HOW WOULD THEY KNOW?

"By this sign shall all people know that you are my disciples,

that you love one another." - John 13:35

Over the years, I have encountered some very unlovely people.  Actually, I didn't meet them - at least knowingly; but I heard of their activities.  I'd really like to meet them - face-to-face - and to rebuke them in the name of Jesus. One them I will call an agitator.  In a meeting I told a group, in the absence of a staffer, that I was going to step back and give a place normally reserved for me to that staffer.  The reason, to do their job effectively, they needed to have visibility.  My job could be done in anonymity. The agitator went from the meeting and told the absent staffer that I said they needed to be more visible, an implied criticism in the manner of its delivery, and that was exactly the way my staffer took it.

Another I will call the reporter. This person "reported" to one of my elders that the pastors only visited people in their inner circle, ignoring everyone else.  When asked to be specific and share who had made such a charge (which the elder knew to be both unfair and ridiculous), the reporter said, "I am not going to tell you." If bringing healing between the pastors and the offended person was the goal, this person made it impossible.  So clearly, healing was not the goal of the reporter.  One can only guess the goal.

And those were just people within the church.  And leadership was the recipient.

Then there are the persons who gossip about brothers and sisters, or who report rumors as facts, or who spread rumors without bothering to find out the facts.  Or the people who speak rudely or dismissively at people within the church who are not a part of their circle or their worship service or whatever dividing line they have chosen to recognize.

There are times that one need look no further than the Body of Christ to find evidence of the depravity of humanity.  And that is not what God desires.

People need to see - when they see the church of Jesus -- well, they need to see Jesus within us.

That's why the disciples are told, "By this sign all people will know you are my disciples, that you love another.

So who are the agitators and reporters and gossips and rumor spreaders, the rude and condescending showing themselves to be disciples of?

(C)  2012 by Stephen L Dunn