Sermon Notes
Mt. 22: 34-40, 1. John 4: 7-12 (Oct.5th
2008):
One for all, all for one, and all for love!
The novel “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas tells the story of the adventures of a
young man from the countryside named D’Artagnan. Following in his father’s footsteps, D’Artagnan sets off to Paris in 1625 hoping to
become a member of the Musketeers, a band of men sworn to serve and protect the King of
France. D'Artagnan is not one of the
musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos,
and Aramis—inseparable friends who live by the motto,
"One for all, and all for one".
Before long, D'Artagnan
finds treachery and court intrigue. D’Artagnan,
Athos, Porthos, and Aramis
strive heroically to protect their king and defend the honor of their queen
against the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.
The story is about honor, courage, and
friendship: One for all, and all for one!
And in 1993 a movie was published based on this
novel from Alexandre Dumas. The movie makes a few
minor changes and focuses more on the romantic parts of the story than the book
does. Because of that he title song to the movie adds one little but very
important thing to the motto of the Musketeers: All for love! So the motto has
now changed to one for all, all for one, and all for
love.
One for all, all for one, and all for love
reminds me very much of
Jesus Christ, us as Christians, and our relationship with God and.
1.1 Jesus
Christ is the One for all:
because he did and still does so much for all of us.
1.1.1 He
is the “One for all” because He fed the hungry! He fed literally 5.000
people with loaves of bread and fish. But he also fed people spiritually. For
example by teaching his disciples how to pray / teaching them the Lord’s
Prayer, and by teaching them about fasting. He also fed people with knowledge
by his teachings. For example during his sermon on the mount: He taught people
about salt and light, law, anger, money and possessions, adultery, divorce,
vows, revenge, love for the enemy, and about giving to the needy.
Jesus is also feeding us with knowledge and
spirituality today because his teachings are still available to us– in the
bible. Stories about who he is, what he did and what he taught is still
accessible for us. Jesus Christ is still feeding us today with his presence in
the bread and the wine during communion. And he will still feed the hungry of
the generations to come.
1.1.2 Jesus
is the “One for all” because he healed the sick! He healed people who
were possessed by demons, he healed people who were blind or deaf, he healed
people with leprosy. But he also healed wounded souls with his attitude of
kindness, forgiveness and reconciliation. And he still does that today for us.
Christ’s healing power is still there for us, in a different way, but it is
still there. Jesus is able to make us whole again, to mend what is broken. And
very often he does that through us. He does that through medical doctors,
nurses, therapists, Stephen Ministers. And through people like you and I who
pray for and with people in need; who visit people in jails, hospitals or at
home, who comfort, and who listen. Jesus Christ still heals through people who
follow his example – people like us.
1.1.3 But most of all Jesus Christ is the “One
for all” because He died for us on the cross. The One Son of God paid
the price that the whole world can be saved, that everybody can have eternal
life, that God’s love can become real for every single human being on this
planet. God’s only Son – the One – makes it possible that our failures can be
forgiven. And people today are as much saved as the first Christians were. And
we don’t have to do anything to secure forgiveness and eternal life for us.
It’s a gift from God. It’s there, it’s free, and it’s for everybody. Because of
Jesus Christ - the “One for all”!
2.1 And as God’s children they / WE are the all
for one:
Not only people who attend a worship service
regularly, not only people who are baptized, not only people who believe in
Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. But everyone. Everyone is meant to hear
the Gospel and to be a child of God. But it starts with us. Because there are
people out there who don’t know all these things – yet.
2.1.1 We
are the “all for one” because we follow Jesus!
The Gospel of Matthew makes it very clear what
it means to follow Jesus, and even more what it means to be the “All for one”.
In Matthew 25 Jesus says: I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was
sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’
When you did it to one of the least
of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.
So every time we donate food to Active Faith
here in South Lyon or work at a food pantry we
feed Jesus. Every time we provide space for a group like Alcoholics Anonymous,
or cup scouts, or have young people meet with their cars in our parking lot to
hang out together and work on their cars we invite Jesus into our home. Every
time we donate clothes to Active Faith we give Jesus clothing. Every time we
visit somebody who is sick either at the hospital or at home we care for Jesus.
Every time we visit people at in jail, or take a basket of cookies over to the
shut-ins, we visit Jesus. All for one!
2.1.2 We are the “All for one” because we spread
the Gospel!
They went out and told the story. It all
started with two women – Mary and Mary Magdalene – found the empty tomb and
were told: “Go
quickly and tell!” Tell the story!
The disciples were the first to hear the Good News. And now look where we are
today: People all over the world have heard the Good News. People all over the
world still go and tell the story. We go out and tell the story. You hear about
the gospel at church. I have just told you about it – the “One for all”
remember? And you will go out and tell the story to others, let other know how
much it changed your life to know about God’s love. And these others will tell
the story. We tell the story with words, with music, with acts of kindness,
with everything we are. We ARE the Gospel!
2.1.3 We are the “all for one” because we
make disciples!
We do what Jesus did: recruiting workers for
God’s vineyard, laborers for the kingdom
of God. And we do this
spreading the Gospel. We do this inviting people to become members of the
family of Christ. We do this by sharing our joy and our passion. We make
disciples by equipping people to go out themselves and share God’s love. Being
a child of God, being Christian, is contagious. We infect others with the wish
to become like Jesus and to work for Jesus in the kingdom of God.
We are the “All for one”!
3. And
now there is the question: Why? Why is Jesus Christ the “One for all? Why does
he have to be? Why are we the “all for one”? Why do we have to be? Why is that
so important?
Because it’s all about love.
3.1 It’s
all for love:
And this is the most important part within the
motto: One for all, all for one, and all for love. Because if there were no
love then there wouldn’t be the one for all and all for one. God IS
love as it says in the 1st letter of John chapter 4. And if God were
not love he wouldn’t have become human in Jesus Christ, he wouldn’t have died
for our sins, we would not have eternal life. And we would not be excited about
spreading the gospel, helping people in need, and making disciples. Our lives
would not change. Love is the very reason for all this. In the love all this
comes together.
3.1.1 It’s
“all for love” because God so loved the world that he gave his only Son!
God gave Jesus Christ so that the whole world
would be saved and that the whole world would have eternal life.
3.1.2 It’s
“all for love” because we are meant to love the Lord our God with all our
heart, with all our soul, and with all our might!
And to be honest: it is not so difficult to
love God who does so much for me. And it’s not that I have the feeling that I
better should love God or must. It just happened. Maybe it has always been
there and I only realized how much I love God and wanted to do something to
express that. And don’t worry: You don’t have to become a pastor to express
your love for God: feeding the hungry, quenching thirst, clothing the naked,
welcoming the stranger or simply by loving your neighbor as yourself!
3.1.3 It’s
“all for love” because we are meant to love our neighbor as ourselves!
We are meant to see the beauty of a person’s
personality not what annoys or challenges us. We are meant to realize that God
loves our neighbor as much as he loves us. We are meant to realize that our
neighbor is a wonderful, beautiful child of God, as much as I am. And we are
meant to act like this.
May this motto remind us once in while what all
this is about: One for all, all for one, all for love! Amen
