:::How They Know:::

It’s not a t-shirt.

It’s not blasting a worship song in your car.

It’s not a favorite CD.

It’s not a necklace or bracelet.

It’s not a good tweet or FB Status.

It’s not never watching a rated R movie.

It’s not avoiding drinking.

It’s not a bumper sticker.

It’s not saving yourself for marriage.

It’s not knowing the books of the Bible by heart.

It’s not joining a club.

It’s not being able to win an argument.

It’s not not cussing.

It’s not a church membership.

It’s not being better than other people.

It’s not sitting in the front row at church.

It’s not a tattoo.

It’s not tithing.

It’s not raising your hands to worship.

It’s not a song you wrote.

What is it then??

“THIS is how the world will know you are my Disciples…”

John 13:35 is rocking my world these days. My pastor, Andy Stanley, is doing a sermon series on “Christian” – it’s been very enlightening & encouraging to say the least.

That list above was sort of hard to write. John 13:35 essentially crushes that list in its entirety in the way it relates to my heart… for example, as I made the list, sometimes my prideful self wanted to defend the points: “Well… if I DO cuss, how on earth will the world know I’m His follower? Jesus followers shouldn’t cuss. Or watch rated R movies. Or sleep around.”

Cue inward disagreement; apparently this is the argument that can really divide the church… I see it in my own thought process of it all.

Tim Keller tweeted something SO fitting today that got me thinking about this whole thing in the first place.

He said, “You are saved by faith, not fruit. But you'll never be saved by fruitless faith. Real faith will inevitably lead to growth.”

YES.

So, here’s my understanding of it all. And it’s a little hard for me to wrap my head around, which is why He’s God & I’m not, but bear with me as I piece this mess together.

What saves you, is your Faith. REAL Faith. Which will bear FRUIT – of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. So FAITH saves & FAITH changes & FAITH bears fruit & it’s so apart separated your righteous works, which is a good thing because as it says in Matthew, “unless your righteous exceeds that of the Pharisees you will not be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” And again, as Ephesians expresses… NOT WORKS, just Faith. So you can’t boast.

Besides, your “righteous deeds” (aka not cussing, not sleeping around, not watching Rated R movies, not doing drugs, etc.) are still considered FILTHY RAGS in comparison to the Lord’s Righteousness. So… faith is your anchor & faith is your Righteousness because of Christ’s death on the cross INSTEAD of you. Sigh of relief.

BUT HERE’S WHAT’S SO STICKY.

The most tangible thing for society to grasp & wrap “religion” around is a system of morality. Whether you’re a “man or woman of faith” or not, each person, even atheists have a moral compass they try to balance their life around.

Now faith, REAL faith, probably is closely tied to repentance & full dependence on Him and looks NOTHING like what most religious folk try to mask themselves with today.

It’s not being in church every Sunday & having the bumper stickers & t-shirts & raising your hands during worship.

It’s a matter of the heart, which can only be humble once you truly grasp you in comparison to what he’s done for you… it’s recognizing that your BEST is still only a filthy rag (aka the rag that the women used between their legs to stop the flow of a period back in the Bible times… THAT rag… aka tampon or pad… I know that’s gross, but in reality our “righteous deeds” are that gross so I had to share.) & that your ONLY good is to be so solely dependent on Him, so full of FAITH in His grace and once in THAT state of heart you can’t HELP but produce fruit.

As explained in the story of Christ’s last miracle before He died, Ann Voskamp words it best (as always…)

“He inspects our lives for more than intentions; He intends for intimacy.

He searches the limbs not for leaves — not leaving for conferences or for meetings or for front seats. He looks along the the leaves for the love.”

WHICH wraps me RIGHT back around to John 13:35… so many times I have seen, even in my own heart, that I cling too tightly to my works & my “righteousness” and depend on myself to not mess-up.

I believe what my Pastor Andy Stanley has been preaching, that FRUIT, those GOOD DEEDS need to be something that come from a heart fully alive in Him… not as a means TO Salvation but as a response to the already OBTAINED Salvation!!

It’s so much less about morality & behavior and so COMPLETELY about Him taking my place & living out a life to PLEASE Him & DRAW people to HIM, NOT through a moral compass or list of do’s & don’ts, but through…

“HOW YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”

So yes. It’s about recognizing your NEED for Christ, surrendering your will to Him daily, and as my friend Danny Dyer said, “Love the sinner, hate your OWN sin.”

HOW WILL THE WORLD KNOW WE ARE HIS DISCIPLES??

It’s not about any of that crap up there, it’s not about being perfect. It’s how we love THEM. Laying down our lives for them… serving them… also, it’s the furthest thing from judging – you only need to judge your own heart & your own motives & your own actions & when you do that, do it with grace because He gave it to you.

The world will KNOW we are His Disciples by the way we love one another.

Stand on that, cling to that, conform to that & don’t ever stop renewing your heart FOR that. Guard your heart TO love (verb tense), always & unconditionally because guess what… that’s how much you’re loved.