By Our Love!

A Scribd DevotionByDon During a previous devotion on New Years Resolutions, I shared how Colossians 3:12-17 had drawn me in and become the basis for my New Years resolutions. One of my resolutions was to memorize this passage, so I am allowing you to hold me accountable today by hearing me cite it (the NAB version): Put on then, as Gods chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. In this Colossians passage, we hear we are to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (And Ephesians 5:19 in the NAB also says we are to be addressing one another (in) psalms and hymns and spiritual songs). Perhaps because of this passage, the mention of a particular song during a Chapel sermon caught my attention and became the topic of todays devotion. Im designating this song to be a spiritual song because it is not a psalm, and the definition I found for hymn is a song of praise or thanksgiving to God. By the way, St. Augustine thought three elements were necessary for a song to be called a hymn: it must have words of praise, it must be sung, and it must address God. The song you will hear today is more about how we relate to each other because of our relationship with God. Reflecting on this song, I recalled two instances that took place in our office. In one, a friend visiting us told me he felt a tension and seriousness about our workplace. In the other, I heard an outside worker say he could feel the love in this place.

The song mentioned in the Chapel sermon was a good reminder of what anyone should feel, and should know, when visiting our ministry. The song is titled They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love. Written over 30 years ago by Peter Scholtes, a Catholic priest on the south side of Chicago, this song speaks of love, unity, the Spirit, working side-by-side, walking hand-in-hand, all as we together spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, although Jesus Name is not directly used in the lyrics. Mainly the song refers to love, a word used 20 times in the expanded verses by Carolyn Arends, who will sing it for us at the end of this devotion. Peter and Carolyn emphasized love as the hallmark of Christians, or followers of Christ. Carolyn said, profoundly, about this song: I love what it says: we'll be recognized as Christians -- true disciples of Jesus -- not by our rhetoric or our politics or even the soundness of our theology, but by our love. Perhaps some of you have heard of Tertullian, a Third Century Christian author, who reported Pagans saying, as they observed the Christian community: See how they love one another, and are ready to die for one another (Tertullian is also credited with coining the term Trinity.). Maybe some of you are also struck at the similarity in thought of this songs title to St. Francis statement about sharing the Gospel: Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words. As a sidenote, St. Peter had a couple of less-famous similar-meaning quotes of While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart. and It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching. Lets listen to the words to this song and then see how they were born out of Scripture. [Hand our lyrics and have someone read them]

They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love Written by Peter Scholtes Additional words and music by Carolyn Arends Stanza #1: We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord And we pray that all unity may one day be restored And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love They will know we are Christians by our love Stanza #2: We will work with each other, we will work side by side We will work with each other, we will work side by side And we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love They will know we are Christians by our love By our love, by our love And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love They will know we are Christians by our love Stanza #3: We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love They will know we are Christians by our love By our love, by our love And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love They will know we are Christians by our love Stanza #4: Love is patient, love is kind Never boasts, not full of pride Always hopes, always trusts The evidence of Christ in us This is my commandment that you love one another that your joy may be full

In the Chapel sermon, John 13:35 was used to point out that Jesus told us to be examples of His love. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (NASB). The this Jesus was referring to was His new Command, given to us in the preceding verse, John 13:34 (NIV): A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. And while it doesnt need to be said that Jesus was not making a suggestion, it is worthwhile noting that in John 15:10-12, Jesus reminds us that if we are to remain in His love, we will need to obey His commands. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. In telling us why He is telling us, Jesus points out that IF we do as He says, we will exude His complete joy. And guess what? That joy will be noticed by others. The first stanza in the song is about unity and in it we hear, We are one in the Spirit, with Spirit capitalized to designate the Holy Spirit, Who unites us as one and with God. This thought may come from 1 Cor. 6:17, which says: But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Further, in 1 Cor. 12:13-14, we are told, For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one bodywhether Jews or Greeks, slave or freeand we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. In Eph. 4:3-5, we hear Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spiritjust as you were called to one hope when you were called one Lord, one faith, one baptism; Thus, our instruction by Paul is to make every effort to keep the unity we have been called to have as Christians. And in Phil 2:1-3, Paul tells us how to keep unity: by imitating Christs humility. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
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Hey, theres that joy again; the joy that will be noticed by others! This stanza ends with a reminder that if we do these things, They will know we are Christians. Other Scripture verses on unity include Psalm 133:1, How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!; Romans 15:5, May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,; and Col. 3:14 which you heard from me earlier: And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. From these latter two, we see the key to unity is love. They will know we are Christians by our unity and by our love. The second stanza deals with our working togetherside-by-side, while guarding each ones dignity. One definition I found of dignity was, The state or quality of being worthy of honor and respect. That sounds like something important to all of us! Can you picture our working together to guard one another, even as we think of our respective departments and roles in Donor Correspondence, Advancement, International Church Growth, ICG Support, IT, Finance & Administration, Music Ministry, MBC . and leadership? All side-byside in our building (when our Development Officers are here, of course!). The NIV Bible tells us in Proverbs 31:25 that She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. Maybe thats not a bad image for us to have in thinking about how our actions can affect our fellow workers and how we are to guard against their losing dignity. But The Message gives much more insight into why we are to guard one anothers dignity. In the Old Testaments Isaiah 10:1, the words Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims Laws that make misery for the poor, that rob my destitute people of dignity, got my attention. If I apply Dick Woodwards What does it mean to me? question, I understand its not just talking about my guarding against laws. Im to also guard against what robs others dignity. At least Titus 2:1 (also The Message) gives me some comfort in knowing you are told to look after me (OK, Dois and Burt, too!) when it says, Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance.
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James may have the best advice as to how we are to show them we are Christians, when he says in James 3:18, from The Message: You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor. Hey, that community is us! And Peter wraps this up well in 1 Peter 2:17 (The Message), when he says simply that we are to Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. I can imagine that protecting someones dignity could include seeing that we dont embarrass those we work with, keeping silent when were right and they are wrong, not topping a story told by someone else and building them up when we can. So I think once more of my friends question when she heard her husband and me laughing about someone and asked us: Is that edifying?! I learned in our dance lessons that an emphasis in dancing is to show off your partner. That might be a good thing for us to keep in mind. Dignity was an easy idea to understand and address. But I have to tell you that the other key word in Carolyns second stanza, pride, initially stumped me. After all, the first definition I found for pride was unreasonable and inordinate self-esteem (personified as one of the deadly sins). One possible solution came from a good friend, who suggested it must mean something relating to dignity and is life-giving. She offered a second pride definition, which says it is a proper sense of what is fitting for one's position or character, self-respect, and she thought of Romans 8:6b (NIV) as an alternative to pride: but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. So perhaps we can think of the songs verse as They will know we are Christians by how we guard each ones dignity and save each ones self-respect. In stanza #3, were told to walk with each other, hand-in-hand. When I think about walking with each other, I think about a journey of extended time. Not just an hour, or a day, but many days, perhaps weeks, months and even yearsbeing together all the time. Walking together on a journey means start to finish, whatever that may be. Psalm 119:1 tells us we will be blessed if we walk a certain way: Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. As we take instruction from Micah 6:8, we can put it in the context of our being one in the Spirit with God and with one another, walking
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humbly. He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. And Brad gave me another insight: that the Biblical use of walk might also mean live, as in living with each other, hand-in-hand. That places even greater emphasis on how we walk with each other. As I was looking for verses, I saw one Jesus-verse in a different light, re-phrasing Mark 2:9 to be [devotioner should read this because of the changing of the verses words] Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, Get up, and walk with each other hand-in-hand? Sometimes this is the hard question! Yet with our unity and Gods help, all things are possible. Stanza 3 goes on to say that as we are walking together, we will spread the news that God is in our land. What do you think about when you hear our land? Is it our country? Is it our families and neighborhoods? Is it our workplace? Bill Warrick, the former pastor of The Chapel would answer, Yes! And as the song says, IF we do this together, They will know we are Christians by our love. I mentioned that the words you have are an extended version by Carolyn Arends, who replaced Peter Scholtes fourth stanza with her own about love. For hers, Carolyn uses thoughts from 1 Cor. 13:4-7. Her words are Love is patient, love is kind/Never boasts, not full of pride/Always hopes, always trusts/The evidence of Christ in us. She then ends with This is my commandment that you love one another that your joy may be full., taken from John 15:11-12. Theres good instruction for us here, in a formula that might be this: Love = patience, kindness, never boasting, not full of pride, always hoping, always trusting = Evidence of Christ in us = How we will be noticed and seen by others. If we applied this formula, surely They will know we are Christians by our love. And we will be fulfilling Christs Commandment. Not too long after I joined ICM, I read a Bill Hybels quote about a church and typed it out, changing his use of the word church to the word ministry. This quote has been in my office since my discovering it and it now reads, Think what a ministry would be like if its people were radically devoted to Christ,
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irrevocably committed to each other, and relentlessly dedicated to reaching those outside Gods family with the Gospel of Christ. I think this ministry would be noticed by all! Having said what I did earlier about this being a spiritual song because it lacked words of praise and addressing God, the rest of the story is that the original authors 4th stanza did offer praise. That stanza just didnt make it into the Carolyn Arends or Jars of Clay renderings I found. Those earlier words are, All praise to the Father from Whom all things come. And all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son. And all praise to the Spirit, Who makes us one. Seeing and hearing us praising God is indeed a way others will know we are Christians. Its just not what St. Francis was telling us about extending our love to one another. I have a friend who closes prayer by saying, May we go forth from here to love and serve God by loving and serving one another. Tom Pratt liked this prayer and added to it, and all He loves. In the end, we need as always to apply the thoughts we heard today to our own situation, drawing again from Dick Woodwards What does it mean to me?. So the songs title might be better if it were, We Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love. Or as the saying goes, It takes one to know one! If Bill Warrick were here to speak, he might say, Being a Christian is not hard and its not difficult, its impossible. Or in Dicks way of putting it, We cant, but He can. At times, it just takes a miracle! Lets listen to the song now sung by Carolyn Arends, substituting in our minds the word We in place of They. [Play song] So the question we part with today is slightly different from the question relating to the song title. The one we take from here is How will we know?!!! Will we and others know we are Christians by our sign outside, or by our actions? By the grace of God, the answer is, by our love. Amen.

They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love Scripture Verses Colossians 3:12-17 (NAB) Put on then, as Gods chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Ephesians 5:19 (NAB) addressing one another (in) psalms and hymns and spiritual songs) John 13:35 (NASB) By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34 (NIV)A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 15:10-12 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Fathers commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. -----1 Cor. 6:17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 1 Cor. 12:13-14 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one bodywhether Jews or Greeks, slave or freeand we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. Eph. 4:3-5 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spiritjust as you were called to one hope when you were called one Lord, one faith, one baptism; -----Phil 2:1-3 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
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-----Psalm 133:1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! Romans 15:5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, Col. 3:14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. -----Proverbs 31:25 She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. Isaiah 10:1 (The Message) Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims Laws that make misery for the poor, that rob my destitute people of dignity, -----Titus 2:1 Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. James 3:18 You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor. 1 Peter 2:17 Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. -----Romans 8:6b (NIV) but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. Psalm 119:1 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. Micah 6:8. He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. -----Mark 2:9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, Get up, and 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NAB) Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. John 15:11-12 (NASB) These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you

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