in general and her in particular.
Klaus: Mark, I think the longer I’m in the ministry, the more impressed I am with some of our Christian people. This lady is very special. Special to me, but also special to the Lord. She’s one of those repentant sinners about whom the angels in heaven rejoice. Not only has the Lord reversed the direction of her life, He has transformed her into a wonderful woman with a powerful conscience. If she’s listening, and I pray she is, I have to say, “Well done, Ma’am.”
Announcer: And can you give her some advice?
Klaus: I’m going to try. First, anything I say from this point on has to be tempered by several factors. The personality of her children, the motivation of the question, the way in which she responds, all determine the depth of her answer.
Announcer: That’s a lot of tempering…
Klaus: It is — but this is a special situation, and I don’t know this lady’s children as well as she does. What might be the right answer for one might not be for another; what might be beneficial for one might not be for the other.
Announcer: Understood.
Klaus: Having said that, I would recommend this. First, don’t lie to your children. That would not be worthy of you; it would not be right for them; it would go against your conscience and it would be plain and simple wrong.
Announcer: So, tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Klaus: No. Not at all. While a parent should tell the truth, it is not necessary to confess to a child every detail of the past. That confession has been made to the Lord and He has granted forgiveness on account of Christ. The sin was not done against the child and therefore such an act is not necessary.
Announcer: Could you amplify that point?
Klaus: I’d be glad to. A parent might say, “Well, when I was your age, I did some things of which I’m not very proud. Thankfully, the Lord didn’t leave me in those sins.” Maybe it would be, “You have no idea how thankful I am that you feel you can talk to me and ask me about that. I’ve seen that kind of lifestyle from both sides, and I’m here because in Jesus is the better way to live.”
Announcer: Of course, if I know children, they’re going to keep asking. “Mom, just what DID you do?”
Klaus: I’d be very surprised if they didn’t. And that’s where she would have to say: “Things about which I’m ashamed. Things that weren’t right. Honey, you know I’m hardly perfect. There were times when I was even more imperfect. But that’s in the past, and I’d like to leave it that way. The Lord knows, your dad knows, and God has forgiven me.”
Announcer: And if they still persist?
Klaus: Well, you can turn the tables and, with a smile in your voice, say something like, “Tell you what, first you tell me everything you’ve done wrong. And you know what? Jesus died and rose again to forgive those sins, too.”
Announcer: This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” arr. Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“At the Lamb’s High Feast” by Charles Ore. From From My Perspective, vol. 1 by Charles Ore (© 1992 Organ Works Corporation) Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“All the Earth with Joy Is Sounding” by Walter Pelz. From Joy Is Sounding (© 2001 Association of Lutheran Church Musicians) Concordia Publishing House/SESAC