Good Hot Sauce. Great Gospel.

My friend Chad makes the best hot sauce in the world; hands down. It’s hot. It’s flavorful. It’s smoky. It’s the appropriate shade of red. And best of all, it goes on just about anything and takes that dish up a notch.

I put it on everything: eggs, chicken, tacos, burgers… You name it, I’ve put Chad's hot sauce on it!

I won’t lie… I’ve even taken a bump straight from the bottle to get my morning going!

Chad’s stuff is THAT good!

It is, in a word, exquisite. It literally transforms any dish from boring and turns it into an experience. And my respect for Chad’s craft is well-deserved. Because, as any aficionado knows, hot sauce is a tricky thing to get right.

You’ve got to balance both flavor and heat in such a way as to significantly add to the meal without killing your dinner guest’s palate. (or crushing their will to live!!!)

It’s a tough line to walk… trust me.

One time, long ago, I went to a nationwide purveyor of chicken wings and sports with some of my buddies (both the establishment and said buddies will remain nameless here to avoid lawsuits). We loved chicken wings. And we loved giving each other a hard time. And this particular restaurant chain offered deals that hungry college students just couldn’t resist!

We sat down to eat, and as young men often do, we began to debate who had the chops to attempt to eat their wings doused in the hottest sauce on the menu.

Boldly, I proclaimed that I had those chops...

And so… in sublime foolishness, and against the direct advice of our server, I ordered my wings extra crispy and in the hottest sauce they offered.

That was a mistake.

I don’t remember much from that night. (Call it a repressed memory.) But I do remember that for hours, it was all I could do to drink water and avoid throwing up. I was in terrible pain; TERRIBLE! And worst of all, the sauce had no redeeming quality. There was no flavor; at least not that fought its way through the kerosene burn that left blisters on my lips and tongue.

For weeks, I couldn’t even smell anything spicy without having flashbacks.

Ketchup was about as spicy as I could go. It took a long time to recover!

Good hot sauce has to be balanced just right: a daring combination of spice and flavor; hot enough to make you sweat, but flavorful enough to keep you coming back for more!

Good hot sauce brings life to a meal.

And that’s exactly what a Christian should bring to their community! When we speak and live out of the abundant life offered to us in the Gospel, we become a source of hope and joy, of truth and love, in our homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces. We become what a good hot sauce is: an enhancer!

But hot sauce that loses sight of its role becomes oppressive. In its attempt to be spicy, it becomes cruel to the palate.

And unfortunately, that’s exactly what Christians become when we settle for doctrine devoid of grace, truth without love.

As believers, we follow Christ. We submit to His will. We worship and walk in alignment with His Word. That means that we must be ready to stand up for the Truth. But even as we stand up for truth, we do so from a heart of love, not cold, doctrinal apathy.

One approach brings great benefit. The other brings only pain.

There’s a seemingly growing movement of boldness in the believing world, right now. More than ever before, folks are willing to take a stand for orthodox views of Scripture, salvation, and the biblical ethic. For this, I am grateful. Truth is worth standing up for. God’s Word is Truth. And as such, every Christian should be bold and courageous to speak God's life-giving truth in a world of half-truths, lies, and misconceptions.

Truth brings the heat and flavor that our cold hearts desperately need. But God’s truth, without God’s love, actually becomes a weapon. Rather than adding heat and warmth and hope, it becomes a crushing weight, and it burns those around us.

It’s the mistake the Pharisees made time and time again.

They delivered truth devoid of grace… and in doing so, they became oppressors, rather than advocates for abundant life.

As Christ-followers, there will be times when we are called to stand up and speak the truth.

This is a fallen world. We are fallen people. There is only one way for us to be reconciled with God, and that’s through faith in Jesus Christ. Those who receive Him are rewarded with eternal life. Those who reject Him will suffer eternal damnation. That’s the truth of Scripture. Plain and simple.

And some will receive this message with joy. Others will reject it in apathy. And others still will react in anger and hostility toward us for sharing it.

The temptation, in the face of pushback, is to buckle down and get hard. We think that in doing so, we are honoring God with our courage, but in reality…we are only protecting our own fragile hearts from the rejection and backlash…

Dear brothers and sisters… avoid that temptation! Don’t spout the truth about God from a heart that lacks HIs love.

Remember the TRUTH. That apart from Christ, none of us could stand before His throne.

Remember the TRUTH. That grace, and grace alone, is how God saves sinful people.

Remember the TRUTH. That Christ came to seek and save the lost, and calls us to LOVE our neighbors, even those who struggle against us or hate us for our faith.

Remember the TRUTH. That God condemns sin and stands in wrath against all kinds of covetousness, idolatry, greed, sexual immorality, and paganism, and that such were some of you before the message of the Gospel took root. Such was this pastor.

Christian, in your witness, don’t settle for spice without flavor; a pure chemical burn. That’s not ministry; it’s cruelty. It’s not love, but self-righteous judgment.

Instead, be hot sauce in this world: full of flavor and warmth - bringing life wherever you go!

Speak truth. And do it in love.

Because God, in Christ, loves you!

And friends… if you’ve been hurt by someone who spoke truth and didn’t do it in love, please, hear this: I’m sorry. I know what it’s like to be blasted by words of truth without love…. to be condemned, rather than corrected: It burns.

And the temptation, when we’re hurt, is to avoid anything that seems remotely close to what caused us pain in the first place.

After my experience at Unnamed Wings and Sports place… I ate only ketchup for weeks. I was terrified of trying anything spicy for quite some time. But after a while, ketchup got boring. And I knew I needed more.

The truth will always come at a cost. But the truth also sets us free. And if you’ve been living a ketchupy-life for fear of getting burned, then I want to invite you into Christ’s kitchen. Come and sit down, and have a meal that’s perfectly balanced in truth and love; full of flavor and heat for your soul. The Gospel is always both.

Because God, in Christ, loves you!