MARKS OF A CHRISTIAN
- 1 John 4:20 - 5:13
Some things in this world look very much alike. They are very similar. For instance, a King Snake and a Coral Snake look very much alike. An alligator and a crocodile look a lot alike. They are very similar. We have a citrus tree growing in our yard, that produces both sweet and sour oranges, and the 2 look very similar. Often, people are unable to tell these things apart because they look so much alike.
But on each of them, there is something that sets them apart. Each of them is distinctive in some way you just have to know what to look for. In King & Coral snakes you look for the placement of their rings. In alligators & crocodiles, you look at their teeth, and the shape of their snouts. Similarly, the sweet and sour oranges have different peels and leaves. You have to know the marks that make them distinctive.
In the parable of the wheat and the tares, Jesus commented that in the church, some are believers and some are not, but the 2 are there together. They look very similar, but they are not the same and the end of the two will be very different.
Evidently, in this passage, John was addressing some people, some folks who believed they were Christians, but were experiencing some doubt. In chapters 4 and 5 John gave some distinctives, some marks to look for in Christians’ lives and then he wrote in verse 13, “I have written these things so that you may know you have eternal life.”
What are the “things” John speaks of we are to look for in our lives? What are the distinctives you find in one of Christ’s disciples that set him apart? In this passage I believe John records for us 3 primary marks we are to look for in a believer’s life.
I. MARKS OF A CHRISTIAN
1. An Obedient Christian has a Distinctive Love
- 4:20-21
We live in a society today where any live only for themselves. It doesn’t matter what it takes to get ahead. It doesn’t matter who you have to step on, who you have to talk about, who you have to cheat, swindle, or lie to, as long as you get ahead.
There are those today who carry grudges. There are those who refuse to forgive. There are those who hate others just because they are different. They talk different, or they look different, or they dress different. They have a different skin color, or something. So they hate them, put them down, or look to climb over them.
“It doesn’t matter, as long as I get what I want. It doesn’t matter as long as I get ahead.” I love God, but hang them. The Bible says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar.”
My friend, the Bible says, “God is love.” Jesus Himself said, “The first commandment is to love God. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The two go hand in hand. Think of how people’s despair and pain, moved Jesus to tears. If Jesus is alive and well in your heart, it will show it self in the way you treat other people. It will reveal itself in the way you love others. Jesus said, “By this may all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.”
It breaks my heart when I think of how supposed believers treat unbelievers. It breaks my heart when I think of the way those in the church treat people in the world, forgetting that God sent His Son for them just as He did for us. It breaks my heart when I see believers seeking the grace of God for themselves, who are unwilling to offer it to others.
Let me ask you, “Do you love other people?” A Christian has a distinctive love.
2. An Obedient Christian has a Distinctive Life
- John 5:2-3
The Bible says, “If you love the Father, if you love the Son, that you will obey.” My friend, morality is not an option. Godly living is not an option.
Now, let me make myself clear. The Bibles says, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. You and I are saved through faith. There is nothing you and I can do to earn our salvation. There is nothing you and I can do to earn our way to heaven. You cannot clean up the outside enough. You cannot attend church enough. You cannot give enough. You cannot serve enough or work enough to get to heaven. You cannot earn your salvation. At the same time, a Christian will live differently than those in the world.
We live in a world where people are basing their salvation on a case of the “warm fuzzies.” “Well, I just love Jesus and Jesus loves me.”
Some people are basing their salvation on some prayer they prayed 30 years ago. Others believe they are saved because they were baptized or they walked an aisle, or they filled out a card, or they shook a preacher’s hand and he told them they were saved.
Listen, you want evidence of salvation? You want assurance of your salvation? Then look for a changed life. I’m not talking about perfection, but I am talking about a desire for perfection.
“Let me explain with an example from marriage. Let’s suppose my wife asks me to go to the store and buy some things, but I deliberately buy a number of other things instead. It is not a mistake on my part; rather, I deliberately fail to get as much of this as I should get, and I get another brand of that than I should have gotten, and I omit some other things from the list altogether. What would be going on in such a case? I suggest that what would really be going on has little to do with any individual items that I didn’t buy. My actions would be saying something about the larger, deeper issue of my relationship with my wife.
So it is with God and us. We can’t just say, ‘Oh well, I only broke 17 of God’s laws this week – that’s not so bad.’ No, the issue is, what does it say about our relationship with God Himself if we knowingly disregard His law?” (Mark Dever, 9 Marks of a Healthy Church, 2004, pg. 81).
And my friend, that is one reason we remain in a church body. That is one reason we regularly fellowship with other believers. We help look for and encourage growth, maturity, and obedience in one another. Religion is a personal thing, but not a private thing in the New Testament.
An obedient Christian lives a distinctive life. Let me ask you, is your life pleasing God? Is it different from your neighbors’? An obedient Christian has a distinctive love, he lives a distinctive life, and he has a distinctive faith.
3. An obedient Christian Has a Distinctive Faith
- 1 John 5:1,5
A Christian’s life is marked by a distinctive faith. There are certain beliefs Christians hold.
a) About Jesus – For instance, Christians believe in Jesus and Jesus alone for their salvation.
> John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Ron Jon Surf Shop has a commercial they used to run all the time. You may remember the ad saying, “Ron Jon Surf Shop, not one of many, but one of a kind.” Christians understand that Jesus Christ is not one of many, to fit in somewhere between Buddha, Mohammed, and Confucius. He is not one of many different paths you can take to get to God. But He is, instead, one of a kind. He is the Only begotten Son of God. He is the Only Way, the Only truth, and the Only Life.
The Bible says in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead. You will be saved.”
Obedient Christians have a distinctive love. They live distinctive lives and they have a distinctive faith. Paul commands us in 2 Corinthians 13:5,
> 2 Corinthians 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves.
Let me ask you. Do you love like Jesus? Do you live like Jesus? Do you believe in Jesus and Jesus alone? If not, then you have 1 of 2 problems. You have 2 courses of action to take this morning.
II. ACTIONS OF OBEDIENCE
If you do not love like Jesus, if you do not live like Jesus, or you do not trust in Jesus, there are one of 2 actions you need to take this morning.
1. Accept Jesus – First, if those marks are not in your life, it could be that you are not a Christian. It could be that you have never made Jesus the Boss in your life. In that case, I implore you this morning, won’t you accept Jesus? Won’t you trust in Him and make Him the Boss in your life?
Share plan of salvation.
2. Obey Jesus – If you know that you know that you know, that Jesus is in your heart. If you know that you know that you know, that Jesus is in your life, then I congratulate you. I rejoice with you for you can never lose your salvation. You rest securely in the hands of Jesus and His Father.
- John 10:27-30
However, if you are a believer and yet you don’t love like Jesus and you don’t live like Jesus, than you are being disobedient. You are bringing dishonor to Jesus and His church. You are destroying your testimony and damaging the church’s testimony. This morning, you need to repent. You need to tell God you’re sorry. You need to return to your first love.
> James 1:22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
You need to repent of your disobedience. You need to ask God to forgive you for misrepresenting Him to the world and for your sin against Him. Then you need to change. Get the sin out of your life brothers and sisters.
It’s not enough to say,
“I’m sorry and repent”
And then go on from day to day,
Just like you always went.
Repentance is to leave
The sins we loved before,
And show that we in earnest grieve
By doing them no more.
