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The Mark of a Christian
As a Christ-follower, Jesus expects me to believe everything he said and be his representative here on earth. “Anyone who believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these” (John 14:12 NIV).
You ask, How could anyone do greater things than Jesus?
Notice, he didn’t say that we’d do the same works. No, he said greater works. What could be greater than raising the dead, feeding 5,000 people, or healing those in need?
Then it dawned on me. Jesus was really speaking to his followers who’d come after him. They’d speak to millions, change the course of history, devote themselves to starting schools, orphanages, hospitals, leper colonies, and prayerfully take down corrupt governments and institutions that enslaved people. These are greater works.
Even more importantly, Jesus was telling his followers that they would have a new identity as well. The mark of a believer would not be defined solely by what they did, but by another glaring characteristic—their love for one another. Their oneness would set them apart from everyone else. It would include people of every race, nationality, gender, and age group. This creation of a new ethnicity of people would be called Christ-followers.
That thought was driven home to me in 1991 when I was serving as a vice-chair of the North Jersey Billy Graham Crusade.
At one of our committee meetings, a group represented by African-American, Caucasian, Asian, and Hispanic leaders was sitting around a table. As each introduced themselves, I heard that still, small voice say, “In this I am well pleased.” I understood this to be from God’s Spirit, confirming that we know our identity best when it’s part of the larger Body of Christ. We’re made stronger through our diversity.
It is only through embracing this diversity that we will be able to do the greater works Jesus is calling us to do.
Question: How will you seek to associate with people different than you in the Body of Christ?
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Much of what Jesus taught and stood for clashes with popular politically correct notions that want to redefine and reinterpret the person and teachings of Jesus—and ultimately the Christian faith—so that neither step on anyone’s sensitivities. Jesus, however, calls us to be salt and light, not chameleons. If we are Christ’s representatives, changing colors may allow us to blend in, but it will be at the expense of our integrity and Jesus’ admonition for us to follow his words, which are life. We need to grasp hold of a faith that is THE center of our lives and meets us in the trenches of life. That faith acts as a filter for what we experience daily—in media, entertainment, politics, relationships, and yes, even in the church. The Politically Incorrect Jesus addresses issues and ideologies in our current cultural climate, juxtaposed with the clear teachings of Jesus, so readers can embrace being who God designed them to be—men and women of counterculture faith, making a difference in a counterfeit world.
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