In the 1986 movie “The Three Amigos”, Ned Needlander, Dusty Bottoms, and Lucky Day are trying to find their way to a particular location. The instructions they were given tell them to travel to the “Singing Bush” where they will meet their guide who will take them to their destination. After traveling some time, our three heroes find a random bush in the middle of the desert that is singing classic American folk tunes. In a humorous scene, Ned approaches the loudly singing bush and says, “excuse me, are you the Singing Bush?” The bush does not respond, but just keeps singing louder and louder. This prompts Lucky to shout over the cacophony of song, “Hey, ARE YOU THE SINGING BUSH?!?” Still no response. Finally, Lucky says, “my guess is that this is the Singing Bush.”
This scene is funny because of what is so obvious. OF COURSE this is the Singing Bush! They had passed thousands of silent bushes on their journey, and only this one was singing! If the Amigos had reasoned that there was no way they could tell if this bush was the Singing Bush, they would have really missed out.
Why do I bring this up today?
Have you ever heard someone say, “we have no idea who someone really is? After all, we cannot see their heart.” While there is a refreshing amount of humility in this statement, there is also a woeful amount of naivety. True, we cannot know all of someone’s inner workings, but through observation of someone’s life, we can know much about them. Someone who acts consistently with kindness is a kind person. Someone who often speaks of Jesus is a Christ follower. Someone who erupts in anger often is angry. Someone who speaks in a vulgar and irreverent way is irreverent. Of course there are occasional exceptions to this due to people’s hypocrisy, but it is most always true.
To say it another way, if the bush is singing, it is a Singing Bush.
Jesus makes this point clear in His Sermon on the Plain. In Luke 6:43-45 He points out that someone’s heart is revealed by their conduct and conversation. Often we hear these words and want to race toward evaluating others, but let us remember the context of the Sermon on the Plain. Jesus had just told His disciples to have enough humility and self-evaluation to deal with the logs in our own eyes before we fixate on the specks in the eyes of others. Now Jesus talks about the connection between what we say and do and who we really are. The point is clear. Evaluate your life. What comes out of your mouth or shows up in your behavior is an expression of your identity.
This Sunday at Wildwood Community Church, we will be looking at Luke 6:43-45 together, alongside also celebrating the water baptisms of 18 people who came to the humble realization that they were sinners in need of forgiveness and have turned in faith to Jesus to forgive them of their sins. Their baptisms are a public celebration of what God has already done in their souls, and we will hear their stories as we worship Jesus together. Make plans to join us in one of our 3 worship services on Sunday, August 2 at 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00 … grab three amigos and we will see you there!
NOTE: As is our custom, on Baptism Sundays we are “all in” the worship service. No children, student, or adult classes will meet this Sunday as we all gather together for worship. Our classes and support programming will return on August 9.
