Welcome to Session Three of the Mark of the Lion. In this session, we examine  how being marked by Jesus Christ affects your relationships with people.  Jesus Christ provided clear instruction about how his followers are to treat  people. For example, He did not teach his followers to oppress others. He did  not teach his followers to hate oppressors. He did not teach his followers to  treat people based on outward appearances. He did not teach his followers to  treat their enemies with scorn, mockery, or derision.  

He taught his followers one standard that was to mark their relationships. That  mark is love.  

A lawyer once asked Jesus what was the most important of God's commands?  Here's how Jesus answered that question. The first of all the commandments is this hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the Lord is one and you shall love the  Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and with  all your strength. This is the first commandment and the second like it is this:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment  greater than these.  

When you are marked by Jesus Christ, you enjoy a first-love relationship with  Him that marks all other relationships in your life.  

When you identify with Jesus Christ it means that you love other Christians. In  John 15:12 Jesus said, This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.  

The apostle John wrote about identifying with Jesus’ love in our relationships  with each other. In 1John 3:16 he wrote, By this we know love, because he laid  down his life for us. And we also want to lay down our lives for the brethren.  The mark of Jesus’ love among Christians is supposed to be the primary  identifying characteristic to those who are dead and who do not identify with  Jesus Christ. Jesus said it this way in John 13 , By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.  

While it is easy to make excuses for not loving other Christians, the Bible gives  us little wiggle room for justifying hatred. The apostle John wrote that if we say  we love God, yet hate a brother or sister in Christ, we are deceived. In 1John  4:20 we read, If someone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God  whom he has not seen?  

But what about when someone wrongs you or oppresses you? Or hates you? Or lies about you? Or treats you unjustly or offends your sense of identity by what  they say to you or about you? 

Those who identify with Jesus Christ are commanded to love not only their  brothers and sisters in Christ, but also their enemies. In Luke chapter six, Jesus said, I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,  bless those who curse you and pray for those who spitefully use you…. Love 

your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward  will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For he is kind to the  unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.  When you are marked by Jesus Christ, your relationships are marked by His  love for you, as right as it might feel to hate or seek vengeance against  someone. The apostle Paul wrote that we are to leave vengeance to God who  is just.  

Those who are marked by Jesus Christ overcome evil by pursuing peace and  doing good to those who oppose them. In Romans 12, we read, Bless those  who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Repay no one evil for evil. Have  

regard for good things in the sight of all men. Beloved, do not avenge  yourselves but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine. I  will repay, says the Lord.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil, with  good.  

Those who are marked by Jesus Christ, identify with His love and recognize that what otherwise might appear to be a great accomplishment in the eyes of the  world is nothing in God's eyes unless it is motivated by the love we receive  through Jesus Christ. In I Corinthians 13 the apostle Paul wrote, Though I  speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become  sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy  and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so  that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I  bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned but have  not love, it profits me nothing.  

In I Corinthians 13, we read about the content of God's love. Love is patient and  kind. It's not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own  way. It's not irritable. It keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice  about injustice, but it rejoices whenever the truth wins out. It never gives up. It  never loses faith. It's always hopeful, and it endures through every  circumstance.  

Those who are marked by Jesus Christ identify with peace. They are marked by  God's peace through Jesus Christ. When you identify with Jesus Christ in the  same way that the love of God flows into all of your relationships, those who  identify with Jesus Christ are instructed to pursue peace as well. In Romans  12:18 we read, If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with  all men. And in Romans 14, Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for  peace, and the things by which one may edify another. And Ephesians 4, Make  every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. And in  Hebrews 12, Pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one  will see the Lord.  

Your skin color is part of what makes you who you are, but you're more than just

your skin color. Your ethnicity is part of what makes you who you are, but you're more than just your ethnicity. Your gender is part of who you are, but you are  more than just your gender. Your sexual identity is part of who you are, but  you're more than just your sexual identity. Jesus Christ recognizes the distinctive identifying characteristics of you and every individual and he says, I love you,  and I died for you.  

Those who are marked by Jesus Christ, love those who are different from  themselves, because of the love they receive from Jesus Christ.  Intersectionality takes all the aspects of identity and it divides people by the  respective categories to which they belong. Jesus Christ recognizes all the  aspects of your identity … loves you … and says to you … follow me!  People who are marked by Jesus Christ identify with the church and the culture  in a unique, significant and powerful way and we'll examine the Christian’s  relationship with the world in our last session. Let's review the key points of this  session: 1. Identifying with Jesus Christ affects the way you treat people. 2.  Those who identify with Jesus Christ love other followers of Jesus. 3. Those who identify with Jesus Christ are to be known by their love for one another. 4.  Those who identify with Jesus Christ live a lie if they claim to love God yet hate  a brother or sister in Christ. 5. Those who identify with Jesus Christ love their  enemies. 6. Those who identify with Jesus Christ let His love mark all of their  relationships. 7. Those who identify with Jesus Christ know that if their works do not flow from their love relationship with Jesus Christ, their works amount to  nothing in God's sight. 8. Those marked by Jesus Christ become more patient  and kind. Less jealous, proud or boastful. Less demanding of their own way.  Less irritable. They hold no grudges. They reject injustice. They embrace the  truth. They don't give up or lose faith. They become more hopeful and endure  difficult circumstances as He changes them more and more into their his image. 9. Jesus Christ is the first love of those who identify with Him. 10. Those who  identify with Jesus Christ treat people the way they have been treated by Jesus  Christ, regardless of how people identify.  

Thanks for watching this session. God bless you. He loves you. We'll see you in  the next session.



Last modified: Friday, March 22, 2024, 8:08 AM