Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Mark of a Christian | New Testament | 1 John 4

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. If I showed you a picture of people from different religious faiths, you'd probably be able to identify their religion just based on their appearance. For example, if I showed you a picture of a guy on a bike who's wearing black pants and a white shirt with a name tag attached, you'd know that he's most likely a Mormon. Or if I showed you a picture of a woman in a burqa, you'd know she's likely a Muslim.

Starting point is 00:00:33 A man with a yarmulke, probably Jewish. So how do you tell a Christian? What's the sign? Is it because they wear Christian t-shirts or their car has a bumper sticker of a fish symbol? In 1970, a guy named Francis Schaefer wrote a short but very important book called the mark of a Christian. And the message of the book was simple and revolutionary at the same time. He said that the distinguishing mark of a Christian is love. A Christian isn't known by what they wear or the bumper stickers on their car or how they vote. A Christian is known by their love. Jesus said in John 13, by this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. I want to define Christian maturity by what I know, like by knowing the right doctrine, the right theology, because that allows me to just read the right books and take the right classes, listen to the right podcasts. It leaves me in control. For a long time in my Christian life, I thought a Christian was known by their doing, and so I did a lot. I was always busy trying to do more for Jesus, or at least I told myself I was doing it for Jesus. I was probably more doing it for myself, to be honest. In that season of my life, I was learning and doing,

Starting point is 00:01:39 learning, doing, more learning, and more doing. Boy, I must have been a really mature Christian, right? Well, not so much. Because while I was committed to learning and doing, I was also rude, condescending, judgmental, self-righteous, and indifferent to the needs of others. In other words, I wasn't very loving. Well, we're in 1st John 4 today. I think we can riff on the title of Francis Schaefer's book and title this chapter, The Mark of a Christian is Love. We'll pick up 1 John 4 in verse 7. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

Starting point is 00:02:13 Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. There's a lot of truth packed into the short sentence, God is love. Since God is love, that means that God is patient and kind. He's not easily angered. He keeps no record of wrongs. Simply put, what we learn about love in 1, Corinthians 13, is true of God since God is love. But love is more than an attribute of God.

Starting point is 00:02:42 It's at the very core of his identity. Let's pick up in the next verse, verse 9. This is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. There's a clear definition of love rooted in Jesus going to the cross for our sins. This is the kind of love that we're told that we should show others. According to John, love comes in the shape of the cross. I love

Starting point is 00:03:23 Paul Tripp's definition of love based on this verse. Here it is. He says love is a willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving. Tripp goes on to unpack each part of that definition, but you can see how his definition describes the way Jesus loved us and the way we should in turn love one another. It starts with love is willing. Jesus loved us by willingly going to the cross. John says that no one took Jesus' life from him, but that he voluntarily, he willingly laid it down. Love is a willing self-sacrifice. Love always costs us something. It costs Jesus his life. Love is a willing self-sacrifice for the good of another.

Starting point is 00:04:11 Jesus gave his life to meet our deepest need to forgive our sins and restore our relationship with God. Love is a willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation. Jesus doesn't expect us to pay him back. How could we ever pay him back for all that he's done for us? Finally, we see that love is a willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving. You and I were sinners in rebellion against God when Jesus loved us by giving his life for us. There's no way that we deserve that kind of love. 1 John 4 tells us that God's love for us is seen in the cross or as Paul says God demonstrates his love for us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us but John also goes on to say

Starting point is 00:05:04 that kind of cross-shaped love is a model for how we are supposed to love others let's end with a story from Anne Lamont she writes of an eight-year-old boy who had a younger sister dying of leukemia He was told that without a blood transfusion, his sister wouldn't live much longer. So his parents asked if they could test his blood to see if it was compatible with hers. He said, sure, they'd tested and it was a match. Then they asked if he would give his sister a pint of his own blood, that it could be her only chance of living. He said he'd have to think about it overnight.

Starting point is 00:05:37 The next day he told his parents that he was willing to donate the blood. They took him to the hospital. He was put on a gurney beside his six-year-old sister. Both were hooked up to IVs. A nurse took a pint of blood from the boy, which was given to his sister. The boy lay in silence as the blood that would save his sister dripped from the IV until the doctor came over to see how he was doing. Then the boy opened his eyes and asked,

Starting point is 00:05:58 How soon until I start to die? See, the reason he had to think about it overnight is because he thought to give his blood for his sister was going to cost him his own life. And yet he said yes, because love is never so fully love as when it gives. Let's learn to love others with the same kind of love that Jesus loved us. Amen.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Mark of a Christian | New Testament | 1 John 4

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