Loving Alike

The Sunday night message in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  July 16, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Romans 10:1-13.

One of the things that makes the United Methodist church different from a lot of other denominations is that we allow for a lot of differences of opinion.  We have very few things that you have to agree to in order to be a United Methodist.  The membership requirements for being a United Methodist are contained in one paragraph of the United Methodist Book of Discipline.  At the risk of boring you, I’m going to read it to you:

When persons unite as professing members with a local United Methodist church, they profess their faith in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; in Jesus Christ his only Son, and in the Holy Spirit.  Thus, they make known their desire to live their daily lives as disciples of Jesus Christ.  They covenant together with God and with the members of the local church to keep the vows which are a part of the order of confirmation and reception into the Church.

And here’s what those vows are:

1.  To renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of the world, and repent of their sins;

2.  To accept the freedom and power God gives them to resist evil, injustice, and oppression;

3.  To confess Jesus Christ as Savior, put their whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as their Lord.

4.  To remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world;

5.  To be loyal to The United Methodist Church and do all in their power to strengthen its ministries;

6.  To faithfully participate in its ministries by their prayers, their presence, their gifts, their service, and their witness;

7.  To receive and profess the Christian faith as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

That’s it.  That’s all you have to do to be a member of the United Methodist church.  We don’t have a lengthy catechism you have to memorize.  We don’t have a laundry list of things you have to agree to.  If you do agree to those things I just read, you can be a member of the United Methodist church.  It’s that simple.

            Now, that’s not to say the United Methodist church does not take stands on things.  It does.  It takes stands on all sorts of things.  It takes stands on theological issues, it takes stands on spiritual issues, it takes stands on social issues, sometimes it takes stands on political issues.  But the thing is, no one is required to agree with any of those stands to be a United Methodist.

            As I talk about why that is, I want to make one thing clear.  Nothing I’m saying here is intended to be a criticism of other denominations.  Other denominations have their own ways of doing things, and they have reasons why they do things that way.  I’m not trying to tell any other denomination what it should do.  I’m trying to explain why the United Methodist church does things the way it does.

            The reason we take this approach, the reason we don’t have a big laundry list of things you have to agree to in order to become a United Methodist, is because we think this is the approach Jesus took.  When Jesus went out to talk to people, what did he do?  He said, “Follow me”.  He did not give people a long list of things that had to believe before they could come and follow him.  He did not tell them they had to memorize a bunch of stuff before they could come and follow him.  He simply said, “Follow me.”

            Jesus was not interested in creating a bunch of people to study theology.  The world already had enough people studying theology.  They were called “Scribes” and “Pharisees” and “Teachers of the Law”.  There were enough people who knew how believers in God are supposed to live.  Jesus got into arguments with those people sometimes, but he really did not disagree all that much what the Scribes and the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law said about scripture.  He just could not see that there were very many people actually living as if they believed it.

            So Jesus kept it simple:  “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Later on, Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

            You could say, really, that Jesus’ laundry list had one item on it.  Love.  Love for God.  Love for each other.  The United Methodists add a couple of things, but the things we add are things that are related to love.  That’s all Jesus required.  Why should we require more?

            The Apostle Paul, in our Bible reading for tonight, took a similar approach.  “If you declare with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Paul’s laundry list had one item on it.  Belief.  Belief in Jesus Christ as the risen Savior.  That’s it.  Period.

            When John Wesley started the groups that eventually became United Methodism, he found a situation that was a little bit similar to the situation Jesus found among the Jewish people.  The world had plenty of people who’d studied theology.  They were called priests and bishops and so forth.  There were enough people who knew how believers in God are supposed to live.  Wesley did not disagree all that much with what the priests and bishops said.  He just could not see that there were very many people actually living as if they believed it.

            So Wesley kept it simple, too:  “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 also “An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.”

            You could say that Wesley’s laundry list had very few items on it.  Love, have love for God and love for others, accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, and show that love by doing good.

            As long as we agree on our love for God and on our love for others, as long as we agree that we need to show that love by doing good, we can disagree on a lot of the other stuff.  Wesley said, “Think and let think.”  He said, “Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences.” 

            Now, understand here, I am not saying “Don’t study the Bible”.  We should study the Bible.  We should think about God.  We should know what we believe and we should know why we believe what we believe.  The point, though, is that what we are allowed to disagree about the details.  We’re allowed to have different opinions on the finer points.  We’re even allowed to disagree with the official stands of the church.  It’s okay.  The most important things are that we love God, love others, accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, and show that love by doing good.

            There’s one other thing about this, too.  We allow people to have different views on things because we recognize that no human being is ever perfect.  We recognize that the official stands of the church, while they may be well-intentioned, can sometimes be wrong, because they are decided by human beings.  So, we don’t all have to agree with them.  In fact, as United Methodists, we should have no problem at all if someone does disagree.

            What it comes down to, really, is a recognition that the things we agree on are far more important than the things we don’t.  The important things are, one, love and acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior, and, two, going out and showing that love to as many people as we can.  When we let ourselves get hung up on other things, when we start worrying too much about our disagreements on issues and forget the things that unite us, we don’t show love.  And then we fail to be what the church is supposed to be.

            Love and acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior, and going out and showing that love to as many people as we can.  Those things are what following Jesus means.  They’re what Jesus asked people to do.  That’s what the Apostle Paul asked people to do.  They’re what Wesley asked people to do.  And it’s what we continue to be asked to do.

            Nobody can agree on everything.  So we should be thankful that, in the United Methodist church, we don’t all have to agree with everything.  We can think and let think, and we don’t have to think alike.  All we need to do is love alike.  That’s why we don’t have a catechism or a laundry list.  Jesus gave us the list.   “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  ‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.’  We may not always think alike, but we can always love alike.  And when we do, we can be God’s people, living in God’s world.