Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 25 April 2021, Fourth Sunday of Easter, by Carl Catedral. The scripture readings that day were Psalm 23 ; 1 John 3:16-24 ; John 10:11-18.

1 John 3:16-24

3:16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us--and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 17 How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

3:18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 19 And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; 22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

3:23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

--

I’m sure we all remember the anxious days leading up to or surrounding January 25, 2020. That was the date the Hong Kong government declared a State of Emergency as the threat of the novel-coronavirus loomed ominously. In those early days, you could have all the money in the world, but only two things mattered: toilet paper and surgical masks. 

You probably wouldn’t necessarily know this about me, but I can be a very anxious person especially when I feel unprepared. I can pretend to be cool and act like everything will be okay. But on January 25 anxiety and fear began to overwhelm. At the time, Lydia was with her family in Thailand for Lunar New Year. So I was home alone, and I only had two masks in my possession. Everywhere I looked, they were all sold out.

Thankfully, at church on Sunday, Pastor Timothy gave me a few extra masks, so I could survive through the end of the week. Since Lydia was in Thailand, I deployed her on a mission to search out surgical masks before the anxious frenzy also manifested itself on the shores of Karabi. Thankfully, she secured two boxes before everything sold out, and I also figured out how to order another box online. So though the situation was looking grim, at least I was prepared now. 

But this feeling of preparation was short-lived. A couple of weeks later, I remember seeing the Bethune house and other organizations asking for mask donations because domestic workers were running short on supplies. I had maybe 3 unopened boxes at that point, and Lydia said we should give some away. The anxiety inside me began stirring up once again, and I thought to myself and probably out loud: “What do you mean give away our masks? Are you crazy?” I had to breathe deeply and think happy thoughts to calm myself down. I did not want to give away our most precious commodity; somebody else with more supplies could do it. Thankfully Lydia is less anxious and more giving than me. We gave away two boxes and kept one for ourselves. And I’m still here today to tell you about it.

My anxiety about masks is a little bit silly, and embarrassing in retrospect, but I think it captures some of themes in 1 John 3:16-24 – which is the text that I will be focusing on today. In particular, the passage in 1 John lays out for us a call to love. Specifically, as Christians, we have been called to love boldly – that is, to take risks to care for others even when we feel anxious or afraid. 

For me, giving away boxes of masks at the beginning of the pandemic was something I felt nervous to do. It felt risky to give away something that felt so valuable to me. For you giving away boxes of masks might not be something you are able to do, or it might not be something you think is a very big deal. But there are most likely things in all our lives that we do feel anxious about giving up. So today, we are going to talk about what it means to love boldly in concrete ways and why and how we have been called to do this. 

As we read earlier, the passage in 1 John 3:16-24 opens by saying: “We know love by this, that he (Jesus) laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for others.” 

So based on the opening verse of this passage, John reminds us of the sacrificial love of Jesus. God’s beloved son surrendered the riches of heaven to come down to earth as a lowly servant to live and die for you and me. This extravagant expression of love is the example that motivates and inspires us to also love sacrificially on behalf of others. 

But what does this love actually look like? It looks like taking risks to love boldly even when we might feel anxious or afraid.  

In v. 17, John asks a rhetorical question: “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?” In effect John is saying: “You want to know what bold, sacrificial love looks like? It’s not this: having enough toilet paper and masks, or other worldly goods you might need, and hoarding it for yourself rather than sharing it with your brother or sister in need.” 

It’s interesting that John mentions the phrase “the world’s goods” in referring to the material things we have that we tend to hoard to ourselves rather than giving to others. In the Greek language that the passage was originally written in, the word for “worldly goods” is bios. It’s the same word used in the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 when the Father divides his property between his two sons when the younger one demands his inheritance. In that story, worldly goods or bios refers to property associated with someone who is rich and has a lot to give away. But the same word is also used in Luke 21 to describe the offering of the poor widow who gave away everything she had. She only had two coins, but Jesus saw and acknowledged her offering. He tells the disciples, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than any of them (the rich people); for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on – that is all her bios or worldly possessions.” (Luke 21:4). 

God honors the widow because she displayed an amazing sacrificial love while those who were rich gave away money in a way that wasn’t risky or sacrificial for them at all. 

The point of the story about the widow is not that we should be reckless in giving away all our possessions, but that giving to and loving one another boldly is something that requires vulnerability and risk and often those with the most possessions have the most difficult time loving in the way Jesus has commanded us. 

So I think it’s important to acknowledge that the most sacrificial, bold givers and lovers of God and others are those typically overlooked by society. They might be the single moms who tirelessly work multiple odd jobs to take care and provide a hopeful future for their kids. They might be the domestic workers who faithfully send home remittances to their families even though they sometimes hardly have enough to live on and support themselves. 

Loving sacrificially then is not about giving things away because we have a lot to give. It is often an inconvenient love that puts us in vulnerable positions. But we do it anyway because we are so consumed by love for those around us. A sacrificial love is a bold love because it often means giving up something we value to care for others who are even more vulnerable than us. It means confronting our anxieties and fears about our own well-being to consider what others might need. So no matter how rich or poor we are in the world’s eyes, if we have something – our time, our money, our talents, our listening ears – we can offer what we have boldly, or sacrificially, as a means to love one another as God has commanded us.

But why was the author of 1 John so adamant about this kind of bold, sacrificial love on behalf of one another? In the letter’s historical context, there were factions forming in the early church. People were having theological disputes about whether or not Jesus was fully human. For those who denied Jesus had real flesh and blood, it became more important to them to focus on spiritual or “otherworldly” concerns rather than earthly things. One of the results was that they stopped caring for the physical needs of the people around them – especially the poor. 

Sometimes today we divide one another into the categories of praying Christians versus action Christians. For example, there are people in my life who tell me that I focus too much on issues of justice and not enough on spiritual things. They wish I would be more of a praying Christian. Then there are the “action-based” Christians who maybe sometimes feel like they don’t need to pray because they are frustrated by “praying Christians” and would rather focus on doing “actual” work. But justice is a spiritual thing that requires prayer to sustain us and fill us with loving compassion; and likewise, prayer is a spiritual thing that requires us to love through tangible acts of justice. One without the other is incomplete. 

So John is showing us that there is no such thing as praying Christians vs action Christians. Instead, he shows how our call to love each other boldly and tangibly - not only impacts our interactions with others, but that it also can transform our relationship with God – specifically in our understanding of prayer. 

In verses 18-19, John says, “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” And by this” – the word this refers to the previous verse where we are called to love “in truth and action.” So by this (loving in truth and action), we will know that we are from truth and we will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” So what John is saying then is that when you take steps to love one another boldly and tangibly, you will find reassurance for your hearts anytime you begin to feel condemned. 

Have any of you felt condemned, or insecure about your identity as a Christian or feel like you’re not doing enough for God or to love the people around you? 

You might be a mom or dad working hard to care for your kids and yet they are still having a hard time in school or getting into trouble, and you feel like it’s your fault or you should be doing even more. Or maybe you are someone who has been advocating for justice for migrants or refugees or the situation in Hong Kong or Myanmar, and you feel hopeless or overwhelmed by what’s happening in the world and wish you could do even more as well.    

If you feel this way, John’s words offer comfort and reassurance in stating that when you are engaged in the active work of loving one another, you can find assurance in your heart. And even if you still feel condemned and think you are not doing enough, John says in v.20, “God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” God knows the motivations of our hearts and our desire for integrity to match words with action. So even if the world misunderstands and condemns your actions so that you feel condemned in your own heart – John is saying “Do not be discouraged because God sees you and your love for others.” It’s like the story of the widow who gave up all she had – her bios – her two coins.  She might have gone unnoticed by society, but God did not fail to see her. And he does not fail to see you. 

But God does not only see you, he offers a profound promise. Verse 21-22 states, “Beloved, if our hearts to do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.” He tells us that when we love one another practically through truth and action, we can boldly ask God whatever we want, and we will receive it. 

It’s important to see then that God wants to answer our prayers and invites us to pray boldly and expect his favorable response. I think part of what’s happening here is that when our hearts are so consumed by the desire to love one another boldly and practically, God is compelled to answer our prayers because we won’t be praying thinking only about ourselves. Our prayers of intercession on behalf of both ourselves and others will be informed by the actual care and service we have already been providing for those in need. 

We see then that prayer, and specifically the prayers God promises to answer, are connected to our obedience to God’s command to love one another boldly and practically. So loving boldly through action and praying boldly for God’s faithful response are two integral parts of a larger whole.

But maybe you are still feeling discouraged because you don’t know where to start or what next step to take in obeying God’s command to believe in Jesus and love one another as v. 23 states. I feel this all the time – not just when I felt anxious about giving away boxes of masks last year. But I’m learning loving boldly in this way gives us confidence to keep taking small steps along the way to become a little bit braver and a little bit more loving.  

For me the story about giving away boxes of masks doesn’t just start and end there. The reason I even considered giving the boxes away in the first place was because Lydia and I had relationships with domestic workers. Through our relationships with Edwina, we visited the Bethune House – the migrant women’s shelter and learned more about the struggles migrants were facing. We also visited Chater Road on Sundays and heard the stories and heartbreaks of other domestic workers. So those experiences made me take a step to give away my extra masks because I knew there were those who needed them more than me. 

And after taking that step, I took other steps to sign petitions on behalf of migrants – and at first that made me nervous. Then I started attending more rallies advocating for migrants’ rights, and then I was invited to read solidarity statements during these rallies. And every step of the way, I was usually very anxious and little bit afraid to do those things because I felt incompetent and worried about my own safety and well-being. But I kept trying take these these small steps that led bigger steps and more risks.

And like I said at the beginning, taking these steps to love boldly will look differently for everybody and will most likely evolve over time. Giving away two boxes of masks now would not be that meaningful for me, but it was a start.

We all have things we are nervous to do. Maybe you feel nervous to read or pray at church or are hesitant to volunteer your time. Maybe you feel worried about putting your name on a petition; or you feel hesitant about reaching out to someone you haven’t talked to in a while or taking steps to make a new friend. Maybe you’re afraid to speak out about injustices you see around you. Whatever you’re facing, the invitation God has for us today is to take small steps to love boldly and sacrificially even when we feel anxious or afraid. In loving sacrificially in this way, John says in vs. 24, that God will abide in us and that we will know his abiding presence through the Spirit that he has given us. God presence made known through his Spirit will reassure our hearts and empower us to love one another boldly with the love we have first experienced and received in the sacrificial love of Christ. 

So as we close today, let’s ask ourselves: what are the boxes that you are holding onto that Jesus is inviting you to give away or let go of? What is the condemnation in your heart that you don’t have to feel anymore? What are the bold prayers motivated by bold actions that you can pray on behalf of others? 

“We know love by this, that Jesus laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” 

Brothers and sisters, Jesus’ extravagant, sacrificial love for us is the good news of hope and reassurance even when we feel anxious or afraid. Just as he has loved us boldly, let us love one another boldly.

Let us pray. 

Loving God, you see us and promise to answer our prayers. We pray for those hurting and in need all around us. May you comfort and provide for them; and may you inspire boldness in our hearts to lovingly share what we have and to speak out on behalf of those in need. In your name we pray. Amen.