Real love means living out our faith by what we do. Non believers will criticize the Church when we profess to be loving, but practice exclusiveness. To exclude others from our congregations will be seen as hypocritical. People will say "They don't practice what they preach." Whether we realize it or not, people are watching everything we do.
I don't like sermons filled with a lot of "you ought" and "you must" and "you should." I'm sick and tired of that. You probably are as well. I don't need more advice. What I need is strength. I don't need to be told what's the right thing to do, as much as I need the strength it.
Our society's message is clear: Practice your faith, if you must, but please do it PRIVATELY. First John says NO. It tells us that what we believe will determine how we behave--people will see it. If we are children of God, the world should be able to see the family resemblance.
Martin Luther rejected the idea that heaven was somewhere "up there" and hell "down below." Luther said that Jesus' ascension to the right hand of God was not spatial but rather than Jesus had come into his heavenly power.
Its easy to get lost without light to show us the safe channels. This letter was written to some Christian folks who had lost their way. They had separated themselves from the fellowship, thinking that they were better than others. Instead of navigating with the light of God they were on a collision coarse, sailing in the dark.
I hate to say this, but, be honest: Here we are, only a week after Easter, and, already, the Lilies are beginning to fade. We're not the first to experience the post-Easter doldrums, of course.
Christmas is a sign and a proof that the promise of Jesus' return will be fulfilled. He came once and just as he came once he will come again! God promised to send the world a Savior and God sent us His only begotten Son. God had not given up on the human race then, and has not given up on us yet.
Dr. Eugene Boring explains the inspiration of Scripture by comparing it to atomic radiation. When an atomic bomb goes off, we describe the area hardest hit as "Ground Zero." Dr. Boring says that Jesus was Ground Zero of God's breaking into our world. And the Bible is inspired partly because of the nearness to the blast of Jesus' presence.
St. Peter, in his first pastoral letter, brings up an issue that has dogged people of faith for thousands of years. To a greater or lesser extent, every group who believes in a higher being must struggle to answer the question, "Why does God allow suffering in the world?"
Simone Weil, the great French writer, once remarked, "The tremendous greatness of Christianity comes from the fact that it does not seek a supernatural remedy against suffering, but a supernatural use of suffering."