Random Thoughts and Ramblings

Tag: John

  • Sermon: “Sharing Jesus With the World”

    More or less, here’s the sermon I preached this morning. In hindsight, I probably should have changed the title because the sermon took a slightly different turn than what I envisioned earlier in the week. I ended up approaching the text as a prayer for the disciples Jesus would eventually leave behind. By extension, I believe Jesus was also praying for us, specifically that we would be united in our mission of spreading scriptural holiness throughout the world and that we would be sanctified by truth of God’s love. In other words, this is a call to unity, not uniformity in all things.

    I hope you receive a blessing from my attempt to articulate the message of Jesus.

    Text: John 17:6-19 (NLT)

    Think to when you can first remember hearing about Jesus. Who was sharing the good news with you? If you’re like me, it was probably your mother or someone in your life who’s like a mother to you. For me, it was my mother who I remember as the first one to teach me anything about faith. I was very sick when I was a child, something I’ll talk about someday, but this gave us a lot of time to talk about God and things about the faith. Momma was the first one who taught me to pray at bedtime and to pray when I was scared when I’d have to go to the doctor or to the hospital. She shared many a story out of her Bible. She was far from perfect, but my mother was the one who introduced me to Jesus.

    No matter who first shred Jesus with you, they still had to take the time and make the decision to do so. Every single one of us is set apart for a ministry of some sort, something that’s perhaps unique to how we’re gifted and equipped. There’s one ministry we are called to called to: Sharing the gospel. We get off in the weeds about having the correct words and all of that, but Jesus has already prayed for us to be prepared. He’s already prayed for us as we carry out the mission he started. Do we claim that? Are we united in this mission? This is precisely what Jesus prayed for and his desire for us today.

    Jesus knows that his time is growing short. If you’ve read ahead or know already, then you know that this just before he is betrayed and arrested. Jesus is obviously concerned for the apostles that he’s leaving behind. He knows that they’re still a rag-tag bunch who still don’t understand everything he has been trying to teach them. That kind of sounds like us, doesn’t it? He knows they have their disagreements and their arguments. Still, Jesus knows that he can’t stay much longer and so he does what our moms taught us to do in times of trouble: Pray. 

    Notice something about Jesus’ prayer: He wasn’t praying for his own worries or to otherwise be comforted. He prayed for each one of his students. And, honestly, I can’t help but believe he was praying for us too. He prayed that they might be protected from the whims of the world and those of the enemy. He prayed that the apostles be set apart as being in the world but not of the world, that the world might know that they are here but that their loyalty lies with God and God only. He prayed that they might be protected by God’s guidance and sanctified by the truth. He prayed that they might be emboldened to proclaim the gospel and that they might united in that truth. 

    Jesus also prayed that they might remain in the world to be His presence after he eventually ascended. Again, Jesus knew that his time was short, but he did not want the mission to end once he died, rose, and eventually returned to the Father. Jesus wanted the mission of reconciling humanity to God to continue and even to expand. Jesus knew that this would begin with his apostles being emboldened and strengthened to be the ones to keep it going. 

    I want us to receive this as a prayer for us as well. We are the continuation of the work of these apostles. We are not only the recipients of the gospel through others who answered the call of Jesus to proclaim, we are entrusted with the task of spreading the gospel t others. The best news that the world has ever received should not be kept solely hidden in our hearts, it should be shared and lived as loudly as possible. 

    Do I believe that Jesus expected all believers to be united in everything? No, I don’t. Jesus understood the reality of his people. As I already mentioned, the very apostles had disagreements amongst themselves and even disagreed with the meanings of Jesus’ teachings. The history of the Christian church is full of disagreements, splits, reunifications, even wars. Disagreement is part of the human condition. Jesus certainly knew that believers would not always agree. What I sense in this prayer is that Jesus does want us to be one in the mission to share the gospel, live the gospel, and make disciples who go out as sanctified believers to proclaim the gospel to new people. 

    This is a good opportunity to weigh where our loyalties lie. If we are supremely loyal to anything or anyone besides Jesus, then we need to repent. People, institutions, you name it… they all disappoint, disappear, reappear, and go through all the parts of a lifecycle. None of that is true about God, because God never changes. Jesus is always our messiah. We are his hands and feet. None of those things ever change.

    We are not called to be of one mind on everything but we are called to be unified in Christ. The fact is, people aren’t always going to agree on everything. Jesus didn’t pray for uniformity, where the believers would agree on literally everything, He prayed for unity, something that’s stronger than any differences that we, as the church, share. If we’re striving for uniformity, we are not going to be satisfied because there is simply no way that people are going to always agree on anything. This is simply not possible. Unity means we willingly set those differences aside for the sake of something much bigger than ourselves or our disagreements. In this case, we find unity in Jesus.

    A quote that I’m about to share is often attributed to St. Augustine but he didn’t say it. It was Marco Antonio de Dominis who gave us a great quote for today. What’s important for us to know about Dominis is that he was twice declared a heretic by the Roman Catholic Church during the days of the inquisition because he did not agree with some of the tenants of the Catholic faith, specifically the papacy. At some point during all of that, he wrote this: “in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity.”

    As we prayed last week when we came to Christ’s table:
    By your Spirit make us one with Christ,
    one with each other,
    and one in ministry to all the world,
    until Christ comes in final victory
    and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

    May it be so, Lord. If we truly want to honor the person who first told us about Christ – maybe even our mothers – the best way to honor them is to remember that we are not of this world, but we are in it to be Christ’s presence and his hands and feet. Surely, we can all agree on that.

  • Sermon: Love One Another

    Here is the sermon I preached this evening at an ecumenical Holy Week service here in Stanton.

    Love One Another
    A Sermon Preached at Grace Fellowship Church – Stanton, KY (PCMA Holy Week Maundy Thursday Service)
    Rev. Jonathan K. Tullos
    April 13, 2017

    John 13:1-7, 12-17, 31-35 (NLT)
    Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.[a] 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas,[b] son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.

    12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. 17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

    31 As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man[a] to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. 32 And since God receives glory because of the Son,[b] he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once. 33 Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

    There is an old legend that after his death Judas found himself at the bottom of a deep and slimy pit. For thousands of years he wept his repentance, and when the tears were finally spent he looked up and saw, way, way up, a tiny glimmer of light. After he had contemplated it for another thousand years or so, he began to try to climb up towards it. The walls of the pit were dank and slimy, and he kept slipping back down. Finally, after great effort, he neared the top, and then he slipped and fell all the way back down. It took him many years to recover, all the time weeping bitter tears of grief and repentance, and then he started to climb up again. After many more falls and efforts and failures, he reached the top and dragged himself into an upper room with twelve people seated around a table. “We’ve been waiting for you, Judas,” Jesus said. “We couldn’t begin till you came.”.

    On the traditional church calendar, today is Maundy Thursday. Maundy Thursday is where the church traditionally remembers the last supper in the Upper Room just before Jesus was betrayed by Judas. In addition, we remember that Jesus came not to be served but to serve. He demonstrated this by humbling himself and washing the feet of his best friends. In doing this, Jesus demonstrated what it means to truly show someone love. It was after he washed their feet that he revealed that it was by the way we love one another and how we love the entire world that people will know that we are his disciples. Love is the first and most visible fruit that a Christian can and should display.

    Last night at Shiloh we concluded a study of a book called Final Words From the Cross by a pastor and theologian named Adam Hamilton. During last night’s lesson, we discussed metaphors and how much metaphorical language was used in Jesus’ teaching and ministry. A metaphor is a figure of speech. If you were to look at me and say, “He’s as big as an ox!” Well, I am big but I’m not as big as an ox. I don’t think my wife, Jessica, would allow oxen in her bed. But my point is, to compare me to an ox is a metaphor for my perceived large size.

    A lot of what is contained in scripture is metaphorical in nature but not all of it. I’m a student at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore and there is a coffee shop just off campus called Solomon’s Porch. I go there between my morning and afternoon classes. Being in Wilmore, there is almost always a discussion about the Bible going on. One day I overheard two people talking and one of them made a statement like this: “I think everything in the bible should be taken literally, just as it was written.” The other person said, “Well what about where Jesus said to love everyone, including our enemies?” The first party thought for a moment and said, “Well, I think that was just a metaphor. Jesus couldn’t have possibly meant to love everyone.” I couldn’t help but laugh. It seems funny that people feel this way. They believe everything in the bible and believe it should be followed to the letter… Until they come to a part they either don’t like or don’t agree with, suddenly it’s open to interpretation. Yes, some things are metaphorical in nature and are there to illustrate a point, but the overall message of scripture is sound.

    Either you believe that the message of the whole Bible is true, or you don’t. You either believe the entire spectrum of the teachings of Christ or you don’t. And put your steel toes on because now I might step on your toes: This includes the teachings that you don’t particularly like. Did Jesus often use metaphors in his teaching? Of course. But when he says things like “they will know you are my disciples by your love,” he meant just that, full stop.

    I happen to believe that one of those things that is far from being a metaphor and that is part of the very message of the gospel is contained right here in John 13. Jesus made it clear to me that we, as Christians, are to love one another and to love all of the beloved of God – hint: It’s everyone! – and that is far from being a metaphor. Jesus said himself after he washed the feet of the twelve: “I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.” The example that Jesus gave is one of ultimate sacrifice on the part of putting aside our pride and even casting aside what society considers to be normal in order to truly love someone. Just as Jesus humbled himself, we are expected to do likewise.

    Now, for us, showing love to someone may not actually include washing someone’s feet. Don’t touch mine, believe me, you don’t want to anyway. But what Jesus did was put on a seminar about how to wash feet but he demonstrated the kind of love that we are to show to all people and by not only saying that we are willing to do this, but by actually doing it, we are proclaiming His love to a world that no longer knows how to love with true sacrifice. The kind of Jesus that Jesus demonstrates and wants us to show to others does involve sacrifice, being willing to show a radical form of hospitality even to a stranger. In order to fully understand this, it may be helpful to know the significance of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.

    In the New Testament times, there were no planes, trains, or automobiles. The only way to get from one place to another was to either beat feet or to get there by donkey or camel. There were no paved roads back then, either. The roads were dusty, dirty, and even had animal droppings on them. And if you stepped in it, well, you just stepped in it. It was because of these dusty conditions that it was expected hospitality for a host to provide water so that a guest could wash their feet off. Actually loosening a person’s sandals and personally washing their feet was considered the work of servants, or submissive wives or children. In other words, it was something that was not done by proper people if you will. Jesus actually wrapping a towel around himself and bending down to wash the feet of his disciples was a big deal because this just was not done. It was a scandal in Jerusalem for him to serve the people who respected him the most. This was a big deal because Jesus was actually foreshadowing the nature of his coming death: He was the suffering servant.

    Even those of us who think ourselves to be above certain things should remember that as disciples of Jesus Christ we are to count ourselves as servants first. Jesus laid out the example of how we should treat others by being willing to humble ourselves and show people the most powerful love that we can muster. Jesus being so willing to humble himself is an example for us to follow. Can you show someone love so radical that it could even harm your reputation? Such would have done that in Jesus’ day because social rank was important and a person of high stature just did not wash someone’s feet. And yet, Jesus did. What does this tell us?

    Here’s something else to chew on: Jesus did not give us a choice this matter. It is not optional for a Christian to love someone. Let me say that again: It is not optional for a true Christian, a committed follower, and disciple, to love others. It is a must. Jesus reinforced this by using such strong language in verse 34 when he said, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” The usage of the word “commandment” gave his words all the much more authority. The Greek word that is translated “commandment” can also mean “orders.” Jesus has given us our orders and those orders from the table at the last supper are to go love as I have loved you and that is how people will know that you are my disciples. It’s not by who you vote for, by what bumper stickers you have on your car, how much of the Bible you can quote, or even by how much you pray. Jesus has said, “your orders are to love. Love is your mark, your signature stance as a Christian.”

    I mentioned a few minutes ago that in the traditional church practice, today is known as Maundy Thursday. That seems like a very funny word and for a long time, I had absolutely no idea what it meant. I always thought it was just a funny name that some Pope or bishop or monk gave to this day hundreds of years ago because he must have liked that word for some reason. But, given the context of what we remember on this day in Holy Week, there is a very good reason why today is called Maundy Thursday. The word “Maundy” comes from the Latin word “mandatum.” Let me say that word again: “mandatum.” If that word sounds a little familiar, that’s because mandatum is where we get our English word “mandatory.” Mandatory refers to something that is absolutely required, like a mandatory meeting or a mandatory assignment in school. Here’s where the Latin plays into what this day is called: It’s taken from the Latin translation of verse 34 which begins with the word “mandatum.”

    James said, “Faith without works is dead.” To put it in the context of Jesus’ words in John: Faith without love is dead!
    For a Christian to love is not optional, it’s not something nice to do, it’s not even just a good idea. For Christians, to love as Christ loves us is mandatory! And to make the choice to not love others for any reason is

    or a Christian to love is not optional, it’s not something nice to do, it’s not even just a good idea. For Christians, to love as Christ loves us is mandatory! And to make the choice to not love others for any reason is a sin. If we have hate in our heart and we are not willing to love, then we have some problems that only repentance – asking forgiveness and turning away from the desire to hate – and embracing the mandate to love will solve.

    Do you have hate towards anyone? Whether their family, people who were once friends of yours… People who are different than you… Christ requires us to love them sacrificially and intentionally. Just as Judas would be welcomed back to the table as in the story I told at the beginning, so we must welcome all people to our table, no matter what, period, full stop. If we want revival to sweep across our land, and I think we all do, then it starts with us taking this new mandatory commandment that Christ has given us seriously. We don’t have a choice. We must love. Let’s pray.