So You Call Yourself A Christian

So, You call Yourself a Christian?

By Ian Biss 9/26/01

Intro...

I read about a young man who was determined to win the affection of a lady who refused to even talk to him anymore. He decided that the way to her heart was through the mail, so he began writing her love letters. He wrote a love letter every day to this lady. Six, seven times a week she got a love letter from him. When she didn’t respond, he increased his output to three notes every twenty-four hours. In all, he wrote her more than seven hundred letters...

...And she wound up marrying the postman.

Love sure can be fickle, don’t you think?

But what does love have to do with calling yourself a Christian?

Everything!!

Love is the one quality that separates the Christian from the rest of humanity. Love is the reason Christ came, suffered, died, and was resurrected again, and love is what motivates the Christian to be separated from a world of hate.

Read Text, John 13:34-35

This passage is part of some of the last instruction that Jesus will give to His disciples, before His crucifixion. Needless to say, this is some of the most important teaching that we who call ourselves "Christian" will ever receive. And that teaching is pretty clear, He says that His disciples are to...

I. Love one another, vs 34

Exposition

Love one another! Hmmmmmmmmm, how about that? You and I are supposed to love one another. You and the person you are sitting next to... are supposed to love one another. You and your spouse... are supposed to love one another. You and members from other churches... are supposed to love one another. You and your children... are supposed to love one another. You and your parents... are supposed to love one another.

Application

I know what you’re thinking, you’re saying to yourself, I love all those people, all those other believers, I love them, I sure do!

Then the question I wish to ask you is this. Have you proven to them that you love them?

Be careful before you answer, roofs have been known to fall in.

Proof of love comes in many shapes and sizes, love may require you to dig deep within your heart to accept others.

Illustration

The phone rang in a high society Boston home. One the other end of the line was a son who had just returned from Viet Nam and was calling from California. His folks were the cocktail-circuit, high society type. The boy said to his mother, "I just called to tell you that I wanted to bring a buddy home with me." His mother said, "Sure, bring him along for a few days." "But, mother, there is something you need to know about this boy. One leg is gone, one arm’s gone, one eye’s gone, and his face is quite disfigured. Is it all right if I bring him home?"

His mother said, "Bring him home for a few days." The son said, "You didn’t understand me, mother. I want to bring him home to live with us." The mother began to make all kinds of excuses about embarrassment and what people would think...and the phone clicked.

A few hours later the police called from California to Boston. The mother picked up the phone again. The police sergeant at the other end said, "We just found a boy with one arm, one leg, one eye and a mangled face, who has just killed himself with a shot in the head. The identification papers on the body say he is your son."

* Quoted from, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Charles Swindoll

Some times you may have to dig very deep when you love others. Then, at other times all love requires is just to be there when those you love hurt.

Illustration

Sam Rayburn was Speaker of the House of Representatives longer than any other man in our history. There is a story about him that reveals the kind of man he really was.

The teenage daughter of a friend of his died suddenly one night. Early the next morning the man heard a knock on his door, and, when he opened it, there was Mr, Rayburn standing outside.

The Speaker said, "I just came by to see what I could do to help."

The father replied in his deep grief, "I don’t think there is anything you can do, Mr. Speaker. We are making all the arrangements."

"Well," Mr. Rayburn said, "have you had your coffee this morning?"

The man replied that they had not taken time for breakfast. So Mr. Rayburn said that he could at least make coffee for them. While he was working in the kitchen, the man came in and said, "Mr. Speaker, I thought you were supposed to be having breakfast at the White House this morning."