PBPC Daily - Friday, May 8

Good morning and welcome to Friday.

Years ago I read a tiny little book by theologian Francis Schaeffer entitled The Mark of a Christian. The point of the book is that there is one distinctive sign that someone is a Christian: Love. And not love in a general sense, but specifically love for one another.

³⁴'I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.' - John 13:34-35

The one another that Jesus is referring to here is fellow Christians. This may surprise us at first, and may even be off-putting to some. Shouldn't we love everyone, and not just the people in our group? The answer is yes, absolutely - that is the essential message of the gospel, that God loved us while we were still sinners, and that we are to love others, even our enemies. The love of God transcends all human barriers and limitations.

What then do we make of Jesus' command? First of all, the church is to be the gathering of all the people who have responded to Jesus' call to follow him; therefore, the church itself is to transcend the social divisions of race, class, and political persuasion. In this, we are representing God's radical love for the world. We are not loving people who are just like us; in fact, the only thing we might have in common is Jesus.

And second, the church is meant to demonstrate to the world what life is like in the kingdom of God. People who do not yet know Christ should be able to look at Christians and see that forgiveness, reconciliation, and servanthood are the reality of the kingdom of God. So while we are to love all people, it is among Jesus' followers that we should experience the mutual love of God's kingdom. Jesus is saying, "People will know you all belong to me when you love each other."

Does this sound like the reality of any church that you know? Or any Christians that you know? Maybe not, and certainly not completely. And yet that remains the command and the vision that Jesus has given us. How can we together move toward this vision of a community of love? How can you better love and serve the brothers and sisters in Christ that God has given you?

Have a blessed weekend,

Pastor Chris