THE GREATEST DEMONSTRATION
OF YOUR FAITH

 

 

 

 How do you demonstrate that you are a follower of Jesus?    How will others know that you are a Christian?     In a fallen broken world, how do we best demonstrate our faith in the true and living God?     Certainly there are many ways. Some may say, "Sound Doctrine".    The way you demonstrate your faith is to hold to Sound Doctrine when everyone else is falling away."     Is Sound Doctrine important? Of course it is. Others may say, "Obedience".     The way you demonstrate your faith is to walk in obedience to Christ. Is Obedience important? Absolutely.

 

However, Jesus defined our greatest expression of faith, or at least the way the world will know we are His followers, not in terms of our doctrine or our obedience, but in terms of our love for others.

The fact is that the greatest expression of your faith is to love people.    The way people can tell you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus, is not by your solid doctrine as important as that may be, not by your clean lifestyle as important as that is, but by the way you love others.


The Greatest Expression Of Your Faith Is To Love People
Jesus said:
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 31 The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30-31)
Another thing Jesus said was:
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35)


God Commands Us To Love People

One of the distinguishing marks of a follower of Jesus is that we love people. Jesus loved people and gave Himself for people.     We are expressing our faith as His followers when we reflect the love of God for People.

This loving people is not an option for His followers, its an expression of our faith in Him.     He has told us that loving people is second only to loving Him.     He demonstrated His faith in the Father by loving and sacrificing Himself for the fallen unworthy humanity that the Father wanted to redeem and He expects the same of His followers.

Perhaps you’ve heard it said, "you can’t command someone to love."     Well, Jesus did just that and we all know how hard it is to obey that command at times. It wouldn’t be so bad except it involves people and let’s face it, some people are just hard to love.     It’s like the Peanuts cartoon where Lucy says to Charlie Brown "I hate everything.    I hate everybody. I hate the whole wide world!" Charlie Brown responds, "But I thought you had inner peace." To which Lucy replies, "I do have inner peace.    But I still have outer obnoxiousness"     It’s the people with outer obnoxiousness that are the hardest to love isn’t it?

So, how is it that we will demonstrate our faith in the living Christ and show sacrificial love to people when we know that we have little or no capacity to do so within ourselves, especially for certain people?

The fact is that the ability to love others comes from the heart of God Himself.


If You Walk With Christ, You Will Love

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus describes the life and values of the Kingdom.     These are not values or lifestyles that one seeks to live in order to gain entrance into the Kingdom, these are values and lifestyles that are expressions of the Kingdom.     They are the outward manifestations that the Kingdom is a reality in our hearts.     Loving your enemy is not a normal human response, it is a Kingdom response. It rises up from a heart surrendered under the rule of the King.
  

Indeed the Apostle Paul pointed to the same thing when he talked about love being the fruit of the Spirit.     You don’t say to yourself, "Well, I better be more loving."     No, love grows within you as you learn to walk in the Spirit.     As you walk in the Spirit, as you walk in close communion with your King, love automatically demonstrates itself and thus you demonstrate that you are a follower of Jesus.

 

Being close to Jesus He will produce in you love for others - even your enemies and those who have hurt you.

In other words, when you walk close to Christ, love will automatically be the result. It really is very telling. 
 

Now remember, we are learning to walk as Kingdom people.     We will not be perfect. We will not love perfectly, We are learning to walk with our King.     It is a growing experience that lasts a lifetime until we see Him face to face and are like Him.     But, this Kingdom quality ought to be increasingly demonstrated in our lives not because we are trying to be more loving people, but because we are cultivating our intimacy with Christ our King. 
 

The fact is we can claim to be followers of Jesus, but people want to see the real thing. They want to see our faith in Christ clearly demonstrated and Christ says the way we do that is by loving people.

People Don’t Care How Much You Know Until They Know How Much You Care

Now here is the crunch. Am I, are you, demonstrating the love of Christ?    People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. 1     Of course this is easier with the people we like, but Jesus indicated that Kingdom people are to love their enemies and suggested that anyone can love their friends.      The thing that ought to set us apart is our love for even our enemies and those who have hurt us and even those who disagree with us and despitefully use us.

 

So, I’ve often thought about this.     What if I were flying somewhere and notorious abortion doctor Henry Morgentaler 2  was seated beside me,  what would I say, how would I act?       I abhor the fact that millions of babies have been aborted largely because of his influence.     I think abortion is a despicable act and one of the greatest moral plights upon the western world and for which we will give an account. 3     What would I do if I were seated on an airplane beside Morgentaler?   Believe me, I have rehearsed this many times in my mind, especially just before I travelled anywhere.     I am a Kingdom person, I want to reflect Kingdom living.     Only in submission to my King, and only with His love flowing through me would I be able to demonstrate my faith in his presence.     I have rehearsed what I would say and how I would say it.     I have rehearsed how I would seek to know him as a person, to understand his thinking and how I might demonstrate the love of Christ to a man who represents something I absolutely detest.     This is the challenge of Kingdom people.     These are the situations in which we find ourselves and in which we must clearly demonstrate that we are followers of Jesus.     For you it may be other issues, perhaps how you will react to a radical Muslim or a gay rights activist or the person who sexually abused you as a child.


Being close to Jesus,   He will produce in you love for others - even your enemies and those who have hurt you.

If you don’t love them,

how will they know Jesus loves them?

 

 1    I think I first head this phrase from John Maxwell

 

2    Henry Morgentaler  (March 19, 1923 – May 29, 2013), was a Polish-born Canadian physician and abortion advocate who fought numerous legal battles aimed at expanding abortion rights in Canada.    He opened his first abortion clinic in 1969 in Montreal, challenging Canadian laws that restricted abortion.    He was the first doctor in North America to use vacuum aspiration and went on to open twenty clinics and train more than one hundred doctors. Morgentaler challenged the constitutionality of the federal abortion law, winning R. v. Morgentaler in 1988.

3   My words here are not intended to inflict more pain upon women who have had an abortion, many times without having adequate explanation as to what abortion really is.    My point it, without entering a full discussion is that abortion is mark on our culture that I believe God will judge