During the month of June at Believer’s Church we’ve been looking the marks of a follower of Christ; what things should stick out about the lives of Christians. The first two weeks we talked about loving God and loving people. The third week we went to John 13:34-35 to look at another significant statement from Jesus about the lives of those who follow him.
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Here are three points that I made from these verses:
1. In the same way that God has a special love for His people; believers are to have a special love for their brothers and sisters in Christ.
-God chose Israel out of all the nations of the world because he loved them -Deuteronomy 7
-All of Jonah, Matthew 5, Romans 2, and Acts 14/17 clear statements about God’s loving posture to all peoples.
-Ephesians 1:3-6 are plain that because of his love, God has indefinitely planned for the salvation of his people.
-Romans 8 is clear that those whom God predestines will be saved…to the end.
So in both the Old and New Testaments we see God’s special love for his people, though in no way denying his compassion and love towards all people at the same time.
2. Jesus said this love would be the distinguishing mark of a true believer or follower of Christ.
By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:10 ESV)
-People who live lives of consistent, open, willful, rebellion and sin are not Christians (or are in need of serious repentance!!!0, and people who don’t love other Christians (that’s what ‘brother’ means in this context) should question whether they’re really a Christian too.
-This love for other Christians should also exceed the bounds of our own theological and denominational tribes. (For a precious example of this, use Google to find out about George Whitfield and John Wesley, their doctrinal disagreement, and Whitfield’s response when asked if Wesley would be in heaven).
3. A love for Christians should result in a love for the bride of Christ.
Three passages to consider: Hebrews 10:24-25, Acts 2:44-47, Acts 4:32-35
-Who should we be meeting with?
-How is this loving to them?
-Is my experience of loving other Christians comparable of what it looked like among early Christians?
Scripture commands us to forgive, welcome and greet, instruct, encourage, care for, comfort, agree with, serve, be patient and bear with, submit to, admonish, build up, seek to do good to, exhort, stir up for good works, confess our sins to, pray for, show hospitality to, be humble towards, and fellowship with “one another” (i.e. other Christians).
We may not FEEL like we love these people. We may not want to go out of our way to pursue loving actions towards them (and sometime non-Christians seem easier to love), but the power to do this is not in us. It’s in the life that Jesus laid down for us which frees us from sins and empowers us to lay down our life for others.
3 Comments
July 9, 2009 at 3:47 am
D. A. Carson talks about the marks of a Christian is his exposition of MAtthew 5-7, and says that the beatitudes are the “norms of the Kingdom.” If we are truly following Christ our lives should be marked by meekness, mercy, peacemaking, etc.
Forgiveness is hard, as as you mentioned in your last post, and showing kindness to others, especially those whom we are not close to, is hard as well. Unfortunately just because it is not natural to us, we are not afforded a pardon on this command. I struggle with the same thing, I find myself liking the idea of helping others much more than actually doing it quite often.
What steps are you taking to love Christians better? And to love non-Christians better?
July 9, 2009 at 7:12 am
For Christians, one of the best ways to cultivate a real love (or for anyone really) is to pray for them. I’ve used our member’s directory that the church distributes at the monthly member’s meetings as a guide to pray through each month. Having people in your home and actually practicing hospitality is another helpful way. I’m spotty at the latter unfortunately.
On the non-Christians, I ashamed to say that I don’t have as meaningful of relations with them as I’d like. I think the bit about speaking well of people is HUGE however. So this way, even though I don’t really know a person, I’m applying James 3 and asking, “Does this statement about that person express the worth, value, and dignity they possess as being made in the image of God?” -whether I agree with their plans for healthcare reform or not.
July 9, 2009 at 9:26 am
I think you are right about prayer. Its hard to have a bad attitude toward others when you are earnestly praying for them. I think that could apply to non-Christians as well. Especially when you are praying for them as individuals, rather than just blanket prayers. Perhaps this is could be a starting point toward building better relationships with non-Christians.
Of course I can’t speak from much experience from my current situation. I rarely even met non-Christians here. I am praying now that God prepares me for the work when we return to Missouri. I’ve always been an introvert and befriending anyone, let alone non-Christians, is a lot of work for me.