Grace United Methodist Church - Franklin, IN
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  • About Us
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    • What We Believe
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    • Upcoming Events
    • Institutional Partners
  • Classes & Small Groups
    • Adult >
      • Classes and Spiritual Formation Opportunities
      • Small Group Locations & Times
    • Youth
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The Bonds of Love - 1 John 4:6-12

5/28/2019

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The language of bonding is important. The reason such language is important is because the life of faith is one of perpetual binding or weaving together: we are woven into a covenant community where true love (unselfish and sacrificial love) is what binds us or ties together. It is the kind of love Christ gave us, the kind of love that we find in true friendship, true community, true relationship.

Indeed, that’s how a popular praise song goes: “Bind us together with chords that cannot be broken.” Of course, there is also the old hymn “Blest Be the Tie that Binds, our hearts in Christian love…” Such language of bonding may resonate with us.

I say this because over the last few years I have observed how the bonds that have kept us together – at least as a society – are unraveling. So many things seem to be coming apart. I don’t think I am the only one saying this. More and more, we see the bonds of love and trust broken in government, in the church, in corporate life, even in family life. The ties that bind us together seem to be coming apart, especially when we see that the highest rate of suicide in the Western hemisphere is now in the United States, a symptom if there ever was one of a lack of understanding and compassion, or of broken bonds in our common life together. We also see it in the opioid epidemic. Such breakdowns remind that God created us for relationships, but that such relationships always need to be cultivated.

And so, when we read in First John that God is love we can hopefully realize again that our relationship with God and with each other is about holy and sacrificial love – trusting, believing, “abiding” love. That’s the word John uses – abiding.

“Abiding love” is about a “hanging together” kind of love, or a “learning how to go down the same road together” kind of love, even when the road is difficult. We learn to abide with each other or stay with each other. It is not easy to do, but it is something we are called to do.

How may we continue to abide with each other? If God is love, how may we show such love to others?
​
Pastor Andy Kinsey
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Inside or Outside the Box? - 1 John 3:16-24

5/21/2019

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In John’s First Letter we find an apostle who is seeking to guide his church back to the basics of the Christian faith, or to what is inside the box. Apparently, there were persons in John’s congregation who did not believe in Jesus as God’s Son, as well as the notion of Jesus’ death on the cross as an act of atonement for sin. Apparently, there were persons who were having a difficult time believing and acting accordingly, not to mention the fact they were having a tough time loving one another! 

In other words, we find an apostle who is trying to assist the church with being clear about what the church’s mission is to be about, or what is in the box. When the church – that is, when we – lose sight of what is in the box, or of how Jesus laid down his life for us, we are also in the process of losing sight of the knowledge of how we are to lay down our lives for one another (1 John 3:16). We begin to lose sight of what Jesus’ sacrificial love truly entails, that it is not only an act of forgiveness, but it is also a pattern of behavior among those who believe (1 John 3:23). We begin to lose sight of the mission.

Jesus himself said it this way: “Greater love has no one than this; than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (15:13). And John puts it another way: “Little children, let us love, not simply in word or speech, but in truth and action” (1 John 3:18). How can we say we abide in God, if we are not showing loving by our actions? Or, if we see someone in need, and do not respond, how can we say God is in us? (1 John 3:17). We can’t.

Rather, what pleases God is to believe in his Son on the one hand and to love one another on the other (1 John 3:22-23). The two go hand in hand and failing those two things, we miss what’s in the box.

How may we continue to abide with God by loving one another and helping those in need? How may we continue to fulfill God’s mission?

​Pastor Andy Kinsey
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How Many People Can God Love? - 1 John 3:1-7

5/14/2019

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In John’s First Letter, we read how we all are God’s children. John tells us that the reason we all are part of God’s family is because of God’s great love in Christ: Jesus atoned for us, and not simply for us, but for the whole world. 

That’s the whole point of the Gospel: that God so loved the world that God gave his only Son that whosoever believes will have everlasting life.

It is this kind of love that makes the mission possible in the first place: God first loving us and giving to us so that we may in turn love God and love others (1 Jn. 4:19). The mission is possible because of what God has done for us and what God continues to do in us!  It is the reason why we are in mission: Jesus became like us that we might become like him. 

That’s the very Mo-Jo that keeps us going! Take that away and there is no mission! No hope! No Gospel!

Perhaps another way to think about this is how we as church do not necessarily have a mission so much as a mission has us! Yes, our mission is to care and grow as disciples. But equally true is how God’s mission of caring and growing involves us. And to the extent that we can envision God’s mission for us, we can extend that mission to others – by our giving, by our witnessing, by our praying.       

It is why there is really no limit we can place on God’s mission, or on God’s love, or to the number of children we can help, or to how many people may come into God’s presence. As children created in the image of God, we understand ourselves to be in a mission to bless that image in all people, in all children – whether in Africa or Central America, or in Franklin or the state of Indiana, God’s mission is always a mission of love large enough to care for everyone. That’s how big God’s love is!

How may we extend that mission of love to others? What may the mission entail for each of us?
​
Pastor Andy Kinsey
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Follow Through - John 21:1-19

5/7/2019

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How do we follow through with our decisions and choices about faith, service, loving God and loving others?  

In this Easter season, are you ready to follow the risen Jesus in a way like never before?  Are you ready to take a swing and aim for the bleachers even if it could be the hardest thing to do?  Or have you been standing in the batter’s box just waiting for the perfect pitch - the sure thing, an easy hit, or maybe even hoping to get a walk?  

These are the questions behind the question Jesus asked of his disciple Peter.  Peter, the one Jesus said he would build his church upon. Peter, the one who Jesus called to get out of the boat and walk on the water, which he did until fear set in and he sank.  Peter, the one who right before today’s text, impulsively jumped off the boat without thinking and swam to shore to get to Jesus. Peter, the one who adamantly swore to Jesus’ face that he would not, could not deny Jesus in the hours following Jesus’ arrest.  Yet he did - three times. Peter, the one who we perhaps have more in common with than any other disciple.

Jesus is calling believers to come face to face with the questions, “how will our community live in the absence of Jesus here on earth?  What shape will our lives take together?  How will we experience and share Jesus’ presence?  What will our identity as a people of faith be?”

This resurrection encounter is less about the glory of Jesus made manifest in individual hearts and more about what the church - the community of believers will do to show Jesus’ great love to a hurting and divided world.  There is only one question Jesus is interested in knowing the answer to: Do you love me?

He asks the church, “Do you love me more than these?”  Jesus is asking do you love him more than all the stuff you surround and fill your life with -  more than your job, your money, your hobbies, your garage full of whatever, your kid’s grades or travel sports teams?  The man cave, golf clubs, boat, and RV - that's the easy stuff. What about loving Jesus more than your family, your friends, your church, your own life?  To love Jesus does not mean we give up all those things and relationships, or that they are not important, but it does mean we must keep perspective, and have our priorities straight.

And that’s only the first question.  He then goes on to ask Peter three more times, “do you love me.”  Each time followed by a direct command. Again Jesus is asking:

Church, do you love Jesus?  Then feed his lambs - bring life emotionally, spiritually, and mentally to those who are young in their faith walk, new to the church, and those who are vulnerable or easy prey to the wolves of this world. Encourage and strengthen them not by criticism and self serving arrogance, but with understanding and empathy. Walk beside those who have more questions than answers.  Engage in conversation with those who think differently. Learn from them. Listen to what it is they are searching for and don’t assume you already know. Connect before you correct - if correction is needed at all.

Church, do you love Jesus?  Then shepherd his sheep, all of them.  Don't set them up to fail, or play favorites or add to their shame.  Rather guide, protect, and offer shelter to those who seek God, who ask the tough questions, who are wondering and wandering.  Be the safe place - the safe people that many are looking for today. Show God’s unconditional love and acceptance no matter what.  Come to know them by name. Do you know the sheep of this church by name? The sheep of the children’s wing or those upstairs? A shepherd knows the sheep by name.  Welcome them and assure them they have a God who sees and knows them too.

Church, do you love Jesus?  Then feed his sheep - don’t keep from them what they hunger for by setting stipulations or conditions on who can have what and who can’t.  Feed them in body, soul and mind. Invite them to the table - take the table to them. Give them something to hold on to in this world of empty promises.  Show them that the love of Jesus is bigger than any of us and that there is room for all Christ’s table. There are so many hungry souls in our culture today and God wants more for them than our loose change, leftovers and scraps.     

To love Jesus is to make life as an individual and as a church community evidence of that love and relationship.  To love Jesus is to put no limits on his love. There are no limits to Jesus’ love except the ones we put there! The accountability and boundaries will come, but love must come first.  Afterall, did Jesus put a limit on his love for you? Did he make sure you had your life all figured out before he loved you? Did he make sure you knew the answers to life’s tough questions before he loved you?  Did he make you jump through all the hoops and get your life back on the straight and narrow before he accepted you? No. Then why do we?

We do not sit in the judgement seat, God does. Our job as an Easter church is to follow Jesus’ example. Challenges are not going to change.  They will keep coming at us, as individuals and as a church - one pitch after another - fast ball, slider, sinker, curve ball, you name and life will throw it.  As Easter people living, building and being an Easter church, I pray it is to Jesus we look for to find direction and example. I pray it is Jesus and not personal agendas, political parties, or denominational rules that show us the way to be church.

Pastor Jenothy Irvine
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Grace United Methodist Church
1300 E Adams Dr,
Franklin, IN 46131

Phone: 317-736-7962
grace@franklingrace.org

Weekend  Worship Services
Saturday: 5:30pm 
Sunday: 9:00am & 11:00am

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