Ministry fails without this …

Everybody smiled, but it felt like a slap.

Such was part of the welcome to my new ministry responsibilities in Southern California.

When I first started out as an ordained minister, I was living in the San Francisco bay area and working with a church that was part of a denomination. After a busy, exciting, blessed time of ministry there, I moved to a suburb of Los Angeles to take on my first Senior Minister position.

I was warmly welcomed by the congregation, and because I was the “new guy” I was invited to be the keynote speaker at the denomination’s upcoming district meeting. I looked forward to that, as it would provide me an opportunity to meet other ministers in the area and learn about what God was doing through these local congregations.

After some time in prayer seeking God’s guidance on what to preach about at the district meeting, I settled on the topic of love. In thinking about multiple congregations coming together to discuss ministry efforts, what greater bond could inspire and bring us together than that of love? Imagine how we could impact the greater Los Angeles area if every congregation within the district focused on sharing the love of Christ to the communities they served, and how we could be used by God if we loved one another as we served together.

And imagine how impotent our efforts would be with a lack of love.

At the district meeting, the handshakes were firm, the greetings were friendly, and the “amens” throughout the sermon were robust. And the initial feedback after the preaching was gracious.

Then came the second speaker.

A second speaker?

I didn’t have any idea there was to be a second speaker, but following my sermon came the “heavy hitter.” The next speaker was a veteran preacher. In the denomination, he was considered to be an old school “preacher’s preacher.”

I’m talking really old school.

So much so, he wore the “uniform” of a real preacher: plain black suit, white shirt, plain black tie. He preached from the biggest King James Bible I’ve ever seen. And his topic wasn’t love.

He started by noting my topic was “nice,” and was something to strive for, but then began to school this novice preacher publicly about the realities of ministry. After all, congregations really needed discipline, and Christians should be making sharp stands, and Los Angeles was really a cesspool of sin that needed condemning in no uncertain terms.

His sermon couldn’t have been more different than mine.

While the initial smiles at the meeting were polite, they soon felt like a slap as the final message delivered was more along the lines that you really have to be naive to think that love is the message a group of churches called to do ministry together need to hear.

I left the the meeting trying my best not to feel somewhat deflated. I had hoped this would be the start of building strong bonds of fellowship with other churches who shared a similar view of ministry. But during my time in that area and with that denomination, I watched as each district meeting continued with somewhat harsh themes while the churches represented there continued to stagnate.

Fortunately, the church I was part of took to heart the idea of loving the people in our community with the love of Christ, and loving one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. The result of that was God blessing us with a rich fellowship that those outside the church wanted to be part of, resulting in transforming lives for Christ and seeing the body of Christ grow and mature.

Love made a profound difference!

It always has, and always will.

What hope is there for those who don’t know Christ if His body, the church, doesn’t mirror and demonstrate God’s love to the communities they are part of? What hope is there for the church if love for one another isn’t considered to be vital? The Apostle Paul gave us an answer in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3:

“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.”

Ministry fails when we fail to love.

But when we love, people often respond positively. They are drawn to the beauty of what love is, as described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

Sometimes we laugh about Valentine’s Day. We think of it in terms of heart-shaped candies, flower bouquets, and candlelight dinners. We often think of it as the day we do cheesy things to show our love to others. But I’m all for any reminder about the vitality of love!

Today — whether it’s cheesy or cheap, thoughtful or expensive, friendly or romantic, planned or spontaneous, simple or complex — remind yourself to love, then demonstrate your love to someone. Share it! Give it away freely! Genuinely! Let the love of God flow through you like a mighty river, and let today be a fresh start at being God’s vessel of love to others. It will make a profound difference … in your life, and the lives of others.

Scotty