"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves."

 

         Serve one another in love. Love one another, accept one another, comfort one another, forgive one another, encourage one another, be kind to one another, honor one another.

         Why are these things important for us to do? Why spend a whole summer focusing on these simple instructions, many of which seem self-evident?

There are three good reasons. The first is that our popular culture is pushing the other way, and it is very easy for us to absorb the attitudes of that TV and advertising culture without even noticing it. We need to name our values, teach them intentionally, and live them. We must be a counter-culture. When I observe the escalation of criticism, putdowns and flagrant disrespect for people, I feel a significant segment of our population is falling into a big hole, and I want to put up a fence and post a warning.

         Next, congregational life has changed in America over the last 50 years, so that we no longer are bound together by ethnic or neighborhood or strong social, even family, ties. Congregations in America today are made up of people from many denominational backgrounds, who take positions on all sides of the issues. To be a congregation means to be in conflict, and we will not make it through all this conflict unless we serve each other in love.

         Third, when we consider the life of Jesus, we discover that he lived this way. This list of one another virtues forces us to look at the life of Jesus anew. When we say, "How am I going to live this way?" we discover that Jesus always gives us a picture. He is not just a nice teacher of idealistic values, but he is one who actually lived out the "one another" lifestyle, and that he lived it all the way to the cross. It is this simple list of words that leads us to salvation.

         "Honor one another above yourselves."

          Honor is a value in many cultures. The ancient Greeks understood honor to be the proper recognition which a person enjoyed in the community because of his or her office, position or wealth. Honor was seen as a personal possession, and it brought forth a proper response from others. Slaves were seen to possess no honor. There are honorable people, who carry themselves in a certain way, and they contribute to the civic good, and so they are to be honored with banquets and statues and public awards.

         In Hebrew culture, honor was something due to every person. Passages like Psalm 8 expressed the value of every human being,

         "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

         "You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor."

         So all people were honored, not just the powerful and wealthy. Especially to be honored were parents, teachers and leaders. This reflected the importance of passing on faith in God. But the Hebrews also honored the neighbor, and discussed just whom that included. The tradition of hospitality comes from this love of neighbor. So in that setting, honor upheld the family and the community.

         The early Christians took this sense of honor one step further, extending it to all economic classes and ethnic groups. Even slaves were honored and accepted as members of the church. It is not just that we are created in the image of God, but that Christ died for all, so the honoring of all people expresses our understanding of the cross.

         In Romans, Paul gives honor a prominent place in what it means to have a sincere love. In Chapter 12 he writes of sincere love, which includes family or brotherly love; honor, the ability to put others above ourselves; zeal, the energy and strong desire to serve the Lord; and harmony, the willingness to get along with all people. These define a life of sincere love, and you can see that they are very much against the cultural values we see displayed today of individualism, competition and especially of exalting ones self at the expense of others.

         There is no sincere love in a church if in fact we are belittling each other or ignoring each other in word and deed. This takes us to verse 16,

"Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. "Do not be conceited."

My study Bible says that can also be translated, "Be willing to do menial work." Honoring people above ourselves has to do both with who we speak to, whose opinion we value and listen to, and also what we are willing to do to help the church. This is reflected in the office of deacon, which was a leadership position based on waiting on tables, on bringing food to the poor. Leadership in the New Testament church was built on a foundation of putting yourself in contact with poor people and helping them by doing menial work, by cooking and serving. That is how the church is built.

It is a clear expectation in our church that everyone does menial work. Everyone in some way is to be active in humble service. That may mean serving dinner at PADS, making the coffee for after worship, greeting people as they arrive, or helping on the work days to clean, paint or weed. This church is built on all of us putting others needs above our own, of gladly doing menial work and extending ourselves to each other. We make an intentional commitment to not belittle or harshly criticize others, and to not ignore others. We are not here to be served, but to serve one another in love.

         That brings us to Jesus, because we do not always know how to act in a way that honors others above ourselves.

         The Pharisees were a group of people who loved God and were committed to honoring all people. But when it came to sinners, they kept their distance. A Pharisee honors Jesus by inviting him to his house for dinner. But, we find out later, he does not welcome Jesus in the customary way of washing his feet and anointing his hair and greeting him with a kiss. So Jesus reclines at the banquet table with dusty feet and looking worn by the heat of his journey. He is not an honored guest, and this can be seen by those in attendance.

         It was the custom at a banquet to allow the neighbors to come in and watch from the sidelines. It was like watching reality TV. Those on the sidelines are supposed to stay out of the main action but they are welcome to watch and listen. A woman sneaks up to Jesus and washes his feet, which she notices are dusty. She has no water or towel, so she uses her tears and hair. Then she kisses his feet, supplying the greeting he has not received, and pours on some expensive perfume. So she honors Jesus, because the host has not honored him. But her expression of honor goes beyond what would have been expected. She expresses a sincere love for Jesus. The Pharisee is upset, not by what the woman is doing, but because Jesus does not separate himself from a sinner. She had a past that was known. It is Jesus' behavior that bothers him, not that of the woman.        

         The Pharisee is upset by Jesus' lack of separation from a woman who is a sinner. Jesus honors the woman by allowing her to be near him even to serve him. He sees in her, not a past of sin, but the love of one who has been forgiven much. When this forgiveness took place is not clear. But he tells a story that gets to the heart of what is happening. Two men had debts owed the same creditor. One was for about two months of wages, the others was for about 20 months of wages. Neither could pay. Both had their debts forgiven. One was more joyful about it than the other, and expressed more love for the creditor.

         Jesus is saying, when you see love for God expressed joyfully, enthusiastically, it is a sign that the person knows the extent of his or her forgiveness. When you see little love expressed for God, it may be that person does not understand the nature of what God has done for him. It may be that person has come to believe that he did not really need to be forgiven.

It is always very tempting for us to think that maybe we can live our faith just right, and maybe we will only need a little forgiveness, and maybe that is the goal of life. When we give in to that temptation, we love little, and we do not really honor Jesus, or love God with our whole heart and soul and mind and strength, or our neighbor as ourself.

         But if you truly come to understand how utterly unable you are to pay your debt to God, and how much has been forgiven in you, then there comes a love that is sincere and overflowing. That is the love that honors both God and others. For honor expresses love that comes from redemption.

         Amen.