Sermon preached by Rev. Kevin McNeil on Sunday, August 31, 2025
Thank you, Jack, for the reading. Good morning. We just want to make sure, um, from the scripture that was read, um, I want to lift up verses 15 and 16 again in our hearing.
Therefore, through Jesus, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that openly profess his name, and do not forget to do good and share with others. For with such sacrifices, God is pleased.
Um, for the four hours I've been afforded this morning, I want to— You, somebody just said, “We going to miss brunch.” Uh, but I want to use for our subject this morning: A Living Sacrifice.
Let us pray. Lord, we are thankful for this day. For when the sun shined over the mountaintop, you called our name. We're glad that last night wasn't our last night. Now Lord, we're here at the door of our tent needing a word from you. Speak to our hearts, our minds, and our bodies. Give us courage not just to hear but also to respond. It is in your name we pray. Amen.
Um, we live in some interesting times. Um, times when it feels like the church is under pressure sometimes, challenges that come our way from things that are happening all around us. The question I ponder most days is: What is our response?
What is our response to the things that we see happening, whether it's in the statehouse or in the house next door? What is our response when there are folks who seem to embrace a life of division and hate and strife and they call themselves Christians? Maybe I'm the person that's got that challenge in their life right now, that's feeling that tension as they move in and about society. But I'm challenged when I hear people say, "I'm a Christian," and then they enact policy violence on the weak and the poor. I'm challenged when I hear people say they are Christian. And in some cases, I was watching one of the news channels and the guy said, "Well, he's a good Christian, but he committed a senseless act of violence." And I listened as folks tried to justify. And maybe that's our problem. We've gotten too comfortable being Christians. Maybe that's it.
And for me, I will offer up part of that challenge with that word Christian now is sometimes I wonder: What does it mean to be a Christian? You know, I used to teach these healthy communication classes, and I would always say to folks who would come into the class, “Your problem most often when you're having a difficult conversation with someone is that you're using the same words, but you're actually speaking a different language.” What happens most of the time is when we hear people say common phrases like “I love you,” we don't know what they actually mean. We hear what we mean. And so we respond based on what we mean with what we've heard and not what they've actually said.
And so I suggest sometimes when people say things, the best thing you can do to make sure that you're not having a miscommunication is ask a simple question: What do you mean by that?
And so sometimes I find myself in these places where people are talking about Christianity and being a Christian and I want to ask, What do you mean by that? Because if you look at the history of Christianity throughout the ages, and especially in the context of our country, sometimes it gets a bit complicated.
But maybe there's a problem with the church. Maybe the problem is we were never called to be Christians anyway. That's why you probably say, "Well, where's he going with that?" Anybody remember the Great Commission? In the Great Commission, we were never called to make Christians. We were called to make disciples. And when you start to sit back and think about all that Jesus did, all that he said, and who he is, being a disciple is very different from being a Christian.
See, in 2025, Christians are transactional. I'll do this if you do that. Disciples are relational. We talk about the kingdom and family and being a part of one body together. Christians like to draw lines in the sand that Jesus does not draw. Disciples say we're all part of one body of Christ. Christians like to have rules and regulations that determine whether or not you're a member. And disciples say all are welcome at the table.
So maybe that's my issue with this word Christian in 2025: that we are about the business of making disciples. People who fall in love with Jesus and then live through their best efforts to try to mimic him.
Here is a litmus test. Now don't nobody tell on yourself. What does your life reflect? I often used to tell my students this. I would say, “Your life is like a mirror. You reflect the thing that you're closest to.”
So, if you see somebody—I know I'm not talking about anybody in here—but if you see somebody and their life is all about hate and being mean and nasty and ugly to somebody, you can probably guess what they're close to. But as a disciple, one who follows Christ, one who tries to mimic the life of Christ, I am meant to get close to him. And if the Bible says that God is love, what should I be reflecting? Is your life reflecting love? Just a thought.
The writer in our text this morning, in an attempt to deal with a church—a body of believers who find themselves in a very similar place dealing with pressures from the government that was allowing and even sanctioning folks to commit violence against them, dealing with social structures that were challenging their existence and their identity, and also dealing with some wolves in sheep's clothing who were infiltrating their communities of faith and questioning whether or not this Jesus thing was real. They were under stress. They were under tension. They were being pushed.
The reason the letter is written is because there were Jewish folks who had infiltrated the church and were trying to turn these new disciples back to Judaism. And so the letter is written to say, "Hey, hold on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You were saved by grace through the belief in Jesus Christ." Remember that you were meant to walk in a life of love. As a matter of fact, you were meant to live a life of love. Live a life so that people who are looking for Christ find him in you.
I often wonder when people see me, what do they see? I have been told several times that I don't look like a preacher. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. You know, I've been doing this for 27, almost 28 years. And I still haven't figured out if that's a good thing or a bad thing, you know. But I often wonder when people see me, what is it they see? What am I reflecting? What am I living out so that when people see me, I hope they find themselves a little bit closer to Christ.
Um, and if they are transformed and have to like my football teams, that'll be good too. Um, the strategy of the church is to love. We were commanded to love. We're commanded to care. In the writing here, in the first three verses of this chapter, there is a command for each individual to care deeply about the person next to them—even the stranger, the person you don't know.
You know what is interesting? In John, Jesus says, “By this they will know you are my disciples: that you love each other.” Notice that Jesus says the litmus test to tell whether or not you're a disciple is not how well you love me, not how much money you put in the plate. Because if you’ve ever seen The Sopranos or some of those movies, I mean, that could be a little sketchy. But he says the litmus test for how to tell, how I will judge whether or not you're a disciple, is how you love each other.
That's the test. Not how much money you make, not whether you go to the right school, not whether you cheer for the right team—Hurricanes and Dolphins, by the way, in case you're keeping score—but how you love each other. That's our test.
The test for the disciple is to love. And through living a life of love, you become a living sacrifice. Know what I mean? You don't know what I mean? Um, so let me see if I can help us. Maybe I'll just— So here is the tension in my own personal life.
I have three kids. Um, and I have a new granddaughter who just turned a year old. And I'm so thankful for her because I now have somebody in my family I like. But being a dad is a selfless act. Um, y'all probably had better children than me, but there are moments where I looked at my kids and said, "Is this the baby I brought home from the hospital? Is this the kid I taught his ABCs, or I taught her how to tie her shoe? Is this the child that I talked to and said, 'Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so'? Really?"
There have been some moments when I've looked at my children and said, "What made you think that was a good idea?" Oh, y'all didn't have those issues? Pray for me. I'mma find a support group.
But here's the challenge. The tension for me is even when they messed up, as a dad, God's expectation of me was to still show up and love and forgive, and show up and love and forgive, and continue to teach and not be judgmental about when they get it. So the tension for me is God is saying, "Don't just do it for your kids. Do it for all of my kids."
So every person I meet, I've got to pray for. I've got to show love. I've got to encourage. I've got to forgive. I've got to lift up. And some days I don't want to. I know I'm probably not supposed to say stuff like that because I'm standing here with the robe and the stole on, and I look, you know, real holy and all that, but let's just be honest. There's a real reason why in the Old Testament there's a book of Lamentations. Sometimes God puts something in front of you and you're like, “I don't want to do that. No.” But then he says, "Nope, that's exactly the thing I want you to do."
And sometimes when I'm looking at that thing, I want to go—well, sometimes I do go in the back and throw a temper tantrum. Then I come out and do what he asked me to do, because I mean, he is God and there's a judgment day coming. Um, but the reality is I must sacrifice not for my benefit but for the benefit of the kingdom, so that somebody else will see and meet Jesus in their own way. And then I've got to not be judgmental about when they get it, but just thank God that they get it.
He then moves on and talks about in verse 8, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forevermore." That's the linchpin. That's the reason I can be a living sacrifice, and you can be a living sacrifice also, because the same God that forgave on yesterday, the same God that's forgiving and providing grace and love and mercy and all those things right now, will provide them on tomorrow.
And the God that forgave me, the God that watched over me, the God that protected me—I want that same God to do it for somebody else, to do it for everybody else. But not just so they can keep doing what they're doing—so that I have an opportunity to model his love in front of them, so they want to end up getting closer to him.
The hope of the disciple is that Jesus is who he is. He doesn't just love us. He gave his life for us. He died for us. He rose for us. And he even now makes intercession for us.
We used to sing this song when I was a little boy: My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and his righteousness. I shall not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Y'all sing that? They still sing those songs.
Do you live with that hope? Because if you live with that hope, then you embrace being a living sacrifice and give people grace. You encourage people. You push people forward. For the disciple is not one who lives to put people down. That's the rock. Jesus is the rock we stand on. He's the hope we live by. And he's the strength we live through to be a living sacrifice, not just for us but for others.
And then in verse 15, he says, "Therefore—" Well, first he says, "Through Jesus." Therefore—so let me stop. Let me just not be presumptuous. Do y'all know Jesus? That one was not rhetorical. I was hoping I'd get a yes or two.
But do you know Jesus? No, I don't mean do you know of him the same way we know of some of these athletes. Do you know him? Are you in relationship with him? Does your life reflect him each and every day? Are you trying to get to know him better and better?
Here's a test. Do you talk to Jesus on days that are not Sunday? It's a piss-poor relationship for people that only talk one day a week.
Now, if you know Jesus, if you love Jesus, if you didn't just show up here by accident this morning—you intended to be here, you got up and, you know, did your hair and your makeup and put your clothes on and you were headed here. Hopefully nobody that's sitting in here was headed to brunch somewhere and made a wrong turn and decided you would stay. But if you came here on purpose, the thing that is inferred by your presence is that you know Jesus, and y'all are good friends, that you're all right, that you love him and you've accepted his love.
The writer states, "If that is true, therefore, because you know him, because you love him, because you've accepted his love, because you're endeavoring to be a disciple, a study of him, because of those things, continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God."
Continually. What does continually mean? I know kids have just gone back to school. We starting doing English words here already, huh? Getting definitions too early. Nonstop, at all times. Not just on Sunday, and not just on the Sundays when they sang your favorite hymn. But the scripture of the text suggests to us—no, it doesn't suggest, it mandates—that we who call ourselves disciples should continuously offer the sacrifice of praise.
And why does he call it a sacrifice? Because sometimes you don't feel like it. Okay. Sometimes I don't feel like it. Sometimes I wake up and stuff that wasn't hurting when I went to bed is hurting when I woke up. Sometimes I want it to be sunshine and nice all day, and I wake up and it's raining. Sometimes I want my day to go this way, and it goes that way. Sometimes I have high hopes for people and they let me down. Sometimes I have high hopes for myself and I let me down.
But the scripture suggests that all times are good times to offer God a sacrifice of praise.
That’s really the tension in the text this morning. The tension is that these disciples, these folks who were followers of Christ, had gotten distracted. They had gotten turned around and twisted in all kinds of different ways. And so the writer is trying to point them back to their true mission, to their true identity. And so he says, “Remember to offer up the sacrifice of praise.”
What does that mean? That means that every day I wake up, no matter what’s going on in my life, no matter the struggle, the sacrifice of praise is my offering to God. That means when I don’t feel like it, I still praise. When it’s raining outside and I’m running late for work and the kids are acting crazy, I still offer a sacrifice of praise. When the doctor gives me a bad report, I still offer a sacrifice of praise. When the bills are due and I don’t know where the money is coming from, I still offer a sacrifice of praise. Because it’s not based on my circumstances. It’s based on who God is.
The writer says, “Don’t forget to do good and to share with others.” That’s the other piece. If I am to be a disciple, it’s not just about what I say on Sunday morning. It’s about how I live Monday through Saturday. It’s about how I treat people when nobody’s looking. It’s about what I do when I pass that person on the corner with the cardboard sign. It’s about what I do when I see somebody being mistreated. It’s about how I share the love of Christ not just with my words but with my actions.
And then the writer says, “For with such sacrifices, God is pleased.” See, God is not looking for your lip service. God is not impressed with your church attendance record. God is not even impressed with how much you put in the offering plate if your heart is not in the right place. What pleases God is a life lived in sacrifice—where I lay down my agenda for his, where I lay down my comfort for somebody else’s well-being, where I lay down my pride to pick up humility, where I lay down my selfishness to serve somebody else.
That’s what it means to be a living sacrifice. And when I live that way, my life becomes a testimony. My life becomes a sermon. My life becomes the gospel somebody else may never read in a book but will see in me.
So the question this morning is simple: Are you living as a Christian, or are you living as a disciple? Are you going through the motions, or are you offering your life as a living sacrifice?
Because at the end of the day, titles don’t matter. What matters is fruit. What matters is reflection. What matters is love.
So my prayer for us this morning is that we will leave this place not just saying we love Jesus but showing it. That we would leave this place not just calling ourselves Christian but living as disciples. That we would leave this place committed to being a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.
And if we do that, not only will God be pleased, but the world around us will be transformed. Amen.