May Your Love Endure

This is my sermon from The Bridge worship service at Woodmont Christian Church on April 8. As always, this is the manuscript so it's the gist of what I said, but not entirely what I said. The verses for the day were Matthew 28:16-20 and Romans 12:9-18.

Remember your baptism. We have to start there. Twenty-nine students are being baptized upstairs today and that is a huge cause for celebration. It’s a mark of these young students desiring to follow the way of Jesus. And as we celebrate their commitment, we remember our own. I have been to a few weddings where married couples are asked to remember their vows as the bride and groom exchange their own. There can be renewal in returning to the start.

And so I want you to take a moment, if you can, to remember your baptism. Now for some of you that might be hard. Maybe you were baptized as a baby. Maybe you have never been physically been baptized. But in baptism we celebrate the fact that it is possible for us to be born anew in God. That the old can be left behind for something new and beautiful. The Christian faith is all about new beginnings. And so as we celebrate the new beginning for over two dozen students upstairs, we recommit ourselves today to walking in the ways of Jesus.

If you want to know what one is supposed to do as a Christian, today’s verses are an outstanding place to begin that journey. As followers of Jesus we are to make disciples wherever we go. We don’t do this as some sort of religious colonialism, but because we believe the way of Jesus is life-giving in a world that often takes and takes. The Great Commission—as the Matthew passage is often called—tells us that we are to obey what Jesus taught and reminds us that he is with us always even to the very end.

The Romans passage goes into even greater detail of how the Christian life appears. We are called to love extravagantly. We are to be generous in everything that we do. We share our resources, our time, our talents with those around us. We are called to be in true community as we rejoice with those who are rejoicing and mourn with those who mourn. We are called to consider everyone as equals and make every effort—as much as it depends on us—to live at peace with everyone.

All of this is what we should do. Yet even if we are displaying these marks, there can be so much going on underneath the surface. One could conceivably be making disciples wherever he or she goes and still find his or her walk with Jesus flagging. After all, the Christian faith is littered with people who have had the outward marks of the faithful but lack the beating heart that is central to faith. You can go through all the rites. You can be baptized. You can go to church every single Sunday. You can make your way through the children’s ministry, youth ministry, about 30 years of young adult ministry, and the seniors ministry. Yet if you do not have love—as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13—then it is just religious noise.

I know the idea of love is simple. I know that I get up here and talk about love an awful lot. I know sometimes we sound like The Beatles singing “All You Need is Love” stuck on infinite loop. And maybe when we talk about love it is too pat and simple. But true love is something that is complicated and passionate and its own living thing. I cannot escape the gravity of love when I talk about following Jesus because Jesus said that everything comes down to loving God with every ounce of your being and loving your neighbor as you love yourself. Both are the heartbeat of being Christians.

Thus if we are remembering our baptisms, if we are recommitting ourselves to follow the way of God, if we are saying that we will live out the Great Commission, and be generous, and rejoice and mourn in community, and consider everyone as an equal, then we have to remember that love has to be at the center of what we do. That love has to carry on.

As I thought about love, one of the things that readily came to my mind—besides my wife since I already mentioned weddings—are my sons. When my oldest son had his first birthday, I wrote an open letter to him and posted it on my blog. In retrospect, that may have not been the best idea because if my sons hunt those blog posts down, they will find out that their dad is somehow an even bigger dork than they previously thought. But I have continued to write open letters to Jim and Liam on each of their birthdays. Because I love them and I want to mark these milestones for them.

So I got in my head the idea to write a letter to the students who were being baptized today. Now it’s a little different because they are a group of people and not my offspring. They are also upstairs and won’t hear this, but I found the act of writing this letter about baptism and what I’ve learned in following Jesus to be a helpful reminder to myself. After all, if we are going to celebrate with those 29 students and remember our own baptisms then it is good for us to go back to the start and think about how we might continue to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is not anything especially profound, but here this is that letter.

Dear Christian,

Congratulations seems like a funny way to put this. You say congratulations when someone does well on a test or scores a winning soccer goal. But what you have done is you have taken an enormous step in your walk with God. Congratulations doesn’t seem to quite get at this moment. But I am incredibly happy for you.

I don’t know what you’ll remember about this day. Maybe you’ll remember seeing your family smiling from the pews or the way your robe floated up when you descended into the baptismal pool. From a few of my youth, I know some of you might remember that you were worried that the pastor was going to drop you. But whatever you remember, I hope that you will always remember this day.

Even if the details get fuzzy, I hope you won’t forget what this day means: in Jesus, you are brand new. The old is gone and you are a disciple, a follower of Jesus. When Jesus was baptized, a voice from heaven declared that he was God’s beloved child and I hope you remember that this day means the same for you. You are a beloved child of God. Remember that. Whenever you see the rain fall or plunge into the deep blue of a swimming pool or drink a cup of cold water, remember your baptism. Keep it in your mind when God seems as real as the hand in front of your face. Remember your baptism for those times when God seems as distant as the dimmest star in the sky. Remember your baptism, beloved child of God. Don’t let it go.

You are about to embark on the most important journey that you could imagine. If you truly follow Jesus with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, it has the potential to shape the world in a profound way. But truly following Jesus is not easy. In fact, it can be remarkably difficult. I’m a minister and I would not say that I am great at this whole “following Jesus” thing.

The idea of the Christian faith seems to get watered down an awful lot; no pun intended on Baptism Sunday. People assume that the faith is tied to a political voting bloc. Or that being a Christian means going to church but it doesn’t really have an impact on the rest of your life. But following Jesus is so much more than the caricature and it is far greater than a place to which you go once or twice a week. I don’t want to be overdramatic, but the world needs you—the unique person that you are—to radiate Christ wherever you go. The world needs you to be someone who pursues justice, loves kindness, and walks humbly with God.

So I have some advice. Like I said, I am not exactly incredible at following Jesus so this won’t exactly be like Paul writing to the church in Rome. But each of us can use all the help that we can get. So test whatever I say here and hold onto the good. These are things that have kept me trying to follow God some two and a half decades after I was first baptized.

First and foremost, always look to Jesus. We are Christians, which literally means “little Christs.” Jesus is our North Star, he is the author, the pioneer, the perfecter of our faith. Study his teachings and examine his life. See how he interacted with God. See how treated those around him. Then follow him as best you can. He is going to challenge you. He is not always as warm and fuzzy as those pictures of him with children and little lambs make him seem. But you and I need to be challenged. And at the end of the day, remember that he loves you more than you can imagine.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions about your faith and don’t freak out if you have doubts. Your faith is not going to always look like it does today nor should it. You are going to grow and mature and your faith should evolve with you. The last thing I want to see is you paint yourself into a corner where you feel like you have to choose between your faith and using your brain. Jesus tells us to love God with our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Don’t be afraid of your mind. God certainly isn’t.

Embrace community. We’re not supposed to do this by ourselves. Have Christians by your side who will walk alongside you, encourage you, and challenge you. Gravitate towards people who you know love God and love you. Seek out people who are serious about their faith and who can help you wrestle with those questions about God, life, and faith. We are so much stronger in community than we are alone.

And don’t let that community be a bubble. Christianity goes way beyond Nashville, Tennessee. Make sure that you aren’t just learning about faith from people who are like you. I realized at some point in college that the majority of my Christian education outside the home had been done by white dudes in suits. Christianity is much bigger than white dudes in suits (and, yes, if you entering the youth group, I know I don’t wear suits, but the reality of my white dude-ness remains). Learn from women, from people of different races and socio-economic backgrounds. I’m not saying leave this church for it is a good place, but seek out ways to truly learn about the beautiful mosaic that is God’s family.

Part of you should probably always wonder if you’re getting this whole following Jesus thing right. You will screw up. You will want to take the easy way out. You are human. This is not to undermine the consequences of those times when you mess up or to give permission to write those moments off. When you mess up, seek forgiveness and try as best you can to make things right. But know that there is grace. God will still love you.

Get to know the Bible. I know that it can be weird at times and it can seem really boring; especially when it goes on and on about who begat who. But dig deep into scripture. Learn about the contexts in which is was written. It can be a source of great wisdom and comfort. Again, it’s good to be challenged.

Remember that this following Jesus thing is not just about you. When you look at Jesus you will see that an enormous part of what we do is serving others. This isn’t just about you. This isn’t just about securing your afterlife in heaven or whatever. This is about sharing God’s love with everyone you encounter. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

And love God with all of your being. Talk with God. Argue with God. Sing to God. Laugh with God. Look for God wherever you go. God doesn’t just live in this church nor are God’s hours exclusive to Sundays and Wednesdays. As the Bible reminds us, the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. Everyday is an Easter egg hunt in which you can find God in all sorts of unexpected places. It is a reminder that God is always with you and that God love you.

So let love be at the heart of all you do as you follow God. There are going to be many days when it will be painfully difficult to follow God. There will be times in your life when it will seem impossible to embody the characteristics of a Christian. This world is a hard place. Don’t let it grind you down. And don’t be silent when the road becomes too tough to walk. Let us know you need help. We’ll remind you that we love you. We’ll remind you that God loves you.

As you remember your baptism, remember God’s love for you constantly endures. Paul wrote at the end of Romans 8 that he was convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all of creation could separate us from God’s love. Why? Because of Jesus. God’s love for you endures forever. Remember that. And in all of this, dear Christian, I pray that your love for God and those you meet will grow and thrive. May your love endure, beloved child of God. The whole world is waiting for you.

Grace and peace to you.