“For God So Loved the World”

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”  (The Gospel of John 3:16, 17)

These familiar gospel verses from John are known the world over in all Christian churches as a summation of what we all believe, that is, through Jesus Christ we can be saved and enter into the riches of eternal life with God.  The word of grace supersedes the word of law and offers forgiveness to the condemned man or woman, as we are all bound in our sins.  “There is none righteous, no not one,” the Apostle Paul says, quoting the words of the Old Testament, reminding us that the good news of Christ’s gospel is really GOOD NEWS, owing to the fact we all come in to salvation by entering by the one door to the kingdom of God, that is, Jesus Christ our Lord and our Redeemer.

This gospel message came home again powerfully to me as I sat yesterday in a funeral in a predominantly African- American congregation, gathered to honor the life and recent death of Curtis Sherman, of Piedmont, SC.  My wife and I, and a few scatterings of “white folks” were there and a few others, but mostly the family and friends of this Christian man, who had eight children and numerous nieces, cousins and loved ones.  This family represented so well why the good news of Jesus is heard clearly in the African American churches.  Since I am not a regular worshiper in these churches, the experience of the exuberance in their worship of Christ our Savior was refreshing and at times overwhelming to me.  It was a day of both sadness at our loss and rejoicing in the Lord at the greatness of the power of his resurrection life!

I was invited to the funeral by Curtis’ brother John, as John and Curtis have been working to build our new home for more than the past 6 months.  John is the primary builder, but Curtis’s skills as associate were in the trim work of which he was a master.  I got to know Curtis a little in my conversations with John, and particularly when Curtis told me he had never seen a doctor in many years and wanted to come see me.  I invited him to come to my office for care, but before he could make it he was found lying unconscious in his home.  The diagnosis of brain tumor was given, and he died after surgery on his brain, lingering in a coma for many days.  I was honored to be invited to this funeral service, particularly as I have come to know John, his wife Elonda and their family.

Last night, I spent some time praying for John, since he and Curtis were not only brothers, but had worked together over 40 years building houses in the Simpsonville-Greenville area. It is hard to lose a brother and a partner in building as well.  The minister who gave the remarks at the funeral, Pastor Andre Wicker has also worked with Curtis and John from time to time over the years and learned “excellence in the art of home building” from Curtis and John.   As I listened to the testimony of Christ coming from Curtis’ daughters and nieces, I was especially moved at how sincerely they loved this man, as someone who had represented Christ’s love to them in their family.

Today, while worshiping in my own church, Easley Presbyterian Church, surrounded by “mostly white folk”, I remembered back to my home church in Bowling Green, South Carolina, when I was a child.  I remembered the “American Tune Book” singing on Sunday afternoons when churches from all over gathered for worship.  I also remembered the Thursday night gospel singing at my own church which my sister Jane and I attended accompanying our grandparents, Mott Quinn and Johnsie Dulin Petty.  I recalled while singing “Amazing Grace” this morning in our worship service this was also the song Sam Lindsey, our black janitor sang every Thursday night as a solo in our service of worship.  This is the only song I ever heard him sing and he did so magnificently.  Later, after the death of my dad in a car wreck, when he was killed by a drunk driver, I was asked by the minister to help Sam cut the grass around the church.  The Bowling Green church bought a new riding lawnmower, an Allis-Chalmers and Sam was afraid to drive it, so I was asked to use this mower.  Sam used the smaller mower to cut and trim the rather large cemetery near the church.  I remembered today, while sitting in worship that Sam Lindsey was the first person, besides our pastor who ever verbally asked me if I understood the gospel of Jesus.  My first witness, except for my family, was given to me by a black man.  I found out later that Sam Lindsey had saved my life as a baby resting on a blanket, as he killed the copper head snake that was coming close to my head.

Last night and today, while praying for John to be comforted in the loss of his brother Curtis, it struck me that Christ is the only person who can truly unite us in the family of God among all the races, colors, creeds and opinions that divide us.  In Christ, we are brothers and sisters!  Outside of Christ, we are diverse people.  Neither the bonds of country, race, or even the colors of our favorite sports team can unite us as one people as deeply as the bonds of love which unite us in the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ died for all men and women and saves all men, women and children in spite of our racism and the color of our skin.  “There is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, bond nor free in Christ.  We are all one new created family in Jesus Christ our Lord!”  (Epistle to the Galatians 3:28, the Apostle Paul).

The gospel of Christ is about breaking down walls, tearing down racism, animosity, fear, hatred and pride which separates a man from a man, a woman from a woman, a child from a child.  We are all, in Christ, children of God, a new creation in Jesus Christ our Lord!  It is not surprising, then, that those who do not know Christ have hearts full of division, racism and hatred for those persons unlike themselves.  Christians should know no class divisions, and should not adopt language of racism which separates one human being from another.   We know that Jesus was a Jew, of the tribe of Judah, a descendant of Abraham, the father of all the faithful.  So as Christians we do not hate the Jews, since out of the Jews Christ came.  As Christians, we do not hate other Gentiles, as Paul declares in Christ, there are neither Jew nor Gentile, but we are all one in Jesus Christ.

We do not hate the Chinese, nor the Koreans, nor the Vietnamese, nor the Arabians, nor those living in the Middle East. As Christians we pray for the Iranians as we pray for the Africans.  We pray for and love the Russians as we pray for and love those In Thailand and Cambodia.  We can even, in Christ, love the Syrians who kill other Syrians, if we are in Christ Jesus our Lord!

This world, as I know it, is losing hope.  Some are withdrawing from the world to wait for the end to come.  Others have lost hope in the church, unable to hear the good news.  Our own political climate in our nation has become so divisive, even sincere Christians are finding it difficult to talk to one another.  We are being given polarizing messages, which seek to separate us from one another.  These message are wrong!  There is no salvation to be found in Donald Trump or in any other presidential candidate, not matter where they are known.  I, for one, have lost hope in them all in their ability to save us from ourselves!

But I do retain my hope in Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord.  When I witness the love of my African-American brothers and sisters for me, a white man and for my wife and my family, I am reminded of what is most important.  The small things which may divide us are as nothing compared to the love of my God which unites us.  We can be friends, we can be family, for we are brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ our Lord!  And so, in this season in which we will surely be bombarded with messages both tribal and hate filled, we can choose to ignore them all.  I can choose whom I love and who I will serve.  My loyalty is to Jesus Christ my Lord and to any and all who call him their own and who try to practice what he tells us to do.  “If we cannot love our brother & sister whom we have seen, then we cannot say we love God, whom we have not seen. (I John 4:20)” The scripture is rather clear on this word.  This is how I plan to discern whom I can believe and whose voices I can hear.  A person whose loves God and their neighbor, I will welcome and call as my friend.  For those who cannot do this great and simple thing, I will pray for them, that God may forgive them for their sins of omission and commission, for their pride, for their lying and for their deceit. May our God bring salvation and the light of the gospel into their souls.

Grace in Christ is the primary word from God!   Grace extended to our fellow human beings in the name of Christ is our primary goal as Christians!  I hope and pray that we will not ever be distracted by the noise in this election process or the noises in our everyday lives.  I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep us as his people until that great day!  In Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer and our Friend!  Amen and Amen!

 In Loving Memory of Curtis Terrance Sherman, August 2, 1958 – February 2, 2020,

And in honor of his brother John Sherman, wife Elonda Sherman and their family.

Rev. Bill Wilson, MD, servant of God by God’s grace and mercies.

“Amen!”