Series: Salt & Light – 8: “Poetry & Prose from Jesus”

John 14:15-21

1. for the past several weeks we’ve been talking about what kinds of things we need to give ourselves to in order to be the salt of the earth & the light of the world:
® need to be filled with the Holy Spirit
® deal with our sin through confession & repentance
® proskartereo (devote) ourselves to Scripture, community, worship & prayer

2. Kristin Payne share…

3. today I want to talk about cultivating our relationship with Jesus. What does that mean, a relationship with Jesus? I/we believe that:
® Jesus God’s Son was born as a human being
® he lived, taught, healed, loved, called followers, set people free, ushered in the kingdom of God
® he died on the cross in our place to provide us with salvation
® he arose from the dead, is alive today, lives in our lives by His Spirit
® we have to say ‘yes’ to Jesus and invite him into our lives as our Savior & Lord
® then we have a connection to him, a personal relationship with him
® and like all relationships our relationship with Jesus has to be worked on
This is what I want to talk about his morning – working on our relationship with Jesus.

4. Jesus in John 14:21: whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.

Almighty God, we can’t unless you do. We can’t truly understand your words about love and obedience and Jesus disclosure unless you illuminate our minds & hearts. Cause your Word to penetrate our minds, flood our hearts & move our wills. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

1. let’s dive right in. John 14:21 teaches us that we show our love for Jesus by obeying his commands – whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.

2. And more than this, the reward of our command-obeying love is this – Jesus shows himself to us: I will show myself to him.

3. the test of love is obedience AND the reward of love is the self-manifestation of Christ to us.

4. this is one of the most important ways we can work on our relationship with Jesus – follow his teaching. Live the life he lays out for us in the gospels.

5. Jesus reveals himself to his lovers. Who are his lovers? Those who obey his teaching. Not just those who have his teaching (14:21a). But act on what they have:
® words shift to action
® belief moves to behavior
® confession swings to duty
® faith gives way to works

6. Jesus is saying – words are cheap but actions talk.

poetry – prose
1. this week I listened to a fascinating discussion on NPR comparing the campaigns of Barak Obama & Hillary Clinton. The commentators were a political analyst & a professor of speech & rhetoric.

2. the statement was made – campaigning is poetry, governing is prose. Campaigning is poetry means campaigning is about vision, dreams, narrative, metaphor, alliteration & inspiration. Poetic language that captures people’s imaginations.

3. governing is prose means governing is about a plan of action, strategic steps, programs that will make a difference.

4. the statement was made – Obama is wining right now because he is a master at poetry while Clinton’s strength is prose. It’s the difference between I have a dream & I have a plan.

5. the key to strong leadership is coherence – turning your poetry into prose. Some leaders have poetry but no prose. Others have prose but no poetry. Rare is the leader whose poetry is translated into a plan that is workable.

6. Jesus is that kind of leader – all throughout the gospels he turns his poetry into prose.

7. John 14:21 is poetry. Jesus is casting a vision of what it means to love him. He is seeking to inspire obedience. He is painting a picture of the kind of follower he promises to reveal himself to.

8. but much of his teaching is prose. Poetry put to action. The commands of Jesus are the teachings of Jesus. For example I want to take you to 2 places in the gospels where the prose/plan of Jesus is made crystal clear.

Luke 6:27-31
1. I read this in my Wednesday morning Bible reading. This is prose, plan, the commands of Jesus. Doing this stuff is how we demonstrate our love for Jesus.

2. listen to the prose –
® love your enemies
® do good to those who hate you
® bless those who curse you
® pray for those who mistreat you

3. and if that’s not enough, keep reading –
® turn your other cheek
® let loose of your tunic
® give to those who ask
® do to others as you want them to do to you

4. this is how we show our love for Jesus. We activate his teaching. We live it out in our relationships.

Matthew 25:31-46
1. here’s more salt & light – the way we treat the…
® hungry
® thirsty
® stranger
® in need of clothing
® sick
® prisoner

2. and the punch line of Jesus’ teaching – I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (25:40). Two things out of the mouth of Jesus that should startle us, grab out attention.

3. 1st he calls the needy of the world his brothers & sisters. No qualifications except that of need. Anglo + African American + Hispanic + Chinese + Serbian + Palestinian + Iraqi + Cuban. Male + female + married + single + adult + child + teenager + divorced + homeless + sober + not sober.

4. for the last 3 years of my brother Tom’s life he held up a sign asking for money to buy food at the corner of State Street & Glenwood in Boise. I would like to think that when people gave him money they were doing it for Christ & to the Christ who identified with Tom in his need.

5. 2nd he says that whenever we serve the needy we are serving him. I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (25:40,45). In both a mysterious & plain manner, when we give food to the hungry at our Food Panty we are actually giving food to Christ.

When we raise $54,000 for Habitat for Humanity to provide homes for the working poor in our community we are actually giving Christ a home.

When we get behind the mission of The Canby Center we will actually be touching Christ in every man, woman & child the Center touches.

When we send a team of youth & adults to Mexico in June to work in an orphanage, we will be serving Christ in each of the orphans we love touch help & serve.

Wrap-up
1. and best of all we will be showing Christ that we really really love him! The test of love is obedience.

2. and better yet, the reward of love is the self-manifestation of Christ to us. What does this mean?

3. Christ will become bigger & larger to us. We will see him more clearly. We will hear his voice more convincingly. We will understand his heart w/ increasing passion.



Music i listened to while sermonizing – the beatles; chris tomlin; gateway worship; charlie hall; david crowder band;

Books i read & studied while sermonizing – the intimate merton by thomas merton; lent and easter: wisdom from thomas merton by jonathan montaldo; the living church by john stott; the new christians by tony jones