Word of Salvation – Vol. 40 No.37 – October 1995

 

The Greatest Is Love

 

Sermon by Rev. M. C. De Graaf on Galatians 5:6

Scripture Readings: John 15:1-17

Suggested Hymns: BoW 434; 484

 

Brothers and Sisters.

I’ve got this problem – which I know some of you can identify with.  I don’t know what it is in my brain, but I get my hands mixed up sometimes.  You walk to the fridge to put away the milk and find that you put the cereal in there instead.  It’s worse when it comes to rubbish bins – like earlier this week.  We have two bins; one for recycling and one for normal rubbish – lid in one hand and bottle in other.  Did I put them into the right bins?  Of course not!  I often do that.

Before you laugh at me, I know I’m not alone.  I know lots of people have this problem.  You see them at McDonald’s sometimes; they walk up to a bin, rubbish in one hand, food or something valuable in the other, and they walk away, then look down and see they still have the rubbish in their hand…  They’ve thrown away the food but still have the wrapper.

Thinking about that, believe it or not, I couldn’t help but think of this text.  In some ways Paul is dealing with the same issue…  He is involved in a debate about SPIRITUAL FOOD and the PACKAGING in which it comes, and the ways in which we sometimes get them mixed up – and quite stupidly can end up thinking that the wrapping is more important than the contents.

In his particular case, the debate centred on circumcision.  As you can see when you look at the book of ACTS, the early church was often divided between those who felt that all that we needed to be saved was the blood of Jesus, and those who believed that more was needed – after salvation we had to keep right with God by fulfilling various parts of the Old Testament Law.  These were people who loved to come with new rules and regulations.

Paul is often called to deal with this debate.  So, in his letters, he needs to tell people not to make things like keeping the Sabbath, or only eating the right kind of animals, etc, too much of an issue.  They might be worth doing, BUT THEY ARE NOT ABOUT SALVATION.

Here in Galatians, he very strongly attacks the pro-circumcision party – those who said you must be circumcised to be saved, to be right with God.  He gets very angry because he sees in these laws BARRIERS TO GRACE…  THESE LAWS ACTUALLY PREVENT PEOPLE FROM FINDING CHRIST.  People who desperately need to hear the Good News of Christ are being treated as second class members or pushed away altogether.

AS PART OF THIS WHOLE PROBLEM, members of the church are dividing into separate camps, some thinking of themselves as superior to others.  AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, THIS MADE REACHING OUT VERY DIFFICULT.  These members of the church in Galatia were starting to see it as an exclusive club, made up of those who felt they could fulfil the law most purely.  Everyone else was being pushed aside.

It is in that context that you see this text.  Paul needs to focus back, away from the wrapping, to the heart – the life-giving food of the GOSPEL!  And, he says, the only thing that counts is FAITH expressing itself through LOVE!

OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE IS ABOUT:

(1) trusting God for our salvation, giving our lives to Him and recognising that we cannot do it on our own, knowing that in our heads and hearts – that’s FAITH; living the Christian life with Him as KING!

AND, FLOWING FROM THAT, AND INTIMATELY LINKED WITH IT:

(2) showing that faith in the way we deal with others in LOVE!

You can’t have one without the other.  You can’t truly know what LOVE is without FAITH – because how can you give yourself to another if you are still always seeing yourself as number one, etc?

And, conversely, you can’t truly know what FAITH is without love… Jesus had made that clear enough during His ministry here on earth.  Faith grows and is vibrant in the garden of love.  If you can’t see the fruit of love in a person, He says, how can you say that person has faith?

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT FACT but one which is often forgotten by the church.  Some people spend their whole life defending the FAITH.  They send out magazines, they argue together, they worry all the time about whether the church is doing the right thing or not, they talk a lot about the fact that the church has lost direction etc.  They see themselves as defenders of God’s truth making sure everything is pure and right.  AS IF GOD NEEDS DEFENDING – as if the church would somehow disappear or lose its way without them…  As if the Spirit has no power…!

Like the circumcision party in Galatians, they’re worried that if they don’t keep things pure, who knows what will happen…  the wrapper becomes the whole issue.

NOW WRAPPERS ARE IMPORTANT (they keep food clean, etc), it’s good to talk about theology, music, etc.  BUT YOU CAN NEVER DO THAT THE WAY GOD WOULD WANT OUT OF THE CONTEXT OF LOVE!  If faith replaces love – then we’ve missed the point of the church!

Paul says: you want to show people what your faith means and what you’re on about as a church, then don’t circumcise yourselves, don’t keep the Sabbath or other holy days – don’t think that you’ve got to be the world’s most law-abiding citizens (as if that impresses anyone).

No, you want your children, your workmates, your spouse, your neighbour, your fellow members to know Christ, well then, show your faith THROUGH LOVE!  BY YOUR LOVING, Jesus says, THEY WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES.

There are so many NERVOUS CHRISTIANS who feel they need to steady the church and protect it, like Uzziah in the Old Testament, nervous that the ARK would fall off the cart, reaching out to steady it.  And he was struck down dead for his trouble (see 2Samuel 6).

We don’t need to steady the church…  WE NEED TO SHOW OUR FAITH IN LOVE!  Love is the cutting edge of the Christian gospel.  Love is what draws people to Christ.  Love is what breathes life into the body.

One writer went further and said about this text: “Only to the extent that we love do we truly live!”

YOU CANNOT LIVE THE CHRISTIAN LIFE – YOU CANNOT TRULY SHARE IN THE BENEFITS OF CHRIST, HIS JOY, HIS PEACE, HIS COMFORT – WITHOUT LOVING.

People caring, giving, reaching out to each other.  People coming to their friends showing that they are worthwhile, giving time, money, effort, tears, or just a hug – these are the things that show CHRIST and open doors to the gospel.

THAT THIS IS THE CASE IS ONLY LOGICAL WHEN YOU READ THE GOSPELS.  AFTER ALL, WHAT WAS THE IMPETUS OF CHRIST’S COMING?  “For God so LOVED the world” …  we are simply called to keep that Godly LOVE flowing on.

The New Testament makes it clear again and again that LOVE is not an optional extra.  AS IF once you’ve got the church right, etc, and everyone is doing the right thing, then you can love them.  NO – love is at the heart, and without it you simply cannot be a church.  IT IS IN LOVING THAT WE ARE DOING WHAT GOD WANTS US TO DO AS A CHURCH, and nothing, absolutely nothing, can pretend to take its place!

“If we love one another,” John says, “then God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

And in the context he makes it clear that the opposite is also true: NO LOVE, NO GOD.

I heard a SALVATION ARMY GENERAL talking on the radio the other day and she was asked why she went to Africa as a young woman.  Her answer was that she went because she was in love.  The interviewer misunderstood this to mean that she went because some man she loved had gone.  But no, she went because she was in love with Jesus, and that love was so strong, she said, that she would go anywhere in the world and suffer any hardship for him.  THAT IS TRUE FAITH.

James says: Faith without works – without fruit – without love – is dead – meaningless.  The church without it might know everything it needs to KNOW in here – but it is rigid and lifeless – cold to strangers.  Sinners are turned away, children (whose hearts are still so open to love) feel rejected.

What does Paul say in 1Corinthians?  FAITH / HOPE / LOVE – all important things; but the greatest, the key point, is love!

Amen.