John 17: 13 - 17
Distinguishing Marks
Mikael Gorbachev had a very obvious distinguishing mark on his forehead. This prompted many to make fun of him. He was always and instantly recognisable. I suppose we all have something which distinguishes us from other people - even twins have certain differences, no matter how much alike they are. However, it is interesting to see in our world today, how keen people are to alter themselves so as to remove those distinguishing marks. They will have plastic surgery; hair styling; speech coaching; fashion makeovers and many other treatments to alter or enhance their appearance, and make them more acceptable and aesthetically pleasing in the eyes of others. Jesus, in this prayer, asks that the Father preserve those things which distinguish those who are His. Sadly many Christians today are opting for spiritual plastic surgery so that they do not stand out in the world. They want to be the same - to fit in, so bit by bit they have their distinguishing marks removed. There are six marks which Jesus here refers to that distinguish the true church, and we will only look at three today. Check your own life and make sure these distinguishing marks are apparent.
Joy
May McFetridge used to say, in the middle of her performance, to some unsuspecting member of the audience, "Are you enjoying yourself? Well, tell your face!!" It is interesting that the first characteristic Christ here mentions for the Christian church is joy. Sadly it seems to be the case that when we first trust in the Lord we are filled with joy, but as we walk down the Christian way, that joy diminishes step by step, until there seems to be little joy left. Yet if anything characterised the early church it was joy. The verb, "to rejoice" occurs 72 times and the noun, "joy" occurs 60 times in Scripture - so obviously joy is important in the believer’s life. By joy, we are not talking about some stupid big grin from ear to ear all the time - but a glow which comes from a contentment and peace that is within us. How do we make sure we have this joy? Certain things are needed:
The Basis for Joy - Sound Doctrine - v13 - "... these things I speak in the world ..." - Jesus has been expressing deep and essential doctrine, and now He shows the purpose for that doctrine and it is the joy of His followers. Today, many seem to suggest, if you want joy don’t spend time learning sound doctrine because doctrine only divides - if you want joy all you have to do is live in the Spirit. However, if we are truly living in the Spirit, He will help us understand the doctrine of Scripture, and then we will have true joy. [Check out Ps. 19:8; Ps. 119:14; Jn. 15:10,11].
Encouragement in Joy - Fellowship - There are clearly two dimensions of fellowship reflected in this passage and in Scripture as a whole - fellowship with God, and then with man. Christ here wants us to have "My joy" - so what was His joy? It could refer to His future joy in the completion of His work on the cross (Heb. 12:2); But surely here it is more the joy of constant contact and fellowship with the Father. Do we have this? If you are not joyful it is probably because your fellowship is not right with God and your fellow Christian.
Completeness of Joy - Holiness - There is one final part which shows why there seems to be so little joy in the Christian church today, and it is down to a lack of holiness, for sin will keep us from God. Are you lacking in joy, simply because you can’t be bothered striving to be holy?
Holiness
Holiness is the characteristic of God mentioned the most in the pages of Scripture, and therefore it makes perfect sense that this is an essential quality within the life of the church and believer. What does the term "holiness" mean? It comes from the greek word agios which we translate as "saint". This term literally means "the called-out one", and means that Christians are those who are called out from this world, not that they do not live in it, but so that they do not live like it. The problem is we tend to adopt:
The World’s Agenda - we allow the world’s values to be our values, even if they are wrong. If the primary concern of the world becomes hunger in the 3rd world, then the church makes that it’s primary concern, the same could be said for racism, alcoholism or ecology. These are all good concerns, but should not be the primary concern of the church. The church’s priority must be to speak about the probelm of sin and it’s solution.
The World’s Theology - The world’s theology is easy to define - it is that man is basically good, that no one is really lost, and that belief in Jesus is not really essential for salvation. The problem is that this has slipped into the thinking of the church, where concepts like sin, conviction, confession and repentance have all been watered down where they mean nothing at all. The Roman Catholic church today uses these terms, but they don’t mean what we do by them because their doctrine has never changed one iota.
The World’s Methods - God’s methods are prayer and the power of the Gospel. The world’s methods are to do with money and politics and social issues. Montgomery Boice refers to this as Madison Avenue Religion, where the only criteria that seems to apply is, "The bigger the better". Perhaps we could call it "Wembley Stadium Religion". In order to sell Christianity big we have to water down our beliefs until they count for almost nothing. When we were asked to write a script for a spiritual program on TV during our time in college we were not allowed to mention sin or repentance. It had to be a nice little homily, or else it would not be acceptable.
What about our materialism? Is that standing in the way of holiness? Francis Schaeffer suggested that the desire for affluence is not necessarily the desire to be a Rockerfeller or an Astor but simply to have enough money to enjoy life to the full. Is that your god? Montgomery Boice suggested that whilst we may not admit to this level of worldliness for ourselves, yet when it came to our children our priorities were all wrong. Ask yourself, "What do I really want for my children?" Do you want them to be comfortable - to have a good home, to be happily married, to hold down a good job - if this is what first springs to mind - that is rampant materialism - we should desire first that they be men and women of God.
What about your attitude to church? Surely the greatest danger in the church today is indifference. Are you indifferent to state of the lost? Are you indifferent to the suffering of the world’s poor? Are you indifferent to the needs of fellow believers? How does indifference show itself in Buckna Presbyterian Church? We have well over 300 in the building this morning - how many will there be at the prayer time on Friday night? 15? 20? Surely this is indifference! What should we do? In Rev. 3:17-19 we read of: gold which is described in Ps.19:10 as the Word of God; white clothes which surely speaks of righteousness; and salve on the eyes which would enable us to see with the eyes of faith and not through the eyes of the world. The challenge in Revelation is for us to repent, and allow the Lord to deal with our lack of holiness, our worldliness and our indifference.
Truth
How could we keep the joy? How could we be holy? Jesus says this can only happen through truth. Do we achieve them through conferences or special experiences? No. Do we receive them through prayer? No. Prayer is us speaking to God, but we need to hear from Him - so the Scriptures are vital. They supply clear thinking about:
Authority - The Scriptures are to be the sole authority in our lives. When the Scripture tells us to do something we must do it. We must not set ourselves above God’s Word, making it say what we want it to say, but must place ourselves under it, allowing our lives to be moulded and shaped by God’s desires for us.
Theology - Theology and doctrine almost seem like dirty words within the church today - yet we cannot be truly converted and not have a love of Theology. If we are satisfied with skin-deep Christianity we mock Christ by suggesting it is not important for us to get to know Him properly.
Priorities - We need to re-align our priorities today. They must be in keeping with God’s Word, rather than following the World’s god. Are our priorities those of Scripture. If you are not a Christian, then most certainly your priorities are all wrong. You haven’t even begun to get your priorities right. Your life is not lived for God, it is lived for yourself, and no matter how selfless you seem to be in the eyes of others, you do not fool God. Without Christ in your life you are suggesting that what you want for your life is more important and better in your eyes than what God offers through His Son. Jesus explains that the greatest commandment is to "Love the Lord thy God". This means putting Him first. This means asking for Jesus to cleanse and forgive us for all our sins, past, present and future, and to believe when we do that we have been forgiven. Have you done this?
