A Christian’s ID Badge

John 13:31-35

Rev. Stephen H. Wilkins

Georgetown Presbyterian Church

May 6, 2007

The other day I came across the story of Horville Sash. Horville had a very humble job in the offices of the largest corporation of the world. He worked as the gofer in the lowest reaches of the building doing what he could to help other people do their jobs, but often he wondered and thought about other jobs.

Then came a day when Horville found a bug scurrying across the floor. He raised his foot to flatten the helpless insect.

"Spare me." The bug spoke. A speaking bug? "Spare me," said the bug, "and I will grant you whatever you wish."

Horville spared the bug. "I wish to be promoted to the second floor." The wish was granted. Horville’s boss came up to him that afternoon and told him that he had been promoted to a clerical position on the second floor.

After a while, Horville noticed that there were footsteps on the ceiling of floor number two. There was a third floor. A higher level meant higher wages, more power. Horville summoned the bug once again, and the next day, Horville rose to the third floor job of sales coordinator.

But now that he knew that there were still higher jobs to pursue, he wasn’t satisfied with being the sales coordinator. And so he did everything he could to receive promotion after promotion. He went to the 10th floor, then to the 20th, the 50th, the 70th.

One day Horville was sitting by the indoor pool on floor 96. He discovered, a stairway leading up. Was there still another floor, another higher position of authority? He scrambled up the stairs. He was on the roof. He was now the highest, the most powerful.

Content with his status in life, Horville headed back for the stairway. Just as he turned to go back down to his office he saw a boy near the edge of the building with his eyes closed. Horville asked him, "What are you doing?" "Praying," said the boy.

Horville asked, "To whom are you praying?"

The boy answered, pointing a finger skyward, "To God."

Panic gripped Horville. "Do you mean there's an authority above me?"

The bug was summoned. Horville urgently commanded the bug to grant another wish: "Make me God. Make me the highest," he said. "Put me in the type of position that only God would hold if he were on earth."

The very next day, Horville began work as a gofer in the basement!

The glory of God is that in Christ God came to love us and serve us. His work was as a gofer in the basement of this world, as it were. For Christ came among us as a servant, and as such he identified with the lonely, the outcasts, the poor and the powerless.

And it is our glory to live like him.

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The scripture lesson from the gospel of John has as its setting Jesus gathered with his disciples in the upper room on the eve of his crucifixion. John tells us that Jesus knows he is about to be taken from his disciples. It is time for Jesus to share some final thoughts with the disciples. Last words are often the most important ones spoken. Time is short, and so there is little room for small talk. Whatever Jesus has to say, he must say that which is most important, and he must say it now.

"A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all [people] will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." This command is so important to Jesus that he gives it to his disciples twice on his last night with them. He says it here in the 13^th chapter of John, and then he says it again in the 15^th chapter of John. Twice he gives the command to love one another, and twice it is given with the qualification, "as I have loved you." Here in the 13^th chapter, the "as I have loved you" takes on the meaning of loving one another in the same way that Jesus has shown his love for us, namely through being a servant for us. Even as Jesus became a servant and washed his disciples’ feet, so are we to serve one another in the same manner. In the 15^th chapter, the "as I have loved you" qualification conveys the meaning of "to the same extent by which I have loved you;" and Jesus tells us and shows us on the cross that he has loved us completely, to the very end. "Greater love has no one than this: that they lay down their life for their friends…" Love in the manner of Christ is to die to self for the welfare of others.

"Love one another as I have loved you," says Jesus. It is simple, yet it is far from easy to obey. Maybe that’s because "love" is one of the most misunderstood and overused words in our vocabulary. People use the word so often and so loosely that we really don’t know what it means. It’s also difficult because real love—the biblical notion of love—is completely other-oriented, and we are by nature selfish creatures.

C.S. Lewis maintains that, in the end, love takes two forms: need love, and gift love.

Need love is born of emptiness. The one who loves in this way seeks to fill something inside of himself or herself. Need love is oriented toward satisfying the desires and needs of the self, with little or no regard for the other. "It does not take exceptional imagination, Lewis contends, to acknowledge that many times when we humans say to one another, ‘I love you,’ what we are really meaning is, ‘I need you, I want you. You have a value that I very much desire to make my own, no matter what the consequence may be to you.’" Need love is the love that the world promotes. Need love is the love that Hollywood glamorizes. Need love places the self above all others.

Gift love, on the other hand, is born of fullness, and its goal is to enrich and enhance the other. If need love is like the black hole that sucks the essence out of everything and everyone else for the person’s own benefit, then gift love would be more like the artesian well that continues to overflow an abundance of refreshing water for others to enjoy.

The biblical vision of love in the manner of Christ is gift love.

Love one another as I have loved you, says Jesus. In your loving, do not think of what you will receive in return; instead, seek the welfare of the one you are loving. Serve the needs of the other. Give yourself for the sake of the other. That’s what it means to love as Jesus has loved us.

Last week we collected 330 pounds of loose change, totaling just over $3,000. With checks and other currency added to that, our total offering last Sunday for the Change 4 Children project was over $3,700. Not a one of us in this church expects anything in return for that offering. Not a person in this congregation asked, "What’s in it for me?" when you reached into your pockets at the end of every day for the past six months. You simply gave out of the obligation of love that Jesus has put into your hearts. Your giving is a tangible demonstration of the kind of love that C.S. Lewis refers to as gift-love; it is a tangible demonstration of the kind of unconditional and other-oriented love that Jesus commands of us. This congregation is never short on generosity. It’s one of the traits by which we are known.

I would also say that our giving is just the beginning of what it means to share the love of Christ. This week during my morning devotion I came across a quote by Mother Teresa that helps us reach a deeper understanding of what it means to love as Christ loved. She said, "Giving needs not be confined to money or material gifts, but I would like more people to give their hands to serve and their hearts to love—to recognize the poor in their own homes, towns and countries, and to reach out to them in love and compassion."

I shared that quote on Wednesday morning in our weekly Men’s Breakfast gathering. Afterwards, someone came up to me and said that Mother Teresa’s words reminded him of the song in the Sound of Music, where Julie Andrews sings, "A smile’s not a smile till it wrinkles your face. A bell’s not a bell without ringing. A home’s not a home when there’s nobody there. A song’s not a song without singing. Love isn’t love till you give it away. Love isn’t love till it’s free."

Love isn’t love till you give it away.

Give away love, says Jesus, as I have given my love to you.

But there’s more to it than simply loving one another. The command that Jesus gives to us has a purpose attached to it: By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Do you see what Jesus is saying here? He’s saying that it is our love for one another that identifies us as Christians. It is not the style of worship that identifies us as Christians. It is not the mode of baptism that identifies us as Christians. It is not the steeple on our roof that identifies us as Christians. It is not a fish symbol on the bumper of our car that identifies us as Christians.

It is the love that we show for one another that identifies us as Christians. Love is our ID badge.

I have in my wallet a South Carolina driver’s license. It identifies me as a citizen of the state of South Carolina. When I go anywhere, and someone demands proof that I am who I claim to be, my first line of proof is to show them my state-issued ID.

According to Jesus, we carry another ID, as well. But as long as we keep it in our pockets, nobody will ever know who we are. As Christians called to love one another, we are to put our ID on permanent display for people to see at all times, much as our schoolchildren must wear their IDs around their necks. You see, when we will love one another, we will be correctly identified as Christ’s followers.

Even more than identifying ourselves as Christ’s disciples, to people outside the church the way we relate to one another sends a message about the Jesus we serve. When people look at us, and the way we relate to each other, what kind of Jesus do they see?

I can tell you that at Georgetown Presbyterian Church they will find a Jesus who cares, a Jesus who receives them warmly, a Jesus who welcomes them into our company. To a person, that is the response that I get when I talk to folks who have been visiting our church—that they are attracted to this church because of the warmth that they experience and witness as they enter into this place.

Still, the question ought always be in front of us, for our witness to Christ is at stake: When people look at us, and see the way we relate to one another, what kind of Jesus do they see?

My friends, obedience to the command to love is not simply to dictate the relationship we are to have with one another. Much more is at stake. Our identity as Christ’s followers is at stake. Even more, our proclamation of the Christ we follow will be defined by the love we share with one another.

Jesus said, "Love one another as I have loved you. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Love is our ID badge. Wear it proudly. Wear it permanently. Wear it well. Amen.