Sermon: Drink from the WELL of God’s Unending, Unfailing Love – Abide in Love
June 16th, 2019 Rev. Betsy Perkins
First Baptist Church, Delavan WI
Scripture passages: John 7:38, John 15:9-17, Romans 8:31-39
Today we conclude the series of messages focusing on the Living Water that Jesus offers to us. We have thought about our thirst: thirst in uncertainty and worry and fear, but then satisfied with Christ’s lordship and God’s being in charge (bridge); we’ve thought about thirst seen in our exhaustion and weariness, but then satisfied with the Energy of God’s Spirit (pinwheel); there’s the thirst of longing for something more in life that draws us in to things that seem enticing but do not truly satisfy. What truly satisfies is not something we have to chase or earn, it is a free gift given out of the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ that saves us and satisfies us (poppy). You are invited to drink deeply from that WELL of the Waters of Life: to drink from the WELL of Christ’s Work, to drink from the WELL of the Energy of God’s Spirit, of Christ’s Lordship in your life, and from God’s WELL of unending, unfailing Love.
This morning we turn our attention to the final L – drinking deeply from God’s unending, unfailing Love. Listen to the passage of scripture that teach us about that Love: John 15:9-17, Romans 8:31-39.
Are you thirsty for love?
One hundred years ago, the death rate of infants place in some orphanages in the US and the UK was close to 100%! Investigation into the problem eventually revealed that emotional deprivation was as deadly as physical deprivation. Babies were dying from a lack of love! As studies on emotional deprivation have continued we’ve learned that it’s not just infants that need love to survive. Love is necessary at every stage of life. We’ve learned that loneliness, a lack of love, is a significant predictor of poor health – it has been linked to heart disease, cancer, depression, diabetes and suicide.
In 1980, Johnny Lee, a country singer, included a song on his Urban Cowboy album that other musicians turned down thinking that it wouldn’t connect with listeners. Instead, the song ended up being #1 on the country music charts for nearly a month. The song went: I was looking for love in all the wrong places, looking for love in too many faces… Do you remember that song? Lots of people could relate!
In 1980, when that song came out, the rate of people reporting significant social isolation in the US was 1 in 10. A quarter century later, in 2005, that rate increased to 1 in 4. It was assumed that loneliness was highest in the elderly, as people retired and aged. An AARP study in 2010 looked into that. They interviewed people aged 45 and older, and discovered, not surprisingly, that 25% of those 70 and above reported being lonely. What did surprise them was that many more of those in their 40s and 50s, nearly half, were lonely, too!
Are you thirsty for love? Do you know people who are thirsty for love? So often human love is fickle and unpredictable. Human love can fail when we least expect it, or when we most need it. We live in a society where connections within communities and families are breaking down, where technology has created even more isolation. Rather than talk to someone we send texts or tweets or instagrams. We can work from home, shop from home, get our groceries delivered to our homes. (Cartoon) Do you feel that disconnection? Have you been let down by love? Do you feel the ache of a love lost?
The thirst for connection and for love is causing a rise in isolation and loneliness, but even worse, it is fueling the rise in hate. Blaise Pascal famously said, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man [and woman] which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.” “We all need to be loved, to feel love, to express love,” wrote one pastor , “It is at the heart of what it means to be human.” We were created in the image of God, and God is Love.
As the Father has loved…
Against this backdrop of the world’s failure to love deeply and consistently and well, the radical nature of God’s love shines in full glory! The Bible describes God’s love as unending, it endures forever; it is unfailing, unwavering, steadfast; it is patient and kind, faithful and compassionate.
Pipin Ferreras is a legendary Cuban diver, known for his amazing ability in free-diving. He has descended 531 feet down in ocean water, armed with nothing but flippers, a wet suit, deep resolve, and one breath of air. The round trip lasted 3 minutes and 12 seconds. In order to go that deep, that long, Ferreras trained himself to be able to fill his lungs with over 8 liters of air – twice the capacity of a normal person. He inhales and exhales deeply for several minutes, his windpipe sounding like a bicycle pump, to fill his lungs to the full measure. Ferraras longs to go even deeper. Imagine him down in those depths surrounded by nothing but water, to the left, to the right, above him and stretching on below him.
Paul prayed for something like that. He prayed that everyone would be able to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ (Eph.3:18). He longed that believers would come to know this love of God, to experience the full length, to plumb the depths. He wanted each one to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God – the fullness of God’s love. To take that deep dive, Martin Luther would close his eyes and concentrate on picturing Jesus hanging on a cross of rugged wood. The image would remind him “that there is no length to which God would not go to embrace us in love. There is nothing that God wouldn’t do to save us through love. And there is nothing God will permit to remain between us and God’s love. Love will conquer. Love will prevail. Love will win.”
Our gospel reading this morning began, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” Jesus is telling the disciples that he has loved them the way that God the Father has loved him. Jesus reveals to us the depth of God’s love – willing to be separated from His Father for us, to face ridicule, to suffer, to take on death, to lay it all down in order that our Heavenly Father might draw you into His loving embrace and have you by His side forever. Jesus did this so that nothing in all creation could ever get in the way of God’s love for you, ever separate you from that love.
Abide in my Love
Jesus invites those who have chosen to follow him, to abide in his love – to remain in my love, he says, to stay connected, stay filled.
The Arizona climate is very dry and it is essential that people drink plenty of water all throughout the day in order to stay hydrated. Working at Rainbow Acres, the home for adults with developmental disabilities in the Verde valley of Arizona, an important part of our job was to ensure that all the residents, the Ranchers, had water bottles with them whenever they were out and about on the Ranch. One particularly hot day, I found Mark sitting on a bench in the direct sun holding onto the rake he loved to use to keep the grounds looking good. Beside him was the water bottle Mark faithfully carried with him everywhere he went. But as we spoke, Mark seemed a little confused. Helping him indoors, he stumbled and complained of being dizzy. We discovered he was significantly dehydrated. Investigating a little more, we learned that no one ever actually saw Mark filling his water bottle, or drinking from his water bottle. He just carried it with him.
I wonder if that is what many Christians do with God’s love. They learn about it in Sunday school. They read about it in Bible study. They sing about it in church. But they never actually drink it in. Or maybe they did in those heady days after coming to faith, but now it’s been a while. When I hear Jesus’ invitation to abide in his love, I actually think it is less like taking swigs from a water bottle of love several times in the day, and more like being hooked up to a constant IV drip, keeping me fully hydrated with love 24-7.
Abide in my love, Jesus said. Max Lucado writes, “To abide is to be at home. To abide in Christ’s love is to make his love your home. Not a roadside park or a hotel room you occasionally visit, but your preferred dwelling. You rest in Him. Eat in Him. When thunder claps, you step beneath His roof. His walls secure you from the winds. His fireplace warms you from the winter of life.” 1 John 4:16 tells us, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
The Source of Love
When we think about abiding, or remaining, or staying connected to God’s love, like being connected to pipes that supply running water, Max Lucado also gave a warning. He writes, “Don’t make the mistake that the associates of Lawrence of Arabia made. He took them to Paris after WWI. They had never seen such sights. The Arc de Triomphe, Napoleon’s tomb, the Champs Elysees. But nothing impressed these men from the Arabian Desert more than the faucet in the bathtub of their hotel room. They turned it on and off, on and off, amazed that with a twist of the wrist they could have all the water they wanted. When the time came to leave Paris and return to the east, Lawrence found them in the bathroom with wrenches, trying to disconnect the spout. “We need faucets,” they explained. “If we have them, we will have all the water we want.” They didn’t understand the role of the faucet. Spouts [and pipes] carry the water, not produce it. Spigots are the tool, not the source.”
Like looking for love in all the wrong places! When we are thirsty for love, we need to go to the Source. God is love!
You know that faucets do not produce water. But what is the role of the faucet? The faucet’s job is to deliver the water, to direct the flow. Now consider this for a moment: through what faucets has God poured His love into your life? Did it come through your father’s prayers? Did it flow to you on your grandmother’s lap? Through a caring church family? A Sunday school teacher? A close friend? A faithful companion? God’s love comes to you most often through someone who has set themselves aside in some way, laid down their life, their needs, in order to pour love into you.
God’s love also pours into us through prayer. I want to invite you now to close your eyes and imagine a faucet gushing out Living Water of God’s love. Walk over to the faucet and stand beneath it. The love splashes over you and then begins to fill you. It starts from the bottom, filling up your toes, your feet, up to your ankles. Feel the warmth of that liquid love rising up in your legs, to your knees, up your thighs. The love pours in to fill your tummy, washes over your back. When it gets to your lungs, you take a deep breath in so they can be filled to their fullness. Up to your shoulders, and now it starts to stream down into your fingers, wrist, forearms and elbows, your upper arms. Then your neck fills, it eases the aching. You lift your chin to the flow. Filling, filling, and full, the Living Water bursts out as it overflows and runs down, drenching you from head to toe. Now watch the water flow across the pew, across the floor to the person nearest you, the flow surrounds them and flows on. It’s starting to fill the whole room, run under the doors, flow out into the parking lot and across the street. It is flowing to the picnic tables on Tyrrell Court where we are serving breakfast to hungry kids. It is flowing to the Open Arms Clinic in Elkhorn, to the places where our offerings are rebuilding home damaged in floods. It is flowing down to our southern borders to lift up those who are thirsty and desperate. It is flowing south to Honduras, preparing the way for Lisa and the mission team. It is flowing across oceans like a tidal wave. Imagine God’s love covering the whole world.
Father God, thank you for your amazing love that never runs out, never dries up. Thank you for showing us the depths of this love through Jesus. Send your Holy Spirit to keep us connected, abiding in your love. In this moment we offer ourselves to you, asking that you so fill us with your love that we can serve as faucets, delivering your love to those we meet this week. We love you, Lord. Amen.
Jesus said, “Are you thirsty? Come to me and drink deeply. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way.” (Jn.7:38, Msg)
Closing Song: “O How He Loves You and Me” # 470
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