Your Complete Self
A
sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson
August
20, 2017
at
Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia
Genesis
22: 1-14
John
3: 11-16
John
15: 12-17
Let us pray,
Help us to see despite
our eyes
Help us to think outside
of our minds
Help us to be more than
our lives
For your eyes show the
way
Your
mind knows the truth
Your
being is the life.
Amen.
We’ve reached the end of our defining Love series, though we may
go one more next week, looking at the imposters of love, that which is not
love, but looks like it, or that which the world thinks is love. I think there
is great value in doing that perhaps, like there is value in learning what
something is by finding out also what it is not. When Thoreau heads into the
woods at Walden Pond he says that he is going to. . .
live deliberately,
I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all
that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not
lived.”
He’s talking about
studying life, but love would be the same, that it is good to learn to love
deep, to suck out all of the marrow of love, but that we also need to put to
rout all that is not love. . . I think it helps, but that will be next week.
This week we will be looking at our third and final aspect of love, the idea of
giving of your complete self.
We
started by seeking to expand the definition of love, realizing that there is
the danger of too much confinement when you are trying to define something
infinite like love, that it is infinite because the experiences of love are
infinite, but though it is infinite, all/everything is not love, there are
specifics within, patterns that connect us to what is and what is not love. We
used the idea “God is Love” to expand, by looking at all of the actions that
God takes throughout the Bible, and then attributing them to our idea of love.
It stretched the boundaries for sure, but then for the last two weeks we’ve
looked at specific aspects. One that Love, is steadfast, it says to another, “I
will not walk away” no matter what comes, I am here. Then last week we looked
at the effects of love, that love, real love, leaves a trail of life behind it,
and that the funny thing about love is that it does not empty of itself, but
rather grows as it is given, paradoxically so. . . but this week we will look
at the aspect of love that is perhaps the greatest, as Christ says that Love
hath no such one than this, to lay ones life down for a friend. . . and that is
what we see today in the two Scripture lessons. The Old Testament lesson is one
of the more dark passages, and the New Testament is perhaps the most well known
and positive statement of our faith, but they are both linked by sacrifice.
Let’s look at the Old Testament first, here is Genesis 22: 1-14, the Abraham
and Isaac on Mount Moriah. . .
22 After these things God tested
Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He
said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of
Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I
shall show you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning,
saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac;
he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in
the distance that God had shown him. 4 On the third day Abraham
looked up and saw the place far away. 5 Then Abraham said to
his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we
will worship, and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he
himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac
said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He
said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb
for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
9 When
they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and
laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on
top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took
the knife to kill[a]
his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him
from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He
said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know
that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from
me.” 13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a
thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a
burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that
place “The Lord
will provide”;[b]
as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be
provided.”
Now
this story is certainly heart wrenching, and the details are just so
impressive, especially since it was originally written in a language like
Hebrew, where there just aren’t a lot of words for stuff. It’s an old language
and there was not much time for abstract wording, but humans have always had a
great capacity for expression, and Hebrew is poetic like that, much is
expressed in the simplicity of details, and the way they are paralleled and
repeated. The first I’d like to bring to your attention is the phrase, “Here I
am.” It actually appears three times in this text. It also incidentally appears
30 times in the Bible. . . and I bring that up because it is always connected
to an important concept, that of call. . . when it appears. Usually God is
calling, like he does the first time here, Abraham, and Abraham responds, “Here
I am.” It happens like that with Moses, God says, Moses Moses, and Moses
replies, “Here I am, Samuel, Samuel, Here I am, Jacob, Jacob Here I am, even
Isaiah and Jeremiah the prophets both respond when called by God, Here I am. .
. it even reaches the New Testament, when Ananias is called he responds, “Here
I am.” The Hebrew Word repeated is a simple one, “Hineni” always simply
translated, Here I am, but based on the context, and how it is paralleled in
each case, we can infer something more about the meaning, basically when
someone says hineni, they are saying three things, 1. I acknowledge your voice 2.
I hear what you are saying 3. I’m ready to respond. . . all that is packed into
the phrase Hineni. . .but it isn’t always God calling when it is used. . .
there is another category that makes up the other part of the 30, and that is
between fathers and sons. . . and that pattern is introduced here with Isaac,
it happens again with Jacob, with Joseph, and with Samuel. . . in this case
with Isaac, Isaac is going along with all this, but notices something very
wrong and says, Father. . . and Abraham answers, Hineni, right I acknowledge
your speaking, I hear what you are saying, I’m ready to respond. . . . but this
time Isaac says, um dad, how come there is all this wood and fire, but no lamb
to be sacrificed. . . perceptive kid. . . something is fishy. . . but Abraham
answers, with such a statement of faith, and one important as we go forward, he
says, the lord himself will provide the lamb. . .how true right, especially
since we know the rest of the story, for the 3rd heneni, here I am,
comes at the end of this, Abraham has the knife, and the angel of the Lord
says, Abraham, Abraham (and that is the typical pattern, name twice, followed
by, “Here I am” Heneni, I acknowledge your call, I hear you, I’m ready to
respond. . . . put down the knife. . . the Lord provides, and thus Mount Moriah
is named. . . and that brings us to our New Testament Lesson. . . John 3: 11-16
11 “Very truly, I tell
you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you[a] do not
receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly
things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly
things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who
descended from heaven, the Son of Man.[b] 14 And
just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man
be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal
life.[c]
16 “For
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes
in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
We
know that passage so well right, God so loves us that we he gave his son as a
sacrifice, his only son, so that we shall not perish but have eternal life. . .
the story that was begun back in Genesis is now brought to fruition here. . . God himself has provided the lamb. . . how
poignant that the Old Testament passage is clear on it, that simple detail in a
story where details are few. . .as is the case in most Hebrew tales, what is
there is, must be important, so the Himself, added to God, God himself will
provide the lamb is prophetically beautiful paired with the Christian
understanding of John 3: 16, is it not? The Lamb that was slain was God’s only
son, no he spared Abraham’s only son, and gave his own instead. . . himself,
God self, given for you and for me. . . impressive stuff, and the very high
definition of Love, must be right. Christ himself later in John’s gospel says,
No
one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
And
he says this completely surrounded by love commandment language, it is preceded
by the command, he says, this is John 15: 12-13
12 “This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No
one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
And then 14
14 You
are my friends if you do what I command you.
So
this raises the question, is following in Christ’s literal footsteps, laying
down your life for you friends, following in this greatest of loves, is that
actually required of us for salvation? I mean there is no mistaking it right,
the greatest commandment is to love God and love your neighbor, we are to love
because Christ first loved us, but there is not greater love than to lay your
life down for your friends. . . . Christ in the other gospels talks about
carrying the cross, pick up your cross and follow. . . what would the cross be
for, excect for the full sacrifice of one’s life. . . and our Christian faith
to be honest if we were to think about it is founded upon such sacrifice and
following in Christs footsteps, thousands of early Christians were martyred for
their faith by the Romans, horrible deaths. . . Romans pitting Christians
against the lions, and those lions were undefeated. . . following in Christ’s
footsteps. . . the call to love. . . perhaps, but what about this story of
Abraham and Isaac? Is there something to the idea that Christ himself is the
lamb who is to be slain, so that we would not perish. . . that God calls for
Abraham to stop the knife. . . does he do the same for us? Maybe. . . . I don’t
want to down play and short change the notion of literal sacrifice, but I think
there is nuance here, and part of it has to do with the notion of “have to”
“must” etc. . . because look at the language Christ uses. . . he says friends.
. . and friends shouldn’t do out of compulsion, not out of guilt, not out of
manipulation, but out of gratitude. . . an important distinction. Let’s look at
the rest of the John 15 passage, and I’ll read the verses I’ve already read
again, so we have the context. Remember he starts with. . .
12 “This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No
one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You
are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you
servants[d]
any longer, because the servant[e]
does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because
I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You
did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit,
fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in
my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love
one another.
Not
servants but friends. . . yes there is command language, but commands between
friends. . . look at what Jesus says is the difference, I have called you
friends because I have made known to you everything. . . you see the free
decision, not a test, not an onerous necessity is given, not out of the
withholding of information, for some kind of manipulation, but because all has
been revealed. . . and what is revealed is the amazing power of love, the I
will not walk away, and that the cup is never empty, death is not the end. . .
but that is just the way it is. . . love is not then required, it is not quid
pro quo, rather it has been done, all this has been done, how do you respond? When
were you saved? 2000 years ago! There is no game. There is no trick. There is
no guilt, this is not the carrot and the stick, this is not controlling behavior,
this is not master and servant, this is friends, this is love, Jesus says, I
have done this, this is the way the world works, I am giving these commands, so
that you “may” love one another. . . . it doesn’t make it necessary, it makes
it possible. And his command is the same as the first commandment in the Bible.
. . do you know that? Pop quiz? What is the first commandment in the Bible? . .
. . Be Fruitful and Multiply. . . I appointed you to go and bear fruit. . . you
see that is that trail of life. . . bear fruit, create a trail of life.
Now
how do you do that? What is it about? Now first we have shown that it is not
about earning anything, it is not about living up to any standard, other than
love, and love if we want to be honest does require the giving of your complete
self. . . so if we truly want to be honest, it is a gift you are never finished
giving, it is not one where you can say, yep, I’m done, I paid that debt off. .
. now I can do what I want. . . it doesn’t work that way, that way at its heart
is self serving. . . trying to pay off the debt is self serving, trying to earn
it is self serving, doing it so you can go to heaven is self serving, and love
is not, cannot, will never be self serving, it requires doing completely for
others, giving of your complete self for others. . . you see it doesn’t even
exist on the give and take, quid pro quo basis, doesn’t even live in that
world. And this is why we must confess our sins every week here together in
worship, because as long as we are still breathing, we are not done, and are
withhold a part of ourselves, we haven’t completely picked up that cross yet. .
. ok we haven’t done it yet, but how do we begin to do it, where do we start,
how do we give of our entire self?
Remember
that word, Hineni. . . Here I am. . . I acknowledge your call. I hear what you
have to say. I am ready to respond. . . this is the loving stance. . .
I acknowledge your call. . . now what’s going
on there. . . just like with Abraham, or with Moses and the others, God calls
you by name, you are his sheep, he is your shepherd, and he knows you by name, he
call you by name, and his sheep they hear his voice. . . you see it all
connects together. What does it mean to acknowledge this call though. . . one
is that you know the voice of the one calling, you know God, you know what
amazing things he has done, and you cannot help but be grateful if you’ve come
to know the amazing works. . . but it also means you know yourself. . . you
know the gifts that God has given you, you value them, you realize that they
are yours, given freely to you, to do what you are called to do, and that if
God was taking this moment in time, to #1 create you, #2 give you those gifts,
and #3 call you. . . you must be pretty special, pretty important, and crucial
to the world that God has made, and all of that is wrapped up in Acknowledging
your call. . .
I
hear what you have to say. . . there is the discernment, what is God calling me
to do and be. . . this open dialogue between you and God is happening through
all the ways God has to speak to you, through events, through circumstances,
through gifts, scripture, others, people and places, everything. . . we call
this dialogue discernment, but that is what it is. . . we used to talk to our
football players about having their head on a swivel. . . looking for the ball,
looking for would be blockers, looking for the play as it unfolds trying to
anticipate, to read. . . that is what discernment is about. . . doing the same
thing in life about life, if you can come to know, then that is the second
part. . . you can say, I hear what you have to say, God . . .
Then
finally. . . I will respond. . . I will take the first step, and then each step
after, wherever they may lead, even if it leads to the giving of my entire
self, until I am completely spent, or taking up my own cross. . . again not for
my own gain. . . I have already been given all gifts imaginable. . . I respond
to God’s call to love because I have come to know the love he has shown for me,
because as a friend He has let me know, and I then simply do. . .
I
put in your bulletin a poem from Whitman, 5 years ago, my how the time flies, 5
years ago I was asked to speak at the graduation at Blue Ridge where I used to
teach. My speech was entitle “Love as if your life depended upon it” it came
from a quote from a poem I had written for the previous years’ graduation. . .
but in that speech I used this Whitman poem. O Me O Life! Take a look at it.
O Me! O life!... of the questions of these
recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d
with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more
foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects
mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid
crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest
me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid
these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a
verse.
I
love that poem. . . mostly because the last two lines. . . the rest is talking
about the sadnesses and frustrations, the heartache and the natural shocks that
flesh is heir to. . . to borrow words another great writer. . .(another pop
quiz if you can name him). . . ha ha. But the last two lines state the
culmination of the good, what good amid all this, he asks. And the answer, that
you are here and life exists. . . right gratitude for creation, the gift of
life. . . and identity. . . that we are individuals, uniquely made, with our
own self to give, otherwise we could not love. . . there must be a self to
give. . . God gives us that self, and it has great value. . . that the powerful
play goes on and you get to contribute a verse. . . you must contribute a
verse. That is what life is about, and that is what love is. . . it is not that
we are required to love so that we may earn eternal life, it is that we love
because that is the stuff of eternal life, it is the cup that runs over, the
oil that is never empty, the manna from heaven, the cup of salvation, and the
tomb that could never hold it inside. God has made you, given you life, and
identity, and a self, to give in love. . . what amazing verse has he given you
to write. . . for God so loved the world. . . and all God’s people said. . . no
not amen this time. . . all God’s people said, and let us say it together today
and every minute going forward in our lives. . . what word. . . yes, Hineni. .
. Here I am!
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