The First Word FROM FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BONITA SPRINGS SERMON BY REV. DOUG PRATT FEBRUARY 15, 2015

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1 The First Word FROM FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BONITA SPRINGS SERMON BY REV. DOUG PRATT FEBRUARY 15, 2015 G od showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. 1 John 4:9-12 (NLT) Behind Valentine s Day Valentine s Day on February 14 has become the modern Super Bowl for the floral industry, for high-end candy manufacturers, and for the greeting card industrial complex. It serves as a dramatic midwinter boost to restaurants and jewelers. Economists estimate its economic impact in the billions. If the church s ancient heritage hadn t provided an excuse for this day of excess and lavishly-expressed emotion, undoubtedly modern marketing would have invented one. February 14 was, since the final years of the Roman Empire, identified as the day of martyrdom of a Christian leader named Valentinus. By the late medieval period of western Europe, the culture had developed a fascination with the ideal of courtly romantic love including the development of tales about knights in shining armor rescuing beautiful damsels in distress and living happily ever after. The English storyteller Chaucer in the 14 th century developed some

2 elaborate stories revolving around St. Valentine s Day as the inspiration for romance. And so the train of the glorification of Valentine as the ultimate lady s man or lover left the station and has been building speed ever since like a runaway locomotive. But when we dig down to the foundations of this edifice of the Valentine establishment, we find that the original man doesn t quite fit the modern caricature. His life was not all about romantic love. His life was about a costly commitment to a faith that was considered a threat by the insecure dictator of his empire. Valentine (his Latin name Valentinus) was ultimately and unjustly executed for refusing to renounce his allegiance to Christ and worship Caesar. He was a bold and courageous leader of his congregation, and by his willingness to stand firm the church was greatly strengthened. Ultimately, less than a half-century later, the final triumph of biblical faith over emperor-worship was achieved. Emperor Constantine was himself converted to faith in Christ and immediately reversed centuries of persecution by declaring Christianity to be both legal and protected. Valentine s sacrifice of his life was thus not in vain. And the various traditions passed down from his time to ours tell about his faithfulness in prison, writing letters expressing his love to his wife, or to children, or to others in his congregation. Signing those letters Your Valentine, his name became associated with mushy and sentimental cards and boxes of chocolate. But the real man was far more than just emotions. There was solid substance to him. The Modern Obsession with Romantic Love Contemporary western society is infatuated with romantic love as its ideal and obsession. It was last June when the film Jersey Boys, directed by Clint Eastwood and based on the Tony Award-winning musical, hit the theaters. It s the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, a phenomenally-popular singing group in the 1960s and 70s with dozens of hit songs to their credit. The songs, written by group member Bob Gaudio and sung by Frankie, are nearly all about teenage romance the pleasures when we have it, the heartbreaks when we lose it. See if any of these tunes are lodged in your brains: 2

3 Sherry Baby C mon Marianne Who Loves You Can t Take My Eyes Off You I ve Got You Under My Skin My Eyes Adored You Baby I Need Your Lovin Dawn (Go Away) Let s Hang On! Rag Doll Take Good Care of My Baby Working My Way Back to You The pop music of our lifetimes, from the 40s (big bands, Sinatra and Bing), to the rock and roll of Elvis and the Beatles, the disco of the 70s, and on down to today including, of course, country music has always fallen back on the default mode of the glorification of romantic love (and the mourning for it when we don t have it). We think of love as a nearly-mystical or supernatural force that captures us or invades us. It s described as something we fall into and fall out of. It is based on emotion, on physical attraction, and on deep longings to be accepted and cherished and valued. The modern obsession with this kind of love has both its up side and its down side. On the up, everyone who has felt intense attraction for another person has sensed the pleasure it brings. On the down, our human emotions are notoriously and unreliably fickle. Though it can be the chemistry or magnetism that initially draws a man and woman together who eventually become a strong life-long marriage, it s not enough all by itself. For good reason the traditional wedding vows require that brides and grooms not just promise to feel intense love for each other, but also that their commitment shall remain steady for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, til death do us part. Emotions by themselves, if not propped up and sustained by much more reliable actions and commitments, simply aren t strong enough. Love of a Different Kind When we turn from contemporary music (and popular romantic fiction and movies) to the pages of the New Testament, we find a fundamentally different focus. Rather than glorifying the feelings of romantic love, we find an emphasis on fidelity and deep-rooted values. In this morning s text from First John we find that it s all about 3

4 Christ s love, as demonstrated in His unfathomably costly sacrifice and His undeservable love that forgives and cleanses and protects us. To see ideal love we don t look inside our Hallmark Valentine s Day cards to see what sentiments poets have written; instead, we look at the cross. Even the well-known chapter 13 of First Corinthians, so frequently read at weddings, is really talking not about romance but about the difficult decisions we have to make to be patient and kind, and to bear all things in our relationships with other fallible and imperfect humans. And so, on this Valentine s Day weekend, we do not dismiss the beauty of emotional love, but we appeal to the world around us to look deeper. And as we dig back to the roots of Valentinus himself, we find a different kind of love than we might have expected at the core of his being. He was not primarily devoted to hearts and flowers and whispered affections. He was about an abiding love for His Lord, who had already demonstrated perfect and complete love for Valentinus. The real Valentine was a man whose love and faith burned brightly out from his prison cell. He had the courage to refuse to give in. He was a man who could properly be labeled unbroken. Discovering God s Love Which leads me to another recent film directed by a Hollywood superstar: Angelina Jolie s Christmas Day release of Unbroken, based on the Laura Hillenbrand bestseller of the life of Louie Zamperini. The film was a very well-cooked appetizer; unfortunately, it left out the main course. The most moving and powerful part of the Louie Zamperini story what the final 50 pages of the book tell in dramatic detail, and what Louie himself confirms as the true message of his life and the conviction that inspired his final six decades before his death last summer is what occurred after his release from a Japanese prison camp and return to the U.S. following VJ Day (which is, regrettably, where the movie ends). Many of us had the opportunity to meet Louie in person three years ago this month. He was not only unbroken, he was also unforgettable. 4

5 Here s a quick summary of the completion of the story. After the war Louie struggled terribly with his emotions and nightmares about his mistreatment alternating terror and rage. He became an alcoholic, which severely impacted his finances and health and brought his marriage to the brink of divorce. As a final attempt to save their broken relationship, his wife asked him to accompany her to the Billy Graham Crusade in downtown Los Angeles. The second night he was there, Louie heard the Gospel of Christ clearly. His hard heart melted, and he invited Christ to come into it. He immediately went home, poured his liquor down the drain, and slept for the first time without nightmares. God s Spirit changed him inside out, saved his marriage, allowed him to forgive, and gave him a new purpose in living. Louie himself declared that it was a miracle. Let me tell you about another Christian hero who spent time in a prison, like Valentine and Louie. His name is Jacob DeShazer and he s from Oregon. He was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. As a trained bombardier in a B-25, he volunteered to serve with Colonel Jimmy Doolittle in the first air raid on Japan. His bomber took off from a carrier in the mid-pacific, dropped its payload on the city of Nagoya, and then headed for mainland China. The plane ran out of fuel before reaching its destination, and DeShazer and the others of his crew parachuted into Japanese-occupied territory. He was captured and began 40 months as a POW, including 34 in solitary confinement. Jake DeShazer hated his Japanese guards. He felt so far from God (if there even was a God) during his first months of imprisonment that he thought it would be dishonest to pray. But a fellow prisoner planted a seed. Before he died of malnutrition and beriberi, Lt. Bob Meder of Cleveland had told Jake, The key for you is that you need to find out about Jesus Christ. Jake wondered what a man who had lived so many centuries ago could have to do with an American POW in the 20 th century. But not long after, he got a copy of an English Bible which he had never 5

6 read from a guard. He was allowed to keep it for only three weeks, but he read it cover-to-cover. The verse that leaped out at him from the pages was Jesus saying on the cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He realized that following Christ would mean he would have to forgive his captors. A bit later he came to the book of Romans: If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, you will be saved. He prayed to receive Christ into his bitter and broken heart, and the transformation began. DeShazer began to try to learn Japanese from his guards, and tried to get to know them and speak kindly to them. They in turn began to treat him differently. When the war ended, Jake returned to the northwest and entered a Christian college to be trained for the ministry. He then was ordained as a Methodist missionary and moved back to Japan with his wife and served for 30 years. The small booklet he wrote in Japanese, I Was a Prisoner of Japan, was widely read including by a former bomber pilot named Mitsuo Fuchida who had led the raid on Pearl Harbor on December 7, Fuchida sought out DeShazer, they became fast friends, and Fuchida gave his life to Christ. They regularly would travel together around Japan and the U.S., sharing their stories and their faith. Jake DeShazer s enduring legacy is of a man who was transformed by Christ s love for him and became an ambassador to spread that love to others. This Is Real Love It s just what our text says in First John 4: This is real love not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God love us that much, we surely ought to love each other. On this weekend when the secular world celebrates a sentimentalized view of love, we have been reminded of a very different kind. Soft Love is comfortable and fun. It inspires poets and songwriters. Like a gentle tissue that feels smooth on our skin, emotional love is pleasant, but it s not very strong. It can easily tear apart. 6

by the three prisoners whose stories we have revisited today: Valentinus, Louie and Jake.

7 What we need most is Solid Love, love that endures. It is the kind of love, first based on God s Solid Love for them and then spreading to others around them, that is demonstrated by the three prisoners whose stories we have revisited today: Valentinus, Louie and Jake. May God grant us the grace to enjoy the soft love of emotions, but to focus our efforts always on developing and living the solid love that comes from our faith Bonita Beach Road Bonita Springs, Florida fpcbonita.org

Jacob Looked Up and There was Esau, Coming with His Four Hundred Men

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