If I describe various people could you identify the group they belong to? The first are saffron-colored robed men working over a sand painting in the Library downtown? (Followers of the Dalai Lama) What about two guys on bicycles, white shirts, ties and little black badges on their pockets? (LDS) Women dressed in robes that cover their entire bodies except for their eyes? (Islamic dress codes) Consider a family of people walking around the neighborhood streets on Saturday morning with magazines for those who will visit with them? (Jehovah Witnesses) If we move away from religion we could talk of military or police uniforms or the telltale stethoscope that medical professionals often can be seen wearing.
What marks the follower of Jesus apart from the world? Is it the fact that they go to church every week? Corrie Ten-Boom told of a comment her father made about a pastor who had visited them and told them that they shouldn’t be involved in protecting Jews from the Nazi’s. He told her, “just because a mouse is in the cookie jar doesn’t make it a cookie.” What about the clothes we wear—the Christian tee shirt, cross or the like. Could it be the Bible we carry with us to school or work that marks us as a believer? Is it one’s politics or morals?
Stephen Curtis Chapman asks the same question in his song The Change. He begins by saying,
Well I got myself a T-shirt that says what I believe
I got letters on my bracelet to serve as my ID
I got the necklace and the key chain
And almost everything a good Christian needs, yeah
I got the little Bible magnets on my refrigerator door
And a welcome mat to bless you before you walk across my floor
I got a Jesus bumper sticker
And the outline of a fish stuck on my car
And even though this stuff’s all well and good, yeah
I cannot help but ask myself—
What about the change
What about the difference
What about the grace
What about forgiveness
What about a life that’s showing
I’m undergoing the change…
Unlike others the mark that sets a woman or man apart as Christ’s person is the change that he sings about. It doesn’t come from our wardrobe, the way we talk or how “nice” we act toward those we don’t like. It’s found in what we’ve become because of Christ’s presence in our life. Here in John, as Jesus is getting ready to be arrested, he lays it out for his disciples and us. Love, lived out for one another is our mark. Love that is patterned on the love Jesus showed for us. Love that causes the world to recognize that we are Christ’s. Love that demonstrates the glorified Lord is truly the Lord of heaven and earth.
Luke tells us that the night Jesus was betrayed, at the table where they ate the last supper the disciples were arguing over who was the greatest. The writer goes on to share Jesus’ teaching about this. John shows us what Jesus does to make a point. He washes the feet of these followers then tells them, if I wash your feet you should wash one another’s feet. Why? Because it’s the sign of who is really the greatest among them. After the dinner as Judas leaves Jesus comes back to this whole idea of how we live when Jesus isn’t physically present with us. Love is the antidote to the world’s attitude that says, “Grab all you can get. Love not only cures such an attitude but it demonstrates whom we belong to.
As we continue trying to “hear” God we’ve begun to spend time in listening for God in prayer and His Word as well as the various circumstances we run into each day. We learned that to hear Jesus means we need to recognize the voice of Jesus and follow Him. This obedience is key to our ability to “hear” our Lord. In these verses we see what following looks like and how it impacts our world and our Lord.
Our love isn’t defined by our world, our parents, or even our own feelings but by Jesus’ life. We love one another the way Jesus loved us. What does this mean? Let me give you four marks that you can remember if you can spell the word LOVE.
L Jesus loves us lavishly.
John writes to us later that the greatest evidence of the love God lavished on us is that we are called His children (1 John 3:1). And in Ephesians we read that God has “lavished” upon us wisdom and understanding. In the way Jesus lavished his love on us so we are to do the same to others. We took a hard look at this when we entertained “The Unseen Guest” this past winter in our 50-Day Spiritual Adventure.
O Other Oriented
Today’s a great day to remember this since its Mother’s Day. I ran across a quote I like. It says, "Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." -- Lin Yutang . And there are million ways to show the person you call Mom that you love them. As great as that will be, it doesn’t mark us as different than the several million pagans who will buy flowers, go to brunch and make long distance calls to their mothers.
Christ’s love wasn’t focused on himself nor was it in his best interest. If it had been he would never have died on the cross. Instead his focus was us--you and I. In fact, so great was his love that if you were the only person in all creation that had needed to be made right with God Jesus would have stilled die for you.
When we love like Christ loves we care more about the other person than we do about ourselves. This isn’t easy. It’s not always going to safe. It’s not always going to make sense. But that’s how God works sometime isn’t it. What doesn’t make sense in our life makes perfect sense in God’s reality.
V Vitalization
I made this word up because I didn’t want to focus on the idea of power but of the life giving purpose is Christ’s love. The love that Jesus showed constantly offered life to people. Sometimes the life was seen in the healing that the Lord did. Other times his teaching brought life as men and women took them to heart and “followed” Christ.
Jesus’ very life was given so that we might have life and his own words were that this life was to be “abundant” life. Our love is to be life that gives life also. As a parent I know how hard this can be. It’s much easier to love in such a way that we keep things the same. It’s simpler to love our friends and family with the unwritten understanding that our love is based on the fact that our relationship will never change or that they will never change.
It’s much harder, perhaps impossible in our own power, to love others so that we look for ways for them to grow and become more and more alive to Christ. Even when to do so would cause them to move away, change or become friends with other people.
Christ’s love calls us to become alive to Christ and dead to sin. Our love is not always sentimental. Sometimes it means speaking hard words about the actions of others. Not because we’re so much better but because we know that sin doesn’t bring life and our call is to be life givers like our Lord.
E Energetically
Does it seem to you that there is a real lack of energy in our world today (I’m not talking about Bonneville)? People seem to face life and work with a tiredness that has soaked into their souls. There is a malaise that has overwhelmed us when it comes to doing good, when it comes to living for Jesus.
Jesus got tired. Jesus slept through a storm on the open water. But when Jesus served others he did it with energy and compassion. In reading of the miracles of Jesus and the healing you never get a picture of someone who was burned out on doing good. And this is because he received His power to do what he did from His Father.
To show our love for others like Jesus did means we have to overcome the tendency to sink into the same type of traps that rob us of the energy we need to love in the best possible ways. We are to love with the same kind of energy that Jesus had. We are to approach others with the compassion that causes us to push on and to keep on loving even when it’s not always easy to do.
Let me give you a way to watch for this type of LOVE in your life. You have an insert that says “Love Log” on it. Like we did in our 50-day Spiritual Adventure this is a place for you to mark down ways that you demonstrated love to another person between tomorrow and Pentecost. As you do this I want to invite you that if there is a particularly vivid experience of hearing God or loving others that you would like to share that you speak with me so we can include your testimony as a part of worship.
Following Christ is not something one can do in the background. It is an active, out front type of love that makes others sit up and notice who we are and the difference we are making. I hope you will be able to see those marks in your life as well.
