Marks Of A Christian

Marks of a Christian

1 John 3: 11-19

Intro: There was a married couple sitting on their front porch and the neighbor across the street came home. The man got out of his car with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and started walking toward the front door. When he was about halfway there, his wife opened the door and ran out to meet him. He presented her with the flowers and took her in his arms and gave her a big kiss, right there in the driveway. As the couple on the porch watched this, the woman looked over at her husband and said why can’t you do that. The man looked at his wife and said that he couldn’t possibly do that. Upset now, his wife demanded to know why he couldn’t do that. He looked at her and said my god woman, I hardly know the lady across the street.

. Valentine’s Day was on Thursday and I hope that each one of you told the person that you love just how much they mean to you.

. When we think of Valentine’s Day, we think of love don’t we?

. As this week has progressed, I have thought a lot about love also.

. How do we show love, or how does someone know that you love them.

. The bible has much to say about love and how and who we are supposed to love.

. We are told throughout that a Christian is identified by his love for his Christian brothers and sisters.

. You could call this love the Mark of a Christian

. This is how a Christian should be identified or stand out from others.

. This mark of Christianity should be easily identified.

. When a person looks at a true Christian, they should see a person who loves.

. The bible speaks of what is called the “mark of the beast” over in the revelation chapter 13: 16-17.

. 16He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead.

.17And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.

. He, being the beast, will require people to bow down and worship him and their reward will be the mark either on their forehead or their hand.

. Without this mark, they will die because they will not be able to buy or sell food or anything else.

. There is a lot of mystery here and I don’t want to get caught up in those issues.

. The point is that you will be able to identify those who bow down and worship the beast or anti-Christ by the mark that is place upon them.

. While Satan will have the mark of the beast to identify his followers, Jesus also has a mark that identifies his followers.

. That mark is love.

. While it’s not a tattoo or some other form of marking, it should be obvious to all that we meet.

. Our scripture this morning gives us some characteristics that a person who has the Mark of Christianity upon them should exhibit.

. 1 John 3:11-19

. 11This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

12We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous.

13So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

14If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead.

15Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

16We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.

17If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

18Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

19Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.

. The first thing we see here is that when a person carries the mark of Christianity they will exhibit:

. Reverence for God

. Look at verse 12 again:

. 12We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous.