St. John 15:9-17
Divine Service
Easter 6B (Armed Forces Sunday)

Dear brothers and Sisters in Christ:

You may have noticed from your bulletin that today is designated “Armed Forces Sunday.”  Next weekend is Memorial Day weekend, where we celebrate those who have served to defend our country in past wars and “police actions.”  Today is a little different as we recognize those who are currently serving in the Armed Forces, particularly those of the United States, but also all of our allies around the world.  We are asked to remember those of our brothers and sisters who are now showing their love for us, for those of us who live in their country, as they serve in the dangerous places of the world.  Keep those who serve in our Armed Forces in your prayers.  We may have a variety of opinions as to the justice and wisdom of the deployment of our military forces, but the men and women who are serving in those places are sacrificing – they are sacrificing their time, they are sacrificing their fellowship with friends, they are sacrificing their closeness with their families and, unfortunately, some are giving the sacrifice of their lives. 

Times are changing – the world is changing – our country is changing – we're not as safe as we used to be.  We now have to worry about “threat levels” from terrorists.  May is a month of transitions, a month of change, for those in education.  No student will have it the same next fall.  As this school year ends, the same group will never exist again in the same form.  Whether it’s simply advancing a grade, moving to a different school, graduation, getting a job, going to college, or whatever –things are changing. 

Major life changes are key in the Gospel lesson read earlier.  It was Maundy Thursday evening.  The Last Supper was over.  Jesus and His disciples were about to leave for the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus would be arrested Within 24 hours, he'd have gone through trial, conviction, whipping, torture, crucifixion and death.  In just 24 hours from when this text was spoken, the world of the disciples would be turned TOTALLY upside down.  That night, they were poised on the verge of great change. 

Now, think about what this Sunday, five weeks after Easter represented for the disciples.  In the past 36 days, they were just getting used to the idea that Jesus was not really dead but had risen from the dead.  NO, it wasn't the same.  Jesus wasn't around as much as He used to be, but He was around.  Yet unknown to them, on the Sunday 5 weeks after that first Easter, radical change was just around the corner once again.  The following Thursday, Jesus ascended into heaven.  We celebrate that this week at Zion at 7:00 PM.  Jesus physical, visible presence was gone from them.  Once again, the world of the disciples was completely changed...forever. 

As the disciples of Jesus faced great change – as you and I face great change – Jesus tells us that there is some place we are to remain.  Yes, as we change, we also remain.  He tells us to remain in His love.  What does that look like? It does not take such skill to begin to love, but as Christ says here, remaining in love takes real skill and virtue.  In matrimony many people are initially filled with such ardent affection and passion that they would fairly eat each other; later they become bitter foes.  The same thing happens among Christian brethren.  A trivial cause may dispel love and separate those who should really be bound with the firmest ties; it turns them into the worst and bitterest enemies. 

We know that to be true, don't we? One prominent psychologist who does lots of work in relationships argues against calling the initial feelings between a man and woman "love." He says it is involuntary, like the animal instinct driving us together to mate to perpetuate the species.  It's a kind of insanity that influences our judgment and clouds our vision.  For one thing, it makes people think that the other person is "perfect."  And then, when it wears off, usually some time after the people get married, they wake up to the stark reality that the perfect person they thought they married doesn't actually exist – never did, in fact.  Then, they begin to find out that lots of effort is required for the relationship.  Sadly, over half of the marriages of today never make that transition, which is why we have such a high divorce rate.  The same thing is true, of sorts of anything that is new.  Living in a new house is really wonderful.  A new job is really great.  Going to a new church can be quite stimulating.  Having new neighbors can be quite refreshing.  Yet when these things become "old hat", we find out that they really aren't all that nice, really not all that interesting, really not all that worthy of our time...  and we drift on, then, to something else that excites us. 

What does it mean to remain in Jesus' love? “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.”  Now, on first examination that sounds like more demands, doesn't it? But listen to it from another translation, the NASB, which is closer to what is written in the Greek: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.”  You see, it is something other than just obedience.  Keeping the commands of Jesus means knowing the commands of Jesus, and obeying the commands of Jesus, and also defending the commands of Jesus.  We know the commands of Jesus by studying the Word of God.  How well do you know the Word of God?  Are you regular in studying your Bible?  No matter what happens in the church, it is so vitally important that we be anchored in the word of God and empowered by the word of God, and that happens as each member is regularly in the word of God.  Are you regular in your Bible study? Do you have regular devotions at home?  Do you read God's word on a consistent basis?  It would be nice to have everyone in the Sunday Bible study.  It would be nice to have everyone deeper in God’s Word.  Luther said at Worms in 1521, "My conscience must be captive to the Word of God." That means that even when it doesn't make sense, even when our emotions would tell us otherwise, what we say and do must come from the Word of God.  To do that, we must be in the Word by studying that Word.

Not only are we to know Christ's commands, we are to live Christ's commands.  How well do you do that?  Is the way in which you live your life consistent with God's Word? Or is your life one thing when you are with church people and another thing completely when you are away from the church?  How about your language?  I am certain that you don't say bad words in church, but what about at work?  What about at home?  What about in other gatherings?  Keeping Christ's commandments means knowing them and obeying them.  The two go hand in hand.  How can you live according to Christ's commands if you don't know them?  How can you obey something when you don't know what it says?  How can you claim to love the person who gave His Word if you don't regularly study that word?

Remaining in Christ's love by keeping His commandments not only means knowing what God says and doing what God says, but it also means being accurate about what God says.  That means, when you hear someone claiming something about God or His Word that isn't true, you hear someone teaching something other than what God's word says, you seek to correct it.  I know – in this post‑modern world, that's not popular.  Not at all – especially when the world today the only truth is that there isn't any truth except in the eyes of the beholder.  But think about it.  If someone was saying something false about you, if someone misrepresents what you've said or written, wouldn't you want someone who knew better to correct it?  I would.  If you've ever been the subject of a false rumor, you know that you appreciate someone standing up for you.  You appreciate someone setting the record straight.  So speaking the truth about God's Word, and insisting that others stick to the truth of God's Word is nothing more and nothing less than insisting that truth be told about God. 

So what does Jesus have to say to us in the midst of change?  He tells us where to remain – and that is in His love.  What does that love look like?  Well, that love is a love of self-sacrifice.  “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”  It's a love that was unwilling to watch from heaven as we all lived and died and went to hell without Him.  It's love that thought only of us and not of Himself.  Think of what this world would look like if that kind of love were always among us.  There would be no divorce.  There would be perfect harmony in marriage.  There would be no war.  There would be no ethic divisions.  There would be no violence in the inner cities.  There would be no kidnappings.  There would be no rumors or suspicions of people. 

So what does Jesus have to say to us in the midst of change?  He tells us where to remain – in His love.  What does that love look like?  Not only is it sacrificial love, it's love that is willing to call us friends instead of simply slaves.  “You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business.  Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.:  Make no mistake.  Calling us friends does not put us on equal footing with Jesus.  He's still our God.  He's still our teacher, and we the students.  But it does assure us of our special status before Him.  It is a special privilege one that we are given, not anything that we earned. 

So what else does Jesus have to say to us in the midst of change?  He tells us where to remain, that we are to remain in His love.  What does that look like?  It's sacrificial love.  It's love that is willing to call us friends instead of slaves.  And it is love that enwraps us in the almighty power of God so that not even the gates of hell can prevail against it.  In verse 16, we read, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit fruit that will last.  Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”  The other day I saw a bumper sticker that said, "Elect Jesus King of your life."  This text says that's impossible.  We don't choose Him.  We don't elect Him.  He elected us.  And because He elected us, we are assured of our place in heaven.  We belong to Jesus forever.  This reminds us that nothing can take us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, as Paul describes in Romans. 

In the midst of change, Jesus tells us where to stay.  We are to remain in His love.  His love is sacrificial love.  His love calls us friends instead of slaves.  His love has elected us as His own, meaning that He guards us against all evil while we live among evil until He takes us to be with Him in heaven.  And therefore, as that loves pours into our lives, Jesus has a simple request in verse 17: “This is my command: Love each other.”  It's a simple command – just let the love that is pouring into your life spill out into the lives of others.  That's all.  That's how confident God is about His love – the quantity of His love – that there is so much of it pouring into your life that all you have to do is get out of the way and let this self-sacrificial, friend bestowing, salvation guarding love spill into the lives of others.  Another way to put it would be, "Get out of the way, and let God's love pour from you into the lives of others."

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen

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