What Does The World See In You?

When we host Christmas Eve here at Victory Church, there is a portion of the service where the auditorium is completely dark. All stage lights, screens, and lights are turned off. The only light comes from one candle in the center of the stage. You can’t see very much in the room from the light of one little flame!

Then, we begin to light handheld candles from the large candle. First, there are three lights, then six, then twelve. Slowly, as we share the light, the entire auditorium begins to glow.

In the same way, what the world sees in the Church is not about our individual gifts. Just like it’s not the individual candle lighting the entire auditorium, it’s the light we shine together that lights up the darkness. Best of all, our light is not just for Christmas Eve!

¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 (NIV)

Two other things that Jesus specifically says we are to be showing to the world: our love for one another, and our unity:

³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 (NIV)

²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:23 (NIV)

Do we give the world a chance to see our love?

One way to give the world a chance is to invite people to be a part of the family of God. Invite them to come here to a worship service with us. Some aren’t ready to worship with us, but they are ready to serve with us. Some are ready to worship with us, especially after they have served with us. 

We have hundreds of guests visit our church every year. What do they see? Jesus emphasized our love and our unity. Both go hand in hand.

We looked at John 13:35 where Jesus says that by our love for one another people would know we’re his disciples. This is in the same chapter:

¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. John 13:14–15 (NIV)

Loving is About Serving

When Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, it was a powerful example of service. So much so that some traditions incorporate it into regular worship once a month! I only participated in a foot-washing ceremony one time, and I’d like to tell this story. But I remembered that one of the pastors on staff at my church, Pastor Curtis, comes from such a tradition, at the Church of the Brethren. He shared this story with me: 

“When I was a summer camp counselor, I was butting heads with another camp staffer. The final night of counselor training, we had foot-washing. And I offered to wash his feet. As I washed his feet, tears began to run down his face. This became a beautiful moment of serving, forgiveness and reconciliation because I offered to wash his feet.”

“I also remember another time where we were at our Maundy Thursday service with foot-washing and I remember an older gentleman struggling to get to his knees to offer to wash my feet. I was a 20-something at the time, and I sat in awe of his willingness to sacrifice discomfort to serve and bless me.”

Not Just a Ceremony

Those are such serious stories, I thought I might offend Curtis by my foot-washing experience, that I might be taking it too lightly. Then a couple of hours later Curtis sent me this story:

“[My wife and I] decided to do foot-washing as part of our wedding ceremony. My groomsmen had the brilliant idea to paint my toe nails [so they borrowed some polish from a young niece. It just happened to be] … sparkling/glittering nail polish. When Christine went to wash my feet during the ceremony she just about lost it in laughter. It eased the intensity of the moment and helped us relax and enjoy the ceremony.”

Does that mean to serve each other we should literally wash each other’s feet? My first and only foot-washing experience was as a counselor at a place called Canyon Camp in Oklahoma. One night, the camp directors filled up a big bowl with water, grabbed some towels, and made all of us counselors take off our shoes after a dusty day in Canyon Camp. It was very uncomfortable to have someone touching our dirty feet! Not only that, I distinctly remember that by the time the bowl got to me, there were some unidentifiable floaties in the water! Yuck! Let’s remember, Jesus wasn’t really doing something ceremonial. Jesus was doing something practical. Is that practical? 

Serve the Family of God

There are practical ways of symbolically washing each other’s feet, and it should produce some awe in us! And it will be attractive to the world around us. Matthew 25 says, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Doing good deeds to others in keeping with Matthew 5:16 starts within the family of God. If the light is not shining within the household of faith, it’s not going to shine out there.

¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:10 (NIV)

How do we love each other? By getting involved in the local church. Commit to a small group or Bible study; commit to volunteering within the church. These aren’t the only ways we can serve each other, but they are essential to our being the church we are called to be, and to being the caring, committed community that will draw people into the family of God. 

It may be counterintuitive, but we don’t reach the world just by our love for people in the world who are without Jesus. We reach the world by our love, not for the world, but for each other. 

Jesus Emphasized Our Unity

 ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:23 (NIV)

I share this story in my Invite Your Neighbor curriculum: A restaurant near my home was obviously struggling, and you could see it in the owner’s demeanor. The saddest part about the situation is that he was venting his frustration by speaking harshly to his daughter, who was working with him. I felt so badly for her. The food was really pretty good, but I never went back to that restaurant again. It wasn’t because of the way they treated me. It was the way they treated their own family. Unfortunately, the restaurant has since permanently closed. (Invite Your Neighbor: Change the World pg. 89)

You can feel an atmosphere of disunity. People coming into our church might not be able to articulate it, maybe they won’t hear us yelling at each other the way the restaurant owner spoke harshly to his daughter. But they will know if we’re together. You can’t really fake it. 

Do Everything Without Grumbling or Complaining

Are you building up others or are you tearing them down? Watch out that you don’t let the devil get you worked up about something in a way that is divisive—especially in an area that’s not essential to who we are, essential to our doctrine, or essential to our mission. Every brother and sister in Christ is precious to us and every spiritual gift is to be honored, but that doesn’t mean every opinion carries the same weight. Whether it’s your political opinion, your opinion on the color of the carpet, or anything else, be careful that your opinions do not keep you from loving others.

³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:3 (NIV)

If you want your kids to grow up emotionally healthy, you have to love your kids, right? But that’s only part of it. In a two-parent home, one of the best things you can do for your kids to be emotionally healthy is not to primarily focus on the kid. They will actually be healthier, mom and dad, if you focus on loving each other first, then loving your children in the context of a loving, stable home. Likewise, we will do better at reaching our world with the love of Jesus when we are lovingly unified as the family of God. 

Serve one another in unity.