This message was shared at Centerville United Methodist Church in Centerville, IN on Sunday, April 19, 2015. 1 John 3:16-24 served as the launching pad for this message. 

1 John 3:18- “Let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth.”

The passage of Scripture we heard from 1 John 3 is a powerful reminder of Jesus’ love and our call to now embody and live out that same kind of love. The kind of love Jesus demonstrated was sacrificial and unconditional.

John encourages us not to get so caught up with words or speech, but to be more consumed with demonstrating our love by our actions. In some ways, John is revealing to us that our knowledge and relationship with Christ is best proved by the way we live. In other words, it doesn’t really matter how much Scripture people can quote from heart. If it doesn’t translate into action…well, in the words of Duke Ellington and Irving Mills, “it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.”

There is a difference between Scripture memorization, Scriptural knowledge, and Scriptural understanding. I know people who can quote Scripture right and left, but they don’t bother to share their time, talents, or treasures…which would indicate that their head knowledge has not transformed into heart knowledge. If we truly understand Scripture, it will transform our entire lives.

Some of us are so convinced that we are “right” when it comes to our understanding of God, Jesus, and the Bible, that we never pause to humbly consider the fact that “we could be wrong.” And, a quick examination of some of the stereotypes non-Church folk have about church folk would reveal that not only could we be wrong, often times we are…Too often, we confuse our political agendas with our religious traditions and doctrine. Many times, our attitudes and actions communicate conflicting messages. For example, if you look at what we rally against and protest, we often present messages like:

• Drinking is wrong, but gluttony is okay
• Abortion is wrong, but war and capital punishment are okay
• Gay marriage is wrong, but divorce and adultery are okay
• Working on Sunday is wrong, but we love going out to eat after church
• Swearing is wrong, but gossip is okay
• Being overly involved in sports is wrong, but slothfulness/laziness is okay

Now, most of us know better and would protest “that’s not what we believe.” Many of us understand the reality that, within the church, within this church, there are several people with different thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs on all of those issues. And, guess what? That’s okay! Because sometimes our debates about these issues are really just adventures in missing the point! Too often we spend more time trying to be “right” and convince others we are “right” than we do trying to love one another in action and truth!

Therefore, when someone offers up an alternative understanding to what we believe to be “right”, we often get defensive.  Many times, when we get defensive we also become judgmental of those with different viewpoints. When we get defensive and judgmental, we often begin to gossip. Then, we justify our defensiveness, judgment, and gossip by saying we’re just trying to love people into a right relationship with God. And by right, we mean what we are convinced is “right”. If we are going to love God and love others, we need to spend less time being defensive and judgmental and more time humbly listening and faithfully serving.

So, as Christians, our call is to follow in the way of Christ. Submitting to the authority of Christ by obeying his commandments leads us to love in truth and actions, laying down our lives for one another.

What is it that Jesus commands? (Read Matthew 22:34-40). Love God and love one another. If we can do these two things, the rest of the law and prophets, the rest of the Scripture naturally takes care of itself.

Jesus gives us some insight as to what it looks like to love God and love one another.  (Read Matthew 25:31-40). Meeting the basic needs of those around us is the evidence of our faith. It’s the tangible proof of love in action. It’s the effect of head knowledge transforming into heart knowledge.

1 John 3:17 says that if we have the means to help a brother and sister in need and fail to help, it is difficult for the love of God to remain in us. In other words, we can say that we believe the right things, but if we don’t do the right things, do we truly believe the right things?

The love of Jesus is unconditional and sacrificial. So, what about our love? Is it unconditional and sacrificial? Or do we set certain criteria people have to meet in order to deserve and receive our love.

One of the biggest pieces of evidence that our head knowledge has transformed into heart knowledge is the sharing of our faith. (Read Matthew 28:18-20) In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus tells us to get the word out! We are called to spread his love to everyone, everywhere. Sharing our faith, telling others about Jesus, inviting people to join us on this journey is tangible proof that God’s love is within us! Many times, we best share our faith when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned.

There is great power in love. And, as our friends, The Beatles put it, “All You Need is Love”

Love, God’s love can unite what is currently divided.

Love, God’s love provides the motivation to serve God by serving others.

Love, God’s love is what makes it possible to love and serve our neighbors.

Love, God’s love is what makes it possible to love and serve, even our enemies.

Love, God’s love is demonstrated in how we love and serve one another.

Love, God’s love  has the power to overcome our sins and failure.

Love, God’s love has the power to defeat evil and even death.

How many of you have ever heard of the Starbucks Love Project? Now, I’m going to be totally honest, I’m about to say something nice about Starbucks. And, that’s a pretty incredible thing because I can’t stand Starbucks. Starbucks, to me, is the corporate representation of the devil. Starbucks represents everything that is wrong and evil in the coffee industry. They have made their mark by removing the artistry of coffee. They make coffee for people who don’t really like coffee. A person who really likes coffee would never drink a Caramel Macchiato or a Frappuccino. And, what they call a caramel macchiato isn’t a macchiato, it’s a latte! They over-roast their beans, but with their advertising, they convince you that is what good coffee is supposed to taste like. However, Starbucks pulled off an amazingly awesome project that demonstrates love in action. In December of 2009, Starbucks pulled off an amazing feat to raise awareness (and funds) of AIDS in Africa. Here is the result. This is a great reminder that love can unite us…check this out…

In the United Methodist Church, when we become members, we make vows to put our love into action by making a commitment to uphold our church through our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. We put our love into action when we pray,(for our church, community, nation, world), when we are present (being at church, showing up when our brothers and sisters are in need), when we share our gifts (sharing our time, talents, treasures and practicing extravagant generosity), when we serve (1 John 3:17; John Wesley “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”), and when we witness (proclaiming the love of Jesus in word and deed).

Some of us are at different stages in life and what it looks like to uphold our church through prayer, presence, gifts, service, and witness will look different at various stages. However, each of us has a vitally important role to fill.

We have opportunities to put our love into action through the ministries of our church…We all can be involved in all of these:

• VBS- reaching families in our community (pray, give, go)
• Bulldog Buddies & Crossing Guards – reaching into our schools (pray, give, go)
• Mission Guatemala- reaching into our world (pray, give, go)
• Faith promises- supporting ministries that are reaching our locally, nationally, internationally (pray, give, go)
• Fellowship Friends (visiting nursing homes & shut-ins)- pray, give, go
• Hospital Visitation (when we have folks in for extended stays/surgery)- pray, give, go
• Ministry teams (pray, give, go)
• Sunday school – reaching inwardly and growing so we will be inspired and encouraged to put our love into action. (pray, give, go)

Is there something on your heart? Just do it.

Want to know more? Come see me, drop me an email or text or call

Romans 14:19 calls on us to “strive for the things that bring peace and the things that build each other up.” All we need to bring peace and build each other up is love…for God and one another.

What will you do this week to demonstrate your love for God and love for others?

While working on the message for Sunday mornings worship gathering at Centerville UMC, this song keeps popping into my head!

The text that will serve as the launching pad for the message comes from 1 John 3:16-24. Verse 18 really stands out to me…”Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” This verse has inspired the connection to the Ellington/Mills chart.

“It don’t mean a thing, if you ain’t got that swing.”

Our love, for God and others, should be more than words…it should inspire and result in tangible action.

However, too often, it does not…It’s like those who can quote every verse in the Bible, but the “head knowledge” has never translated into “heart knowledge”. In other words, we know a lot about the Bible, we know a lot about God, but it has not resulted in a transformed life. Our knowledge of God has not translated into loving service of/for God. We know a lot of Scripture, but it has not changed the way we live out our faith.

John challenges his audience and poses the question, “How can we say we love God and ignore the needs of our brothers and sisters?”

“It don’t mean a thing, if you ain’t got that swing.”

On this Maundy Thursday, I find myself reading, re-reading, and meditating upon the Gospel reading from the Lectionary (John 13:1-17, 31-35).

Two extremely important things happen in this text…

1. Jesus demonstrates the importance of humble service when he takes on the role of a servant and washes the disciples feet. After washing the disciples feet, he instructs them to do the same. Now, most would read into the text that Jesus isn’t simply calling his followers to wash each others feet, but is calling on his followers to humbly serve.

2. Jesus gives a new commandment: Love one another! “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

In the cultural context of Indiana, in the midst of the great debacle known as RFRA, the Gospel reading could not be more appropriate.

No matter one’s views on issues of sexuality, marriage equality, etc…we are called to serve and to love.

Jesus did not practice discrimination. He was known as a “friend of sinners”. The religious folks didn’t like him because he associated with “notorious sinners”. He broke down barriers and showed grace, mercy, love, and compassion to “the least of these”. If he was hard on anyone, it wasn’t the “known sinners”…it was the pious religious types!

It seems like Jesus, the same guy who for his first miracle turned water into wine…not just a little bit of wine either, would not refuse to serve or love anyone. Jesus would bake a cake for anyone. Jesus would bake a pizza for anyone. Jesus would provide a flower arrangement for anyone. Jesus would love and serve anyone.

As followers of Jesus, our call is the same…to love and serve anyone.

So, on this Maundy Thursday, I’m thankful for the example of Jesus. I’m thankful for his obvious demonstration of humble service. I’m thankful and challenged by his call to love one another.

Easter is just around the corner! For those of us in ministry, it means we are in the midst of a busy season. The preparation and Holy Week itself, while extremely powerful, can be very draining on ministry leaders and their families.

This is also one of those times of year when we start seeing a slight increase in worship attendance. Christmas Eve and Easter brings out folks who maybe only make it to church once or twice a year.

In Christian circles, these irregular church attenders are often referred to as “Chreasters”. Let’s be honest, that’s a pretty derogatory term. It probably reveals that we don’t really appreciate having the Chreasters join us on Christmas Eve and Easter.

Continuing in the spirit of honesty, we don’t appreciate Chreasters because Chreasters impose on our normal ways of doing things. For example:

• They park in our parking sports (meaning we might have to park farther away)
• They sit in our pews/chairs (meaning we might have to sit on the other side of the sanctuary)
• They dress too informal (meaning they don’t take things seriously enough)
• They dress to formal (meaning they take things too seriously)
• They don’t understand how we do things (meaning they don’t respect our traditions)
• They don’t know the difference between the Bible and the hymnal
• They don’t have the Lord’s Prayer memorized
• They sit when we’re supposed to stand
• They stand when we’re suppose to sit
• They made the sign of the cross
• They don’t make the sign of the cross
• They don’t sing our songs
• They are only here to make grandma happy
• They are only here to get right with Jesus so the Easter Bunny/Santa will give them what they want
• They will only be here this week and then it will be back to “normal”
• Well, it’s nice to have a full church today, but it will be depressing next week

And, the list could go on and on. We’ve all seen it. We’ve all heard the comments. We’ve seen the exchange of dirty looks when someone does something on the above list. We know the apprehension good church folk have when it comes to Chreasters (or “new” folks in general). Heck, plenty of ministry leaders have pretty poor attitudes when it comes to Chreasters too!

But me, I love the Chreasters!

We live in a day and age where fewer and fewer people have even a remote desire to be involved with anything religious. We live in a day when the “build it and they will come” projects are no longer as effective as they may have been 20-50 years ago. We live in a day where our “Christian” nation is becoming a larger and larger mission field. We live in a day where pastors and laity alike have to become missionary in mindset and action.

So, I love the Chreasters! However, I’m sad because they are actually diminishing in number.

At least with the Chreasters we have one or two shots each year to share the hope, life, joy, grace, mercy, peace, and love of Jesus on our own turf. That’s one or two more chances than we generally get with the unchurched and dechurched populations in our communities. Therefore, we should really make the most of it!

We should celebrate the fact that there are folks out there who still believe it’s important to go to church…even if it is only once or twice a year.

We should celebrate that they broke their normal Sunday morning routine to share part of their day with us!

We should go beyond radical hospitality when it comes to our Chreasters!

We should realize that this is a huge opportunity…because maybe, just maybe this year something will click and they will see the value in the community and worship life of the church!

Maybe we church folk should spend the next couple of weeks praying for the Chreasters…praying for our churches…praying that we won’t be jerks when the Chreasters do something on the list above…praying that all who join our churches in worship (on any given Sunday) will feel welcome, wanted, and experience God in a powerful way.

Oh, how I love Chreasters. I hope you do too!

There are times when I think the church should resemble a used car.

Too often in the church, we worry about little things as if the church is a new car.

You know how it is with a new car…We don’t let the kids eat or drink in a new car because we don’t want to get a stain on the seats. We try to avoid driving through puddles because we don’t want to get the car dirty. We park far away at the supermarket because we don’t want our doors dinged by other shoppers. We don’t allow certain items or people in the new car because we want to keep that new car smell as long as we can. And the list goes on and on…

But, as soon as dad spills a little coffee, we begin to relax. Next thing you know, the kids are downing Happy Meals, Capri Sun’s, and M&M’s in the backseat. Of course, we strive to do our best to keep the car clean and presentable. However, we’re not as uptight about little spills and some dirty floor mats. The car is a tool that is meant to be used.

Now, when we buy a used car, we still like to keep it neat and clean. However, we tend not to worry as much because someone else had already stained the seats and floor mats and had a couple of door dings at the supermarket. We realize more quickly that the car is a tool meant to be used.

The temptation in the church is to treat it like a new car, whether it’s brand spanking new or has been around for 100+ years. We worry about stains on the carpet. We worry about candle wax on the pews or chairs. We get nervous if the pastor, praise band, choir, or parents of young children bring drinks or snacks into the sanctuary. “What if they spill something?”

But, the church building is a tool intended to be used. The church building, like a car, will get a bit messy if it is being used by the church family. Now, just because the building shows signs of use does not mean it’s dirty. We should work hard to make sure it’s clean, presentable, and that the bathroom’s don’t smell like dirty diapers. But, stains on the carpet, marks on the walls, and other indications of use mean that the church is being used. And, shouldn’t that be the goal?

Sometimes we get upset when others bring their coffee into the sanctuary. We say things like, “Don’t they know that bringing coffee into the sanctuary is disrespectful?” Here’s the deal, I hope our churches are reaching people who don’t know how to “play church.” I hope our churches are reaching folks who are not well versed in church etiquette.

I’ve always been “that guy” in churches I’ve served. When I walk into the church, you can pretty much guarantee there will be a cup of coffee in my hand. We talk about the church being “the family of God”. I don’t know about your family, but when I get together with my family, we don’t have too many rules about where we drink our coffee (of course, my mother’s family was from Kentucky, so…).

I have a friend who, on the first Sunday in the new sanctuary of his church, took a cup of coffee and poured it out on the new carpet. He said, “This building is meant to be used. It’s meant to get dirty. We shouldn’t be so focused on our building that we fail to show hospitality to our guests.”

A vital congregation will show signs of being used. There will be stains on the carpet. There will be evidence of candle wax on the pews. There will be scuff marks on the paint. And we should celebrate that! It doesn’t mean the church is dirty. It means that we aren’t so uptight that we don’t let people get comfortable and be themselves. We allow kids to be kids. We allow parents to be parents. We allow people to be people!

I don’t know about you, but I believe the folks who spill coffee, drip candle wax, and scuff up the paint are more important than the carpet, the pews, and the walls.

In some ways, it’s about hospitality. If we have too many rules, we run the risk of making people focus more on whether or not they are doing things wrong that they might not connect with God and others. When folks come to church, they should be able to slow down and relax. They shouldn’t have to worry too much about whether or not they are breaking long-standing rules that really don’t have anything to do with connecting with Jesus.

Maybe churches should just stock up on Scotch Guard and stain remover!

The other day, I received a catalog that included the following sign:

It also included the following sign:

Is this really the message we want to send to our members, visitors, and community? Does this indicate that the church is a tool to be used for connecting people with Christ and the community? Does this indicate that all are welcome or that we are a “members only” club? Does this indicate that we want you to make yourselves at home?

Just some things I’m thinking about on a Friday afternoon!