Fourth Sunday of Easter April 20-21, 2024
“Up Isn’t the Only Heavenly Direction” I John 3:16-24
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
Which way is heaven? Silly question, right? Everyone knows that heaven is up. It is somewhere above us, right?
When Jesus ascended He went up. Acts 1 tells of this, “After he had said this, he was taken up from their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’” (Acts 1:9-11)
Heaven is up. When Jesus fed the 5,000 with just two fish and five loaves of bread we read about His prayer, “Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them.” (Luke 9:16) Just before Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead He said this, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.’” (John 11:40-42)
Heaven is up, right? Yes. But up is not the only heavenly direction. Down is a heavenly direction. Yes, down. Reaching out is a heavenly direction as well.
St. John, in our reading, is amazingly clear about the heavenly direction that we must have in our life. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (I John 3:16-18)
The heavenly direction is not just vertical – up and down, but it is horizontal. It is found in how we live every day – how we express our faith in God by loving other people. Later in this book, John says, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (I John 4:11-12)
Why do we do such a poor job of this? Why do we have such a hard time in simply loving others? We have permission to hate no one. But we do. This is an election year. And we will be told, over and over again, that we should hate one candidate or the other. (Or maybe both!) People “unfriend” someone who once was a friend through the use, or misuse, of social media. We ghost others. On purpose we don’t return their phone calls, their texts, or e-mails. If they are going to the party we were invited to attend we won’t go. We want nothing to do with them. What is this? How have we become such an unfriendly and vicious society?
Our relationship with God shows itself in how we treat others. Up isn’t the only heavenly direction – it is reaching down to others in distress, and reaching out to others who are in need of mercy and compassion. This is what is found in I John 4, “We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (I John 4:19-21)
Do you remember the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25? Jesus is amazingly pointed in His message that up isn’t the only heavenly direction. The parable reads, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:34-40)
One person gave this definition of love, “Real love is doing something for somebody at some inconvenience to ourselves.” St. Paul gave this definition, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (I Corinthians 13:4-8)
But let me say this right – Though up is not the only heavenly direction, it must be the first heavenly direction. First, you must be grounded in the source of your strength. You must be a receiver before you can be a giver. You must know God before you can share God. Jesus, answering the question about the greatest commandment put these things in the right order, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39) John put it this way, “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.” (I John 3:23)
Jesus, in His teaching about the fruitfulness of His followers, tells us the “Up” must be the first heavenly direction. Faith is first and actions follow. In John 15 Jesus speaks of the Vine and the Branches. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:1-6)
Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, says that up is the first heavenly direction but not the only one. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)
The first direction is looking at Him – looking at Jesus and knowing that He has delivered us from the curse of our sin and has given us salvation. By faith in Him we are saved. Psalm 121 begins with eyes looking up. “I lift my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Verses 1-2)
It is not enough to only love with words – that can prove empty. We are told to show lasting love by actions and in truth. Just like Jesus does for us. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:11-15)
Look up – trust in Him – know His constant love for you. But up isn’t the only heavenly direction. Look down. Look around. Begin your day, and end your day, seeking those whom God wants you to love. Amen!!
