A More Christ-like Church

1 John 2:3-11

Introduction

Someone comes to you and asks “How do I be a Christian?” What do you say? You might say something like “believe in Jesus” which is a great start. But what is someone actually asking when they say “How do I be a Christian?” Are they asking how they become a Christian or how they live as a Christian? While the Bible makes it clear that we are saved by our faith in Christ, it also seems to point to a life more than just living with the belief that Jesus died for our sins.

I have found that some Christians have struggled with the difference between becoming a Christian and living as a Christian. One of the goals of the Protestant Reformation was to get past the idea of earning our salvation. There was a renewed focused on the ideas of faith and grace. But even the most anti-legalist Reformer believed that there was something that could be identified as the Christian life.

So yes, there is something called the Christian life. We are saved by faith but this is eventually translated into some sort of way of living. But what is that way of living and what do we do when we disagree about those ways?

One of the things that is important to realize is that as churches and denominations have developed, we have set up identity markers that help us to determine who is in and who is out. This self-identification happens naturally and we cannot avoid it. Even the most liberal of churches that seeks to knock down all of the walls in order to be as tolerant as possible will likely move to exclude those who they deem to be less tolerant.

As Baptists, we have identity markers that we call distinctives. For example, we value the local church and so we will never move to being part of a hierarchical organization that determines what we believe or do. If we give up on the local church autonomy, we give up on being Baptist. The same is true with believers baptism. There are plenty of churches that do not practice believer’s baptism but they are not Baptist and neither would we if we shifted our position.

We can see how that fits with denominations, but how does this fit with being a Christian? We have seen that John is writing this letter to help his audience determine what real Christianity is and to recognize when they are someone else has strayed away from it.

There are no lack of opinions. Spend some time on social media and watch for statements like “You cannot be a Christian and…” Very often these identity markers are not things specifically laid out in the Bible. They are most often something that an individual or a small group believes very strongly, a personal conviction, that they cannot imagine how someone could hold a different position and still be a real Christian. But this is not limited to modern social media exchanges. 

Augustus Toplady, writer of the hymn Rock of Ages Cleft For Me, was also known for his strong views about John Wesley, founder of Methodism. Toplady had been a Methodist but as an adult became a Calvinist. Toplady didn’t just have a theological shift, he moved to a new set of identity markers. This is what he said of John Wesley and his theology: “the most rancorous hater of the gospel-system that ever appeared on this island.”

So with debates about what you can do and not do, what you can believe or not believe, what do we do? John has something to say about that.

Be Like Christ

We all have strong convictions about certain things and it may make us uncomfortable that people disagree. We have views about the use of alcohol, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, same-sex marriage, baptism, church structure and countless other topics. We likely feel that we have the correct interpretations and that others are wrong. But how much can you get wrong and still be a Christian? And what if it is us that is wrong?

While I understand the desire to take a stand on issues, it is important for us to get back to the basics. Let’s take a look at what John says. He states: “Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.” (1 John 2:4) That’s exactly what people on all sides of all of the debates have been saying. The question is: Which commands? We tend to gather verses that fit with our own preferences and leave out others that are inconvenient. For others, the whole endeavour looks impossible. Jewish tradition says there are 613 commands in what we call the Old Testament. Then add everything in the New Testament! But John actually has a laser focus to help us actually put his teaching into practice. “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:6) Do you remember way back when people were wearing WWJD bracelets? There was some wisdom in that movement, even if Jesus would likely do more than wear a bracelet. The measure of what a Christian should do is to do the things Jesus did. Now walking on water and raising the dead are going to be a challenge for us. But John has something more specific in mind. 

This is what John says about what part of Jesus we are meant to emulate. “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.” (1 John 2:9-10) 

This is indeed an emphasis that we find in the teachings of Jesus, that our life is meant to be marked by living a life of love. What John focuses on here is the love we have for our brothers and sisters, that is fellow Christians. Now Jesus does explicitly tell us to love everyone, including or perhaps especially, our enemies. But often we see the emphasis on loving within the church because if we cannot do that, we are going to struggle with expanding our reach of love. John tells us that we are not to hate but are rather to love. And we are to love like Jesus did. The people that Jesus surrounded himself with were not easy to love but Jesus loved them. Peter denies Jesus three times but Jesus, after the resurrection, reconciled the relationship. But what if that person in the church has an interpretation or a belief or a practice that we really disagree with? We love them. We love them no matter what. There is no “wrong kind of people” in the church. There are those who stretch our sanctification, but there is no one in the church who is outside of the command to love. 

A More Christ-Like Church

We are a Baptist church. But first and foremost, we are a Christian Church. When does a church step in or out of the boundary of being truly Christian? We have been told that it is when we do not take strong enough stand against certain sins or cultural shifts. But biblically, it is determined by our love for one another. If a church is filled with thousands of people, funded by millions of dollars, and busy with hundreds of programs but it has no love, it is not a Christian Church. Why? Because Jesus lived a life of unconditional love and we are followers of Jesus. What does that look like in practical terms? How do we foster a culture of love?

I think a good starting place is to respect our diversity. There are good and devout Christians who disagree about certain interpretations of the Bible. It doesn’t mean that they are ungodly or ignorant. We do not have to fight a battle for every difference of opinion. We can hold our convictions without condemning others. 

The other part is to put love into action. While Jesus seemed to feel compassion for certain people, it never stayed at the level of emotion. Jesus put love into action. Those who condemned Jesus for spending time with the “wrong kind of people” did so not for what he felt but for what he did. What can we do to show love, to put love into action?

Ultimately it comes down to whether we are truly convinced that love is the primary identity marker for the Christian. If Jesus was all about love and if God designed the church to be all about love, then we have to decide what we are going to do with all of that.

Conclusion

What is it that you want this church to be known for? Acknowledging that there are many measures of success when it comes to churches, what is it that will be the primary identity marker? The measure the the Bible gives us is that of love. A Christian Church is supposed to be a Christ-like church. The activity of Jesus that we are supposed to emulate the most is that of love. Jesus had a diverse group of followers, who were quirky on the best of days. He loved them when they were supporting him and even when they were denying him. 

The church is described as comprising brothers and sisters, of being a family. We know that some family members are more easy to love than others but family is family. We are the family of faith. Our goal should be for people to see this church and recognize that this is a place where people are loved.