”The only qualification you need is a heart filled with love for Jesus.” God gives to us the commandment, and the gift, of living out our journey with others, and before, and with, Him in a way that causes loved ones to miss us, and our Lord to welcome us ….home… when we go. Praise God for these mercies!

The “amazing grace” in that Truth makes Michael Combs’ joyous song of praise and thanksgiving, “I’m Drinking from My Saucer, Lord,” a contemporary Christian song I love …along with others, like The Carolina Boys’ splendid, worshipful “Let It Be the Cross.”

Our Lord’s Presence on the journey along with us, His empowering Holy Spirit living within us, and over all, His sacrificial, redemptive Love given for us, in the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Christ Jesus His Son, our Savior and Lord, on the Cross of Calvary, gave to me those words spoken to our small congregation at Beard’s Chapel last Sunday:. “The only qualification you need is a heart filled with love for Jesus.”

I spoke in reference to the teaching ministry of every Sunday School teacher. Of course, I do not underrate the value of diligent study for that teaching, and particularly the diligent, regular study of the Bible. No amount of study, however, can substitute for, or suffice for, the love of Jesus filling our hearts.

Those whose instruction to me impacted me most deeply, across my many, long years of blessing and mercy, were teachers whose personal love of the Lord enriched, and made dynamic, their teaching, in church worship and Vacation Bible School; in the public school classroom and Miss Hobgood’s spiritual education through “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and “Fairest Lord Jesus,” sung in assembly twice weekly; in day-to-day friendships and associations with beloved kinfolk, and others in many places; and most blessedly, in the protective, nurturing home life, and unlimited love, given by my Christian parents themselves. It was these various teachers’ expressed love of God which made each teaching strong, true, and attractive to me. I thank God for all of their dynamic, embodied witness and testimonies, and the blessed impact they made on my life. All glory to our God!

“The only qualification you need is a heart filled with love for Jesus.” I say it emphatically again. Apart from love of Jesus filling the heart, the information and teaching which any Christian teacher imparts, has little of true, lasting value to offer her pupils.

The eminent theologian Karl Barth was once asked, ” Professor Barth, after many years of studying the Scriptures, what is the most profound Truth you have learned?”. Dr. Barth’s immediate response was, “Jesus loves me; this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” That was not a flippant reply at all, but a long-considered, well-tested, very rigorously-informed conclusion and conviction. Likewise, our most authentic companion to Jesus’ Love for us, is love engendered by the Holy Spirit and filling our hearts for Him. It is love repentant, consecrated, obedient, trusting, thankful, praising, witnessing, ministering, joyous; imparted by God’s own Spirit. The Bible tells us that, too.

Simple enough for a children’s hymn, profound enough for a scholar’s life study, it is comprehensive.

Sadly, already in Jesus’ day, in our day now, and in the end days to come, as John’s Revelation shows us, not love, but indifference, has filled, and will fill, hearts. Indifference masks as tolerance, harmony, minding one’s own business, and a kind of faux love. Indifference dresses itself up, as dignity, self-control, and most deceitfully, as a form of peacefulness, but only as a form thereof.

Examined closely, indifference is revealed to be like unto Thoreau’s “quiet desperation,” a sad, hand-wringing default, borne on tired shoulders in silent anguish. Or, indifference can manifest itself as cold cynicism and uninterested distraction, seeking pleasures which excite in the moment and wither the soul. Most tragically, indifference ignores the maim and slaughter of innocent victims, like the children of Sandy Hook, and the children of Uvalde. God, forgive us! Deliver us from cold indifference which hangs back, forgets, and moves on!

Let us pray fervently for God’s deliverance from the sin of indifference.

For many ordinary Christians, indifference shows in… lukewarmness. John, on the Isle of Patmos, reveals it authoritatively. Let us read that in Revelation 3:15,16:

“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.

Let us repent sincerely, continue on, and hear God’s promise of grace, next week.

Thanks be to God.