(LOVING) TO THE EXTREME
Love is an easy thing to talk about: it’s a
hard thing to actually live. The people
whom Paul was writing to in this letter to the Romans knew this as much as
anyone that you may know or think of.
The Roman church consisted largely of a Gentile population and while
there had to have been Jewish members of the church, they were most certainly
outnumbered by their non-Jewish counterparts.
The thing that we need to remember, however,
is that this church, in the scope of the larger Roman society, had to have been
considered, especially when Paul is composing these thoughts in the mid to late
first century, not much more than an afterthought: a small little sect of
people who were off doing their own thing and if that thing got in the way of
where the greater society was moving, well, then that small little sect of
people would be removed and eliminated from the equation of life. You throw that variable into your life and how
you love, especially love of those who do not believe what you believe, becomes
something that is incredibly hard to conceive of, let alone implement.
And yet, that is exactly what Paul is putting
before the Roman church. Allow your love
to be felt by everyone you meet: obviously your family and friends, and your brothers
and sisters in the faith, but more importantly to love those who don’t love
you. Paul is saying that we need to love
to the extreme.
Again, easier said than done, but if we look
at the example of the one who we know as Lord and Savior, an example that we realize
was absolutely set for us, we are shown where our steps must go.
So how are we going to follow through and
live by the example that Jesus set and Paul articulated? How are we going to follow through and love
to the extreme? The scripture reads
this way.
Romans 12:9-21
9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in
showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in
suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the
saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
14 Bless those
who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with
those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with
one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to
be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but
take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is
possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved,
never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is
written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 No,
“if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them
something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their
heads.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
“(Loving) To the Extreme”
So where were you …last Sunday…say at around
7:30 AM? In most cases we’d have to take
a moment of pause and think for a second.
But not this year! Oh no, this
year, we are able to remember the last Sunday in August without any issues
whatsoever, because this year, we were still waiting for a Hurricane to blow
through, many of us were without power, and a whole lot of us were dealing with
water in places that we never want to see water.
I fit into all of the categories I just
mentioned. As the sun came up, I went
downstairs to see how far the waters had risen in the basement. We had about 3 ˝ inches. We had talked with all our neighbors the
night before so they knew that if the power went out, we’d need to plug into
their generator. So as I was heading
out, Sal, our neighbor was coming across.
A few minutes later we were plugged into his generator and a river began
to be created by the sump pump. Then I
went over to the church. I came in,
flipped on a light switch (habits are hard to break) and went downstairs. I couldn’t see much but what I did see was
reflecting off of the 4 inches of water that filled the entire basement. Half an hour later (about 8:45), Jen and I
were over at the Bulik’s to see if they had a
generator that we could borrow to get the church’s sump pump
working. They did.
As people began to show up to church they all
asked how they could help. Extensions
chords were procured, three additional emergency pumps were brought in, coffee
was brewed and purchased, and, after a short worship service where we talked
about Noah (come on, you had to see that one coming!), a conga line of
furniture and materials began coming up the steps. Individuals who had been up all night dealing
with flooding in their own homes and their extended families’ homes came to
carry stuff up. People used brooms and squiggies to push the water to the pumps to get it
out. By 1:15 in the afternoon,
everything that could be done, had been done.
It was an absolute wonder to behold the love
of people as they sacrificed of themselves so as to help the church. I walked away that afternoon tired but so
utterly reassured that God is in this place, working in and through us to do
things that we could not do on our own.
And that’s important, because the message
that Paul is saying to the church in Rome and to all of those believers who
subsequently read these words is, “Believers in Jesus! We need to be like Jesus! Yes, we need to love our families and friends
(which is absolutely what was on display this past
Sunday), but our love needs to go to the extreme: we even need to love those
who hate us. We need to be willing to
pray for and even care for those who want us to fall.”
We need to do this because it is the only
true way to ultimately overcome the evil that we encounter in those who hate
us.
Another quick hurricane story: I was talking
with a guy who needed some ice. He found
out that a place over Flemington way had some and he went over and asked how
much it cost. He was told $6.50 a bag. He just looked at the shop owner and thought,
“you’ve got to be kidding me!” So he
asked, “what do you normally sell it for?” He was told, bluntly, “I’ve got the ice, you
want the ice: the price is what the price is.”
This upped the ante and not to be outdone, the guy who needed the ice
replied, “what I want to do is buy a bag so I can beat
you over the head with it.” Let’s just
say, no ice was sold in that exchange.
But so often all of us get caught up into the
mentality of an eye for an eye. You hurt
me so I’m going to hurt you. Many times
it’s even over the smallest of concerns.
Here’s the thing: that isn’t scriptural. What we find in scripture, as articulated in
these words by Paul is that only a radical love, the radically extreme love
that was exhibited through the actions of Jesus Christ,
this is the only thing that will cause the cycle of violence, of hatred, of
sinfulness to come to an end. Violence
in response to violence will not end it.
Anger in response to anger only engenders …more anger.
Look at the history of the world and what you
see are people who are not only fighting because they felt they were wronged,
but because their parents, grandparents, follow it as far down the lineage
chain as you would like, but it is in response to some previous wrong. The culture that we have perpetuated here in
the United States makes this sort of “punch back or be punched out” mentality
almost a requirement. When I watch the
local news at night, what I hear are stories of people who are stealing,
killing, retaliating, because they feel like they have been wronged, and that
they don’t have a choice. A daughter is
gunned down by a ‘stray’ bullet that was fired in the direction of a guy who
shoved the shooters girlfriend. A fight
breaks out at a football game, not on the field, but in the stands, and in the
parking lot as fans take the excitement of a game and channel it into life and
death actions because they didn’t want to be disrespected. A husband hits his wife and says that he did
it, “because she was mouthing off at me.”
Violence at
the drop of a hat. Violence
as a first response. It doesn’t
work. Big situations, little situations,
it doesn’t matter what kind of situations, the only thing that can break the
cycle of sinful anger, violence, and even hatred that we have created is when
people decide to love to the extreme, and that means stepping out and risking
to even love those who come against you.
You may think that it is way too
oversimplified but why do we think that?
I think at least part of the reason is that our society has conditioned
us to think that those who love are weak.
But I’m sorry as I look through the pages of scriptures, what I see is
that the only chance that we have of breaking the cycle of sinful retribution,
and sin-filled anger is by loving to the extreme. Jesus was hanging on the cross, being derided
by both his Roman captors and his fellow Israelites and he looks up to the sky
and says, “forgive them Father, for they know not what
they do.” He didn’t look down at them
and say, “my day is coming, and when it does, your day
is done.” That is a radical example of
what it means to love.
Now obviously, when that sort of an example
gets rolled out there many of us begin to ask the question, “Yeah, but what can
I do? That was the Son of God hanging on
that cross. I could never do that. What could I do to exemplify this radical
sort extreme love?”
Well, for one, you’ve got to work at it. You can’t think that you can love to the
extreme right out of the gate every single time. That would be like watching a highly trained
athlete do what they do and say, “I can do that” and then be disappointed when
you aren’t quite as good as those athletes.
They had to work at! So do we!
So here are a couple of examples that may
make sense to you or someone you know as to how to love to the extreme. How many of you when you’re out driving on
the road, have ever had someone cut you off?
What’s your reaction? I have to
admit that there have been too many times when I have responded to that action
by acting like a NASCAR driver and getting so close to that person’s back bumper that it feels like I’m in their back seat. I’ve heard others blow horns or some other
variation of road rage.
What if, instead, we take a breath and
display a radical form of love and instead of tailgating,
we give the person the space they did not give us? Loving to the extreme is not easy but when it
is practiced it can become who we are.
Have you ever had someone use language toward
you that was disrespectful? How have you
responded? Many of us go right back at
them, unloading a verbal barrage that only ups the ante.
What if, instead, we respond to that person
with the respect they did not show us?
Stand up for yourself but do it in a way that
love is displayed instead of anger being returned. Loving to the extreme is not easy but when it
is practiced it can become who we are.
Prior to the hurricane I was standing in one
of the really long lines that were all over the place. They were the sort of lines where almost
everyone is antsy and grumbly. I only had a couple of items. The man in front of me had a cart that had
maybe 15 items. So he didn’t have a
lot. It was one of those things where
you do what you have to do to get what you need. Well, the man kept looking at me and my stuff
and as we got to the point where he was the next person to be waited on he
turned to me again and said, “you’ve only got a couple
of things, go ahead.” I tried to say no,
but he insisted. I went ahead. As I was being checked out. He looked at the next person in line, who was
an elderly lady and without hesitation, he once again, gave up his place so
that someone else might be helped along.
He didn’t know any of us, and in the midst of a
situation where no one would think twice about him keeping his place in line,
he gave it up. In the midst of a
situation where everyone is thinking about themselves, here was a gentleman who
was thinking about others, and loving them the best that he could.
We are called to love and even called to love
those who hurt us. Not to spurn them but
to embrace them with the love of Jesus Christ.
It is this sort of love that will break the cycle of sinfulness that we
too often perpetuate. Jesus showed us
the way to live. Paul spoke about it in
his passage to the Roman church. This is
the sort of love that each of us needs to work at on a daily, hourly,
minute-by-minute basis. If we do, if we
allow this sort of loving to the extreme to exist in who we are, the world will
begin to change and change in such a way that the kingdom of God is
championed. Loving to the extreme: let
us begin to live it out in the here and now!
After Sermon Prayer
Holy and gracious God, we have been taught in
so many ways that the best and even only response to hurt is by striking
back. God, help us to come to understand
that this is not Your way, that Your way calls us to
love the world in a radical way, to the point that we love those who hurt
us. God, help us to live this sort of
life. Let it be so. Amen.