Fear or Love

Easter 5 – April 28, 2024

Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 22:24-30
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8

You may have noted that First John does not equivocate in his description of the actions of Christians. The writer says either you love others or you are not a Christian. Here in today’s reading he tells us either you love or you fear. For John there is no in between; no gray area - you are a Christian or you are not. If you love others as God loves you, you are a Christian. If you hate others, you are not. The same goes with fear. Many have read this letter as the goal of Christians. A goal that all try to obtain. They would say, “Because you are a Christian you will work toward loving others as God loves you.” But John does not really say that. Others may claim that this is a requirement to be saved. If you do not love others as God loves you you will not be saved. That is “works righteousness.” Neither of these two options seem good. Are they actually what John is saying? If we look at our own lives we need to admit that we have not always loved others as God loves us and we certainly have fears.

So how do we get out of this quandary? I suppose we could ignore First John claiming that the author was misguided. We could relegated it to a minor book and take from it the good stuff and ignore the rest. Neither of those options seem too helpful. I suppose part of our problem here is that we are human beings and our language and understanding gets in the way of speaking about God and God’s desire for creation. There are two tracks here that I will take. First to read John in the light of the Law and to think about what it means to abide in God.

First the Law. It seems that people do not like to talk about the Law. And when they do it often times is to complain about it. In seminary we learned the three uses of the Law. The first use of the Law is the common way we think about law. It is the guide rails that allow people to live together. It usually is listed as things you should not do. Although here in First John it is what you must do. The second use of the law is that it reminds you of how far you have fallen short of God’s expectations. It reminds you of your sin. Lastly, the law teaches you God’s way of life. First John certainly does all three. The threefold understanding of the law is a way to try and grasp the all or nothing approach of John. And if First John is a catechism for new converts this understanding of the book is appropriate.

The other approach is John’s use of abide. He tells us that if God abides in us we will love as God loves us because God is love. The Greek word that is translated “abide with” could also mean “dwell with” or “walk beside.” Today’s text is saying that loving others is the result of God abiding in us. John seems to indicate that you can only love others because God loves you. This points to our own stubbornness and attempts to live our lives in our own way. While God abides in us we are able to reject that gift and we then are not doing God’s will. But we can surrender our lives to God who abides in us and let God work through our lives to bring to the world the gifts that God gives.

Give in to God. You are not the vine, you are the branches. Open your lives up to God’s pruning  so you can bear more fruit. Instead of resisting God’s call to love others as God loves you, let God abide in you so that you can share God’s love with all the world. Then, through you, others will see Jesus.

Christ is Risen!