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"Friends" April
14, 2002
Rev. Gary LeTourneau I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not
know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have
made known to you everything I have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me, but I chose you.
And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that
the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. John 15:15-17 A
couple weeks ago some people were asking what I would preach on for my last
Sunday. It's a difficult sermon to
prepare. I have so much I want to
say from my heart. They suggested
that I could just look back through all the sermons where I got cut-off because
of time--and I have all those "third points"!
I could have entitled it, "And Another Thing . . ." and I could
just sort of run through them all. But
I'm not going to do that. I'm
returning to my favorite gospel, the gospel of John.
The symbol of the gospel of John is the eagle, because the theology soars
in John's gospel. And I believe in
this passage we have an example of soaring theology, but you may miss it because
the language is so familiar. The
disciples were with Jesus for three years, and it was a constant struggle for
the disciples to figure out just who Jesus was and what their relationship with
Jesus was supposed to be. He's the
Christ, the "Anointed One, " the "Messiah."
He's the Son of God, the Creator of the world and the Master of
everything. Jesus is their Lord, to
whom they owe their complete and total allegiance.
He's the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world, the one who
came to die for them, to take away their sins.
And then here in John 15 Jesus adds another.
And it's really the one that puts together God's whole plan of
salvation--His love for you and me, what His intention was in creation, what His
intention was when He redeemed us and saved us.
Jesus says, "No longer do I call you servants, but I have called you
friends." Now,
think about that for a minute, friends. This
is the God of the universe, the Creator, the Redeemer, the Lord.
And the word He uses to describe our relationship with Him is
"friend." Does that make
you uncomfortable? It does me a
little bit. I'm much more
comfortable thinking of God as the one to whom I owe my service because I know
who God is and I know who I am, and I know how things stack up and sort out.
But "friend" implies a mutuality, an openness to a
relationship, a co-dependence on each other, an intertwining of lives.
And Jesus says, "I'm calling you friends"--because the God of
the universe wants to be friends with us. See?
And that's why Jesus came. That's
why God's plan for yours and my salvation works out just the way it did--so we
could know Him personally, and be in a relationship with Him, and be known as
His friend. Friend of God. Now, I know when in a romantic relationship, one part of a couple
says, "Let's just be friends . . ."
That's something else, isn't it! But
Jesus is saying, "Let's be friends."
He wants to have a relationship at the deepest level. What does that mean, to be a friend of Jesus?
First, He says you're my friends because I haven't held back anything
from you. Whatever I have received
from the Father, I've told you. Because
in a friendship there's openness, and there's respect, and there's total
disclosure. Jesus says because you are now friends of God, whatever you
ask in my name, God the Father will do it for you. Have
you ever noticed how parents are around their children's friends?
They love their children's friends because they're friends of the
children. They love to have them
over and do things. I think of how
many times when I have been involved in a funeral service and the kids tell me,
"Mom always had a place at the kitchen table for all of my friends and it's
where all the neighborhood gathered. Just because they were my friends, they were all treated as
part of the family." That's
what Jesus is saying. Because you
and I are friends of Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father welcomes us and will give
us whatever we ask in the name of Jesus. So,
says Jesus, go and bear much fruit, because the Creator God of the universe
promised to give you all you need to do that.
And
then Jesus says because you're friends, "Love one another."
Because you're friends of me, you're friends of each other.
And love one another. Lay
down your lives for each other. Serve
each other as I have served you." That's
what friends do. You see, and
that's what it means to be a Christian. The
apostle Paul introduced himself in all his letters as a servant.
He could have just as easily and perhaps more fully said, "servant and
friend of God, of Jesus Christ." And
that's what you and I are invited to do and be as a result of His life, and His
death, and His resurrection. We can
be known as the friends of God. You
know, today, after this morning and the reception afterwards, I will cease to be
your pastor. Our presbytery has a
policy on "separation ethics" for pastors and congregations.
It's several pages long. (They
have a policy on everything--don't let that alarm you!)
But they have a policy on that. Let
me just summarize it with this sentence or two:
After today I'll stop being your pastor, but I will be your friend. And you will be my friend, and the friend of my family.
That's what will characterize our relationship.
I'll have to say "no" to requests which have to do with me
being a pastor. And I will very
much want to keep being your friend. See
how that will work? That's what the
policy says. But I'm looking
forward to being your friend because I believe and know that we've been friends
all along. You
know, in the theater there is this great tradition that while the production is
on, the actors never break their role. They
always stay in their part, so that the total effect of the production is felt by
the audience. But after the
production, then the actors and actresses step out from behind the curtain and
take their bows and they can give interviews with the press and talk about what
has happened. Well, I'm able now to
step out of the role of being your pastor and I can talk to you as a friend, and
as one who very much wants to continue being your friend. Let
me talk a little bit about being your pastor.
So many of you have shared with me in these last weeks how much you have
enjoyed my messages and what they have meant to you, and I really appreciate
that, because it's something I've worked hard on.
I believe it's a gift God has given me, and I enjoy using it and sharing
it with you. But
I'd like to share with you my sort of philosophy.
It
comes from a pastor named Richard Baxter, a reformed pastor of the sixteenth
century. He wrote a little book
called The Reformed Pastor. It
was really an introduction to how it is that protestants, out of the Catholic
Church--how do we go about the practice of ministry?
He talked about everything that a good reformed pastor does with examples
from his own parish and ministry. When
he comes to preaching and his advice on preaching, Richard Baxter says this--and
I really have tried to take it as my motto:
"When you preach, preach as a dying man to dying men."
Now, you could update that for the gender references, and it applies
perfectly. When you talk about God,
and who He is, and what He's done, talk as if you're someone without a long time
to live and let that dictates the urgency of your message.
And imagine that the people who are receiving it may not have a long time
to live. And tell them what they
need to know in those circumstances. That's
what a reformed pastor does. I've
been with so many of you when your families have been visited by death.
And I know that the whole character of conversations and
relationships--everything changes. I've even been with some of you when a family member who knew
they were going to die approaches that time, and I've been with some of you in
those precious, precious moments when someone is able to say, right at the end,
the few words that they want to mean the most to their family.
And they didn't talk about the weather, or sports, or all of life's
inconsequential things. They spoke from the heart of what was true--and about their
love for their family, and their hope for the future, and their desire for God
to bless those who were remaining behind. Well,
it's been a privilege to be your pastor and to walk with you, and to talk with
you, and to share in so many of those circumstances. I
have say a word of my gratitude for the team that I work with. All ministry is a team effort.
And the team that I've had at Faith Church is outstanding!
I want to take a moment to publicly honor and thank them.
I begin with John Ward. (Despite
capturing my sermon . . .) You
know, the language John has used to describe his role to me I think comes from
his time in the war with those naval aviators.
He said he's tried to be my "wing man."
And he's been a wonderful colleague and a wonderful Associate. You're very blessed as a congregation to have John.
Then I think of our Youth Ministry, of Dave and Dianne.
I see Dave. I don't know
where Dianne is. There she is. Hi, Dianne! Childrens
ministries--Cindy and Donna and Lori. And
our music--with Tim, and Josh, and
Ruth. Those who lead worship every
week. I've been very blessed as the
leader of the team and a colleague of yours to work with you at Faith Church.
I believe Faith Church is very fortunate to have you.
And church, I'll just ask you to love this team, because they're good. Thank you. You've
been very wonderful for me. You
know, I forgot Merrilee in the office and Bernice . . . you know Bernice--she's going to outlast your next pastor, I
bet! She's unstoppable!
Her love for this congregation! And
you know, I have to thank you, the congregation, for your love for me and for my
family. You've let me be your
pastor. You've let me share with
you, and love you, and grow with you, and change with you. There's a wonderful thing that happens in ministry.
When you start, you talk about ministry "to" people.
When the transition comes, you talk about ministry "with"
people. And we've just had a
wonderful season of ministry with you. Joan
and I will never forget your love for us--how you have celebrated with us,
rejoiced with us. And the times you
have cried with us and prayed with and for us. I
talk about this front pew. The
Pickards are in it today, but it's the pew that you sit in when your family is
having a funeral service here in the sanctuary.
Joan and I have sat in that pew, as well as me standing up here.
I've been on both sides of that, and I know how wonderful your love is as
a congregation. We will always take
in our hearts from Minnesota the gift of our children Hannah and Ben, who are
alive on earth, and the gift of Nathan, our baby who is alive in heaven.
We love you and we will miss you very much.
I'm glad that we can be friends. And
the best way that Jesus has to say it. Let's
be friends now. I'd
like to conclude by sharing with you and actually together looking at what I
think might be my favorite Psalm. (You
could probably push me and get me to choose another at different times.)
But you know, Psalm 121. I
learned it in the King James: "I
lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help?" That's a Psalm for Colorado and people who live in Colorado!
Every morning I'll get up and be able to look southwest and see Long's
Peak, and Meeker, and the foothills leading up to them, and I will think of you
and I will think of God's promise in this Psalm, to be our keeper, the One who
will keep and watch over you and the One who will keep and watch over me. What
I'd like to do is for everybody to open and turn to it.
I'm not going to read it to you, and you're not going to read it to me.
We're going to read stand and read it to each other, as God is the One
who is invited to watch over us. Will
you stand with me as we do that? Psalm
121. It's on page 571 of your pew
Bible, if you can find one. Let's
read this together: I
lift up my eyes to the hills--
from where will my help come? My
help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth. He
will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber. He
who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep. The
Lord is you keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The
sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night. The
Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life. The
Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore. Amen. Rev. Gary LeTourneau Senior Pastor Faith Presbyterian Church Minnetonka, Minnesota [Transcribed from an audiotape of the 10:45 a.m. worship
service on April 14, 2002] |
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