The Mark

Read:

John 13:34-35 (KJV) A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

What it's speaking to me

I have been in ministry a while now. Long enough to have seen how churches have marketed themselves over the last three decades. For a while it was based off a seeker-sensitive model: milky sermons, borderline secular music in the service, and certainly nothing that would make a guest uncomfortable in any way. Then it was the "worship experience," super tight music, skinny jeans on the worship leader, and a superb light show to boot. Then it was about the teaching pastor, with snazzy graphics, say-it-like-it-is delivery, and a lot of quality exegesis.

Not all of these things are bad in and of themselves. All of them to one degree or another were designed to try and make the "church" known to the people around them. That isn't bad. But they aren't really a part of what Jesus thought his disciples needed to do to be known by the people around them. It was one thing: love.

While it seemed simple in a sense, for the 12, that was not a small ask.

• You had a mix of Jews and Hellenized Jews.

• You had Matthew the tax collector (pro-Rome) vs. Simon the Zealot (very anti-Rome).

• You had James and John, who wanted to call down fire on Samaria, and jockeyed for a better position in heaven.

• You had city boy Nathanael, who was bigoted against country folk (Nazarenes).

• You had Peter, who had a big head, and thought he was better than all the others.

This is not a group in the flesh that was an easy group to love. I don't think it was easy at first for them to love one another. Maybe you feel the same way about some of the Christians around you.

But the love we show each other is the thing that will tell the world we are following Jesus. Not marketing, not mailers, not skinny jeans, not celebrity preaching, not light shows, not whatever new church fad comes next.

Just love.

Real, Christ-like love for one another.

The kind of love that changed our lives is what will change our neighbors.

Simple, but not easy.

That is the true mark.

What is it saying to you?

Would people outside the church, outside your circle of Christian relationships, describe you by your love for one another?

How has Jesus loved you that you can pass on?

How has someone loved you that made someone notice?

What are we going to do about it?

Do something this weekend that shows love to another believer that would make an outsider notice.