[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Epiphany 4C - Part 1of 2

[joeparrish]

Forwarded: Part 1 of 2


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-------- Original message --------
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org> 
Date:01/30/2016  10:03 PM  (GMT-05:00) 
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org> 
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Epiphany 4C 

Dear Friends,

 

This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “All You Need Is Love” or “Love Makes the World Go Round” and deals with the epistle (1st Corinthians 13:1-13).  Here it is:

 

We just heard the story of how Jesus’ family and neighbors in his home town of Nazareth tried to throw him off of a cliff.  Talk about not liking to hear the Word of God!  It reminds me of the Sunday school teacher who was trying to teach his five and six year-olds about the Ten Commandments.  After explaining the commandment to honor thy father and thy mother, the teacher asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our sisters and brothers?”  “Sure is!” answered a precocious little girl with a toddler for a brother.  “Thou shalt not kill.”  You know how the Bible says, “A little child shall lead them?”  Well, the people of Nazareth needed to hear what the little Sunday school girl said.  They didn’t want to hear that God loved those Gentiles, and they surely didn’t want to hear about Jubilee!  They only wanted to hear from their hometown boy that God loved them, and their fury made them try to throw God’s gift of love- his own Son- off a cliff.

 

This morning I’d like us to look at what God expects of us in terms of love.  As you know, English has really only one word for “love,” but Greek (the language in which the New Testament was written) has three: “eros”- sexual love, “philia”- friendship love, and “agape”- Christian love.  We’re talking about Christian love- the foundation of a Christian’s relationships.  One of the best explanations of Christian love was written by St. Paul when he was so frustrated by the unloving behavior of his church in Corinth.  As you recall, Paul was one of the greatest missionary bishops the world has ever seen.  He would start a church, get it going dependably, ordain local leaders, and then travel on to start another church somewhere else.  As soon as he left his church in Corinth, the bad news started coming.  It seems that the Corinthian church had divided into four cliques; those who had been baptized by Peter, those who had been baptized by Apollos, those who had been baptized by Paul himself, and those who spoke in tongues.  Not only did the groups not get along with each other, but those who spoke in tongues thought they were superior to everyone else.  The church was in a bad way, so Paul (since he couldn’t leave his new church to come in person) sent them a letter, part of which we read today.  His teachings on love are as true now as they were in the first century, so let’s look at what God expects of us as his children. 

 

He starts by pointing out that no gift is any good to God’s Kingdom without love- not languages nor cooking nor music nor academics nor having a charming personality nor understanding the Bible nor prayer nor being the star quarterback on one of the Super Bowl teams.  It’s done with love or it’s useless, according to the Bible (1st Corinthians 13:1-2).  Huge sacrifices for others are useless unless they are done with the right motivation, and that motivation is love (1st Corinthians 13:3).  Haven’t you ever known someone who was always helping others, even making great sacrificial efforts, but you were suspicious they had a selfish motivation- trying to buy or control someone else?  That is an example of exactly this Bible truth.

 

In fact, it goes further than that.  This is how God, our Creator, made us so our lives would work out well.  Say I buy a box of cake mix and decide to make the cake my way.  Instead of following the directions on the back of the cake mix box, I substitute vinegar for the milk and use olives and bologna instead of the chocolate chips.  Is that the cake you want for your birthday?  The creator of the cake mix knows how his cake should be made.  Well, our creator knows how our lives should be made.  If we live our lives by God’s definition of love, we will have good lives- if not; all the money in the world won’t make us happy.  How many people do you know who go around cheating their acquaintances, stealing their best friend’s boyfriends or husbands or girlfriends or wives, gossiping about their neighbors, getting mad easily and not forgiving, screaming and yelling and cursing at family members, and on, and on, and on?  What kind of lives do they have?  Sure.  They’re forever working out the consequences of their behavior- and then they wonder why God doesn’t help them.

(Continued in Part 2)

For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements are posted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org .

 

Blessed preaching,

Judy Boli

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Saginaw, Michigan

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