behavior

Made Known

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Made Known

(Seventh Sunday after Easter)

June 08, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

John 17:20-26                        Acts 16:16-34             Revelation 22:12-17, 20-21

What do you do if you know something that is incredibly important, but few, if anyone else, knows about it?

Let’s use some well-used movie plots as examples. What do you do if you are an astronomer that discovers that there is an imminent alien invasion or a giant asteroid that will soon destroy much of our planet? Or a volcanologist that sees that there will soon be a major eruption of the Yellowstone super volcano? Or a scientist that discovers a cure for a new disease that is killing millions of people around the world? In the movies, these scientists are often shunned, disregarded, or otherwise ignored but what they all try to do is to tell the world what they have found, to warn people of the coming destruction, or to give them hope by telling them that a cure is available.

It seems obvious that if you have information that can save the lives of millions of people, you cannot, and should not, keep it to yourself. The struggle in the movies is that there is always some kind of reason that no one wants to believe the scientists. Either they have been discredited, have proposed and supported crazy ideas, become something of a hermit, been fired, or divorced, had a substance abuse problem, or something else, but even when no one wants to believe them, the scientists in the movies do what we would hope that they would, and keep on banging on doors and persist in finding ways to get the word out. And that is exactly what we find in our scriptures for today. The only difference in these messages is in the language that is used. Rather than saying that they want to “tell the world,” or that they want to “get the word out,” scripture uses the phrase, “Make known,” as in, “Our news is so important that we must make it known” or, “This important news must be made known.” We find this language as we hear Jesus pray for his followers, including us, and he describes to his father what he has done in John 17:20-26 where Jesus says:

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – 23 I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made youknown to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Jesus prays that those who believe in him might be one with God just as Jesus is in God and God is in Jesus. In other words, he prays that we might have the same sort of relationship with God that he has. But the reason for Jesus’ desire to have oneness with God is so that the world might see us, see our behavior, and see our relationship with God and with one another, and by seeing these things, they might come to believe in God. Jesus says that the world will know that God has sent him and that God has loved us because of what the world sees in us. Jesus says that the whole point of being sent to earth by God was so that God would be made known to those who believed in him, and that they, in turn, would make God known to the entire world.

Luke provides an unusual and unexpected way that God was made known in Acts 16:16-34 where he tells us of a time when Paul and Silas were arrested and thrown into prison. Luke says:

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally, Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment, the spirit left her.

19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

The owners of the slave girl charge Paul and his companions with “advocating customs” that were unlawful to Romans and, while it is technically possible to construe that to be true, that isn’t at all why they were angry. The owners of the slave girl made a lot of money from her fortunetelling, and they were really peeved that Paul had cast out the demon that had made it all possible. In any case, it was the imprisonment of Paul and Silas that made it possible for God to be made known and not the slave girl who was telling everyone within earshot.

When the jailer discovered that the prison doors were open, he knew that his life was over. Under Roman law, the penalty for allowing prisoners to escape was death and so the jailer calculated that suicide was a better option than being tortured to death. But, before he can stab himself, fall on his sword, cut his wrists, or whatever he had planned to do, Paul shouts that no one has escaped and that everyone is right where they should be. The jailer quickly realizes that something miraculous has happened. Not only has his physical life been saved, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is not normal for a prison with open doors to retain its prisoners. No one was missing. Not one person ran out the door, and into the streets and escaped into the countryside in the dark of night. And so, the jailer understood that the god that Paul and Silas worshipped was real, chose to follow Jesus, and he, and his entire household, were baptized. Because of the imprisonment of Paul and Silas, and because of their behavior, their actions, and their witness, God was made known.

And to emphasize the importance of making God known, and to explain one last time why we need to do so, John shares the words of Jesus in Revelation 22:12-17, 20-21 where he says:

12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give youthis testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

Jesus says that he will soon return to the earth and will give gifts to those who have followed him, rewarding each person for the things that they have done. Those who have chosen to follow Jesus will be invited into God’s city. But Jesus warns that not everyone will get in and those who do not get in, will not share in God’s blessings or in the wonders of his home. But Jesus repeats his invitation to follow him and to join God’s family. Jesus says that both the Spirit and the bride, and we know that the bride is the church, call the world to come and be a part of God’s family. The Spirit of God and the church must invite all the world to come so that all who are thirsty may share the free gift of the water of life.

Jesus says that the whole point of his mission on earth was to make God known.

When Jesus ascended into heaven, he left that work to those that followed him and we see those examples in the book of Acts and beyond in the lives of Paul, the disciples, and others. As it has been since Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, the mission of the Spirit of God and of the church is to make God known to the world so that all who are thirsty can share the gift of the water of life.

When Jesus returns, only those who follow him will be rewarded and our rewards will be given according to what we have done.

May each of us go out from this place, and busy ourselves by making God known to everyone around us and inviting them to come and share the water of life.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Share the Story. Do the Stuff.

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Share the Story. Do the Stuff.

April 14, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

John 20:19-31                        Acts 4:32-35               1 John 1:1 – 2:2

Well… You’ve probably noticed that Easter is over. It’s a little weird because in the church there is this big build up to Christmas and Easter, and at least with Christmas, we can argue that December 25th is only the beginning of the 12 days of Christmas, and the official season of Christmas lasts for quite a while after that. But we prepare for Easter through the season of Lent, have a big celebration on Easter Sunday, and then…. …nothing. I’m not suggesting that our United Women in Faith Sunday wasn’t great, but, as it relates to Easter, we’re still left with the question of “What’s next?” In seminary, my preaching professor said that the end of every sermon should answer the question “So what?” And, as big as Easter is, now that it’s over, we’re left with the same question… “So what?” Now that we’ve celebrated, what does it mean? How does this inform our lives? What should we do next?

And, as if often the case, we can find the answer to our questions by looking at the example of scripture, the example of Jesus, and especially the example of the disciples. What did the disciples do after the resurrection? And what did the other rank and file, nameless, ordinary followers of Jesus do? To find out, let’s rejoin the disciples about where we left them on Easter Sunday and then check out some snapshots in time to see what they did with what they had learned. We begin with the story of John 20:19-31, where we hear this:

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believethat Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

As I mentioned on Easter Sunday, we find the disciples living in fear, meeting together with the doors locked because they were afraid that with Jesus dead, the same influential people that arranged a kangaroo court with false charges against Jesus would be emboldened by their success and come after the disciples next. And as they met together, their fear changed to joy when Jesus suddenly appears among them. But even now, the disciples do not completely understand. The ones who see Jesus firsthand are joyful, but Thomas, who wasn’t there, was openly skeptical, as many of us would be, and as many of our friends still are. Our life experience tells us that death is permanent and without firsthand evidence, without seeing Jesus personally, and physically verifying that it wasn’t some kind of imposter, Thomas wouldn’t believe. I would assume that Thomas wanted to believe that this was true but coming back from the dead seemed like a bridge too far.

But even though the disciples were overjoyed that Jesus had risen from the dead, and even after Jesus appeared to the disciples a second time, the disciples still didn’t understand what it all meant or what they were supposed to do even though Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” It wasn’t until they had gone back to their fishing boats, returned to their jobs, and tried to resume their normal, pre-Jesus, lives, that Jesus appeared to them yet again, and called them into his service and his mission… again, that they finally understood what the resurrection meant and how they were supposed live their lives. We see the difference that it made as we read the story in Acts 4:32-35 and see how their behavior has changed:

32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

By the time that we see these same disciples in the book of Acts, once they completely understood the meaning of the resurrection, the impact, and the lessons, of Jesus had changed their lives. Now, because of the grace of God that was within them, rather than scrabbling out an existence as individuals, the followers of Jesus have, at least partially, begun to live communally so that the poorest among them would have food to eat and a place to live. Although they legally owned individual property, they did not claim it as their own within the community of faith. Instead, they maintained their individual property for the best outcome for all rather than the best outcome for them individually. But this was not the only change that they had made in their lives. Where before we saw men who attempted to go back to their previous lives fishing in the Sea of Galilee, now the disciples dedicate themselves to sharing the message of the gospel and telling the world about the resurrection of Jesus.

But what else? How does that trickle down to the church of the twenty-first century and ordinary people like us? And we find a satisfactory answer to those questions in 1 John 1:1 – 2:2 as John explains how the community of Jesus followers were living their lives in the first century:

1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make ourjoy complete.

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

John says that because they heard the good news, saw Jesus with their own eyes, and touched his hands with their own fingers they now spent their lives telling the world about the message that Jesus shared. Their mission was to tell others about Jesus so that they could also believe and join the growing collection of followers that would eventually become known as the church. But following Jesus, and being in fellowship with other believers, meant something about how they lived their lives. If they said that they believed, but acted in ways that were contrary to the teaching of Jesus, then their entire lives became a lie. John says that if we follow Jesus, then we must live in the light, and live the kind of life that Jesus taught.

Likewise, because of what we know about the sacrifice of Jesus, we cannot pretend that we are perfect and without sin because that too is a lie. Instead, we recognize our flaws, failures, and sin, confess them to Jesus, and trust that he will forgive us and purify us from our unrighteousness. Any time that we claim to be better that we are, we make Jesus out to be a liar and the people around us cannot find him in us. John says that we do all that we can to live without sinning, but since we aren’t perfect, then we know that we eventually will. And so, whenever we fall into sin, we must remember that Jesus sacrificed himself so that we, and the entire world, could be forgiven of our sin.

So now, we end where we began, with these questions: “So what?” Now that we’ve celebrated, what does it mean? How does this inform our lives? What should we do next?

And the answer that we have found in the example, and in the words, of the disciples and the followers of Jesus in the first century is to tell the story, to share what we have, and to live the way that Jesus lived and the way that Jesus taught.

Simply put, Share the story… and do the stuff.

Easy to say, and sometimes hard to do, but that is our mission… and our life.

Share the story… do the stuff.

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Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

This IS That Day

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This IS that Day

September 10, 2023*

By Pastor John Partridge

Exodus 12:1-14                      Matthew 18:15-20                             Romans 13:8-14

Near the end of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, the few forces that remain from the nations of Rohan and Gondor march to the gates of Mordor, the center and capitol of Sauron the undead who is spreading a plague of evil across Middle Earth. The forces of good have been fighting in pitched battles for weeks and are hopelessly outnumbered, but here they will take what may just be their final stand against evil. But before the battle begins, Aragorn, the future king of Gondor, gives this speech:

Hold your ground! Hold your ground. Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends, and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

It is a rousing speech, even though it doesn’t appear anywhere in the original books by J.R.R. Tolkien. But Aragorn’s emphasis is that a day may come when everyone’s fears are realized and evil overcomes the world.

But this is not that day.

I begin with Aragorn’s speech this morning because, although the emphasis is different, it bears a striking similarity to God’s message in today’s scripture passage in Exodus 12:1-14. For eight hundred years Israel had lived in the nation of Egypt and, for many hundreds of those years, Israel had been enslaved by their Egyptian masters and subjected to backbreaking labor. For hundreds of years the people of Israel had prayed that God would rescue them and although God had heard their prayers, finally, as we read last week, God sent Moses to deliver them from Egypt and lead them to God’s promised land. And this is God’s speech:

12:1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2“This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs, and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.

12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

14 “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.

God’s speech to Moses and Aaron was to be passed on to all the people in much the way that Aragorn gave his speech to the troops under him. God said that this is the day. After hundreds of years of slavery, prayers without number, cries to God for mercy, and an unending and undefeatable hope in God’s rescue, now is the time. This is so important that it will reset the clock and the calendar, and this singular event will now mark Israel’s new year. God’s people are called to be ready, eat as if their departure might be at any moment, to have their bags packed, their shoes on, and be ready to walk out the door into their new lives in an instant. And in this moment, as a part of their preparation, they are to paint the blood of their sacrificial lambs on the doorframes and lintels of their homes as a sign of their faith and trust in the God who was rescuing them from slavery and death. Israel had prayed for a day of rescue and redemption, and this was that day.

But before they could cross over from the old and into the new, before they could cross over from slavery to freedom, they had to show God a sign of their faith. They had to physically perform an action that revealed their faith in God before being welcomed into the new order of things. And that’s a part of what Jesus is describing to the disciples in Matthew 18:15-20. It isn’t anything as big and as impressive as the speech that God gave to Moses and Aaron, but it represents an action that the followers of Jesus Christ needed to perform as a demonstration of their faith. Jesus said:

15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Jesus said that as his followers, and as his church, he knew that we were not always going to get along and weren’t always going to get things right. And so, when we hurt one another, or whenever we crossed lines of sin or behavior that we shouldn’t, Jesus commands us to call each other out, to help one another to correct our mistakes, and get back on the right path. This passage is all about church discipline. Jesus says that we are to make every effort to correct the behavior of our fellow believers, but whomever we throw out of the church would be out of his church. In other words, our actions here, especially in church discipline, have eternal impact.

But how we behave isn’t about following rules, it’s about the way that we live our lives in much the same way as God commanded the people of Israel in the days before the exodus. In Romans 13:8-14, Paul explains that how we live our lives, and the actions that we take, are an outward sign of our faith just as it was when the people of Israel painted the blood of their lambs on the doorposts of their homes. Paul says:

8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.

11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

We are to live as if the commandments of God matter. Rather than painting blood over our doorposts, the mark of our belonging should be seen by the people around us in the way that we live. Get out of debt, stay out of debt, don’t loan money to one another, pay your debts off, or forgive the debts that you hold against others, but do what you need to do to zero it out. Paul says that because the law is intended to prevent harm, then love is the fulfillment of the law. We are to obey the commandments, not by making ourselves crazy following hundreds of rules, but by simply loving others as much as we love ourselves. I don’t like to be hungry, so I understand that I should take action when the people around me are hungry. I don’t like injustice when it happens to me, and so I fight against injustice everywhere. This applies to everything that we do, from injustice, to unfairness, to discrimination, and flowing through every area of our lives. If we haven’t liked it when it happened to us, or if we wouldn’t like it if it were done to us, then it is our duty and our mission to make sure that it doesn’t happen to anyone.

Simply because that’s what love looks like.

The last part of this passage is a wake-up call much like we use on children as we get nearer to Christmas. In February, none of us give a lot of thought to Christmas. We aren’t Christmas shopping, and our children aren’t thinking that it’s necessary to behave because Santa “sees you when you’re sleeping” and “knows when you’re awake.” As far as Christmas is concerned, in February we’re just going through life on autopilot. And it’s that kind of awake, but unconscious, living from which Paul is trying to shake us awake. We cannot allow ourselves to function on autopilot and go through life in a fog because we’ve convinced ourselves that the day of judgement will be months, years, or decades in the future. As the calendar pages flip, we are ever closer to judgement and salvation than we have ever been. For that reason, we must prepare ourselves by living lives that we wouldn’t be afraid to see projected on the jumbotron at a stadium or broadcast live on the television evening news.

Because even though we’ve been waiting for a long time, one day, sooner than we think, we’re going to wake up and hear God say…

…this is that day.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Actions Reveal Attitude

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Actions Reveal Attitude

May 02, 2021*

By Pastor John Partridge

John 15:1-8                            Acts 8:26-40                           1 John 4:7-21

“I trust you to make your own decisions” is perhaps one of the most common lies that parents and politicians tell their children and constituents.  We might tell our children that we trust them to make their own decisions, but you know we’re looking over their shoulders so we can intervene if they start making bad ones.  And politicians are worse.  How often have we heard them say that we should let the market decide, and then they pass laws to manipulate the markets.  They say that taxpayers know best how to spend their hard-earned money, but then raise taxes because we aren’t spending in the places that they think we should.  They say that government shouldn’t subsidize corporate interests, but what they really mean is that we should only subsidize the corporate interests that fund their party machine instead of the other party’s political machine.  If you really want to know what a parent, or a politician believes, don’t ask them, watch them.  Don’t listen to what they say, watch them and see what they do.  A politician that really believes in free markets, supports legislation that supports free markets.  A politician that genuinely supports a balanced budget, and I’m not sure that there are any, supports legislation that moves us toward sustainable spending and balanced budgets.  If we watch what politicians support, vote for, and donate toward, with their own time and their own money, we get a clearer picture of where their values lie than if we just listen to their sound bites and press releases.  In the end, this applies to all of us.  Our actions say far more about what we believe that the words that come out of our mouths. 

That hasn’t changed in thousands of years and scripture often describes that same principal.  We find one such instance in John 15:1-8 where Jesus says:

15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunesso that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Jesus says that we are the garden and God is the gardener.  God cuts off, or prunes, the branches that aren’t bearing fruit.  My colleague Allan Bevere commented on this passage and points out that the Greek word here for pruning “is kathairo (καθαίρω) and refers more generally to clearing and in certain contexts cleansing. So, while it is true that pruning, cutting back, is a necessary part of the process of allowing a fruit-producing vine to bear more fruit, John appears to have in mind that is more than simply cutting back a healthy branch in order to produce more; the gardener wants to clear away all the dead vegetation and the clutter that can strangle the branches as well.”   We might think of that as God not only pruning off the unnecessary and unfruitful branches, but also the suckers, opening the canopy to allow more sun to penetrate, pulling the weeds around the bottom and raking away the accumulated leaves and clutter.  Jesus says that God is working, actively, in his garden so that it, so that we, will be productive and fruitful.  If we know him, and if we remain in him, he is working in us, and on us, to make us more fruitful and more productive.  If we do not know him, or if we do not remain close to him, them our ability to do anything useful goes to zero.  Without our connection to him, we wither and die. 

Without our connection to God, we become useless.  We have a yard decoration that was made from vines that were woven together.  It is, obviously, not connected to the vine from which it came and, other than being temporarily decorative, it is entirely useless.  When we lose our connection with God, when we stop living in him, and constantly feeding on the nutrition flowing through the vine, although we might get dressed up, and still be temporarily decorative, we become like that woven vine, decorative, but ultimately useless.

Jesus goes on to say that when we bear fruit, our fruit, and our accomplishment in bearing fruit, is the glory God, and to the credit of God, because God is the gardener that made it happen.  But also, our bearing fruit reveals our discipleship to the world.  Our actions reveal our attitudes, our loyalty, and our heart condition.

We see this same principle in action in several ways in the story of Acts 8:26-40, in which and angel of God sends Philp to meet an important international visitor.

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way, he met an Ethiopianeunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So, he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
    and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth.”

34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

This man had come to Jerusalem from Ethiopia which must have been a long and arduous journey.  Since he was an important government official, we can assume that he had been conducting official government business while in Jerusalem.  Further, we know that he had some wealth of his own because, while in Israel, he had purchased an Isaiah scroll.  Such a scroll, being handcrafted and painstakingly handwritten by a trained, professional scribe, would likely have taken nearly a year to produce, and would have cost nearly a year’s wages.  From this, and from Philip’s hearing the man reading the scroll, we know that he was not only interested in the faith of the people of Israel, but he was also desperate to learn about it, and actively demonstrated his desire to know God.  Unfortunately, his desire to learn was not enough because he couldn’t understand what he was reading.

But remember that we are the garden and God is the gardener.  God saw his desire to know him as well as how the man had demonstrated that desire through his actions.  And so, God cleared away the clutter, and sent Philip to meet him on the road, at just the right time, explain the meaning to him, and tell him the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection that had been foretold by Isaiah.  And again, the man demonstrates his understanding with his actions.  His understanding of Isaiah, and the gospel message proclaimed by Philip, led him insist that he be baptized, and to faith and discipleship in Jesus Christ.

 In his letter to the church and to the followers of Jesus Christ in Asia, John gives examples of how our beliefs, our faith, and our connectedness to God direct our everyday lives and our actions and therefore become visible and obvious to the people around us (1 John 4:7-21).  He says:

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Since we are supposed to remain in God, and be connected to God, then God’s nature should flow through us into the people, and into the world, around us.  And, John argues, since God’s nature is love, then that nature should also become our nature as well.  When we are in love with God and when have the love of God in us, then we begin to lose our fear of the future, our fear of current events, and our fear of judgement and punishment.  And that loving nature will be shown, and actively demonstrated, through our actions.  If we are connected to God, and God is love, and if that connectedness flows through us, then it will, logically, flow out of us through our actions.  And when God’s love flows out of us, then hate becomes impossible, and we will love the people around us, all of the people around us, the way that God loves them.

Just like the parents and politicians, it isn’t hard to see where the hearts, minds, values, and attitudes of Christian are if we stop listening to what they say and watch to see what they do and how they live.  Our actions reveal our attitudes.  If we are in love with God, and if we remain connected to Jesus, then his love will flow through us into the world.

Our neighbors will be able to see that we are connected to Jesus by the things that we do, the way that we behave, by our actions, and the way that we live our lives.

And they will know we are Christians…

            …by our love.

You can find the video of this worship service here: https://youtu.be/7u25wb0cemQ

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online).  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.