I was
about to give an Alpha talk at the Council House in Nottingham for the Business
Alpha Course a few years ago. As I walked into the palatial surroundings I
walked past a cabinet filled with silverware. How did I know it was genuine silver?
Simple – the items all had a hallmark. How do you know a person is a genuine
Christian? Simple – they have a hallmark.
I’ve
met many Christian people in my time, some quiet and unobtrusive, some loud and
‘in-your-face’. All profess in their way their Christian faith and yet in a few
cases I was left wondering how deep that faith actually penetrated. Perhaps I
shouldn’t judge, afterall only God knows the secrets of our hearts. However,
St. Paul urges us to look out for genuine love. In one of the most famous
passages on love, he writes …
If I speak in the tongues
of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to
remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If
I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain
nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
These are challenging words. Have you met ‘noisy gongs’ and ‘clanging
cymbals’? Are there times when you have been one? This passage is pivoted neatly
between two chapters which speak about spiritual gifts (and their abuse). I
believe it is no accident that Paul inserts these words here because he saw a
church (Corinth) displaying all the outward signs of Christianity and yet
missing out on the vital ingredient which proves that they are the genuine
article.
Paul then goes on to define the ‘hallmark’ of a true
Christian…
Love is patient and kind;
love is not jealous or boastful; it
is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not
irritable or resentful; it
does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-6)
So,
how does your church stand up to Paul’s test? We can be incredibly busy in
church and yet miss out on the real task of spreading God’s love. We might
paraphrase Paul’s opening verses like this…
If we organise Harvest Suppers, Alpha
Courses and Coffee Mornings until we are blue in the face but have not love we
are a machine or programme-driven church. If our services are full of
charismatic fervour with speaking in tongues, prophecies and prayer ministry
but have not love, they mean nothing. If our people tithe and are always
attending church meetings but have not love, they gain nothing.
Whenever
I visit a church, I look not for quantity but quality. And, of course the
quality which is most important – the hallmark so to speak – is love. In a
passage in his famous letter to Rome Paul writes these simple words, ‘Let love
be genuine’ (Romans 12:9). This section is entitled in the Revised Standard
Version ‘Marks of a True Christian’.
And
so, in all our dealings, all our church meetings, all our events we need to
stand back and conduct a detailed evaluation. Are they empowered by love, the
hallmark of true Christianity? It’s all too easy to get into the mode of
keeping things going or going through the motions and lose the essential
ingredient which makes it all meaningful.
Dorothy
Law Nolte wrote a famous poem entitled ‘Learning for Life’ in which she talks
about the ingredients of bad and good parenting…
If a child lives with criticism, he
learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he
learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he
learns to be shy.
If a child lives with encouragement,
he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he
learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with approval, he
learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and
friendship, he learns to find love in the world.
(abridged)
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