Church of the Holy City

To Be Holy to Your God

To Be Holy to Your God
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
May 3, 2015

Numbers 15:37-41 John 15:1-12 Psalm 22

Jesus is in our hearts. It is the love of Jesus that gives us life. When we accept Jesus’ love, then we are in Jesus. Jesus loves us and when we love Jesus back, then the circle of love is complete. Then, to use Jesus’ words, “Abide in me, and I in you” (15:4). We will be in Jesus and Jesus will be in us.
When we have Jesus in our hearts, everywhere we go will be holy. It will be blessed by the love that we have for Jesus. And it will be blessed by the love of Jesus which will be with us wherever we go.
We have Jesus in our hearts when we do Jesus’ commands. They are not hard to understand. They sound quite simple, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (15:12). There is a story recorded about the Apostle John. John was so old that he couldn’t walk anymore and had to have people carry him around. He was often asked to speak at the banquets Christians would hold together, since John knew Jesus personally. The story goes that at this particular banquet he was again asked to speak. John said, “Little children, love one another.” That was all. Someone complained. He said, “That’s all you ever say. Isn’t there something else you can tell us that you remember Jesus saying?” John replied, “That’s all I remember the Lord saying, as I would rest my head on his heart. And if you do that, it is enough.”
When we love one another, then we do good to one another. So Jesus also tells us to do good. “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples” (15:8).
We do good to our neighbor directly and indirectly. We do good to our neighbor directly when we are kind and do things to our neighbor that benefit their souls. We don’t just do anything our neighbor wants. Rather, we do what we think is good for our neighbor. We do good to our neighbor indirectly when we perform useful deeds in the world. Poets who write poems that stir the heart to feel and stimulate the mind to think are doing good to their neighbor. Composers who write music that melts the heart or storms and rages in passionate tones are doing good to the neighbor. Artists who paint beautiful pictures are doing good to their neighbor. Merchants who sell products that consumers need in life are doing good to their neighbor. A mother and father who raises a family and so contributes to the welfare of the community is doing good to the neighbor. There are as many ways of doing good as there are of people who do it.
The artist who paints because she or he loves to paint is loving their neighbor. The actual feeling does not have to have people in mind. When we act from a love of what we do, we are loving our neighbor, too. If, however, the artist paints so that they can become famous and make a fortune, then I would question their motives. I actually saw a so-called “painting,” like that. It was by an artist named Jonathon Borofsky. I like a lot of Borofsky’s art, such as a gigantic silhouette of a “Hammering Man.” But I was disturbed by a plain white canvas that had some words written on it in black paint that went, “I want to be great.” There were other words, like “I want to do something different,” or something to that effect. But the main content of that painting was that Borofsky wanted to be great. I was with a photographer at that exhibit, and he had been attending our New York Swedenborgian church. He paused at that painting, and called it to my attention with a knowing nod of his head. Neither of us said what we were thinking. But we did question that painting and the mental space of the artist who painted it. Perhaps it was a confession. Perhaps it was only one aspect of what drove Borofsky to paint. He certainly is successful, anyway.
Our story from the Old Testament tells us to align our hearts with God’s commands. There is a command to make tassels to affix on the corners of their garments. The Israelites were to look at these tassels to remind them to follow God’s commands. They are told, “not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes.” Our own heart can lead us away from following God. The world is seductive, as are our own egos. When we follow our own hearts, we can end up hurt or entangled in destructive behaviors. We can follow our own hearts away from our neighbor and into ego gratification. When we want to gratify our own egos, we can run roughshod over our neighbor, should they get in our way. This is why Jesus tells us to abide in Him and to allow Him to abide in us. For it is only when we have Jesus in us that we are able to get out of our own head. It is only when we abide in Jesus and Jesus abides in us that we can love others besides ourselves.
I am reminded of the story of Faust by Goethe. Faust makes a deal with the devil so that he can have anything he wants on earth. Faust ends up with a kingdom and riches beyond anyone’s imagination. But as he stands in his castle, surveying his lands, there is one single thing that irritates Faust to no end. He hears the bells of a small chapel. These church bells annoy Faust to the extent that he sends out some thugs to get rid of them. The thugs burn down the chapel, and in doing so, murder the simple couple who maintain the chapel. Faust is grief-stricken because he didn’t mean for things to go that far. He only wanted the church bells silenced. Those bells annoyed Faust. They were reminders that despite Faust’s power and money, there was still God in his world. This story is clearly a metaphor for what can happen to us when we let our greed and worldly passions rule in our lives. Then, suggestions of God are hateful. We hate to be reminded that we are not the masters of the life we have created. We hate the feeling of humility, by which we recognize a power greater than ourselves. And when we try to silence God, we are capable of any sin. When we forget God’s ordinances, especially God’s command to love, we are capable of doing anything.
But when we are mindful of God’s ordinances; when we have Jesus in our hearts; then we are filled with neighbor love. Other people do not annoy us because we see them as fellows. The thought of God does not annoy us, because we love God. Everywhere we go is holy ground because we carry God with us in our hearts and in our minds.
There is a final verse in today’s reading that makes living with Jesus attractive. Jesus gives us a reason for following Him and holding His commands in our hearts.
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:10-11).
If we have love for God and love for our neighbor in us—that is, if we abide in Jesus and Jesus abides in us—then our joy is full. Loving fills us with joy. There is no end to the joy that love brings.
And, on the other hand, there is no greater frustration than when we try to be self-directed and to follow our own ego. We can’t make the world go our way, which is what we want when ego drives us. There are too many other people. And there is God, who is really making things go the way they are going. We will always live under frustration if we want to do away with God.
So let’s not even try. Let’s surrender to the One who has our best interests at stake. Jesus came to earth and taught us so that we can know heavenly joy. Jesus taught us the way of love because that will make us happy. Heaven is a kingdom filled with souls who want to render kind services to everyone else. That is the nature of Jesus’ love. That will be our nature, when we abide in Him and He abides in us. Then Jesus’ joy will be in us, and our joy will be full.

PRAYER

Lord, this morning we pray that you come into our hearts. Fill us with your love. For apart from you we can do nothing. Drive out selfish motives and deeds. Give us a heart that is dedicated to you and to our neighbors. Lead us away from the promptings of our own desires. Fill us instead with direction from you. Fill us with heavenly loves instead of worldly passions. Inspire our minds to think about our neighbor and how we can make our neighbor happy from our own resources. Give us to think of distant neighbors in foreign countries and also to think of our neighbor who is right at hand. May we always seek to hear your voice calling and when we hear you, may we follow in the ways you ask of us.

And Lord, we pray for the sick. May they experience the power of your healing love. Fill them with the grace of your healing power. We pray for the grace of your healing power for all who are ailing in body or soul.