“Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him.” – 1 John 3:18-19

Remember some of the ‘ol the catch phrases that were used to motivate us to act. “Just Do it.” “Actions speak louder than words.” “Put your money where your mouth is.” “Practice what you preach.” And then there is probably the most uttered challenge my brother and I would lob back and forth at each other, “prove it.”

“I can run faster than you.”
“Prove it.”

“I can stuff 30 marshmallows in my mouth.”
“Prove it.”

”I heard that if you put a raw egg, still in the shell in the microwave for a minute, it will explode.”
“Prove it!”

“Prove it” is a still one of my favorite motivational statements and it is one that is made constantly in the Bible. The scriptures influencing worship for Sunday include: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 1 John 3:16-24, Matthew 7:24-27, Mark 12:28-34.

Service matters. Loving God requires action, it is something followers of Jesus should feel compelled to do. Faith is a practice and to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength our body must get involved.

Scholar Steve Thomason reminds us that the body is the connective tissue between loving God and loving our neighbor. Our texts this week remind us that love without action for the good of the neighbor is not love at all. We cannot love God without loving our neighbor and we cannot truly love the neighbor, especially our enemies, without the love of God overflowing from our lives.

The life of the disciple is a life called to service for the good of the other. This Sunday we will explore how our congregation is using the gifts of our physical resources to serve all our neighbors.

Don’t forget to bring bags of potato chips this Sunday as we will disperse what we collect into baggies for the food pantry of Community Christian Church (DOC) in Tempe.