From: Dr. Randy L. Rowland [rlrowland@comcast.net] Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2007 8:28 PM To: Dr. Randy L. Rowland Subject: Weekly Words From Randoon ... 3/25/2007 Welcome to Weekly Words From Randoon …for the week of 3/25/2007 This Issue: 1. Reflections on: 1 John 4:13-19 “Living Beyond Our Fears In Love” 2. News From Sanctuary 3. Prayers REFLECTIONS on 1 John 4:13-19 “Living Beyond Our Fears In Love” Sometimes I begin with a story. Not so today. Simply a mind blowing, image-enlivening text that pretty much says it all when it comes to living beyond our fears in love: 1 John 4 :13-19 13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. When one of the New Testament Scholars I respect most deeply wrote about this passage, here is what Marianne Meye Thompson said… “What is love?...is a question asked by theologians, philosophers and ethicists; by romantic poets and adolescents, by betrayed spouses and abandoned children; by the hopeful and the hopeless; by the dreamy-eyed and the cynical. Answers to the question are many. And, sadly enough, many of the answers betray a hard-edged cynicism….dream about love, sing about it, write about it – but avoid it, for it does not bring hope and joy, only hopelessness and bitterness…The author of 1 John has a different view of the matter. Simply and boldly he writes GOD IS LOVE.” This passage is all about the nature of LOVE. While God is love works as a formula…LOVE IS GOD, the reverse proof does not. It is a null-proposition and a false statement. What this passage says is that GOD IS THE STANDARD OF LOVE. Augustine of Hippo “I loved yet not yet, yet I loved to love…I sought what I might love in love with loving.”…a statement about being in love with love but no knowing what love is or what the measure of love ought to be.. A classical working Definition of Love. From Aristotle “To seek the highest good for another.” This is pretty much the “perfect” love that operates in all spheres that the Apostle John speaks of in our passage today…seeking the highest good…Perfect love would be: God or the highest of all beings loving us PERFECTLY, Me LOVING MYSELF PERFECTLY, ME LOVING OTHERS (and Trusting God, not the reverse) PERFECTLY, ME BEING LOVED AND SUPPORTED BY OTHERS PERFECTLY. Our passage LOCATES love in the CHARACTER & ACTION of GOD …God’s very nature is love….so he loves us and places his love IN us by the HOLY SPIRIT (verse 13) And, verse 14 – we can testify to the Reality of God and the life, death and resurrection of JESUS because God’s Spirit and God’s love are in us. JESUS IS THE ACTION OF GOD SEEKING THE VERY BEST FOR ANOTHER. Jesus comes to us, not us to him. Jesus gives to us of his very life expecting nothing in return. He extends value to us., but does not extract value from those whom he loves. THIS IS PERFECT LOVE. Our personal faith statements/God-talk are TESTIMONIES, like legal documents attesting to God’s love for us and in us. THAT’S WHY WE SHARE A PRACTICE HERE AT SANCTUARY OF “WE TALK ABOUT JESUS”. Listen to verses 14-15 in our text one more time: “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.” When we hold up Jesus Christ as the model of PERFECT LOVE, we tap into the very nature and standard of love. AND NOTICE THIS ABOUT OUR WITNESS TO JESUS. Jesus is a “sent one” … love is not a sentiment, it is a daring action. Notice too that JESUS COMES IN THE FLESH…The Jesus who loves us and whose love we return came to us in the FLESH….HE IS TOTALLY AWARE OF HUMAN LIFE. Our fears our not unfamiliar to him. And, because of this model and empowerment we have to know the character/definition of love and the actions of love, John reassures us: “16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” And, WE CAN KNOW God’s love in ACTION. And, WE CAN RELY ON GOD’s LOVE AT WORK IN US Now, Armed with a good working definition of the nature of love and the action of love, John invites us to bring the practical power of love to bear upon perhaps the most primal and challenging aspect of life: OUR FEARS. Fear originates in the limbic parts of our brain, buried deep in gray matter near the base of the brain. Fear is not rational, but it is remarkably powerful. What in the world can love do with fear? Just as I am thinking that I cannot be helped and that instead I must hide my fears, cower to them, cover them, deny them, redefine them, JOHN WAKES ME UP WITH THIS>>> 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. LOVE is God’s intentional FRONTAL ASSAULT on all of our fears. The kind of love Aristotle could only DESCRIBE, JESUS CHRIST DEMONSTRATES and as the great physician to our souls, PRESCRIBES FOR US LOVE. Like I have shared the past two weeks in our dialogue about LIVING BEYOND OUR FEARS IN FAITH AND HOPE…IT IS ALSO TRUE OF LOVE…THAT IT SIMPLY OUT-WRESTLES FEAR FOR CONTROL OF US….To the degree that fear controls us, we lack “love-development” in those areas. I don’t know about you, but I can accept this as encouragement and a challenge. I don’t want to continue to be punished by my fears….but I want to step out in faith, hope and LOVE to live beyond my fears no matter how hard it is or how long it takes. On the other hand, I need to hold this model of love up in front of me. Again, I don’t know about you, but I have in the past been influenced by forms of Assertiveness training that bring aggression and anger at fear…..but I realize in the end that the anger and aggression are just replacement forms of fear. In LOVE, our triumph over fear is joyous and bold, but not militant or abusive So….as I end this series, I ask myself…Are My Spiritual “Practices” working “Practically” – To know that I am living into “belonging to God, Praying, Participating in Empowering relationships and living and talking Jesus….I should be experiencing a quality of love that is EXPULSIVE to all other powers. God is love – If I am practicing things that deepen and strengthen my connection to God, then I will be LIVING in LOVE and God and God’s love will be “evident to me and through me”. As I practice a life of love, I literally become like “him” in the world in which I live. Isn’t that what you long for….to live in this world with the love and grace that Jesus showed. To live beyond fear..even fear of death on a cross. And…to be willing to keep at living, loving, longing and languishing day in and day out as long as God gives you breath? NEWS FROM SANCTUARY – Attendance: 103 Kids: 5 Offering: $1,668 Coming up: Special African Palm crosses for Palm Sunday April 1st. FIRST EVER SANCTUARY NEW MEMBERS CLASS & LUNCHEON – Next Sunday 4/1 11:00’ish-1:30pm. Good Friday 4/6 7pm @ The Upper Crust (SE Corner of 85th & Greenwood, Second Floor) Special service @ 7pm. Easter Sunday – Special Celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ 10:00am. Monday April 9th – 7pm MOVIE NIGHT: AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, with Ocean and Atmosphere expert Dr. Tom Ackerman PRAYERS – Lord, we ask that you be with John and Julie Eidson as they travel to the Southeast and that you would give them strength as they support John’s dad in the midst of a very serious heart condition. Spirit, give refreshment to all those on Spring break. Jesus, we pray that you would be near to all those suffering losses and setbacks, particularly those who are hurting financially. Father God, we pray your healing hand on those who are battling to recover from addictions, particularly one young man in our church family. And, God, we do beg for peace in Iraq and ask that you would be with Morgan as he returns to Baghdad to lead his troops after an R&R break here in Seattle with his fiancée Elizabeth. Go out and make it a GREAT WEEK!! Much love, Dr. Randy L. Rowland 2854 NW 59th Street Seattle, WA 98107 USA 206.953.0909 www.sanctuarycrc.org