Love Wins

Pastor Rod Thompson

Midland SDA Church

September 14, 2019

Once again, this Sabbath, we find ourselves invited to the Lord’s Table.

This happens each quarter, regardless of where we have been, what we have done, what we have left undone, whether we have won great battles or suffered a great defeat. There is an invitation to the table.

On some Communion Sabbaths, we can reflect back on a great couple of months,  months of blessings and goodness, months of joy, promotions, financial success, food to eat and clothes to wear, peaceful relationships, well-behaved children, a well-behaved spouse, no arguments, just bliss, and we are invited to the table.

On some Communion Sabbaths, we can reflect back on a quarter that we would rather forget, months that have been plagued with illness, death, loss of loved ones, financial struggles, holes in shoes and no money to buy new ones, fights and dissention among family members and friends, relationships perhaps broken beyond repair, sleepless nights and restless days, months of more questions than answers, months of change when we needed stability…and still we are invited to the table.

Some here today have felt the painful sting of death in their families through loss and separation since our last communion. Some here today have lost loved ones months or years ago, and that loneliness is still as sharp today as it was on the first day.

Over the last several years, we have seen school shootings, church shootings, shootings at the mall, Walmart, and Meijers. Churches have been burned in the United States and abroad. People have fought about whether the confederate flag is a sign of bigotry and hate. Same-sex marriages have been legalized in every state in the country.

Some people are scared; some people are celebrating; some people are mad; some people are indifferent.  And still we are invited to the table. 

The court's definition of marriage in 2015 seems to have stirred more people than anything I have seen in my lifetime. People are fired up on both sides of the issue; the lines have been drawn by some; some say there is no middle ground.

Twenty-one thousand children die each day around the world, many from preventable diseases and unnecessary wars. That’s about one child every four seconds, which means since the call to worship today, about 875 children have died. This is a big deal.

There are more than a million abortions a year, approximately 120 per hour, which means since our call to worship today, 60 unborn children have died. This is a big deal.

Seven-hundred thousand people from the United States will be taken and sold in the sex trafficking industry this year. Fifty percent of them will be children, with the average age 11 to 14.   Internationally, the total of victims will be somewhere around 3 million people. This is a big deal.

Last year, over 45,000 people took their own lives in suicide. That’s about 123 people per day. Since our call to worship, about five people have taken their own lives. This is a big deal.

Forty-six million people in the United States live below the poverty line. This is a big deal.  And still we are invited to the table.

In July, we celebrated the freedom of our nation. Many people celebrated this freedom with fireworks, and family activities. It has been a national holiday to remember our freedom. In this country, it seems we can do what we want to do and be who we want to be: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. However, we don’t seem to be one nation. We don’t feel as if we can’t be divided. In truth, we are a divided people, divided by opinions, beliefs, status, economics, right and wrong, holy and sinful.

Each one of us is a mix of sinner and saint, of struggle and victory, of lost and found, of broken and redeemed. And still, there is an invitation to the table.

Read Micah 6:8

God has shown us what is good. In the grandeur of a sunrise, the artistic paintbrush-effect of a sunset, the touch of a loved one, the tranquility of a sleeping child, food on the table and clothes in the closet…Whether we have much or little, God has shown us what is good. In His perfect goodness, He walked this earth, taught us how to live and love, healed diseases, mended relationships, offered freedom, and gave us life. God showed us goodness through Jesus.

So, there is an invitation to the table, an invitation to seek justice, an invitation to love mercy, an invitation to walk humbly with our God.

I didn’t tell you global and national statistics to bring more fear into your lives. I didn’t tell you those statistics so we would be filled with doom and gloom. I didn’t tell you those statistics so we have a Chicken Little attitude that the sky is falling and the end is near. I told you those so we have the perspective that there is much work to do. I told you those statistics so we understand the workers are few. I told you those statistics so we can begin moving from hearing these statistics as mere numbers and begin seeing these statistics as people, people for whom Jesus came, people for whom Jesus died, people to whom Jesus is calling, just as He called me, just as He called you.

In a historic 5-4 ruling on June 26, 2015, the supreme Court of the United States found bans on marriage equality to be unconstitutional – and that the fundamental right to marriage is a fundamental right for all.  This was considered a huge victory for the LGBTQ community, and as a result of that decision the hash tag LoveWins and the Love Won logo were developed. 

 Yet, we are still invited to the Table: an invitation that provides unity, if we will allow it; an invitation that provides peace, if we will allow it; an invitation that offers grace and forgiveness, if we will accept it.

I didn’t mention the ruling of the supreme court because I agree with their decision.  But I can tell you this.

I have seen people proudly display “Love Wins” logos, and I have seen people disgusted by the implication those logos portray. Let me tell you something: Regardless of the sentiment behind the statement, there is no statement more true. Yes, love wins. Yes, love has won.

Love won when Jesus hung on the cross and said, “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Love won when Jesus looked at a man on across next to Him, receiving the judgment and penalty for his actions that he deserved, and Jesus said to him, “I tell you today, you will be with Me in paradise.”

Love won when, on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead as He had promised so we never would experience death as separation, but so we as His disciples, as His children, could experience everlasting life.

Love won when the gift of the Holy Spirit descended upon early believers on the Day of Pentecost, and that same Spirit is given to dwell in each of us. Love won when we were baptized and sealed by God. Love already had won when Jesus spoke about bread as His body and wine as His blood to be offered in the greatest single act of love in all history. So, yes, love has won.  And we are invited to the table.

Read Ephesians 4: 1-5

So, there is an invitation to the table: an invitation to each us to live a life worthy of the calling we have received, to be completely humble and gentle, to be patient, bearing with one another in love, to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace, because there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called.

Through this invitation, we can receive the faith, hope and love that is offered; and the greatest of these is love. So, yes, love has won…but not human love; rather, the lavish and fierce and unrelenting pursuing holy and perfect love of God for each and every one of us, here and everywhere, now and forever.

one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and as verse 6 says, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.