The Point of it All

Reverend Philip Stringer

John 17:1-11

LET US PRAY: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Feed us with your Word, and speak to our hearts, that we may be filled with your endless life, now and forever. AMEN

In many ways I feel as if I haven’t got anything new to say today. In fact, this sermon is not so much a finely-polished sermon as it is an attempt to say the same thing over and over, in as many ways as possible — and I think that in this case that is okay, because there are some things that we need to drum into ourselves over and over. It might even be a relief to acknowledge this, because one could argue that what that reveals is that things are not really as complicated as we make them out to be. If anything is complicated, it is the human heart. And thanks be to God: the gospel is quite simple. I’ll cut to the chase and sum it up by simply stating that the gospel is about love. The gospel — the good news — is that God is love. God loves you. God loves us all. The meaning of life is to love. And when all is said and done — and when all else has passed away — the love of God continues on. You and I are gathered into the love of God. In the end, love never ends.

I shared with you in last week’s sermon that these passages we are hearing from John’s gospel are from a section in which Jesus is summing up the meaning of his ministry. In today’s text we hear him praying to the Father, ‘Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you.” . . . . I am praying for those whom you have given me . . . I am glorified in them.”

As the summary of his ministry, one could say that this prayer encapsulates the whole meaning of scripture; the entire meaning at the foundation of the gospel. As simple as it sounds — and trite as it is saying it: the point of it all is that we should live in love.

Jesus prays that God will be glorified. God is glorified when we respond to God’s grace.

The creation of life is an expression of God’s love. God gives as an act of love. What we have is given so that we may have something to give.

At another time, Jesus said it this way: “Those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

What he is saying is — at all times — in all circumstances — Do the loving thing.

Desire the loving thing.

You may have had a similar conversation with a family member. I sat at a table in a diner with my Dad — It was one of those moments when my parents had helped us stay afloat during a financial struggle. And he said to me, “you don’t owe me anything. I only ask that you do the same thing for your children.”

In a grander sense, what Jesus calls us to do is to view the whole world in the way that a parent views their child. Do what you can for it, just because you love it.

I was walking around my property yesterday and thought, “this is my forest.” . . . No, it’s not.

Someday, somebody will be standing in this spot and they won’t even know my name! You and I are only temporary stewards of everything in our lives. Our job is to care for it while we have it. In this sense, one could say that we are gardeners, tending the garden that God has given us — it takes us back to the garden of Eden. We were created in the image of God; created to be co-creators with God. We were created to care for all.

God is glorified when we reflect the God in whose image we are made. God is glorified when our desire is to cause the greatest possible benefit to the world around us.

You have likely heard the saying: People may not remember what you say or do, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

Ultimately, we want to believe that we have value — that we are important and that we matter. It is what we call a “Legacy” — what you leave behind — your fingerprint on the world — your most noteworthy contribution to society.

Does the name Elbert Henry Gary mean anything to you? E.H. Gary was an attorney who lived around the turn of the 20th century, and he was the founder of Gary Steel, which became one of the Steel titans of the industrial age. The steelworks were at the southern tip of Lake Michigan, and they named the city that grew up around the steelworks, “Gary, Indiana.” (Yes, there was a Gary Indiana before The Music Man sang about it!)

The suburbs around Chicago all run together. I served a congregation west of Chicago, in Glen Ellyn, which is right next to Wheaton. I was conducting the funeral of a member, and the burial was in the Wheaton Cemetery. As we wound our way on the road through the cemetery, I saw this huge building — it looked like a Greek temple, made out of limestone with those huge columns across the front — and as we got closer, I saw that above the columns was written, “GARY.” I thought to myself, “Wow!

. . he’s just as dead as the rest of them!”

At the church I served in Glen Ellyn, I had a colleague, Pastor Sheri Delvin. We were at a staff retreat and were doing an activity in which we were asked to write an epitaph for ourselves — what is it that you would like people to write on your tombstone? I was writing things like, “He was a loving father and husband. He was kind to people.” . . . etc.

But Pastor Sheri wrote the best epitaph I have ever seen. It simply stated, “We are glad she was here.”

A few weeks back I shared the story of Albert Schweitzer — and this favorite quote of mine from him: “The only ones among you who will truly be happy are those who have sought and learned how to serve.” People who think they will find happiness is accumulating things, don’t understand that the only thing that makes one truly happy is to give. Someone who focuses on receiving is thinking about themselves; someone who focuses on giving is thinking about others.

If the fullness of life is found in giving,

and if your desire is that others may have the fullness of life,

then presenting them with opportunities to give is a gift to them; allowing them to give to you is your gift to them.

Have you ever known someone who simply won’t allow others to foot the bill? Have you ever been that person?

The key is for one’s focus to be on the wellbeing of the other. And that involves both giving AND receiving, so that they, too, may experience the joy of giving and receiving in love.

In this way we become a reflection of the God in whose image we are made — One God in three persons who exists in a state of constantly giving and receiving as an expression of love for the other.

Here is how we know that God loves us: God gives all things to us so that we may give ourselves over to caring for all things. God gives us all so that we may become a servant of all.

It is right in front of us — it is what all the love songs are about; it is what the poets write about — we respond to them because it resonates — we know that it is true. So why is it so hard to do?

John & Paul — part of why the Beatles split up was because they argued about the kind of songs they should be writing.

John felt that they needed to address the evils of society — to speak truth to power and hold authorities accountable. He felt that cranking out love songs (as Paul wanted to do) was fluff. Paul’s response to that was to write:

“You’d think that people would’ve had enough of silly love songs

But I look around me and I see it isn’t so.

Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs.

And what’s wrong with that?”

What is ironic is that they really wanted the same thing:

John wanted to tear down what was bad in the world.

Paul wanted to lift up what was good.

Both of them wanted to make the world a better place.

I think about the divisions in the world — between nations, between religions, between races and social classes and politics within our own country — at it seems to me that most of what separates the “uses” from the “thems” is that we don’t think the others want the same things as us . . . and I think that is not the case more often that we realize.

When we fear one another it is hard to see the good in each other, too. But perfect love casts out fear. At the close of Jesus’ earthly ministry, he prayed that his followers would exist as God exists; he prayed that they would love and know that they are loved.

One who lives for themselves is concerned about their reputation and their legacy — they are building a monument to themselves. In this way they seek to convince themselves that they matter — that they have importance — that they have value. Their focus is on themselves.

You do not need to concern yourself with such things. You know that you have value because your creator has declared it. If God did not love you, God would not give you the opportunity to experience the fullness of life — but see: you live, and because you live you are able to love.

Gob bless you and keep you at all times that you may have a heart like God’s heart — and that the world may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

AMEN