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Lewis Memorial
05-17-09
“They Will Know!”
Matthew 16: 13-18

The church I grew up in had a children’s choir where I learned all the great songs like Jesus Loves Me, the BIBLE, and Jesus Loves the Little Children. I also learned “They will know we are Christians by our love.” That’s been about 35 years ago and I still think of that song. People will know today that we are Christians by both our words and our actions. The Apostle Paul said that faith without works is dead! We can say we are Christians but without action to follow it up it’s worthless! We can speak about Jesus, but if we don’t let our works show that we truly know and love Jesus then our spoken testimony is lacking power!

People will know that we are Christians by our actions, by our ways, by our works, by our faith, by our testimony, by our strength through the storms of life, and mostly by our love!

How do you show your family members that you love them? With words alone, or only by your actions? I think it takes both! We all need to hear the words, “I LOVE YOU!” But if our actions show everything except love then our words are useless. If we try to show our love by the things we do and never say the most important 3 words we can say then eventually our actions will lose their sincerity.

We cannot assume that the people we love the most just magically know that we love them. How will they know? We need to be sure to let them know in both word and action every day. We should say, “I love you,” and show our love for them every day so they have something real to go by.

Our graduates have something real to go by today and they need to hear and see our congratulations and our love for their success. All of these folks who have or soon will be graduated have a tangible proof that they have accomplished their goal. They are finished with that area of education and they have a diploma to prove it. When you talk with any one of them about graduating they cannot help but smile. They have a joyous smile that cannot be hidden.

In the same way, we as Christians have an eternal smile that also cannot and should not be hidden. Jesus talked about that power and compared it to a lamp in Matthew 5: 14-16 when He said “You are the light of the world…..put your light on its stand and it will give light to everyone in the house.”

There are some things we can hide in this world. You can hide pain, fear, even evil thoughts and deeds, but you cannot hide real joy and happiness that comes from God through Jesus Christ! In the same way, when you know Jesus personally then it will show!

That’s a lesson that will serve all of us well all the days of our lives. I especially think that for these young people just graduating high school. As they embark into new territories and new beginnings they need to remember what they have learned about Jesus and not be afraid to let their light shine for God. And ALL of us need to let Jesus know that we love Him through both our words and our actions!

Jesus asked His disciples 2 very interesting and important questions in our scripture reading in Matthew this morning: Who do PEOPLE say that I am? And who do YOU say that I am? It’s like an exam question in school – either you know it or you don’t!

I don’t think Jesus cared a whole lot about what people were saying about Him. I think He cared much more about who He was to His disciples. The disciples said that some folks thought Jesus was the reincarnation of John the Baptist, or Elijah, or Jeremiah, or some other prophet. People did not know exactly who Jesus was. Do you? If Jesus asked you this question today could you answer Him quickly and easily?

Today, people can know who Jesus is by reading the Bible. But they also can know who Jesus is through you and me. They will know we are Christians by our love. They will know who Jesus is, even if they never read the Bible, because of our love for others and the way we as followers of Jesus Christ live our daily lives. They will know!

Peter said to Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” Peter knew exactly who Jesus was and because of that Peter was blessed and Jesus planted Himself firmly in his life. What a great day that must have been for Peter!

It’s great that we have been given this day! We have the opportunity to do many things with this day – Praise, Worship, Sing, Proclaim!

Another thing we can do is grow in knowledge and faith in God. Every day we have a chance to learn more, gain more wisdom, and grow in our faith. We have an incredible opportunity to learn from yesterday and make today even better! Just as these graduates don’t stop learning just because they have graduated, we all as Christians never stop growing spiritually and learning the ways of the Lord.

Look with me at Matthew 7:7-8. Jesus again was giving instruction, knowledge, and wisdom to His followers and here in Matthew 7:7-8. He reminds all of us to keep searching. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be open to you. For all who asks receives, and all who seek, find, and everyone who knocks the door will be opened.”

The person who keeps learning and growing and advancing in any career and in every aspect of life is the person who asks, seeks, and knocks. Jesus reminds us that this is the case when it comes to our spiritual journey as well.

Are you asking? Are you seeking? Are you knocking? These are not just questions for our graduates this morning, but these are questions all of us need to ask ourselves. When we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness then the Bible tells us that all things will be given to us through Jesus Christ.

When we ask, seek, and knock then our lives will be a loving, living example of Jesus and we will not be able to hide our excitement for the Lord. And others will know we are Christians by our love!