The Search for an ‘Authentic Christian’ (Rom. 12:9-16) Dr. Howard Foreman January 3, 2010 When Jesus called His disciples, He challenged them with these words (Lk. 14:26-27 NASB), If anyone comes to Me and yet prefers his own father and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple; whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple. Jesus was not trying to get people to church per se; He was saying how you get true disciples. He was asking for a commitment, commitment with subsequent involvement. He was asking them to be authentic Christians. In some circles of Christians that doesn’t sell well. Today, the Church is plagued with two infectious diseases: complacency and mediocrity. Translated into everyday life, it means a satisfaction with minimal effort and minimal excellence, and that manifests itself in minimal commitment. Try being an Olympic runner without giving it your all—100%! The world is challenging the Church and Christians. It is yelling back at Christians, “You say you love your neighbor, show me!” “You say you are more interested in laying up treasures in heaven, but look at all your treasures and toys here.” “You say that you love one another (Christian to Christian), yet look at all the divisions in your ranks, look at all the bitterness between Christians.” It seems that every generation raises the issue of reform. The early medieval theologians astutely noted, the Church is ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda, the Church reformed, is always being reformed. Reformation is the recovery of biblical truth that leads to the purifying of one’s theology. Revival is the application of biblical truth to human experience. Turn to Roman 12:9-16—the antidote to complacency and mediocrity, or the Test of Authentic Christianity. 1. “Let love be without hypocrisy.” Literally, “Let your love be sincere; let your love be without play acting.” 2. “Abhor what is evil.” Abhor is a strong feeling of horror or bitter hatred regarding evil and implies a loathing disgust. 3. “Cleave to what is good.” It means to ‘super-glue’ yourself to what is good. “Weld” yourself to what is good is another way of saying it. 4. “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another.” Although the words be devoted are not in Greek, it gives us a focus of how brotherly love is to be exercised. Concerning the love of the brethren, give preference to one another. 5. “Not lagging behind in diligence (zeal) but fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord.” An authentic Christian is full of zeal, full of zeal to serve. There are on fire for God.

6. “Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation.” This means being cheerful, enjoying a state of happiness. 7. “Devoted to Prayer.” When was the last time you heard of a church call for a season of prayer? When was the last time you took down prayer requests and actually prayed for them? Authentic Christians care about the needs of others. 8. “Contributing to the needs of the saints (by) practicing hospitality.” The early Church has dwarfed us in caring for the needs of its people. We live where some are in great need. What is the Church’s responsibility to care for it own? Not only did the early Church contribute to the needs of others, they also practiced hospitality. They showed the love of Christ in tangible ways—they opened their homes to others. That’s authentic Christianity. 9. “Bless those who persecute you, bless and curse not;” This is outright the opposite of what the world does. The reason we don’t practice this is because we are rarely persecuted. But we could bless this who say evil about us. 10. “Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.” Here we are getting downright close. You have to get into the lives of people. And that takes work and is sometimes messy. Authentic Christianity thinks more about others than oneself. 11.The next two, “Be of the same mind toward one another” and 12. “Do not be haughty in mind but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation” really reflect the humbleness of genuine Christianity. Being of the same mind is wanting for others what you want for yourself. The idea is that of harmony in our relationships. Harmony and humbleness. WOW! Wouldn’t that just take the stones away from our critics? Now before you pack everything away and leave, here’s what I want you to do…