Maybe you’ve heard of this well known quote. “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs a little more time in the oven.”
Wait, that’s not it. The saying goes like this, “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.”
If that’s true for ducks, can the same kind of thing be said about someone who identifies as a Christian? And if so, what are those marks that would lead us to that conclusion, that if someone has those marks, they are most likely a Christian, a follower of Jesus?
A lot of people have stereotypes of what Christians should look like and be like. What are the marks of a Christian? Does it mean your favorite coffee mug has to have a bible verse on it or that you wear a cross necklace or have at least one bumper sticker that has some type of Christian symbol. Does it mean that you have to identify yourself with a particular political party or vote on issues a certain way?
Today, we begin a 2-part sermon series on “Marks of a Christian.” For these next two weeks, we’re going to be focusing on five key marks that are at the heart of what it means to say that we are followers of Jesus.
These are five marks that we find throughout the scriptures. And it’s no accident that these are the five marks that people who join a United Methodist Church say that they will make a priority in their lives as they seek to express their faith through that particular church family.
The five marks of a Christian are prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. Prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. Let’s say those together. Prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.
So let’s get started. The first two things a person agrees to do when they stand up here and become a member of First United Methodist Church is to say that they will support the church with their prayers and their presence. And when new members are received, the congregation also renews their membership vows as well.
Let’s first focus on what it means to offer our prayers.
How are you doing in the area of prayer?
The first step in having a stronger prayer life is to not be bashful with your prayers. Jesus says in Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
We all seem to want to have a stronger prayer life, but we tend to struggle in how to go about it. Maybe we’re worried that we won’t say a prayer in the right way and we’ll offend God. Or maybe, we are afraid that we just might pray for the wrong thing.
In the book, “Dear Pastor,” several short prayer requests have been compiled. These prayer requests were written by children and given to their pastor. Here are a few of these prayer requests.
Dear Pastor, I know God loves me but I wish He would give me an “A” on my report card so I could be sure. Love, Teresa (age 8, Milwaukee.)
Dear Pastor, Thank you for your sermon on Sunday. I will write more when my mother explains to me what you said. Yours truly, Justin (age 9, Westport.)
Dear Pastor, We say grace every night before we eat dinner even when we have leftovers from the night before. Yours truly, Jackie (age 9, Chicago)
If only all of us would be as free to express our prayer concerns! I think there’s something to be said for being as open as children, to let God know what is on our heart and mind in any given moment or situation.
Remember this first thought. Don’t be bashful. Don’t worry about how your prayers might sound. The important thing is to pray.
The second step in having a deeper prayer life is to remember to whom your prayer is being directed. In the Christian faith, when we begin our prayers with “Dear God” or “Our Father” or “Lord Jesus,” we are praying within a particular faith context.
We’re not praying to some unknown and distant God out there somewhere. We are praying to the God of all creation who has been made known to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God known in three persons.
The scriptures, which tell the story of the creation of the world, sin, Israel, Jesus, and the church, enable us to know who God is. This is the context of every spoken and unspoken prayer for a Christian.
This overarching story of who God is, helps our prayer life in a couple of ways. First of all, it is a constant reminder that God can be personally known through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And secondly, when we remember to whom we are addressing our prayers this personal God who wants to be in a relationship with us, we can have greater assurance that God will hear our prayers.
Just think of the long line of people over the centuries who have experienced a personal relationship with the living God. Think of famous biblical names such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Deborah, Ruth, Obadiah, Mary, Peter, James, John. And the list continues over the centuries and into the present day.
Unless we know to whom we are addressing our prayers, it’s difficult to have any assurance that God really cares about what’s on our hearts in any given moment.
So don’t be bashful in your prayers. That’s #1. And #2: Know to whom you are addressing your prayers.
And just one more thought about prayer. Prayers don’t have to be all that long. Sometimes we think that we have to be wordy in our prayers. You might want to pray what I like to call, “ten second prayers.”
Ten second prayers are literally just that. They are prayers that begin by addressing God, then maybe a very brief word of thanksgiving, then a specific request to God, and then you close the prayer. Prayer can be that simple.
These ten second prayers are great to use when praying with someone face to face, instead of simply saying what we tend to say, “I’ll be praying for you.” What if we would offer to pray a brief ten second prayer with and for someone at that moment?
Having a regular prayer life is a mark of a Christian. Now, let’s look at another mark of a Christian. Presence. What does it mean to say that we will offer our presence through the church? Presence refers to worshiping weekly within a faith community.
[Anne Lamott]
Anne Lamott is one of my favorite contemporary Christian authors. She is originally from the Bay area and grew up with very little exposure to organized religion. But in 1985 when she was 31, she decided to try out a Presbyterian Church one Sunday morning.
Hungover, she listened as the congregation sang old spirituals and she kind of enjoyed hearing those songs so she stayed there, and in her words, “the people didn’t hassle me.”
She goes on to share in an interview, “They didn’t try to get me to stay or to sign up for a bible study, and most important, they didn’t threaten to come and have a home visit and get to know me more, because I would have so run screaming back to my cute little life. They just let me be there at a time where I didn’t really have much sense of belonging anywhere or of being OK, because I was pretty hung-over most mornings.”
She goes on to say that she went to that same church “for months and months and months without staying for the sermon because it was too bizarre to hear the Jesus beliefs. Then a year later, I just started to feel like Jesus was around me. I would feel His presence. God was like this little stray cat. You know, I would kind of nudge him with my feet and say, ‘No,’ because you can’t let him in, because once you let him in and give him milk, you have a little cat, and I didn’t want it. I lived on this tiny little houseboat at the time, and finally one day I just felt like: ‘Oh, whatever. You can come in.’ And from that day on, which was almost 22 years ago, I have really felt a relationship or friendship with Jesus, a connection to him.”
I love hearing Ann Lamott’s testimony. This is one of the reasons why I believe so much in the people of God coming together week after week. Because if we come enough times, these Jesus beliefs start to take hold of us. Those dry prayers, those rambling sermons, and those same old songs, end up getting to us. And in God’s own mysterious way, heaven breaks through and we become transformed.
And sometimes, we get to be on the other end when someone comes through these doors, and we love them unconditionally - the way that Jesus loves them, and a life is changed simply through our presence in worship.
I truly believe that being present through weekly worship is one of the key ways that we grow in our faith and experience God’s grace.
It’s in worship where we experience fellowship with other Christians, hear the scriptures read and proclaimed, receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, surround a family with a community of love and forgiveness through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, and remind ourselves on a weekly basis of who we are and to whom we belong.
Along with a steady and deep prayer life, presence in worship is another important mark of a Christian.
Next week, we’re going to focus on three more marks – the marks of our gifts, service and witness.
Remember, if it prays, and if it worships, it just might be a Christian.
Marks of a Christian: Prayers & Presence
Ever listening God, we confess that you are ever more ready to hear than we are to pray. You know our needs before we ask and our ignorance in asking. We acknowledge that we have not always been faithful in praying for the needs of others, our community and world, and for the people and leaders of your church. Forgive us we pray and free us for joyful obedience as we learn about the importance of prayer and worship today. Amen.
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