This message is based on a reading from John 15:5-13. To read it now, click here.

I have a great deal of respect for firemen and EMS workers. I’ve never been in the Fire Services, but I have had some training in Fire Investigation. As a many of you know, before full time ministry, I was the Claims Manager for small insurance company, and I was trained in arson investigation.

I’ve been to the Fire Academy in Montour Falls, I’m sure some of you have been there. It’s a great facility where firemen all over the state train. In our arson investigation training, we would watch as they burned a building, watching as the firemen were training and putting out the fire. Then when they were done, we came in and did our thing, trying to figure out how they started the fire. The in depth investigation was done the next day when everything was cooled off, but we had an opportunity to watch the firemen as they trained along side us. It was a lot of fun – but it was some pretty tough training. 

So I know a little about what the firemen went through in their training. They had classes they had to attend, but then they applied it in the burn building. They would have to put out fires of several different types with a number of different scenarios giving it just that something different. It was hard work. And it’s a big commitment. Just the training is a big commitment. And it doesn’t stop. You can’t take a course once and forget about it. There has to be an ongoing to commitment to stay current and proficient.

And that’s just the training. Our firemen have committed a lot in training. But they also commit a lot in responding to the calls. It’s a big commitment. Our Almond Fire Department has responded to 148 calls so far this year – with two months left. On average, that’s a call every other day, with an extra one or two thrown in every month for good measure. That’s a commitment. To be willing to leave you spouse and your family and take off at all hours of the day. Our community asks a lot of you – and we appreciate your willingness to make such a commitment. 

At least, I hope we appreciate your commitment. Truth is, there are some in the community, I’m sure, that take you for granted. They don’t think about your level of commitment. They don’t think about the sacrifice we ask you to make to protect us. Because the Fire Services is something that we don’t think about unless we need it personally.

Perhaps last weeks fire in Alfred might wake up some folks. That was a major fire – there’s no doubt about it. But you responded. You dropped what you had on your plate that day, and you went to work battling the fire. And your hard work paid off, Main Street is still there. Just one building burned. If not for the quick response of ten departments, and nearly two hundred volunteers, there is no doubt in my mind that the entire block would have been destroyed. 

We had been planning to do this Sunday for a couple of months. We even postponed it once to make sure to have enough time to get the word out. Turns out, the timing couldn’t have been better. Coming as it did on the heals of the worst fire in the history of the village of Alfred, we’ve all had a bitter reminder of how much you are prepared to give. And we thank you for that.

While I really didn’t intend it, this week’s message is almost a continuation of last weeks. Last week I talked about what is important. What is really important? What might be the most important thing? So important, that if we got that much right, everything else would fall into place. 

We saw how a very similar question was asked of Jesus. What is the most important command. That’s a very similar question, because the law was seen to apply to every aspect of life. So the most important law, the most important command, would be the most important thing to concentrate on, and it would affect all of life.

Jesus’ answer for us last week was that the most important law, the most important command, the most important thing we could worry about, was to just to simply love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all mind, and with all your strength. Then he gave another one, nearly as important, that we should add to our love for God by loving each other as love ourselves. 

So the most important thing – THE most important thing - is to love – to love the Lord and to love our neighbors. Perhaps no one shows their love for their neighbors as much our volunteers in the Fire and Emergency Services. The people who run to help others during an emergency. You are the models for the kind of selfless love that Jesus commands us to show to one another.

In the passage this morning, we see those familiar words, “greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” The key to having the kind of love that Jesus commands is to be willing to lay down your life for another. You just can’t love more than sacrificing your self for another. Sacrificing your time. Sacrificing your energy. Yes, perhaps, even sacrificing your well being – your very life.

Yet, in our world today, we don’t see a lot of this kind of love very often. We see a lot more selfishness than self-less-ness. Jesus sends us out into the world to love one another. Just as often though it might seem as if we were sent out into the world to compete with one another, or to argue with one another, or to critic one another. But if we truly commit to following Christ, we are to go into the world in such a way that we show each other what loving one another truly looks like. 

What would it look like, anyway? I can’t think of a better example of what it would like than the fireman running into a burning house to save child. Or the EMS worker performing CPR on a father. Selflessly giving of himself to protect lives you don’t even know. That’s an example of the kind of love Jesus calls us to.

One thing that strikes me when I think about this. You can’t just do it willy-nilly. You can’t just rush into danger. You can’t just jump in if you’re not prepared. Without the proper training and the proper equipment, that would be suicide. And that’s not what Jesus is calling us to. It takes preparation. It takes a lot of training. It takes a lot of dedication, many, many hours, months and years. These folks have gone trough this training, and continue to train and practice and drill so they will be ready to respond when an emergency comes. That’s what it takes to be a good firemen or emergency responder. 

For the follower of Jesus, there is a way to prepare also. It doesn’t make you ready to go out and fight house fires, but you’ll be ready to fight the slings and arrows of spiritual warfare. Jesus gave us the answer in our, He said, “Abide in me.” 

It might sound a little strange that we can abide in Christ, and Christ can abide in us. But let me give you a simple way of understanding it. Suppose a person is very weak. Perhaps he’s gotten involved with another woman. Perhaps he’s using drugs or alcohol, he knows he shouldn’t, but can’t stop. His life is a mess. He is sinking deeper and deeper into despair, loosing everything he values most. 

Now suppose this person has a friend who is very strong and has a very loving nature. And this friend comes alongside his friend, helps him as he struggles to overcome his sinful behavior. Helps him realize the affair is bad news and it’s destroying his marriage. Helps him put the drugs away for good. Helps him realize the alcohol isn’t really helping him to cope, it’s ruining his ability to understand the reality around him. His stronger friend helps him let go of those things that are tearing him apart.

Truth is, there is only way that the weaker man can continue rebuilding his life, his transformation, his recovery, and continue moving in the right direction. He has to keep in touch with the friend who is helping him. He has to stay in regular contact. If he loses that contact, chances are the weaknesses will overcome him, the old temptations will rear their ugly heads, and he will fall again. His salvation lies in the continued contact with the strength of his friend. 

Jesus is our strong friend. Whatever our struggle is, whatever it is that has us dangerously near the edge, Jesus’ friendship and His strength can help us to overcome. Without that friendship and strength, chances are we’ll fall again. Chances are, our lives won’t get better on our own. We keep trying, we don’t want to give in. But chances are, we can’t do it on own. Very few can. But continuous contact with the strength of Jesus can keep us moving in the right direction. 

We can’t truly love one another, we can’t really be ready to lay down our lives for a friend, without the strength and friendship of another supporting us. The good news is, we don’t have to. Jesus is here. He is available. He can be your strong friend. And he offers His strength to what ever situation you might be battling this morning.