Easter 6
6th Sunday of Easter- Acts 10:44-48; I Jn 5:1-6; John 15:9-17
“Loving God, Ourselves & Others”
Winning the lottery. Let us admit we all dream of it. The News tells of such winners :
Jack Whittaker: This West Virginia businessman won $315 million in the Powerball lottery in 2002, the largest jackpot ever from a single ticket in American history at the time. After being robbed of $545,000 in cash while at a strip club, Whittaker's granddaughter and daughter were later found dead, and Whittaker was sued by Caesars Atlantic City casino for bouncing $1.5 million worth of checks to cover gambling losses.
-Juan Rodriguez: This New York City parking attendant was earning less than $30,000 in 2004 when he won $149 million in a Mega Millions drawing. But soon after taking the lump sum option of $88 million, his wife filed for divorce and was awarded half of his winnings.
-Fred Topous, Jr.: Topous won $57 million, the seventh-largest jackpot in Michigan state history in June 2008, but eventually took a $33 million lump sum. The convicted sex offender, who was released from prison in 2006, needs to register as a sex offender until 2024.
-Billy Bob Harrell, Jr.: This preacher working as a stockboy at Home Depot struck it rich in 1997, winning $31 million in Texas' lottery. Some 20 months later, after divorcing his wife and buying a half-dozen homes for relatives, he committed suicide using a shotgun.
What did this money add to their lives? Apparently it did not do the people much good. We do not know all the circumstances and there but for the grace of God go I (us). Certainly money in itself is not evil but the coveting of it and misuse of it is. A lot of good things rightly done can be accomplished with money.
What is the key to life? In John 15 Our Lord identifies some of those building blocks for a good life.
The first is a love for God. “ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue in my love” vs.9 This love for God Jesus says is expressed in our holy lives. “ If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love.” Vs.10 I John 5:2 spells it out directly, “ By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.” I Jn 5:2 It is easy to get our priorities reversed sometimes when pressured by life’s problems and difficulties. We put family in God’s place and give God the left overs or we put our employment there and take no time for God & His service to others. I am glad I have had people in my life who showed me by their lives that God was really first despite what was going on around them or in the world. We must love God .
A friend of mine recently wrote an article about the raising of Lazarus in John 11 . In his message he tells of a “ hillbilly couple in the piney woods, illiterate and unsophisticated, living in a run-down cabin and eating squirrel and possum. One day, they found a wounded Soldier from a battle, took him home, and nursed him back to health and he left. After some time had passed, he sent them one thousand dollars as a thank-you. They had never seen so many dollars before. They proceeded to paste the dollars all over the walls of their cabin, thinking this would be a nice way to remember their Soldier friend. It took some time before someone convinced them that if they took down the thousand dollars and spent it, they would not have to live in a squalid little cabin, eating squirrels and possums. It was the same with Martha; she knew that Lazarus will rise again in the resurrection but she had never done anything with that knowledge that affected her life. There she was, stoically affirming the resurrection as the sort of thing nice people affirm, but never dreaming that she was looking at the Resurrection itself.” “ The Anglican Digest” Spring 2012, Rev. Allen Guelzo
Next we should incoporate in our love for God a love for ourselves . That sounds silly but a lot of people have never thought about the fact . “ This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.” John 15:12 If I do not begin by taking care of myself , my health, my needs then I will have nothing to give others. A stressed out person that is no good to themselves has difficulty with the needs of others. This is not self love we are talking about but love for our Creator expressed in healthy thinking, healthy emotional lives & healthy habits that prolong our lives instead of making them all too short. We do not know how many days we have to live here, but we can make the best of our situations in a personal way by living out our faith in many ways that start at home. I cannot love others without first loving God and my faith is expressed in healthy ways by taking care of what things I need. I did not say want. We all have many wants. We do have basic needs that all human beings share . This is a life of joy Jesus says, “ These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” 15:11 I am chosen, and appointed by God that I may bring forth “much fruit.” 15:16
Lastly we all know too well that in union with Jesus as the True Vine we the branches abiding in Him are to show our love by bearing fruit. “ These things I command you, that you love one another.” The first fruit of the Spirit is love. Love is first truth. By when we speak the truth we must speak in love. Love without truth is just the world buttering people up without Jesus. Love with truth is what it is all about. Ephesians 4:15 All of us have been exposed to unlovely situations and difficulties. It is hard to speak the truth in love. If we know the bridge is out and we have a chance to tell someone it would unloving not to tell them. That is the right use of the Golden Rule. “ ….all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do eve so them…” Matthew 7:12 I note that this is not always so comfortable either for Jesus says earlier in John 15:3 “ every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit.” This is like pruning and as one commentator said, “ So God, by his providence, does discipline Christians; and so it is necessary that our natural tendencies and actions and desires must be restrained, that the virtues of our Lord may be manifested in us and his work wrought through us.” The Gospel of John. Charles Erdman. This is why Jesus sums this passage today up by saying “ these things I command you, that you love one another.” 15:17
Love God- Love Yourself in abiding with Jesus- Love others
“Loving God, Ourselves & Others”
Winning the lottery. Let us admit we all dream of it. The News tells of such winners :
Jack Whittaker: This West Virginia businessman won $315 million in the Powerball lottery in 2002, the largest jackpot ever from a single ticket in American history at the time. After being robbed of $545,000 in cash while at a strip club, Whittaker's granddaughter and daughter were later found dead, and Whittaker was sued by Caesars Atlantic City casino for bouncing $1.5 million worth of checks to cover gambling losses.
-Juan Rodriguez: This New York City parking attendant was earning less than $30,000 in 2004 when he won $149 million in a Mega Millions drawing. But soon after taking the lump sum option of $88 million, his wife filed for divorce and was awarded half of his winnings.
-Fred Topous, Jr.: Topous won $57 million, the seventh-largest jackpot in Michigan state history in June 2008, but eventually took a $33 million lump sum. The convicted sex offender, who was released from prison in 2006, needs to register as a sex offender until 2024.
-Billy Bob Harrell, Jr.: This preacher working as a stockboy at Home Depot struck it rich in 1997, winning $31 million in Texas' lottery. Some 20 months later, after divorcing his wife and buying a half-dozen homes for relatives, he committed suicide using a shotgun.
What did this money add to their lives? Apparently it did not do the people much good. We do not know all the circumstances and there but for the grace of God go I (us). Certainly money in itself is not evil but the coveting of it and misuse of it is. A lot of good things rightly done can be accomplished with money.
What is the key to life? In John 15 Our Lord identifies some of those building blocks for a good life.
The first is a love for God. “ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue in my love” vs.9 This love for God Jesus says is expressed in our holy lives. “ If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love.” Vs.10 I John 5:2 spells it out directly, “ By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.” I Jn 5:2 It is easy to get our priorities reversed sometimes when pressured by life’s problems and difficulties. We put family in God’s place and give God the left overs or we put our employment there and take no time for God & His service to others. I am glad I have had people in my life who showed me by their lives that God was really first despite what was going on around them or in the world. We must love God .
A friend of mine recently wrote an article about the raising of Lazarus in John 11 . In his message he tells of a “ hillbilly couple in the piney woods, illiterate and unsophisticated, living in a run-down cabin and eating squirrel and possum. One day, they found a wounded Soldier from a battle, took him home, and nursed him back to health and he left. After some time had passed, he sent them one thousand dollars as a thank-you. They had never seen so many dollars before. They proceeded to paste the dollars all over the walls of their cabin, thinking this would be a nice way to remember their Soldier friend. It took some time before someone convinced them that if they took down the thousand dollars and spent it, they would not have to live in a squalid little cabin, eating squirrels and possums. It was the same with Martha; she knew that Lazarus will rise again in the resurrection but she had never done anything with that knowledge that affected her life. There she was, stoically affirming the resurrection as the sort of thing nice people affirm, but never dreaming that she was looking at the Resurrection itself.” “ The Anglican Digest” Spring 2012, Rev. Allen Guelzo
Next we should incoporate in our love for God a love for ourselves . That sounds silly but a lot of people have never thought about the fact . “ This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.” John 15:12 If I do not begin by taking care of myself , my health, my needs then I will have nothing to give others. A stressed out person that is no good to themselves has difficulty with the needs of others. This is not self love we are talking about but love for our Creator expressed in healthy thinking, healthy emotional lives & healthy habits that prolong our lives instead of making them all too short. We do not know how many days we have to live here, but we can make the best of our situations in a personal way by living out our faith in many ways that start at home. I cannot love others without first loving God and my faith is expressed in healthy ways by taking care of what things I need. I did not say want. We all have many wants. We do have basic needs that all human beings share . This is a life of joy Jesus says, “ These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” 15:11 I am chosen, and appointed by God that I may bring forth “much fruit.” 15:16
Lastly we all know too well that in union with Jesus as the True Vine we the branches abiding in Him are to show our love by bearing fruit. “ These things I command you, that you love one another.” The first fruit of the Spirit is love. Love is first truth. By when we speak the truth we must speak in love. Love without truth is just the world buttering people up without Jesus. Love with truth is what it is all about. Ephesians 4:15 All of us have been exposed to unlovely situations and difficulties. It is hard to speak the truth in love. If we know the bridge is out and we have a chance to tell someone it would unloving not to tell them. That is the right use of the Golden Rule. “ ….all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do eve so them…” Matthew 7:12 I note that this is not always so comfortable either for Jesus says earlier in John 15:3 “ every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit.” This is like pruning and as one commentator said, “ So God, by his providence, does discipline Christians; and so it is necessary that our natural tendencies and actions and desires must be restrained, that the virtues of our Lord may be manifested in us and his work wrought through us.” The Gospel of John. Charles Erdman. This is why Jesus sums this passage today up by saying “ these things I command you, that you love one another.” 15:17
Love God- Love Yourself in abiding with Jesus- Love others
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