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"God Has Never Stopped Loving Us” Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – December 4, 2011 Centenary United Psalm
85:1-2, 8-13; Isaiah 40:1-11 Ever since we were children, our
parents and Sunday school teachers helped us to memorize John 3:16.
The verse begins with five words that symbolize just about
all the theology we need to know to understand the true nature of
God. “God so loved the world.”
A more meaningful translation comes from the spirit of the
Greek language, “God so intensely loves the people living in the
world that he sent his son to them.
Those who follow his son’s teachings will begin living in
eternity now.” This
morning we are going to consider the nature of that intense God.
Have you ever wondered why for thousands of
years our faith-tradition has labeled people as fallen angels?
We have been labeled
sinners, lost and
people who have gone astray.
In fact, the Apostle Paul
taught that even our best deeds can never be good enough. (Romans
3:23) Did God create
those labels or were such judgmental references the product of those
who were composing our Scriptures?
On our first Sunday in one of the churches that
I served, a mother and her three children came through the line to
greet us. As she was
introducing them, she said of her one daughter, “Now this one is the
dumb one. My other two
are going to make something of themselves.
We don’t know about this one.”
Lois and I watched the young girl wilt as she
did her best to smile. When she extended her hand to welcome us,
both of us wanted to put our arms around her and reassure her
that she mattered to us.
To this day we have not forgotten that incident.
Would God’s love for us be any less in spite of where we are
in our journey here?
Would God ever label us?
The Hebrews countered this notion of
original sin by establishing numerous laws that actually measured
righteousness.
The Ten Commandments and the Hebrew Covenant Code are filled
with “Thou Shalt Nots.”
We were created in God’s image.
Did believers get it right by thinking that obedience to laws
made God’s loving spirit become visible?
Perhaps God has been sending a much different message.
In 1977 there was a movie entitled,
Oh, God, and it starred John Denver, who played the role of an
assistant grocery store manager.
The gentleman that played the role of God was actor, George
Burns. The movie was
filled with commonsense theology, the kind of theology that could
make people stand up and cheer. One of the humorous incidents took place when
these two characters were riding together in a car.
God was trying to convince this young man that he was,
indeed, God, the creator of the universe. The young man felt that
God would not need eyeglasses to see.
He said to God, “Okay, if you are God, I want you to create
a thunderstorm right now.”
This request came on a day when there were no clouds in the
sky. He continued talking about how absurd such an
idea was that this old man was God. Then there was a rumble of
thunder. The young man began
to hesitate with his words. Suddenly
the rain started pelting down as a streak of lightning shot through
the car. The young man
stopped talking. He
blurted out, “You made a thunderstorm happen inside my car!”
God said, “Why should I ruin
everyone’s day when you are the one doing the doubting?”
The movie is an absolute delight to watch.
God’s purpose for coming was to invite this
young man to spread the word that God loved all the people on earth
in spite of where they were in their spiritual growth.
The major theme of the movie was that very few people
believed that God would speak directly to a grocery store assistant
manager. The critics said,
“God talks to very unique people like Bishops, theologians and
pastors – people who are normally and vocationally
tuned into God.”
During the movie God quickly dispelled such a notion.
Since God was routinely appearing to the store
manager, a group of theologians and scholars gathered and created a
series of questions for God to answer. They sequestered the young
man in a hotel room, posted a guard at his door and cut off all
outside communication. God appeared and the young man told him his
plight. God opened the
envelope and said, “These guys are pretty slick.
They have written the questions in Aramaic.” (the native
language of Jesus) One
of the questions was, “Is Jesus Christ your son?”
God answered, “Yes, Jesus was my son.
Buddha was my son. You are my son.
Everyone is my son and daughter regardless of what
people have been taught.”
God said, “The reason I have come to you is
that I want to set the record straight.
Please tell everyone that I
am not angry at people.
I am not going to destroy everyone. People must learn to grow beyond
their fear of me. I am not
going to ever hurt anyone.
Tell them that I love them and have given them everything
they need to live a wonderful life.”
When we think about God trying to communicate
to us, what would that look like?
How does the Spirit of God communicate to lesser spirits that
are sealed inside physical bodies?
Not only are we self-enclosed entities, but we also have our
own opinions, perceptions, beliefs and attitudes that make all of us
different. Many of us
are distracted by issues that have nothing to do with the dimension
of spirit.
Is it possible that God has
been communicating since the dawn of civilization?
Is it possible that only a
few people have recognized God’s language?
Absolutely! The prophet Isaiah was one of the prophets in
our faith-history that became intimately connected to the dimension
of spirit. He wrote
about what people should do to prepare for God’s coming:
“Prepare in the wilderness a road for the Lord!
Clear the way in the desert for our God! Then the glory of
God will be revealed so that everyone in the world will see
it.” (Isaiah 40:5)
What was Isaiah talking about?
How would God come? How
were people to prepare for God’s coming?
Such questions prompted the need for a movie like
Oh, God. It has
always been up to God to make himself known.
For example, listen to what God said to the prophet,
Jeremiah: “I chose you before I gave you life, and before you were
born I selected you to become a prophet to the nations.”
(Jeremiah 1:4). Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his
brothers, appeared to need no divine prompting. Joseph intuitively
knew God was with him as a 17-year old.
He was so confident of God’s presence that he knew he could
bloom anywhere he was
planted and believed that whatever happened to him had a divine
purpose. (Genesis 45:5) At a burning bush God said, “Moses, Moses!
I am the God of your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I
am sending you to Pharaoh.
I want you to tell him to let my people go and after that,
lead my people out of It appears from these examples that God has
been communicating to humanity generation after generation. Why
don’t we receive God’s message?
Jesus once named the problem when he told the Pharisees and
the Teachers of the Law that for centuries God has been trying to
communicate his love for his people, but their ancestors killed the
prophets and the messengers God sent.
(Luke 11:47f)
This morning the Candle of Love was lighted
because God so loved the world that he gave us a light to
brighten our path.
Whoever chooses to follow that lighted path would begin to live in
eternity now. Following
John 3:16 we have the next verse, “For God did not send his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that through him the world might
be saved.” If
we cannot understand the symbols God uses to communicate to us, does
that mean that we are lost for all eternity?
Sometimes we do get lost.
Would love ever punish someone for that? One afternoon I was trying unsuccessfully to
find a particular box of cereal along a long aisle filled with every
conceivable variety on both sides. Midway
in the aisle there was a little boy facing the cereals with his
hands over his face. He was
crying. I went over to him and got down on his level and asked him
if he was lost. He shook
his head that he was. I
softly asked, “Are you here with your Mommy?”
He shook his head again.
I said, “Why don’t you and I find your Mommy?”
He gave me his hand and we walked toward the cash registers.
He never looked at me.
But as soon as he saw his Mommy, he ran to her.
Mommy was sobbing hysterically as the two embraced.
She said, “Oh thank you!! I was only distracted for a moment
and I turned around and he was gone. I checked several aisles and he
was not there. My mind
raced with my worst fears.” Little boys and girls wander off all the time
and the reason they do is because they are curious.
They are impulsive.
As they continue to learn about life, so many things attract
them. God has the same understanding about all of us.
Our biggest “sin” is that we do not know the meaning of
things. Jesus said this
from the cross, “Father, forgive them, they are very limited in what
they understand.” When
we begin to understand the nature of God’s love, life changes quite
dramatically. We love the hymn
Amazing Grace.
The first verse tells the
story of the author’s life. “Amazing Grace!
How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.”
That verse puts to music the truth of God’s infinite,
unconditional love that we only miss seeing because we are not
looking for it. John Newton wrote those words in 1779.
Why? What did The problem faced by humanity is not that we
were born into sin.
God would not create damaged goods.
The problem we face is that
we miss the mark on so
many levels of life because we do not know how to interpret and
define our experiences like Joseph did – he always knew he was where
he needed to be. We are
curious beings. Even in
the Garden of Eden, the story was not just about disobedience, it
was also about curiosity. I have often wished that all of us could die,
leave our bodies and then be successfully resuscitated. Those who
have had a near death experience often returned to this world
completely changed because of what they experienced on the other
side of the curtain.
God has
a purpose for hiding the world of spirit from us.
There are lessons that we need to learn here by using the
powers that we have. All
of us reveal our spiritual maturity by how we use that power.
If we cannot use our
power wisely and lovingly while living in this form, having another
form after our transition from this life will not equip us with
skills we never developed. Some of you may have read stories about Steve
Jobs, one of the founders of the Apple Computer Company.
Some authorities have labeled him as the greatest genius that
ever lived. His
visionary skills gave the world computers, cellular phones, portable
I-Pads and a host of other products that have made the term
global truly a reality in
terms of linking humanity together all over the world.
During his memorial service several weeks ago,
his sister, Mona Simpson, told her listeners some intimate details
of Steve’s life. At the
end of her eulogy she said, “Steve’s last words were these, “Oh Wow!
Oh Wow! Oh Wow!”
We can only imagine what Steve was responding to. The big question for us is, “Are we receptive
to God’s love?” The
answer is: Maybe and
maybe not. Perhaps we
are among those that need more evidence.
We want proof.
The truth is that God’s love
will not stop communicating even when billions of people continue to
live in ignorance. What we do know is this:
In time everyone will know! (Jeremiah 31:34) Until that time,
God’s creative and loving energy will remain steadfast in its
guidance and faithful to every individual that ever lived. In
celebration of one form of that love, we have lighted our Second
Advent Candle in anticipation of the arrival of Christ Jesus. |