When I was growing up, we had heroes. I always loved to read, and I enjoyed reading biographies written for children about famous people. I can’t point to any one particular hero who impacted my life in a major way. But I know I was inspired by reading about the lives of people who had made a difference in the world.
I think it’s more difficult today for young people or any of us to have heroes. I know there are still sports heroes and media stars. But what I am talking about is the kind of hero who truly makes a difference in the world, and is a person to model your life after.
I don’t think the problem is that there are no individuals who are dedicating their lives to making a difference. The problem is that our culture seems to take great joy in ferreting out and displaying any leader’s weakness. It seems to me that the media loves to build someone up into an over-glorified hero, and then expose that person’s weaknesses and gloat over their fall from glory.
As a result, untarnished heroes seem to be few and far between. I do believe they exist—but they don’t seem to make very good press these days.
Perhaps I am a bit of an idealist, and I should simply accept my heroes with their flaws. After all, we are all flawed human beings. Even the heroes of the Bible had flaws.
But there is one—one hero who will never disappoint us. That one hero is Jesus, the one who lived a sinless life. He had no flaw.
Now, there is one thing I need to say. Later in May, the movie based on the book, The Da Vinci Code will be released. Normally, I would not focus on this in my preaching. However, I have read the book, and it makes some untrue assertions about Jesus. The way they are presented is confusing, because the book, although it is fiction, seems very real. So, many people read the book—and soon will see the movie—and believe that what it says about Jesus is true. Because of that, I plan to preach two sermons on May 21st and May 28th that will focus on issues raised by The Da Vinci Code. I will be explaining how we know these things are not the truth. I think this is important because The Da Vinci Code presents a different Jesus who is not the Jesus of scripture, and actually makes Jesus into a somewhat tarnished hero.
The truth is that Jesus is the hero who has no flaws, and he is the perfect example for us. Today, we are going to talk about our hero—our example—Jesus, who was our example not only in his life, but in his death. That’s because the purpose of his death was that we might have life.
I am reading from I John 3: 16-24.
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers [and sisters].
17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother [or sister] in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
When Jesus died on the cross, he made the supreme sacrifice—he gave his life for us. It was a demonstration of the meaning of God’s love for us. John tells us that Jesus’ sacrifice of himself should be our motivation to do as he did. John is not asking us to literally die on crosses, of course, although in his day there were many Christians who were martyred because of their faith. But for the most part, I think when John says we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers [and sisters], he means we need to live sacrificial lives.
This is pretty countercultural today. Not only are we naturally self-centered; our culture encourages us to be self-centered. A high value is placed on putting yourself first and taking care of your own needs first. The assumption is that if we are going to do anything for others, it should be after we have already taken good care of ourselves.
John disagrees. If we are going to follow Jesus’ example, we are called to lay down our lives for others. This means to focus, not on our needs and desires, but on the needs of others.
It’s impossible for me to overemphasize just how far this is from the way most of us tend to think. In our culture, self-centered-ness is the norm—it is what is expected. Most of us, when we do something extra for someone else, somehow expect to be rewarded.
What I am saying is that most of the time, we are so focused on ourselves that we don’t even understand what it would be to truly give our own lives—that is our time, our money, our abilities—for someone else. It’s just not even within our understanding. We tend to think that when we give our spare time—our spare change—our spare talents—to help someone else, we are doing something quite wonderful. What John is telling us is that Jesus modeled giving our whole lives. Everything we have and everything we are. If you lay down your life for others, it means you give from your core being. You give that which sustains you—not just that which is left over.
John goes on to ask the question, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother [or sister] in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?”
Now, I am going to start by confessing that I am not the paragon of virtue here. I’m glad Jesus is the model, and not me. I’m just as self-preserving as you are, and the question John asks is truly difficult. Certainly, I am often moved to pity by people who are in need. But not always.
I think one of the problems we face is the result of mass media. If you were to watch the news every day and weep over every tragedy you saw, you would, indeed be weeping a great deal! Because of the media, we are exposed to an enormous amount of tragedy. So most of us, simply to preserve our sanity, learn to filter out the bulk of what we hear. I think the dilemma we have when we read John’s words is how to translate them into meaning for us in our culture.
We need to be wise. I don’t believe God calls us to help every person we come across who claims to be in need. But it is possible to become sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to listen for God’s prompting.
I think it is possible to read the newspaper or even possibly to watch the news with our focus on God. Then, as we hear about yet another tragedy, we are prayerful in our listening—we invite God to listen to the world with us. We try to discern the heart of God in our listening. That does not mean we need to be devastated by every sad thing that happens. God wants us to be mature and sensible people. We know that Jesus healed many people, but he didn’t heal everyone he met. We also know he and his disciples shared what money they had with the needy. But they did not wipe out all of the needs in their day.
On the other hand, we are called to share our possessions with those in need. Love means action. John says, “let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” We can’t limit our loving to simply saying the right thing. We must also do the right thing. We must back up our words with actions.
John goes on to say, in essence, that if we are listening to God’s heart, we will know what is right. “This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.”
I think what John is saying is that it comes down to a heart issue. If our desire is to make Jesus Christ our example, and if we are seeking to be like him, God will lead us. But we must be willing to give up our self-centeredness. And that is the difficult thing.
One way I like to think of this is that if I am so full of myself, then where, in me, is there room for God? If I am literally full of myself, how can there be room in me for God? I believe God calls us to empty ourselves—to create within ourselves a space where God can come and be. We need a sanctuary—a place set aside for God—within us.
I believe there are two reasons John connects having Jesus as our example with how we treat the needy.
First, God cares about those in need. When we see or hear about a person in need, we are seeing or hearing about a person who is beloved by God. Often, I encourage you to focus on God’s love for you. It is wonderful to meditate of God’s love for you and just bask in his love. But at the same time, we need to remember that God not only loves us—he loves every single person on this earth, and they are all his children, too. God is intimately concerned with his creation, and that includes every man, woman and child on this earth. And if God cares about people who are in need, so should we.
Second, when we take our attention off ourselves and focus on helping someone else, we are better able to love God. I’m not sure exactly how or why this works, but it does. Perhaps it has to do with what I said about being full of ourselves—which, let’s be honest—we all are.
When we take our attention off of our own selves and focus on others, something happens in us. We become more like Jesus. As we care for others, we are laying down our lives for them. And as we lay down our lives for others, we become more like Jesus, our example.
Last week, I asked you to do something for someone else. This week, I am asking you to again do something for someone else. This time, let it be for someone who is in need. As you think about how to do this, remember that there are many kinds of need. You may be called to reach out to the very poor, or you may discover that the person in need who God wants you to help is right beside you. Pray about this, and do something you would not normally do. It can be big or small—just do it! Do it because Jesus is our example. And may you be blessed as you lay down your life for your brother or sister, in Jesus’ name.
Prayer
Lord, you are the perfect example, and we will never be disappointed in you. Thank you for giving your life—your self—for us. Help us this week to think on what you have done for us, and to give ourselves for your sake. Lord, I pray that you would speak to each person here this morning and show them how they can serve you by serving someone else. As we lay down our lives for others, may we discover that there is more room in our hearts for you. Amen
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