SPECIAL DAYS: Rally Sunday

September 20, 1998 - LESSON: Romans 5:1-5

SERMON TITLE: My Security Blanket

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. When I think of security blankets, I think of Linus in the Peanuts cartoon drawn and written by Charles Schulz
  2. Linus has a Security Blanket
    1. He can't live without it.
    2. He will do anything to keep it
  1. We are deeply concerned about security
    1. Personal Security
      1. Let's all carry weapons.
        1. Law passed in a southern state to allow clergy to pack a pistol in church.
        2. What good is it going to do.
    2. We are concerned with public security.
      1. We depend on government and law enforcement.
        1. Government does have a role to play.
          1. Provide laws to punish unacceptable behaviors.
          2. Provide Court system
          3. Provide prison system
        2. We honor and respect our police.
          1. They risk their lives for us.
          2. They are on the front lines of attempting to maintain law and order.

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      2. But at the same time God counsels.
        1. Do not put your trust in princes
        2. (Psalms 146:3-4 NRSV) Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. [4] When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
    3. Personal Security.
      1. What kind of financial security do you desire.
        1. We need some form of social security.
        2. No matter what form that may take.
      2. But at the same time Jesus counsels.
        1. Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth
        2. (Matthew 6:19-21 NRSV) "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; [20] but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. [21] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

MAIN BODY:

  1. We need a major security blanket.
  2. My security blanket.
    1. Love is the greatest security blanket
  3. God's love
    1. To Jeremiah God said, (Jeremiah 31:3 NRSV) the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
    2. John in his gospel has written, (John 3:16 NRSV) "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

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  4. Christ' Love
    1. Jesus loved Lazarus, (John 11:33-36 NRSV) When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. [34] He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." [35] Jesus began to weep. [36] So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
    2. In the Upper room, Jesus with his disciples then and those who would come after, John concludes: (John 13:1 NRSV) Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
  5. The security of love is the source of all power.
    1. True love for self constrain our thoughts and behavior.
    2. True love for others becomes the basis for relationships
      1. Acting, not reacting.
      2. Doing good and not harm
    3. True love for God's creation requires the genuine caring of all that God has made.
      1. We will not destroy.
      2. We will build.
  6. At the same time we need to understand that love is not wishy-washy.
    1. Love needs to be tough.
    2. It needs to speak the truth, with kindness, yet the truth.
    3. It needs to be able to say No, as well as Yes.
    4. Love is not to be taken advantaged of, neither is it to be used to take advantage of the other.
      1. I have often wished that I could do an graduation address to a high school class.
        1. I would use the phrase I love you in the varied ways in which we use it.
          1. I love you - if you loved me you would do what I want you to do.
          2. I love it, whatever it is.
          3. I love you in a genuine way.

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      2. If you need one thing to get through the tough and tender times of life, you need love.
      3. Not as it is currently used, but as it is revealed in God and in Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION:

  1. Sue Bender in Everyday Sacred(1) (Harper-San Francisco, 1995) 13, relates an incident from her life.
    1. "Long before I started thinking about begging bowls and everyday sacred, I saw a strikingly handsome Japanese tea bowl that had been broken and pieced together.
    2. "The image of that bowl made a lasting impression. Instead of trying to hide the flaws, the cracks were emphasized -- filled with silver. The bowl was even more precious after it had been mended."
  2. Life is very much like Sue's bowl.
    1. We become cracked in the stresses of life.
    2. We become broken in the experiences of life.
    3. The pieces would be of little value in themselves.
    4. With the silver, love, holding them together, life is more precious.
  3. God provides us with a security blanket.
    1. It is not made of synthetics or cotton or wool.
    2. It is love.
  4. Wrap yourself in it, it's wonderful.

1. Sue Bender, Everyday Sacred (Harper San Francisco, 1995), 13.

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