Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hear the Word of God, from 2 Peter 1.5-9:
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. 8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
As I’ve lived with our Scripture text over the past few weeks and developed these poor offerings I call Lenten sermons, I’ve found myself saying “amen” to Peter’s list of faith supplements that lead to healthy and productive growth as disciples of Jesus.
Moral knowledge? Amen! Self-control? Amen! Patient endurance? Amen! Godliness? Amen? Brotherly affection? Amen? Love for everyone? I repeat: Love for everyone?
I admit it…I have trouble responding to that one with an “amen.”
I’m sorry, but I’ve encountered truly unlovable people in my journey through life. I don’t mean to pass judgment upon them in saying this; I recognize that my own unique perceptions and opinions are skewed and flawed at times, and that there are those who have no doubt found me to be a truly unlovable person from their perspective. Nevertheless, honestly demands that I acknowledge my struggle with loving EVERYONE. I imagine I’m not the only person who wrestles with this concept/expectation as expressed by Peter in this morning’s text.
I’ve been blessed in that I have struggled to love only a handful of people I’ve encountered in my life and ministry. God has constantly and consistently placed wonderful people in the right times and the right places in my journey through this world, and I am thankful and grateful for these eminently lovable people.
However, I have happened upon a few who I’ve found to be altogether unlovable. I regret to say that most of them are individuals who have been or are currently in positions of Church leadership.
There. I said it. Some of the most unlovable people I’ve encountered have been individuals who have held themselves out to be Christian preachers, teachers, and leaders.
Again, I imagine I’m not the only person who has experienced this reality.
I can move from a very good mood to a very bad mood in a matter of moments at the sound of the names of some people or at their appearance in some form on the Internet. The last thing I want to do is hear Peter say that I’m supposed to love them.
I’d just as soon eat dirt…or drink iced tea without sugar (sorry…just a brief side-commentary from my upbringing!).
However, I have to remind myself of the term Peter uses for “love” in his letter. The Greek New Testament word is “agape,” which I’m sure is familiar to many of you. Last week, we discovered that “philia” is “brotherly love” that arises from mutual bonds with others. In addition to “philia,” there is also “eros” (romantic love) and “storge” (affection for those we find naturally lovable). “Agape” is love in the way God loves. It is this love that Peter urges us to show to everyone in our lives.
C. S. Lewis defined this “agape” love in a clear and succinct statement: “Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.”
Peter isn’t insisting that I feel affectionate toward everyone. He is simply urging me to pray for…and be willing to participate in…the obtainment of every individual’s ultimate good. That’s still a tall order; prayer and a willingness to participate are concrete actions that require an attitude of sacrifice and self-surrender. However, it’s easier to do when we remember what God has done for us. Consider the following verses:
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. (1 John 4.9-11)
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5.6-8
) When we were at our worst, God gave us His best: He sent His perfect Son into the world to die for our sins on the cross of Calvary. He accomplished for us “our ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” He did this in spite of the fact that we were at our most “unlovable” in life, because love isn’t about how lovable we find people to be. Love is about how lovable God declared us to be…and how He actively participated in the obtainment of our ultimate good: reconciliation between God and humanity through the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life as a result. It could only be accomplished by God taking the initiative and “making the first move.”
So, what should I do about the people I find to be unlovable?
I can’t change them, and I can’t necessarily change my feelings toward them (although, ultimately, God can). What I can change is my actions: I can pray for their ultimate good as far as it can be obtained, and I can surrender myself to God’s will in voluntarily participating in whatever way God chooses for me to participate in the bringing about of their ultimate good.
In the process, I’ll discover that God is bringing about my own ultimate good through my prayers and participation…a good “as far as it can be obtained.”
Love for everyone? Seriously?
Yes and amen.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all.
Amen.
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