Keep The Conflict Going
Can conflict be a good thing? Find out what the apostle John had in mind in I John 2:15-17 when he encourages us to Keep The Conflict Going. June 22, 2008.
Some things just seem to go together. You can’t think of the one without the other. Batman and Robin, bacon and eggs, Barnes and Noble, Briggs and Stratton, brats and beer. But some things don’t seem to mix. If they get close, there’s going to be conflict, like two magnets with similar polarization repelling each other. Oil and water, Israelis and Arabs, Democrats and Republicans, Brewers fans and Cubs fans. There’s even a saying for two people who get into it. We call it fighting like cats and dogs.
No matter what your political views and opinions regarding the war in Iraq, whether you think it’s important for our troops to remain there to stabilize the Iraqi government for a shorter time or a longer time, no one wants that conflict to go on forever. But the Scripture lessons today reveal the fact that conflict can be a good thing – I wouldn’t say good in the sense of pleasant but good in the sense of necessary and beneficial, like surgery, which in most cases may not be pleasant but is necessary and beneficial. That’s what the apostle John had in mind when he encourages us to Keep The Conflict Going.
(The conflict between) Love that Passes
After Cain murdered his brother Abel, God told him that he would be a wanderer on the earth. In total defiance of God’s command Cain built a city. Why would Cain, already guilty before God and cursed by God, want to tweak God’s nose and stoke the fire of God’s anger? The apostle John has a phrase for it – the desire of the flesh, the longing to satisfy urges and feelings that originate on the inside.
Now comes the hard part. Now comes the connection with what grabbed a hold of Cain and what the apostle warned against with what is going on in your heart and mine. God never says that feelings are wrong or sinful in and of themselves, but when feelings become longing, craving, and lead to actions that defy God – “I have to have more chocolate, or I’ll die;” “I have to have nicotine, or I won’t be able to exist;” “I have to satisfy my sexual urges, and I’ll do anything, even risk getting caught at work or at home with illicit Internet connections” – now we’re dealing with something that has taken over first place in our hearts and has become our god. Martin Luther once said that whatever holds first place in our heart is our god. When that happens, then we’re no better than the Israelites who danced around the golden calf. Then we are pushing love from God and love for God out of our heart like shoving them out the doors of an already stuffed elevator, an elevator in which we have pushed the button marked “hell.” That’s why John wrote, “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – [including] the desire of the flesh – is not from the Father but is from the world. The world and its desires pass away.
A Syrian commander contracted leprosy. There was no cure. But his wife had a servant girl from Israel who told her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria[meaning Elisha]! He would cure him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:3). The commander eventually went to see Elisha. Elisha cured him. The commander wanted to pay him. Elisha said, “No way! I really didn’t cure you. God did, my God, the only true God.” The commander headed for home. But Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, saw all that dough riding away and couldn’t stand it. He hurried after the Syrian commander and made up some cockamamie story about poor colleagues of Elisha needing assistance. The commander gave Gehazi double the amount of money he asked for. Gehazi went home a happy man, planning to keep the loot for himself. Why did Gehazi go after that money? The apostle John has a phrase for it – the desire of the eyes, the longing to satisfy urges and feelings that originate from what we see on the outside.
Now comes the hard part. Now comes the connection with what grabbed a hold of Gehazi and what the apostle warned against with what is going on in your heart and mine. God never says that looking at something to admire it is wrong or that wanting something and striving in a God-pleasing way to get it is wrong, but when seeing something and longing for it detract from contentment in what God has already given us and drive us to actions that defy God and even hurt others – “I have to have that newer car or bigger house or nicer outfit or electronic gadget” – now we’re dealing with something that has taken over first place in our hearts and has become our god. Then we’re no better than the Israelites who danced around the golden calf. That’s why John wrote, “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – [including] the desire of the eyes – is not from the Father but is from the world. The world and its desires pass away.?
Jesus once told a story about a rich man and poor Lazarus. The rich man lived in luxury every day(Luke 16:19). He died and went to hell. Lazarus died and went to heaven. Obviously, the difference between going to heaven or hell was not based on their financial status but their faith-in-God status. But why did the rich man have no trust in God and end up in hell? The apostle John has a phrase for it – the boasting of what one has and does.
Now comes the hard part. Now comes the connection with what grabbed a hold of the rich man in Jesus’ story and what the apostle warned against with what is going on in your heart and mine. God never says that being rich or having nice things is wrong, but when our lifestyle and creature comforts detract from what we give to God and do for others, now we’re dealing with something that has taken over first place in our hearts and become our god. There are folks who hear what I’m saying right now and are ready to tune me out because they’re thinking, “I’m not like that rich man. I’m not rich.” Maybe you don’t have a six figure income. Maybe you don’t have four cars and a big house. Maybe you have more credit card debt than savings. But when you talk to people who have traveled to third world countries, then you realize the incredible wealth in this country and how good you and I have it, even if we’re on the lower end of the American pay scale. We all need to take an honest look at how we use our money. Look at what you eat and how often you go out to eat, the shoes in your closet, the cell phones, ipods, HDTV and compare that to the percentage of income you offer to the Lord. Are you joyfully giving twenty percent of your net income to God? Ten percent? Five percent? Or just pennies on the dollar? Do you know that if only our active members at Grace offered just five percent of their income to the Lord – not ten percent or twelve percent – but if they averaged five percent (some more and some less), we would have a four hundred thousand dollar surplus of offerings at the end of the year. When our life situation leads us to ignore the thrill of joyful and generous giving, then our lifestyle has become our god. Then we’re no better than the Israelites who danced around the golden calf. That’s why John wrote, “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – [including] the boasting of what one has and does – is not from the Father but is from the world. The world and its desires pass away. All of that – the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes and the boasting of what one has and does – falls into the category of love that passes.
(The conflict between) Love that Lasts
To counter that, Keep The Conflict Going, the conflict between love that passes and love that lasts. The apostle Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians, “Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love”(1 Corinthians 13:13). What did he mean by that? What he meant is that in a certain sense faith and hope come to an end, but love lasts. Now on earth we have faith in Jesus so that we end up in heaven. But when we’re there, the kind of faith that looks forward to something will be replaced by faith in what is in our possession. Now on earth we have sure and certain hope that we’ll end up in heaven. But when we’re there, that hope will end because we’ll be enjoying the real thing. You don’t have to hope for a special birthday present when it’s already opened and in your lap. But love, love is for now and forever. Love remains. Love lasts. Why? Because God is love (1 John 4:16), and his love lasts.
The Bible says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever”(Hebrews 13:8). Jesus promised, “I will be with you always even to the end of the age”(Matthew 28:20). Does that scare me once in a while that Jesus is always looking in on what I’m doing, even knowing my deepest inner thoughts and long-buried secrets? Sure! Because of the desire of my flesh, the desire of my eyes, and the boasting of what I have and do. But God’s love is bigger than all that and swallows it all up. His love is pure and free and for us all. The apostle John sums that up when he refers to the love of the Fatherand says that the one who does the will of God lives forever.
Take a scissors and clip this passage from your Bible, and you can get a totally wrong idea of what the apostle is getting at. He is not, he is definitely not saying that you or I or anyone else can do something to earn a spot in heaven. How do we know that? Because this passage is cemented into the context of the passages in the rest of this letter and the rest of the Bible. It is wrong to try to get the meaning of a Bible passage by taking it out of its context in the same way that the meaning of the words “be afraid” change completely if you take them out of the sentence, “Don’t be afraid.”
What did John mean when he wrote, “The one who does the will of the Father will live forever?” The Bible makes it perfectly clear that there is a huge difference between doing to receive something and doing because of having received something. Do you know what I’m talking about? Doing or behaving in order to receive God’s love is one hundred eighty degrees different than doing or behaving because we already have God’s love. Doing in order to earn or get or receive God’s love puts us under a lot of pressure and will make us feel guilty because we eventually hit the brick wall that says we can never do enough. But doing because God has filled us with his love is nothing but a joy. Here’s how the apostle John says it in the wider context of this same letter, “We love because God first loved us”(1 John 4:19). We want to do the will of God. We want to do what God wants. But in order to get there, God first empties us of all our goofy notions that we can earn his favor by exposing our puny, paltry, sin-tainted efforts. He first humbles us in the embarrassment of how weak, how helpless, how dirty we are. Then he erases all that bad and fills up the empty space with his love, love that energizes us to do what he wants, not because we have to but because we so grateful that we want to, kind of like emptying a heart filled with contaminated blood which is sure to kill us and replacing it with new, pure blood, the blood of Jesus. Listen again to the apostle. The blood of Jesus, [God’s] Son, purifies us from every sin (1 John 1:7).
That’s the love that lasts. That love from the heavenly Father endures. That love from God wages war against love for the things of this world and has the power to overcome the desire of our flesh, the desire of our eyes, and the boasting of what we have and do. That love from our Savior inspires us, lifts us away from sinful, selfish desires, and empowers in us the desire to love our spouse, our kids, and our friends with no strings attached even if they hurt us, the desire to pray fervently and regularly, the desire to serve and volunteer, the desire to tell others how awesome God is even if people seem uninterested or say, “No thanks,” the desire to give generously and joyfully of our time and our money. That’s why we want to Keep The Conflict Going, the conflict between love that passes and love that lasts.
In the gospel for this day Jesus himself makes it clear that following him will bring conflict into our lives. In fact, if there is no conflict between love that passes and love that lasts in our life, there’s something wrong. But Jesus also said, “Take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He has given us his victory. My friends, live in that victory, and you will be able to Keep The Conflict Going. Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (http://www.gracedowntown.org/) on June 22, 2008
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