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1 John 3:13-24

 “Love in Truth and Action”

I want to start with something funny that I found on an internet site: After a long illness, a woman died and arrived at the Gates of Heaven. While she was waiting for St. Peter to greet her, she peeked through the Gates. She saw a beautiful banquet table. Sitting all around were her parents and all the other people she had loved and who had died before her.

They saw her and began calling greetings to her—“Hello” “How are you? We’ve been waiting for you!” “Good to see you.” When St. Peter came by, the woman said to him, “This is such a wonderful place! How do I get in?” “You have to spell a word,” St. Peter told her. “Which word?”, the woman asked. “Love.” The woman correctly spelled “love” and St. Peter welcomed her into Heaven.

About two years later, St. Peter came to the woman and asked her to watch the Gates of Heaven for him that day. While the woman was guarding the Gates of Heaven, her husband arrived. “I’m surprised to see you,” the woman said, “How have you been?” “Oh, I’ve been doing pretty well since you died,” her husband told her. “I married the beautiful young nurse who took care of you while you were ill. And then I won the lottery. I sold the little house you and I lived in and bought a big mansion. My wife and I traveled all around the world. We were on vacation and I went water skiing today. I fell, the ski hit my head, and here I am. So, how do I get in?” “You have to spell a word,” the woman told him. “Which word?”, her husband asked. “Czechoslovakia.”

I had a great vacation visiting my friends in Iowa and Chicago, Illinois. These friends are always good to me, like family members. I met some of them in Chicago when I was planting a new church in 2008, and I met the others later as I prepared for ministry. Since then, we’ve maintained our relationships like those of family members and friends in Jesus Christ. Sometimes when I visit them, it feels like returning home, and they treat me like a family member who has left home for work and returned to rest. When I left, they even prepared a package for me filled with lots of food, including kimchi (a Korean primary side dish). It’s a Korean custom for a mother to do this for her daughter who has married and visits her parents’ home. So, I had a wonderful rest and returned home safely. Thank you very much for giving me the time to rest and refresh my body and mind.

Today, I want to talk about how to love one another in truth and action. I mean, we should examine ourselves to see if we genuinely love God and our neighbors as Jesus taught us. Jesus gave us the new commandment: to love God and to love our neighbors. As we follow Jesus’ teachings, we strive to love God with our whole hearts, minds, and souls, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Do you think we have truly accomplished this, or do you personally believe that you have?

Today’s scripture says, “Let us love, not only with words and speech, but with truth and action. By this, we will know that we are from the truth and reassure our hearts before Jesus and belong to Jesus.” In other words, we can assess our commitment to Jesus Christ by our actions, especially in how we demonstrate love for God and our neighbors. An example is found in verse 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?” Love is manifested through the sacrificial giving of your time, energy, possessions, and heartfelt joy, not merely through empty words.

Consider this simple analogy: if a man professes his love to a woman, but avoids spending time with her, or fails to express his affection beyond mere words, he cannot truly claim to love her. Similarly, if someone reluctantly attends worship services at the Sanctuary, it prompts reflection on whether genuine love for God exists. Jesus imparted the commandment of love: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). We are instructed to love others as Jesus loved us, which encompassed forgiving and loving even those who despised, betrayed, and harmed him, as well as loving sinners like ourselves.

Today’s scripture emphasizes, “We know by this, that he laid down his life for us-and we ought to lay down our lives for one another” (v.16). Can we emulate His love and are we willing to sacrifice our lives for others? Can we embody the love demonstrated by Jesus?

One of the biblical leaders I greatly admire is Moses. Moses was initially a weak person who was raised in Pharaoh’s Palace, but he possessed a strong sense of patriotism as a Jew, nurtured by his mother as if she were his nanny. One day, he killed an Egyptian soldier mistakenly while attempting to defend Jewish laborers. Fearing punishment for his actions, he fled. However, upon encountering God at the burning bush, Moses experienced a transformation of his mind, soul, and spirit, gaining courage, confidence, and faith in God. He came back to Pharaoh and demanded the release of all the Israelites.

Throughout his leadership of Israelite in the wilderness, Moses maintained a close relationship with God, constantly praying and seeking divine guidance. Whenever God became displeased with the people’s complaints, Moses interceded on their behalf, praying for forgiveness for their sins. Even when the people fashioned a golden calf and worshiped it, Moses pleaded with God, saying, “Please forgive their sin but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written” (Exodus 32:32). In other words, Moses prayed for the people to enter the Promised Land, even though he knew he might not accompany them.

It’s difficult to understand how Moses could pray in such a selfless manner.  Only thing I can guess is that Moses’ prayers were fueled by a profound love for the people he led, mirroring the love God had shown him.

It can simply be compared to a mother or father praying for their sick child’s healing, saying, “O Lord, please heal my child. I would rather be sick than see my child suffer.”  I know many parents among you have had similar experiences. God’s love mirrors a parent’s love for their children. This love manifested in God Himself descending from the heavenly throne in the form of the incarnated human, Jesus Christ. It’s demonstrated in Jesus being born into a poor family, experiencing firsthand the challenges of poverty in the world. The love is seen in Jesus calling his disciples from among the poor and outcast, befriending them, and spending time with them. The love is evident in Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross for our sins and in his promise to return to us.

Once again, the love in truth and action that Jesus taught us involves dedicating our time, energy, and possessions with our entire being − heart, mind, and soul. Do you love God in this manner? And do you love your neighbors in the same way? If not, it should prompt self reflection on whether genuine love for God truly exists within you.

Today’s lectionary reading is 1 John 3:16-24. However, I would like conclude today’s sermon by reading verses 13-16: “13 Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers and sisters. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. 16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters”

Let’s love one another in truth and action. Thanks be to God. Amen!

Posted in Sermons