Jaffa Cakes – and Christian Witness

I want to ask you a very perplexing question indeed. Is a Jaffa Cake a cake, or is it a biscuit?

Now, you may wonder who would actually worry! Someone does. The VAT man! There’s VAT on a biscuit, but not on a cake, so the VAT man decided to take the manufacturers of Jaffa Cakes to court, to argue that a Jaffa cake is not really a cake, it is a biscuit, so there should be VAT charged on it! It was a nail-biter of a case, for if a Jaffa Cake was indeed a biscuit, then the Customs and Excise people were due hundreds of thousands of pounds in back payments. The court was called, the barristers made their arguments, and waited for the judge to respond. Eventually the verdict was handed down. A Jaffa Cake is indeed a CAKE! How did the judge reach his decision? Not just because the Jaffa Cake proclaims itself to be a cake, not because we all know it to be a cake… A Jaffa Cake is a cake because it can be shown to have the properties of a cake. Here’s the definitive way to recognise the difference. When exposed to the air, a cake goes hard, whereas a biscuit goes soft. A Jaffa Cake goes hard, so it’s a CAKE!

Christians should be a bit like Jaffa Cakes! You don’t just accept that they are Christians because they say they are! There are all sorts of people who will say that they are Christians, and for various reasons. I remember watching a pop-concert (for a few moments) during a ‘Poverty Campaign’ a few years ago. There was a group of musicians, the singer of whom claims to be a Christian, who was publicly swearing and using dreadful language. One other ‘celebrity Christian’ goes around evangelical churches telling people how he became a Christian and he openly states that he became a Christian through his baptism!

You will know a person is a Christian by both their oral testimony and the outward evidences that Christ is living in their life!

If you are a Christian, one who knows the Lord Jesus as Saviour and Lord, how do other people know that you are a Christian? So, when you say that you are a Christian, how will people know that you really mean what you say? In the teaching of Jesus there are a number of critical tests for Christianity:-

People will know that you are a Christian, if you LOVE YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE LORD! John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

People will know that we are collectively Christians if we as believers in the local church are seen to be united in Christ. If we are seen to be always arguing and fighting, then we cannot be united, or be seen to be united. John 17:20-23

Now, there is a further way of witnessing for Christ. Jesus said, Matthew 5:14-16 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

We are to shine out for the Lord, living the Christian life, doing good works, so that people will see Christ in us, and give glory to God. Now, an unnecessary word of warning! Now, I know that you already know this, but I have to say it anyway. Good works do not save you, and good works do not get you to heaven. Only the blood of Christ, shed for sinners upon the Cross can wash away your sins and prepare you to meet God. If you haven’t been to the Cross, make no mistake, you will not be in heaven.

But, once a person has met Christ, been saved by his grace, then the result of that conversion should be a change of life, and that renewed life should be noticeable by its God-glorifying good works! James 2:17-18 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

The essential message this scripture has for us today is this: A Christian, in his daily labours, must reflect Christ as surely as the moon reflects the sun. Our task is to illuminate a dark world with the reflected light of Christ, always giving him the glory.