“Difference Makers!”
John 13:34-35
February 2, 2014
First UMC of Paragould
Rev. John Fleming
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By now I hope that you know that we are beginning the second week of a sermon series
and a church-wide emphasis on stewardship. Our approach last week, this week, and the next
two weeks is on the idea of generosity. We have started a short-term Sunday school class,
given out Upper Room like devotional books, and given out magnets that we hope you will
put on your refrigerator, as a reminder of what we will be thinking about in these next three
Sundays. By the way,if you didn’t get a devotional book, let me know, I didn’t order enough.
And if you didn’t get a magnet, let me know, I ordered too many!
In last week’s sermon, we looked at a passage from Paul’s first letter to Timothy. Paul
was handing over the reigns of the church at Ephesus to him, and wanted him to have some
good instructions before he did. Near the end of the last letter, Paul tells Timothy to tell us all,
“….to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share….” The question I
hoped you would answer and bring to church with you was this one, Where have you seen
Jesus at work this week? I also hoped that you went home with the idea that generosity gets its
start in our hearts and moves to our hands and feet. I challenged you to make a difference in
someone’s life this week, to be like Jesus to them.
Today we turn to the idea that relationships are a matter of the heart. This week’s
question is this one, Who are the people who made a difference in your spiritual lives? I put
the question on my Facebook page, and fifty-four friends of mine responded. Then there were
some who filled out the heart cards this week. The answers varied. Some mentioned their
children, their wives or their husbands, their moms or their dads. Some mentioned the ones
who taught them Bible studies, the ladies who sat with their grandmother at church, church
members like the Shedds, the Weidemans, Robin Patten, Jame Cook, and Mary Ann Allen.
Sunday school class members were listed. Some mentioned youth ministers and past and
present pastors. I was glad that I made a list of two!
Erma Bombeck tells the story of a woman who lived a full life. On the day of her
funeral, she made sure that her three grown sons received an envelope with the word
confidential written on them. Inside the envelopes were letters, written by her, just for them.
They were, you might say, both last words and lasting words. This is what she wrote to her
oldest, “Dear John, since this letter is for you and your eyes only, not to share with your
brothers, I can tell you now that I loved you the best. You were a part of the lean years for your
father and me. You brought laughter to our poverty, warmth to our lives, and success to our
failures. You were the original model. We hoped that there would be another child, who
would blow bigger bubbles than you or walk sooner than you did, but you did all those things
first. You suffered from our inexperience. There were clumsy baths and we were
overprotective of you. You were six volumes of baby pictures and a full baby album. You
were fresh grandparents who woke you up just so they could hold you. You were too many
doctor’s call for rashes and gas. You were the beginning and you were loved.”
To her second son, she wrote, “Steve, you probably already know this, but of my three
sons, you were my favorite. You wore faded cloths and played with hand me down clothes.
You never did anything first, but it didn’t stop you from doing all things well. You were the
child that your dad and I relaxed with. It was with you that we realized that a dog can kiss you
in the face and you could miss a nap amd that neither would kill you. You were a part of our
busy and ambitious lives. You were the checking account with a dollar in it. You were the
house that we could not afford, but bought anyway because we wanted a home. You were
constant and dependable, and loved!”
To her third child, the baby, she wrote these words, “Son, I know that I’m not supposed
to have favorites, but I loved you the best. You arrived when your dad and I were older. You
helped us realize that we still had a lot of love to give. You inherited trains that no longer
worked and toys that were worn out. Your baby book had almost no pictures in it. With you,
we threw out the rule book and wrote our own. I loved you because you were patient and
compassionate. You were the height of our lives, and you were loved!”
Now my guess is that if they were here this morning and filled out one of our heart
cards, asking who it was that made a spiritual impact on their lives, those three boys would
probably write down these two words, “My mother.”
I think the common denominator on the cards and the posts and in that story is that love
was offered. The ones who impacted our lives, spiritually, loved us enough to spend time with
us. They prayed for us. They taught us. They cared for us. They loved us!
So the suggested scripture lesson for our second sermon on Extravagant Generosity,
this sermon series, seems perfect. The passage is just two verses long and comes from the
section in John’s gospel that we’ve come to call the Farewell Discourse John is the only one
who records what we might call Jesus’ last and lasting words.
Jesus knows that his time with his followers is fleeting. He has little time left. It’s in
these chapters that we sit with Jesus and the disciples at that table in the Upper Room. We’ll
relive that night, that meal, in a few minutes. Among the other things that he did that night, he
got up from his place at the table, came around and washed the feet of the disciples, giving
them the lesson that they are to serve and to love. A little later, Jesus walks down the steps of
the house, reaches for a vine that had begun to grow wildly, he redirected it, and gave disciples
of another lesson, “I am the vine. You are the branches. It’s best to stay connected to me!”
It’s also in these verse that Jesus changes the relationship with these twelve. From this point
on, he will call them friends. I don’t know how it is for you, but I like the idea of being Jesus’
friend!
It is also in these verses that Jesus gives disciples of every age a new commandment, a
new rule, and new expectation. It’s this one, “I give you a new commandment, that you are to
love one another 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.” And so I wonder, church, if
you did not tell anyone, would the people that you come into contact with know who you
follow? Love, you see, is supposed to be our defining characteristic. Love is supposed to make
us distinct. Love is supposed to be our legacy!
I heard about a pastor who was appointed to a new church. He was excited about his
new assignment and the church was excited, too. Both had high hopes. The church also had
high expectations. Most churches do and they should.
On his first Sunday, he used the lesson that I read for you just a few short minutes ago.
He read, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” The congregation was
pleased with his sermon, but the following Sunday they were surprised when he read the same
lesson and preached the exact same sermon. No one said anything to him. Then on the Sunday
after that, he used the scripture lesson again and preached the same sermon a third time. The
church complained to the leadership. One of the church’s leaders went to the pastor and asked
the obvious question, “Why are you preaching the same sermon every week?” This is what he
said; this was his answer, “When the church starts practicing that sermon, I’ll write a new one!”
It is important that we get the idea of loving others right!
Now, if we weren’t in the middle of this sermon series, I might spend the rest of our
sermon time today talking about the ins and outs of loving one another, how hard that can be
sometimes, and sometimes, easy. But today, I want us to think about those who have showed
us love, the ones who helped us along, people who were difference makers for us. It is what
our heart card question is all about. Some people on our list are related to us, some are our
friends, but a lot of the names I saw, were people in this church, past and present.
This Extravagant Generosity idea comes from Bishop Robert Schnase. It’s one of what
he calls the Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. He wrote a book about those practices.
This is some of what he said about generosity. “Every sanctuary and chapel where we have
worshiped, every church organ that has lifted our spirits, every pew where we have sat, every
communion rail where we have knelt, every hymnal from which we have sung, every praise
chorus that we have seen projected on a screen, every church classroom where we have
gathered with our friends, every church kitchen that has prepared our meals, every church van
that has taken us on a trip, every church camp cabin where we have slept, are the fruit of
someone’s generosity. We are the heirs of those who were touched by God’s generosity and
decided to pass it along.”
Could he be talking about us? Keep being generous, my kids are in this congregation!
Do me a favor. Think again about whose name came to mind when you answered this week’s
question, Who is it that has made an impact on your spiritual life? In your mind’s eye, talk to
them. Thank them for the legacy they passed on to you. Then change gears. Imagine that it is
many years from now. Someone has just come up to you. They look you in your eyes, and
they say, “Thanks for what you did. Thanks for what you gave. Thank you for loving me,
even when you didn’t know me.”
Think about it, friends!
(Special thanks to Bishop Robert Schnase who came up with the idea of the Five Practices of
Fruitful Congregations. Thanks to Erma Bombeck for the story in the first part of this sermon.
And thanks to all who made generous gifts on my behalf through the years so that the church
could nurture and help me become who I am)