12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷ I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

The things that people can be committed to can range from the serious to the sublime. We can be committed to our relationships, our family, our occupations, our hobbies, our political beliefs, our sports teams. I’m sure that for every idea or interest there are more than a few someone’s who have built their lives it. Ebay, the internet auction site, has built its business on this understanding. Ebay knows that there are people who will do anything to acquire this or that thing because their lives will only be ‘fulfilled’ after they are finally able to lay claim to that item as theirs. I know that there have been a few moments when I have fallen into this sort of trap. My brother Joel and I, about seven years ago, when we lived together down in Philadelphia, had this idea of turning a bathroom into a shine to the Philadelphia Phillies (because when your seated upon the royal throne don’t all of you want to worship the Phillies? Maybe not.). We started by acquiring a Phillies toilet seat. What is strange about this is not that we started there, but that we actually had a couple of options to choose from. Within a few weeks Joel and I came to a realization: the bathroom would be not be big enough. Over the subsequent months we were truly committed to finding and obtaining the best Phillies stuff that money could buy. From clocks and bats, to posters, pennants, and pictures the shrine grew and eventually enveloped the entire living room. Looking back on it now, it was scary. The reason I say that is because where is all that stuff now? Neatly (and not so neatly) packed away in moving boxes and stored in both my brother’s and my attic.

Like I said commitment can show up in the strangest of places. The question is whether or not what you are offering the commitment to, is really worth it.

Our Stewardship program this year is founded upon the words of Jesus as he said, "I have called you friends." In and of itself, this is a wonderful sentiment. However, as you begin to get into the context of those five little words, what you begin to realize that what Jesus is saying is so much more that "you’re my friends". What Jesus is articulating in our passage this morning is the sort of life and living that are worthy of true and total commitment. Jesus says, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." The way that Jesus describes friendship, it’s more than your run of the mill drinking buddy: it’s someone whom you have taken into your heart in such a way that they are part of you.

What Jesus is talking about in these verses is living a life that is truly committed to honoring and lifting up those sorts of people who are around you. And for the son of God it’s not about talking the talk, it’s about walking it as well. Jesus believed what he said so deeply that he followed through on it, all the way to the cross. Jesus followed through and died so that we, his friends (those were so very close to him), might have the opportunity to live again, to live eternally.

What we always need to remember is that Jesus came, not just to tell us the way that we should live, but to show us as well. We’ve been given the template of caring for our friends, caring for those people who are truly connected to us.

The wonderful thing about this passage is that we quickly learn that this caring for our friends is not something that we do in isolation, completely separate from one another. Once again, we hear Jesus say, "I am the vine, you are the branches." Through God the Father we have been connected to Christ and each other. We have been brought together and called to become disciples, followers of the risen Christ, followers who will bear much good fruit.

That’s the long way of saying it. The short way of saying it is that we have been called to care for our friends through the way that we live together as the church. Jesus has shown the church, and all of its members, what it means to live a life of committed discipleship, a life that is committed to the betterment of those who are closest to you. We have been shown. Now we’ve got to follow through and do it.

As a church here at St. John’s we are doing our best to care for those whom we know as friend by proclaiming the Word of God through worship services that are uplifting and yet still challenge us to be better. We care for our friends by offering all sorts of educational opportunities (like Bible and book studies for the adults, and youth group, Sunday School, and the Good News Preschool for the kids) that equip them to head out into the world of which they are a part and display the love of God in a real and tangible way. We care for our friends by financially and prayerfully supporting missionaries of God’s love whether they work half way around the world (like Eric and Nancy Titus in Croatia or Haruun Ruun in the Sudan), or just around the corner (like the folks who work at People’s Place, or those who make sure that there is food in the food pantry).

We have been called to care for our friends and as we hear in our passage that is to be done by being committed to the connection that we have with one another through Christ. We have been called to care for our friends by being committed to the church.

So, we’ve got all of that out there. But the question still boils down to your priorities. Simply put: where do your priorities lie? What are you really committed to? Where does the church rank in your list of priorities?

There are so many churches that are struggling out in today’s world and I think at least part of the reason that is the case is because leaders are afraid to stand up and ask that people actually follow through on what they’re taught in church and make God their highest priority. They’re afraid to ask people to commit their time, talent, and treasure to God and the ministries of God through the church, first, as opposed to being fifth or sixth on the list. So many ‘leaders’ are afraid.

Those of you who have heard me preach on Stewardship Sunday’s past know that I’m not one of those people because I believe that the work that God is doing through the ministries and people of St. John’s is important and valuable work that brings people together. I believe that when people commit to putting God first in their lives that all of the other things that need to be taken care of are taken care of but in a way that allows the love of Jesus Christ to be felt.

As this community of faith here at St. John’s, we have an opportunity. We have been called to be the very presence of God in the world. We have made some amazing strides in the last few years to begin to make this call a reality. We have stepped up our commitment. I know we have.

I believe that we can do more. I believe our commitment to God, to each other, to our friends, should be greater. I believe this, not out of some egotistical sense of pride, but instead because of what I have seen take place. The Spirit of God is at work in this congregation. I’m not saying that we’ve got it all figured out, because we don’t. We’re as sinful and as broken as the next congregation.

But God’s Spirit is working in and through us so that not only might we be brought together, but so that others might be grafted into the eternal vine of Jesus Christ as well. The kingdom of God is not built by accident: it is built by people who are willing to commit themselves to putting God first. When this is done, the ministries of the church are able to develop and expand and in doing that we are able to welcome even more individuals and begin to know them as our friends.

But it all starts with a commitment that follows the path that Jesus first trod. Jesus showed what could happen when you place your commitment to God first in your life: the world is able to be transformed. Let us all show that same level of commitment. Let us care for our friends by putting God, through the ministries of the church, first.

We have been called friends. We have been appointed to go and bear good and lasting fruit. Let us do that very thing.

Gracious God, being truly committed to each other, let alone to You, can be a very scary thing. It calls for us to stretch, to believe, and to follow the dream that Your Spirit has place before us. Grant us the courage to commit ourselves to You and do so by being willing to give. God allow our stewardship to be one of the great ways where our commitment to You is put into action. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.