SPECIAL DAYS: April 6, Fifth Sunday in Lent (Daylight Savings Time Begins)

Lesson: Jeremiah 31.31-34; John 12.20-33

Sermon Title: Love and Hate

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INTRODUCTION:

Easter Pageant (1)

"A community-wide Easter pageant assigned various people in the town to play the different parts. The character of Jesus went to a most unlikely person - a big, burly, barroom brawler, an oilfield worker, the most unlikely person to be typecast as Jesus. After several weeks of rehearsals, the day of the Easter Pageant finally arrived.

"When they came to the part of the play where Jesus was being led away to be crucified, one little man, filling in as a part of the crowd, got caught up in the emotion of the drama. He joined in the shouts of Crucify him! Crucify him! as Jesus was led away toward Calvary.

"Then, in the midst of shouting insults at the top of his lungs, he accidentally sprayed some saliva in the face of the character playing Jesus as the actor walked by carrying the cross on his back.

"The oilfield worker stopped in his tracks, reached up and wiped his face dry. And then he looked at the little man and said: I'll be back to take care of you after the resurrection."

  1. Oh! Oh!

    1. Do you get a sense of the intense hostility?

    2. One an can only imagine the anger and humility being felt by the actor playing Christ.

    3. One can only imagine the fear-apprehension being experienced by the actor playing the role of the spectator.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. We are emotional people.

    1. Our emotions run the gamut between sheer and utter joy and hate.

    2. We are taught to hate.

      1. Look up Hate, Hatred in the Holman Bible Dictionary (2)

        1. A strong negative reaction, a feeling toward someone considered an enemy as well as loving someone less than another.

        2. Hatred of Other People Hatred of other people is a common response in human relations. Conflict, jealousy, and envy often result in animosity, separation, revenge, and even murder (Gen. 26:27; 27:41; Judg. 11:7; 2 Sam. 13:15, 22).

      2. The same definition is also to be found in any common dictionary.

    3. Here are some bumper stickers show that we don't live in the peaceful kingdom:

      1. Horn broken. Watch for (Well I can't use that one.) finger.

      2. Your kid may be an honor student, but you're still an idiot.

      3. Auntie Em. Hate you, hate Kansas, taking the dog. Dorothy.

      4. Some people are only alive because it is illegal to kill.

    4. Hate is one of the strongest and most negative of human emotions.

      1. Listen to a small child who cannot get his way.

      2. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!

    5. Shakespeare caught the intense feelings so well in Richard III (3)

      1. Here are Richard's words from Act I Scene 1.

...since I cannot prove a lover
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York ....
I am determined to prove the villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the King
In deadly hate the one against the other.
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mewed up.

      1. Hatred is the source of much self-destruction and war.

      2. Remember the definition.

    1. Then we come to Jesus statement.

      1. In John 12.25 we read: Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

      2. In Luke 14.26 Jesus said again: "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

    2. Is Jesus teaching us to hate?

      1. It would appear so and it is confusing.

      2. In the Newsletter I wrote: "The words of Jesus are confusing and murky, how do we understand them? What do they mean for you and me?"

      3. The use of "hate" here does not mean to hate.

      4. This is an Eastern expression.

      5. It really means to love less.

        1. To love you life means to love it above all else.

        2. To hate your life means to love God supremely and to love yourself less than this.

  1. There is only one way that I know to accomplish this in our lives.

Mother Teresa, 1979 Nobel Peace Prize-winner, says this is how we co-create with God to bring good out of evil: (4)

Loving as He loves,
helping as He helps,
giving as He gives,
serving as He serves,
rescuing as He rescues,
being with Him for all the twenty-four hours,
touching Him in His distressing disguise.

When Mother Teresa meets someone who is particularly obnoxious, or hateful, or mean, or disturbed, she says only that he or she is Jesus in a "distressing disguise," and on that basis she reaches out to touch them

    1. James A. Harnish in "Out of Sight!" Asks the seven vital questions: (5)

      1. I want to ask you this morning, Where do you find the power to hang in there in this world?

      2. Where do you find the power to keep going when the going really gets tough?

      3. Where do you find the power to continue to believe in love in a world that is filled with hate?

      4. Where do we find the power to continue to work for peace in a world that is addicted to violence?

      5. Where do we find the power to continue to believe in good in a world that is filled with so much suffering and pain?

      6. Where do we find the power to continue to believe that ultimately God's kingdom will come and God's will, as revealed in Jesus, will be done in all of the creation?

      7. Where do you find the power to be a disciple of Jesus in this world?

    2. This can only be accomplished with a hew heart.

      1. In Jeremiah 31.33, God says: "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

      2. A new heart not only heals the intellect, the spirit, it heals also the emotions.

        1. What hate does is dehumanize people

        2. What God desires is for us to humanize people.

  1. This may be one of the most necessary, and yet, one of the most difficult goals for us to attain.

    1. If we are willing to cooperate with God in the formation of a new heart and emotions there is a process which proves trustworthy and successful.

    2. I pondered the how question for a long time.

    3. This one day I believe that I found the answer.

      1. Mom wanted her son to become a pastor.

This was her dream and she did everything she could to see that her dream was fulfilled.
There came a time when it was necessary to redecorate her son's room.
She found a beautiful painting of a clipper ship under full sail and put on the wall opposite her son's bed.
It was the last thing that he saw when he went to sleep.
It was the first thing that he saw on awakening.
This painting fill his thoughts and he dreamed of becoming a ships captain.
And much to the dismay of his mother he did.

      1. How do we get a new heart?

        1. By beholding we become changed.

18And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NRSV)

        1. Seeing the glory of the Lord

        2. Are being transformed into the same image.

        3. The image that you contemplate is the image you become.

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CONCLUSION

  1. We must learn to love ourselves less and Jesus more.

    1. It is the only way to find life.

    2. It is the only way to acquire security.

  2. Become acquainted with the author of life and security.

There is a wonderful story which illustrates this and reminds us of our purpose. It was recently told by Hal Brady. (6)

"An old man and a young man were on the same platform before a vast audience. A special program was being presented.

As part of the program, each was to repeat from memory the words of the 23rd Psalm.

The young man, trained in the best speech techniques and drama, gave, in the language of the silver-tongued orator, the words of the Psalm: 'The Lord is my Shepherd...'

When he had finished, the audience clapped their hands and cheered.

They asked him for an encore so that they might hear again his wonderful voice.

Then the old gentleman, leaning heavily on his cane, stepped to the front of the same platform and in feeble, shaking voice repeated the same words:

'The Lord is my Shepherd...'

"But when he was seated, no sound came from the listeners.

Folks seemed to pray.

In the silence, the young man stood to make the following statement:

'Friends,' he said, 'I wish to make one explanation.

You asked me to come back and repeat the Psalm.

But you remained silent when my friend here was seated.

The difference? I shall tell you. I know the Psalm, but he knows the Shepherd.'"

1. Barry Boulware, via Robert Allen, via Norman Neaves.

2. Holman Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1991 Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.

3. William Shakespeare, Richard III, I.1.

4. Quoted in Donald E. Demaray, Laughter, Joy and Healing (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1986), 175.

5. James A. Harnish, Out of Sight! Tampa, Fla. 19 May 1996.

6. Hal Brady, Dallas, Texas, 25 April 1993.

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