Matthew 25: 31-40
November 14, 1971

One of the most popular folk hymns to emerge in the church in the last
decade is, "They'l1 Know We Are Christians by our Love". Listen to the words:
"We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord; and we pray that our
unity may one day be restored,
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand, and together
we'll spread the news that God is in our land.
We will work with each other, we will work side by side, and we'll
guard gech man's dignity and save each man's pride,
And they'll kmow we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes they'll
know we ave Christians by our love.
That song is gung by people across the church who have rediscovered an
old, old truth; namely that there is power in love; that lové is the charac-
teristic which defines a Christian; and that love, simply, is the most lasting
reality, the most dynamic force in the whole universe. ‘The people who sing
that song have laid hold of an old and ancient truth; namely, when all is said
and done that which matters about a person is the degree to which he has
grasped and been grasped by love. ~~
It has been a rediscovery because, frankly, the going definition of a :

Christian is far more in the realm of certain external behavior patterns that

have little, if anything, to do with love. I learned, as a boy, from my ey
fundamentalist neighbors, that you could tell a Christian on the basis of how if
he spent his Sunday's. To them, at least, it was rather clear that anyone who
doffed dungarees, sweat shirt and sneakers and went out into the alley to play
basketball - or horror of horrors ~ who slipped down to the Olympic theater oF

to watch Roy Rogers chase bandits and Dale Evans for an hour or two, was

little better than a heathen druid, I learned also, in a Good News Club to

. —

—2—

which these people took me, that drinking and amoking were activities that lead
directly to hell; which revelation when announced to my father over dinner,
vesulted in abrupt termination of my career in Mra. lureate' food Hewe Club,

A warning point in my theological education came when these sealous
Christians organised a petition to keep a black family from buying a home
several blocks may. Something war missing here: something written so clearly
in the pages of the New Testament that you have to try not to see it: something
epllecd love. So it way that I returmed to the bosom of Presbyterianism after
my sojourn with the fundamentalists ad yet I sence that a lot of what was md
is wrong with their atyle is still very much with ue. We don't say it in the
fame way as they do, we are not so precise in defining those activities that
are forbidden and those that are allowed; but in theory we share - on a deep
visceral level ~- their conviction thet to be a Christian means to follow
somebody's rules.

Well, "they'll lmow we are Christians by our love" the song proposes:
which is simply another way of saying, "when you did i+ to one of the least
of these, my brotheren, you did it to me;"or “by this all men will know that
you are my disciples, if you heve love for one another,"

The crunch comes, in our time, when we talk about morality; what is right
and wheat is wrome. Im the early 60's something called the "new morality” or
"Situation Ethics” exploded in our midst, and it sounded ag if nothing was
absolute enymore; that anything was acceptable if the situabion was wight; that
aman could do whatever he pleased so long as he could justify it in the con-
text of the immediete situation, ‘hat sounded like good news to a lot of
people who hed been doing whatever they wanted to do myhow. But it sounded
like very bed news to the people whe were getting some sense of security rom
following the accepted Christian rule~book.

What got overlooked, of course, was that the people who were selling the

~-

new moraliiy were being very Biblical. ‘The fundamentalists sereamed that if
nothing is ultimate then there can be no such thing as right and wrong. And
they were correct. lihat they weren't hearing was the rediscovering of the
only ultimate there really is, namely love; and that love is the final impera~
tive with which being Christian mst deal. Not petty restrictions on drinking,
smoking or playing cards; not standing up at a certain time and place and LO te
ting saved; not even sexual chastity ~ but love. Now, before I am misunderstood
let me clearly say that if love is the ultimate moral imperative, the use of
another person for sexual gratification ~ apart from total commitment, falls
into the categexy of sin, So does drinking when it destroys self, marriage
and others. But so, also, does exploiting my employees, or my children, or my
neighbors. - The point is that the rediscovery of love as the ultimate moral
imperative redefined the accountability of a Christion. Yhat's the yard stick:
that's where we will be measured. Daniel Webeter ~ « giant of a man -— was
once asked his greatest thought. And he replied, "My personal accountability
to God." We ave accountable: we will be judged: ‘there is a right and a Wrongs
“Gome, © blessed of my father, inherit the Kingdom... for I was hungry and
you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you
gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed
me, [ was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."

The Kew Testament makes some startling assertions about love. First,
God is Love. Second, there is power in love. Let's think about them. Men
have always tried to define Glid. Men have needed to put their feelings about
that which is ultimate in the universe inte words. And the history of theology
~ the history of creeds and confession ~ is the story of man trying vainly to
confizm God within the boundries of human vecabularly. “he Bible doesn't
even try. It says, simply, “Cod is love." Professor Paul Tillich, perhaps
the greatest theological mind of our century, had the gift of simplifging

what other men complicate. Listen to how he dealt with the topic:

=f

"God's abiding in us, making us His @welling place, is the same thing as
our abiding in love, as our having love ae the sphere of our habitation. God
and love are not two realities; they are one. .. therefore, he who professes
devotion to God may abide in God if he abides in love, or he may not abide in
God, if he does uot abide in leve . .. the criterion, the only criterion is
love. For God ig love..." [p. 26-27, The New Being}

Then Professor Tillich went on to illustrate what he meant by way of a
etory shout a woman “whoge life", in his words, “was spent abiding in love,
although she ravely, if ever, used the name of God, ond though she would have
been surprised if someone had told her that she belonged to Him who judges ali
mon, becanwe He is leve and love is the only criterion of His judgement."

“Her name was Elea Brandstrom, the daughter of a farmer Swedish Ambassador
to Russie « « » At the begimming of the Pirst World War, when Flea was 24, whe
leoked out of the window of the Swedish Embasay in what was then St, Petersburg
and gew the Jderman prigeners of wer being driven through the etreets on their
way to Sibexin. Brom thet moment on she could ne longer endure the splendor
of the diplomatic life. . . She became a murse and begen vieiting the prison
camps. ‘there she saw unspeakable horrors and she, a girl of twenty~four, began,
almost alone, the fight of love against cruelty, and she prevailed. She had
to fight againet the vesictance and suspicion of the authorities, and she
prevailed. She had to fight against the buutality and lawlesmess of prison
guards and she prevailed. She had to fight againet cold, hunger, dirt and
illness and she prevailed. .. . She visited the humgry and gave them food,

She gaw the thivety and gaye them to drink. She welcomed the strangers,
clothed the neked and strengthened the sick. She herself @ell1 i11 and was
imprisioned, tut God wae ebiding in her. The irresistable power of love was
with hex.

After tha war she initiated a great work for the Cerman and Russian orphans.

lopsionl oouverratiogn., 20 Wo Unnoeeanary.

Monee Pou God, who ic love, was aliidiuy in ber cmd

in whom Love = mic thin uieane

thenlorice] aerogenes an veli as

At SQ coves

than jusiiee and 2b de precios than

it de the prenemee of Cel idmeelr. For fod in leva. And in avery Aone oF

le

in intimate fellowshin with Gad. The second

power,

Sle troukle with that, wven if we buy the ides

is mogetonnaye., Power ig hovse-powert

neke othex goople do what you vent them to do. Arid

ef) AAP a,

assum: Gleb Love is the way te go about: only

Meaduse the Meas ‘es tamens

"fools for Craisi'.

yen

LOVG

in the coutest oi the wereld ac vo Haow i%. Pus iv ain

ability to chonge ‘things 2nd paoy

this

ato,

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ecm:

PRIGOLG

SON

ig Danae oy
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noo by haere

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Cand Fo om GAGs

aur liver, owe lovad ones, our ohiiids

ny
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aghon of on celvar ~ 14 menresenie

oo Todt: Love in sesus Chrict, Ane wer aoe: Tren: called

Live new Lives in Gad'a presence Deomace at loves, 45

+‘

owe Love, wy our feove.

owe Loves

du givine ve receive: