If you want to know how to spot a real Christian, it’s actually very simple. A real Christian will truly love and care for their fellow Christians no matter how imperfect they may be. A real Christian must love other Christians.
Unity is a sign of the real love for fellow Christians that Jesus declared was a mark of true discipleship, saying ‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another’ (John 13:35). In other words, you can’t call yourself a Christian if you hate or hurt a fellow Christian. You can’t speak in tongues on Sunday and oppress people on every other day. It’s just not possible if you are a true follower of Jesus (see story of South Arican pastor Frank Chikane).
One of the greatest pieces of evidence that you are a Christian is that you will love your fellow Christians whoever they are…black, white, brown, older or younger, male or female. The love mentioned here is not romantic love but love at its highest and most caring that reveals and reflects God’s heart of love.
In the first epistle of John, which we are studying, the last surviving disciple of Jesus repeatedly emphasised that that love for fellow Christians was one of the clearest ways to spot a real Christian. And he is very direct as he explains what this means.
1. Love for your fellow Christians is a commandment (1 John 3:23-24; 1 John 4:20-21; 1 John 5:1-2; John 13:34; John 15:12; John 15:17)
2. Love for your fellow Christians is a sign that you have left the kingdom of darkness for the kingdom of light (1 John 2:9-11; 1 John 3:10-15)
3. Love for your fellow Christians means practically caring for one another (1 John 3:17-18; Matthew 15:32; Matthew 25:35-36; Galatians 6:10)
4. Love for your fellow Christians means being friends with one another (John 15:14-15; 1 John 3:21; 1 John 4:1; 1 John 4:7)
5. Love for your fellow Christians means being open and transparent with one another (1 John 1:7)
6. Love for your fellow Christians means being sacrificial for one another (1 John 3:16; John 15:13; Acts 2:44-47; Ephesians 4:2,32)
7. Love for fellow Christians means first experiencing God’s love (1 John 3:1; 1 John 4:19; 1 John 4:16; John 15:10)
Apply
1. Love for your fellow Christians is a commandment. Love for fellow Christians is essential, not optional, for a real disciple of Jesus. It’s a clear command (1 John 3:23-24; 1 John 4:20-21; 1 John 5:1-2). You thought there were just 10 commandments? Well, Jesus says: ‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another’ (John 13:34; John 15:12; John 15:17).
2. Love for your fellow Christians is a sign that you have left the kingdom of darkness for the kingdom of light. The opposite to love is hate and if you have hate in your heart towards a brother or sister, it is proof that you are still living in darkness. If you have hatred and anger in your heart, you may not be the Christian that you think you are or appear to be (1 John 2:9-11; 1 John 3:10-15). So passing from death to life means that you have passed out of living with hate to living with love. Real Christians can’t be hate-filled, cruel, critical, bitter, hard-hearted, judgemental and unforgiving towards one another. None of us can afford to have a wrong attitude toward anyone else or badmouth anyone. You must love the person next to you (and if that’s a family member, that’s even more the case) and you must love the person you may not want to sit next to. It doesn’t matter whether you are young or old, man or woman or from different social, economic and racial backgrounds we are called to love one another.
3. Love for your fellow Christians means practically caring for one another (1 John 3:17-18). Jesus loved people and looked out to meet their needs, spiritually and practically. He fed the multitudes with the word of God and with actual bread and fish. Jesus cared for people's souls, and He cared for their physical well-being (Matthew 15:32). Jesus taught His followers to care for the poor, oppressed and marginalised (Matthew 25:35-36). A real Christians must: Feed the hungry; Give water to the thirsty; Welcome the stranger or the foreigner; Clothe the naked and poor; Look after the sick; and Visit the prisoner. So, loving one another means we have a tender heart towards others that moves us to do something to help people in any way we can locally and globally, on a big scale and in our personal interactions. The apostle Paul shows us that practical care starts at home and in the church family (Galatians 6:10). To help the world, first model it in the Christian community.
4. Love for your fellow Christians means being friends with one another (John 15:14-15; 1 John 3:21; 1 John 4:1; 1 John 4:7). Now this is, in fact, a very necessary teaching because people have often been Christians for many years but have no real friends. Many leaders are lonely because they have been taught not to get too close to people. But God does not want a church composed of people who are lonely, formal and insecure but people who are at ease with one another, who can laugh and cry and pray and play together. The disciples were once a bunch of individuals and rivals who had their own agendas and ambitions. But Jesus formed them into a team of friends. The Bible says that to have friends you must be friendly. We have to reach out to another and be faithful to one another. Each one of us should aim not just to have good friends but to be good friends with our fellow Christians, especially in core group of committed disciples.
5. Love for your fellow Christians means being open and transparent with one another (1 John 1:7). Fellowship comes when we walk in the light. So many people are bound because of hidden sins, festering resentments, petty jealousies, judgemental attitudes and so on. All these things must go to move forward in loving one another. Jesus modelled that relationships must be transparent (John 15:15). So too we should be open and not to put up barriers and defences of unreality. Friendship means that we don’t just share meetings, but that we meet in sharing heart and life.
6. Love for your fellow Christians means being sacrificial for one another (1 John 3:16). Here John is emphasising what he learned from Jesus directly (John 15:13). True love is not about you and me and what we can receive. But it’s about what we will give to others. All genuine love costs something. It may cost us money to help others. The first century church was a very large congregation of thousands of people but it was also a caring sharing community (Acts 2:44-45). It may cost us time to be with others (Acts 2:46-47. It may cost us position to love another. King Saul’s son Jonathan was faithful to David when he was wrongly accused, even though it cost his crown. He was prepared to risk opposition and misunderstanding rather than betray David and see a good man destroyed. It may cost us our pride to love one another. You must be prepared to take the initiative to say sorry and be vulnerable (Ephesians 4:2,32). It may cost us our lives. Jesus was prepared to give everything to show His love for His disciples. How far would we go to save our brothers and sisters from harm and danger?
7. Love for fellow Christians means first experiencing God’s love. John described himself as the disciple Jesus loved and was totally confident in the love of God (1 John 3:1; 1 John 4:19; 1 John 4:16). The reason John and the other disciples could love their fellow disciples and believers was because they each knew how much Jesus loved them. They had seen how Jesus prayed for them. They had discovered just how much Jesus believed in them despite their faults and failures and arguments among themselves. They had seen how Jesus loved them enough to challenge and correct them but had always stuck with them. They had seen how Jesus restored them after they had quit on Him. They had seen and felt how Jesus never stopped loving them. Today maybe your greatest need is to truly experience the love of God for yourself. Maybe you find it hard to show much grace and mercy because you haven’t experienced much grace and mercy. Maybe you struggle to forgive because you don’t know what it is to be fully forgiven. You still carry guilt and condemnation. Maybe you are too hard on others because your own heart needs to be softened by the love of God. Well the good news is that Jesus loves you totally and unconditionally. You may have a hard heart, but He still loves you. You may have lost your way and your passion for God, but He still loves you. You may have a lot of bitterness and anger deep inside you, but He still loves you. And today if you will open your heart to the Holy Spirit, you can receive this love. Today decide to obey Jesus and live a life of love. Ask Him to forgive you, to cleanse you and heal your heart so that you can forgive others and bring healing and restoration of damaged relationships (John 15:10).
