Advent Lutheran Church

“I Have Called You Friends”:
Christ-Centered Community:
We Remember God’s Gift of Friendship in Christ

Advent Lutheran Church, Morgan Hill, CA

Rev. Anita R. Warner

Texts: Isaiah 41:1-10; John 14:12-17

…But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend….
Isaiah 41:8

Jesus said to his disciples, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”       
John 15:12-17

God's Word to the Exiles

Do people you know find it strange that you are a part of a church?
Do they find it stranger still that you might give a significant portion of your income to the work of God through the church?

More and more, people who follow Jesus may not feel at home in the values and assumptions of the world around us. I know that several times a day, large matters or small get my attention and make it clear that I don’t share all the same values of the surrounding culture. Many of you have said similar things to me.

The condition of being away from your “true home base” in the place you live could be described as “exile.” I think “exile” describes pretty well the experience of people trying to follow Jesus in this world.

The exiles for whom the prophet Isaiah was writing (in the first reading) had literally lost their land, their homes, their ways of worshiping God. God had a word for them: You are mine. You belong to me. I was friends with your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will be with you.
God has this word for modern-day exiles, too: I have called you friends. Jesus has brought you into friendship with me.

In the community in which Jesus seeks to make friends for his kingdom of peace and righteousness, he is always surrounded by people who relate to him in a variety of ways:

The New Testament record – from the story of the Magi to verses in Acts that tell about the first churches – is consistent in its presentation that this is the type of community where Christ is the center and is its friend.
          It is not a homogeneous community; it can be represented by a series of concentric circles moving outward from belief to unbelief. In the course of our lives and journey of faith, we may move in and out, between these circles. Those who believe bring loving and generous displays of friendship; those who are skeptical bring questions; the penitent bring confessions; and so on.
          I invite you to take a moment and silently identify where you would place yourself in this set of circles.

          A congregation that seeks to be a Christ-centered community must understand that in effective ministry the people in all of the circles gather in witness of the work of Christ. Our presence together is a sign that the gospel is going forth and doing its work.

Abraham was God’s friend (Is. 41). So God does not abandon the offspring.
God keeps reaching out in friendship. God made friends with humanity through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then through Jesus, the kingdom of God was opened to all who believe in him.

You are someone whom Jesus loves. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he give his life for his friends.” His life was given for you. You are someone God loves. You are God’s friend.

What do friends talk about? The saying isn’t true: friends do talk about money. Jesus’ friends – his disciples – were used to hearing him talk about money. If we were to strike the comments of Jesus about money, we would reduce his teachings by more than one-third. Sixteen of Jesus’ approximately thirty-eight parables dealt with money. One of every seven verses in the first three Gospels in some way deals with money. In fact, Jesus spoke about money more than about any other single subject, except the kingdom of God. Perhaps this was because Jesus understood how money itself can become a god. When he said, “You cannot serve God and wealth,” and “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” indicate his awareness of the preemptive role played by money in the lives of people.

I recently saw a McDonalds commercial that made me laugh. Two young men admiring each other’s tie, haircut, shirt, comparing the costs and bargains they got on each. When our family moved to south county, for a while, every conversation we had, whether with people we just met or with older friends, was about real estate / housing prices. Friends do talk about money.

You will receive in the mail this week a brochure created by Dave Johanson. On this colorful brochure you see listed some of what our congregation does in our community. Most people see this and respond, “I had no idea our congregation does so much!” Each of us are involved in a few aspects of this overall mission. Together, we give a powerful witness for Christ in south county. And financial resources makes all these things possible.

What if God has initiated friendship with you in order to bring you into a part of the salvation of the whole world? What if Jesus calls his disciples friends because they will be the ones entrusted with this precious mission?
What if God is entrusting this same mission to us? God’s second word to the exiles, after “You belong to me; you are mine,” is “I have for you this purpose, that you participate in my work in the world, that you carry my salvation to your neighbors.”

Some say, “I can give time and talent but not money” Scripture doesn’t give us the option of which of these three we are to give, for we are to give our whole  selves in the mission of Christ and give all three to some degree. We are given all we have so that we can pour it out into the world. We need to give for the sake of our spiritual health, our well-being in the world.

I will propose for us 4 practical points about giving.

Philip Yancy (What's So Amazing about Grace?) writes about a definition of love that Mother Teresa gave at a National Prayer Breakfast.
         
… Rolled out in a wheelchair, the frail, eighty-three-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate needed help to stand up. A special platform had been positioned to allow here to see over the podium. Even so, hunched over, four-feet-six-inches tall, she could barely reach the microphone. She spoke clearly and slowly with a thick accent in a voice that nonetheless managed to fill the auditorium.

Mother Teresa said that America has become a selfish nation, in danger of losing the proper meaning of love: "giving until it hurts." [p. 244]

I had don’t often hear love defined like that. We talk about love as the warm feelings inside when we are with a special person – or even thinking about that person. We talk about "making love.” We talk about loving a car or some other object, meaning that we really like it, or really want it, or we spend all our extra time working on it. We often think of love as getting or having something. It is a feeling I have or want to get. It is a person I get. It is an object I have or want to get.

However, Mother Teresa says that love is giving – giving until it hurts. That's what Jesus does. In fact, he not only gives until it hurts; he will continue giving until he dies. That's how much pain he will suffer on behalf of those he loves. That's also the lifestyle that Mother Teresa lived.

But, as Pastor Paul Thomton suggested to us, we don’t just give until it hurts; for giving sacrificially involves us in the great mission of God and feels great!

Habit frees! When you determine to do something, you do not need to give weighty consideration every time to “how much should I give?” You simply give as you have intended.

Jesus said to his disciples, “I have called you friends.” They were probably awestruck that night when, their master, said that to them. Only in time did they come to know all of what he meant. He trusted them. He entrusted his mission with them, for when he died and rose from the dead, the mission he had begun had to be told and lived out by those friends, or the mission would have died in its very beginning.

There was an episode on “The Wonder Years” about choosing basketball teams in PE class. The teacher chose two captains who picked the rest of their team. As usual, the poor players were always chosen last -- which did little to help their self-esteem. Kevin was the main character in the show. Some of his friends, who were usually chosen last, complained to Kevin. Kevin brings their complaint to the teacher, who promptly makes Kevin one of the next captains. He has to choose his team. His best friend -- and one of the worst players -- looks at Kevin with eager anticipation. Will Kevin choose him early in the rounds -- or be like all the other captains?

Kevin chooses his friend -- and he felt good about bolstering his ego. So the next round, he chooses another poor-playing friend. Some of those he had chosen were getting after Kevin. "Pick some of those good players. We want to win this game." Kevin kept picking the losers -- and he felt good about it -- and they felt good about being picked early.

As I remember the basketball game. Kevin's team did miserably. They didn't come close to winning, but they enjoyed the game. They weren't playing to win. They were playing to have fun. Isn't that what sports should be about?

If Jesus wanted to win in the religious game -- he should have chosen the Pharisees. They were the extremely pious people in the first century. They were the ones who prayed at least three times a day. They knew their Bibles. They worked hard at obeying every one of God's laws.

Who did Jesus choose? He chose fishermen -- known to be crude and foul-mouthed, impatient and hot-headed. He chose a tax collector -- known to be a swindler. He chose a zealot -- a fanatical revolutionary. Jesus chooses us -- known sinners, known to be somewhat less than perfect, known to have all kinds of problems in our lives. God elects the rejects.

Jesus has said to us: “I have called you friends.” He trusts us to carry the mission of the gospel, the work of his salvation, into the world, to give generously of all we have. What trust. What life.