“Friends of God”
The Sermon Notes of Father S. Peter Donatelli
(Easter 5; 2009 – All Biblical quotes from the New King James Version)
JOKE:
Two men were out hunting in the northern U.S. Suddenly one yelled and the other looked up to see a grizzly charging them. The first started to frantically put on his tennis shoes and his friend anxiously asked, “What are you doing? Don’t you know you can’t outrun a grizzly bear?” “I don’t have to outrun a grizzly. I just have to outrun you!”
INTRO:
Great friend! One of the most important aspects of our faith and yet one of the least talked about is the concept of Christian friendship. Do Christians have a higher expectation of friendship? Do we hold ourselves up to higher standards? What does friendship imply and what does friendship have to do with being a faithful Christian? One of the most difficult aspects of being a Christian is constantly opening your heart to the possibility of friendship knowing that there is always a chance that your heart will be broken by abandonment, rejection, or being backstabbed. The Good News that’s found in this morning’s readings is that Christian friendship bears do much fruit, so much joy, and so much love, that we are willing to risk everything for this fellowship. This feeling is not only gratifying it is obligatory to our walk with Jesus. I thank Craig for putting Acts 2:42 on our Blog site because it reflects who we are as the family of God as we continue steadfastly in the apostles’ teachings and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayer. If we do this together as one mighty unit, according to Acts 2 we will grow. Aristotle said, “Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.” In the case of the Church of Christ Jesus Victor this reflection reigns with dozens of people and one single soul. The only question remaining is whether we are willing to be one or are we going to constantly divide. Our God is the God of unity and never division and let me be the first to say I am not going anywhere and I will be your friend for as long as you are willing to covenant with me. So let’s dive into the readings and discuss what this entails.
POINT ONE:
The message of God’s love is to all people. One of our callings as friends of God is make this message available to everyone. I have been getting into Facebook on line. I like to get on and check out if anyone is commenting on my latest pictures or words of wisdom (mostly absurd) or what people I know are doing. This messaging device also helps me keep up with people around the country even around the world. Though Facebook is mostly entertainment, sometimes it can be serious. When I get home I will inform everybody that we said Mass this morning for Ashley Brock in the hopes that all my friends keep her family in their prayers. We may weep a little as we recollect how special this little girl was, and maybe we will look beyond and celebrate her life on earth as we look forward to embracing her someday on Heaven. Regardless, here is a tool that makes our lives a bit more enriched. The fact is however, no tool can take the place of physical, personal interaction. This morning we read of a man who had a kind of Facebook, namely the Scriptures and this comes to fruition as he finally meets the apostle who will take Scriptures to its earthly resting place, the hearts of all who believe. Acts 10: 24 And the following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I myself am also a man.” 27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together. 28 Then he said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. 29 Therefore I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. I ask, then, for what reason have you sent for me?” 30 So Cornelius said, “Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon here, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you.’ 33 So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God.”34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. 36 The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all— 37 that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 39 And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. 40 Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42 And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. 43 To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”
There are two things to take away from this reading. First there is neither Gentile nor Jew, woman or man, slave or free, that is out of bounds for our messaging the love of God. Our friends, our fellowship is with all people who want a relationship with Jesus Christ. Now notice I did not talk about behavioral issues. Quite frankly a good friend is one who can tell you that you are sinning and need to repent and change your life for the sake of their own good. After all we want to spend eternal life with your friends. Secondly, our faith is not exclusive to anybody. Peter was shown by God that Cornelius was not only worthy of his friendship but understood the Scriptures better than any religious authority of the time; even Peter himself who needed to be corrected from his erroneous perception that Christianity was only available to the Jews. There is no arrogance in friendship.
POINT TWO:
Friendship is a form of the greatest passion of all; love. At the risk of being wishy-washy, we need love and we need to love and we need to be loved. This is how we were created because God is love and we are made in His image. The greatest example of this is marriage. I do not call my wife my best friend. Quite frankly I think it reduces her worth to me. Seriously folks, Craig is one of my best friends but when he walks into the room it pales in comparison to when Cindy walks in. Sorry Craig! However we learn an important message about friendship love when we understand the foundations of marriage. Quite frankly this foundation carries the whole purpose of the Church, the Bride of Jesus, our Mother on earth (c.f. last week’s sermon). This foundation principle is covenant and without an understanding of the lifelong, self-sacrificing, covenant we make, we cannot begin to understand friendship. I do not need transient friends. I need covenanted people with whom I want to spend this life and eternity with. The only way to respond to God’s messaging and share God’s messaging is to covenanting your life with God through fellowship with His eternal Bride, the Church. The particular call you received here is with us the Church of Christ Jesus Victor. The more we embrace this call the more we grow in His love. The more others see this love the more they want it and the more this community grows. The end of Acts 10 states that as Peter and Cornelius became friends, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in them and this percolated down into Cornelius’ house and community. St. John tells us in his first letter; 1 John 4: 7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
That awfully sappy movie “Jerry McGuire” has the line, “You complete me,” in it. Well I am not sure how far that relationship went but when God says it, completion can only go for ever.
POINT THREE:
That is why “remaining in God’s friendship” means we stay there and we don’t move. How we admire the obedience a dog shows to its master! Archibald Rutledge wrote that one day he met a man whose dog had just been killed in a forest fire. Heartbroken, the man explained to Rutledge how it happened. Because he worked out-of-doors, he often took his dog with him. That morning, he left the animal in a clearing and gave him a command to stay and watch his lunch bucket while he went into the forest. His faithful friend understood, for that’s exactly what he did. Then a fire started in the woods, and soon the blaze spread to the spot where the dog had been left. But he didn’t move. He stayed right where he was, in perfect obedience to his master’s word. With tearful eyes, the dog’s owner said, “I always had to be careful what I told him to do, because I knew he would do it.” Sad as this is it speaks of the amazing sacrifice Christians must endure. The Good News is that God’s command is simply to love. John 15: 9″As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I 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. 16You 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. 17This is my command: Love each other.
CONCLUSION:
I was proud of Pope Benedict for choosing love to be the topic of his first encyclical. As he said in the very beginning, “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” We do not sacrifice our lives for a lofty idea but we do sacrifice our lives for our friends. Let us encounter one another over and over again for the rest of our lives. In doing so perhaps we will continue in the apostles teachings, the breaking of the bread, and the prayers, fulfilling what Jesus commands us to do. The result of this obedience is the greatest love of all. Imagine you can tell people that you are friends with God!
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