From: REXLEX@fnalf.fnal.gov
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Mark of a Xian
Date: 29 Jul 92 08:18:51 GMT
Organization: Fermilab


     Down through history, the church has set aside certain markings.  In the
early church it was the familiar sign of the fish.  After Constantine it was
the cross.  There have also been those who make it a style of hair cut, or a
matter of clothing such as the priestly clothing of the catholic denominations.
 In the evangelical churches, we have seen these little lapel pins "Try God" or
some such quaint saying.  I'm not saying these are necessarily wrong, but there
is a more orthodox way to show the watching world that we are Xians.
     In John's gospel, the 13th chapter, in verses 33-35, Christ tells the
church what this mark is and that we are to wear it until His return:

    "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another,   
     even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
     By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have 
     love for one another." (v. 34,35)

It is 1) a command, and 2) observable.
     Now notice that this does not nullify X's command that we are to love our
neighbor.  We are to love all men as being image bearers of God.  Knowing their
value, regardless of the fact of whether or not they are redeemed.  They are to
be loved at great cost.  Just because X has said that we are to love Xians in
this a special way, does not negate the fact that we are to love all men.
     If Jesus has thus commanded us to love all men as our neighbors, then how
much more important is it that we especially love our fellow Xians?  We should
understand that because we have one Father, one Christ, the indwelling by one
Spirit, that it is imperative to make this observable if we are ever to talk
about love and expect the watching world to hear us.
     In Gal 6:10 we see Paul making this a double thing.  This should be the
Xian mentality.  It is not that we are to do good only to the Xian, that would
be a very ugly thing indeed.  In I Thes 3:12 we see Paul put this forth again. 
In I Jn 3:11, John recalls what had been previously stated in Jn 13.  
     Notice if you will, that Jn 13 is a command to love all "born again"
Xians.  Terminology need not be a point of contention here.  If you don't like
my term "born again" then you may replace it with one of your own.  But we must
observe that just as not all that are of the physical lineage of Abraham are
the true Israel, just so not all who call themselves Xians are true Xians,
specifically in our own generation where the term Xian means absolutely
nothing.  Those of you who seem to be interested in playing semantics, there is
no word that we have to examine with greater interest in exhibition than all
the kinds of definitions we give to the word Xian, in which the symbol becomes
something entirely contrary to the word itself. That being said, I chose to use
the biblical term "born again" and you may put in your own term, but don't
quarrel with me because of the term.  For there is such a thing, because you're
not a Xian until you're born again!  So whether you like the word or not, I
don't care, but you'd better know who you are.
     So, here in Jn 13 we have the command that we are to love all born again
Xians, that is all true Xians.  He is not saying here that you are just to love
those of your denomination, your party or your school of thought.  The command
is to love universally all those who are true Xians.  All those who are not
church members, just because they are church members, just because they are a
members of a denomination, just because they hold to a particular school of
theology (Calvinism, Lutheranism, etc.), not those who live some sort of
humanistic life and call it Xianianity either; none of these.  Yes we are to
love these people as our neighbor, but there is this special love for our true
brethren.
     I must say that this should take on strong consideration, because it easy
to love those who think as we do.  However, the Xian's emphasis here is that we
are to love regardless of party affiliation, if we are true Xians.  Now, the
quality of this love is the standard set by Christ himself.  We are to love one
another as He chose to love us.  Think of both the quantity and quality of
Jesus love.  We must quickly say that His love is infinite and holy while ours
is finite and touched by the fall.  Yet His love, as exhibited while on earth,
is to be the standard and we dare have no other.  This can become like a little
flag that we wave on special church celebration days, or it can become
something very profound and very pungent as we consider it.
     "By this shall men know..."  Jesus here gives the world a right to judge
the believers on the basis of his own authority.  He gives them the right to
judge whether you & I are born again Xians on the basis of whether we show love
to all Xians.  In other words, if someone throws it in your face that we are
not Xians because we haven't shown love to other Xians, then we must understand
that they exercise the prerogative that Jesus gave them as a members of the
unsaved world!  Have you never thought of the truth of this statement?  We must
not get angry, rather we must get down on our knees and ask whether their
assessment is right or wrong.
     Let me say here, there will of course be times that we fail this standard.
 Jesus is not saying here, in a careful exegesis, failure in your love toward
other Xians provides an indicator that you're not a true believer.  Rather, He
is saying that the unsaved world has this right to judge our standing in Christ
on the basis of our love for one another.  We need to be very careful about the
distinction being made here.  It is the unsaved man who is given a piece of
litmus paper, a mark that if they do not see, they can then come to the
conclusion that "this man" is not a Xian.  Now let it be said that the unsaved
man often hides behind this when he says "you hypocrite", when in reality, he
himself, is a sinner who will not face the claims of Christ.
     Now Christ is not specifically speaking of all this here, rather it is how
we as individual Xians live in and about the community of Xians.  It becomes
more sobering when we turn to Jn 17.  Though the word "love" is not used here,
it is obviously what is involved.  Though He is praying for the true church
from the other side of the cross, He is never-the-less addressing this issue of
our oneness among Xians.  V9. states that this is specifically addressed to
believers as opposed to those who stand in rebellion against God.  Now as we
come down to the 21st verse, the "they" is referring to born again believers. 
It is not a romantic humanistic desire of some kind of oneness among men in
general that is being referred to here.  Its not this attitude expressed by
John Lennon in "Imagine."
     Again, its not a statement that certain parities within the church are to
have this oneness.  Now as He continues in v.21 there is this statement that
makes me cringe.  It might be put forth as the final apologetic.  "that they
may all be one as Thou Father are in Me *IN ORDER THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE
THAT THOU HAS SENT ME.*"  In Jn 13 the non-believer is allowed to judge the
individual Xian, but here in Jn 17 he allowed to judge whether or not the
Father has sent *His* Son!  Isn't this scary?  If you are not scared, I don't
know what's the matter with you.
     This is not the judgment that Xians are to be making of each other, let us
note, rather the church is to judge men on their doctrine and their lives. 
Specifically and above everything else, the content of a man's gospel is to be
where he stands or falls.  So therefore, when a man comes forward for
membership, the church should be careful in its questioning as to whether or
not he is truly a Xian based on the content of his gospel.  (As I have noted
else where, this should be both in the positive and the negative.  By saying he
believes this, does he also say that he doesn't believe that.  i.e.  Christ is
God, but not that Christ is a god)  Now if we're having a heresy trial (and
there should be heresy trials within the church at the proper places) then
heresy will have to turn on this point of content of ones gospel and what one
believes.  So the church has a right to judge one on the content of what one
teaches, what one believes.  The world can't do this for they don't understand
anything of the doctrine of Christ experientially.
     This is certainly true in the 20th century when espistemologically men no
longer believe in the concept of the possibility of truth.  And if we live in
an age where men no longer believe in the concept of the possibility of truth,
then we cannot expect them to judge a man on the basis of his doctrine.  The
church must judge on the basis of a mans doctrine and of course his life.  But
Jesus is saying this is not the basis of the world's judgment and it is
something that they, quite frankly, don't give one rap about.  What He is
saying is, that there is a mark of a Xian which will arrest their attention. 
There is something about man, just being Man, even if he says he's a machine
evolved from space/mass/time by chance, yet being made in the image of God and
having with him, whether he recognizes it or not, aspirations aloft, even
though he has no basis for why love exists -there is something that strikes a
cord within him as he witnesses the love that we show one another.
     Now I must say in antithesis here, that honest answers to honest questions
are to be given.  Christ would say that, yes, the Xian should give answers and
he should discuss as Paul discussed with the people of his own day in the
market place,  It is the Xians task to give an honest answer to an honest
question -but that being said, giving all the honest answers to all the honest
questions you ever will, without externally expressing your love for one
another can only precipitate their justified response -"So what!"  They should
not and can not be expected to believe.  Is this not what you experience in
your life?
     So let us spend a life time seeking honest answers to honest questions but
after we have done the best we can, we must realize that this is the final
apologetic -that all Xians are to love all Xians, as previously qualified, or
the world will not believe that the true Christ was sent by the Father.
     I'd like to add here what isn't being taught.  For one, organizational
oneness isn't.  In our own generation we have this emphasis on ecclesiastical
oneness, on ecumenical organization.  But Jesus is talking about more than
this.  Man can have great organizational unity and have before the watching
world no oneness at all.  Because it illustrates this point best, I would ask
you to think of the RCC down through the ages and the titanic power struggles
and hateful power struggles between the different orders.  This is a matter of
history. The RCC has tremendous external unity and a greater efficiency of
unity than any other organization in the world.  But on the basis of the verse
we have been looking at, it doesn't amount to a hill of beans, in the midst of
the power struggles between the orders.  Anything was used, including poison at
different times.  This simply will not do as an effective witness before the
watching world.  It is more than external organizational unity.  I'm not
disparaging a proper organizational unity, but that's clearly not what Christ
is teaching at this point.  It's not only a general, lets say -liberal,
ecumenical umbrella which all kinds of people sit under, but it's also not some
kind of organizational unity among true Christians.  It isn't even this.  We
can't escape into this hole.  We're talking about the church's fight for purity
yet only for the sake of purity without any loving personal relationships. 
This is sheer beds of ugliness.  
     In conclusion, I must say that Christ has called us to two things.  In a
way, the Xian life is a very simple statement.  We are to exhibit that God
exists (as a living, personal, infinite God) and we're to exhibit His character
of holiness and love.  That's all there is to this Xian life.  The word "all"
however, should make us squirm.  Note that the Xian is to exhibit
simultaneously God's holiness and God's love.  Truly truly I say unto you, that
holiness without love is just plane harshness, cold and ugly, but also, love
without holiness is just compromise with the world.  

because He first loved us,
Rex