"Sloppy Agape"
Sermon Presented September 7, 2008
Romans 13:8-14
I read the phrase "sloppy agape" - our sermon title, a couple of weeks ago, so it was fresh in my mind when I first perused this morning's text. It seemed a perfect title for this sermon! I hear many say that some people are impossible to love - and I know how they feel! We all know people like that! However, when we make this claim, we try to let ourselves off the hook of Jesus' command to love because we know we will never have loving feelings toward certain people. And time and time again, we hear that Christian love - agape love - is not a feeling but doing acts of love. We can only hope and pray that by practicing these acts of love, our feelings will be neutralized - if not changed, but this may never happen.
This Sunday I have again chosen a text from Paul's letter to the Church at Rome. As you may recall, Paul doesn't know the recipients of this letter because he has not yet visited them. But he knows about the problems in the church - and their challenges with living a life of love. Last Sunday's text was about "love" and our text this morning continues that theme. I am reading from Romans 13:8-14.
Many writers today conjecture about the reasons for the rapidly waning interest in Church attendance. Some attribute it to the declining birth rate and others to our affluence. Others believe that with increased responsibilities, the importance of weekend trips or a need to rest and read the newspaper on Sunday mornings takes precedence. Some authors believe that the Church is no longer relevant, and others, that the Church has become ingrown and is concerned primarily with meeting the budget and paying staff. Some conclude that the problem is a lack of emphasis on outreach ministries to the needy. Others leave because women are not treated with the same respect offered to men. Will Willimon, a prolific writer, United Methodist bishop, and the former dean of chapel at Duke University writes that it's because "Rotary meets at a more convenient time." (Christian Century, August 14-21, 2002, p. 21)
There is truth in all of these conjectures, but I believe that a major reason church attendance is declining is because of the lack of forgiveness and an unwillingness to extend love to those we may not agree with. Because we aren't willing to do the difficult work of reconciling with others in love, the church is robbed of the quality of life that formerly set the Christian community apart from other communities. (Ibid)
While I was pastor of a church in Kansas, a church member who lived in New York City, and whose parents, aunt and uncle were church members -sent a check for $6,000 to put in a new floor in the fellowship hall - an extremely large space. She wanted it to be a "floating floor" that looked like wood planks with the panels interlocking - tongue in groove. The cost of putting down a sub floor and installing the new floor was several thousand dollars more than her gift - which the church paid.
The church had once been a home built in late 1800's by a banker, and was donated to the church in the 1960's. It was then renovated - with a sanctuary and some classrooms on the lower floor and the fellowship hall, kitchen, restroom and additional classrooms on the upper level. I'm giving this background so you can understand that the house was old and the floors were imperfect to begin with.
With the floor's installation came a war! After the floor was laid by a local business, the relatives - who felt an ownership of the floor - found fault with the workmanship and with the quality of the flooring. They demanded that the trustees tell the business that installed the floor to remove and replace it. They attacked the owner and maligned the business throughout the small community. The trustees refused to act as they desired. I made several trips to the homes of the disgruntled members, but the pot continued to boil. Today - almost a decade since the floor was laid - it is still a matter of contention. Good people have left the church in the past five years, and those who remain continue to bicker. The lack of love exhibited by people on both sides of the issue is devastating. To be "right" is greater for them than to be "loving"! They won't forgive because the wounds are deep.
Paul's teaching goes straight to the heart of the Law. If we truly understand and practice the dynamics of love and the justice and righteousness that are encompassed in it, then we don't need to be told not to commit adultery, murder, steal, or covet. Offenses against a neighbor won't exist if people understand love as being in right relationship with God and with God's people. The Law reminds us that love is more than feelings of affection. The Law guides our behavior as we live in community.
Most children love to play dress up. When my grandsons were young, I purchased well made Halloween costumes because they used them all year for creative play. They also used old clothing that formerly belonged to adults - ill-fitting clothes that spoke of being grown-up. I can relate because when I was a child, I loved to put on high heels, hats, dress, earrings and strings of beads to make me feel older! I could assume the persona of an adult when I donned adult clothing.
Paul tells his readers that a fashion that will never go out of style is the garment of Jesus - the armor of light. What does that garment look like in an era of racial and ethnic misunderstanding? What does it look like in a culture of greed and self-absorbsion? The most obvious answer is that it is an appeal to be covered in love - as Paul states five times in the first three verses of our text.
The difficulty in appealing to "love" in our culture is that we have sloppy ideas about love - "sloppy agape". When we say we love or do not love someone, we are usually describing an emotional relationship. But for Paul, love is less a feeling than a way of behaving. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. When we act in ways that honor all people, then we replace our darkness with an armor of light - we put on the Lord Jesus Christ. (Thomas Troeger, New Proclamation: Series A, 1999, p. 208)
We all give lip service to the idea of love, but we don't usually think about how to do it. We urgently need to reflect on what exactly love is, at every level of family, church and society- what it means and doesn't mean - and more specifically, the steps of moral learning and the effort required to attain it.
If we try to treat someone we don't like as though we care for them - if we try to think about how it would be to live inside their skin and walk in their shoes - then maybe we can eventually gain genuine sympathy for them and achieve a love that doesn't seem hypocritical.
The love Paul speaks of is tough because it doesn't spring from emotions but from the will! It is love that grits its teeth and acts as if loving emotions were in place, hoping they will follow in time.
Paul teaches that when we love one another as we should, the provisions of the flesh will be in proper perspective. He believes that the Christian community in Rome has been languishing in darkness. Now it is time to step into the light and live lives of honor.
Paul wants the Church in Rome to know he isn't an enemy of the Torah - the Law. He believes that love is at the core of Torah observance. Where there is no love, there is no observance of Torah.
At the beginning of the text, Paul admonishes the Church to love their neighbors. In the last paragraph, he tells them how to do it! The way to love is to live in the light - not in drunkenness, debauchery, licentiousness, quarreling, jealousy and gratification of the desires of the flesh. He tells them not to participate in the conflict and violence that are the "works of darkness" but rather to be transformed, to love above all else, which is putting on the "armor of light" - Jesus!
When children dress as a character, they act as that character. If they dress as Batman, the sheriff or an angel, they act as good people. When they dress as the Joker, an outlaw or the devil, they take on the persona of evil. When we put on Jesus, we will learn to love as Jesus loved.
For first century believers, baptism was their way to symbolize being clothed with Christ. New believers removed their old clothes and entered the water. After being baptized, they were given a white robe which symbolized being clothed in Christ - in the light! This was their outward sign of an inner washing.
What is our outward sign of putting on Jesus? Well, to put on Jesus is to put on love, - a love that wants the best for others and works toward that end. When we love as Jesus loved, the negative behaviors listed in our text begin to dissipate.
The covering of Jesus is pure love - nothing sloppy or sentimental. Our invitation is to choose to take it and be clothed in it - over and over again.
09/07/2008
