By Brian Tubbs
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Review & Description
What Makes an Authentic Christian?
Will the real Christians please stand up?
Over two billion people claim, in one form or another, to be Christians today. And we are constantly inundated (via TV, radio, Internet, church, etc.) with what purport to be "Christian" principles and truths. In all this "noise," it's critical that we remember what Jesus says about authentic Christianity. After all, Christianity is - or at least it's supposed to be - all about Jesus.
And Jesus isn't out to win a popularity contest. Jesus isn't looking for fans. He's looking for followers. He's looking for disciples -- true Christian disciples who manifest authentic faith and character.
In his bestselling book Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus, Kyle Idleman, the Teaching Pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, writes of an epiphany he had when preparing for an Easter message. "As I sat in the sanctuary surrounded by thousands of empty seats, here's what became clear to me: it wasn't the size of the crowd Jesus cared about; it was their level of commitment."
A committed follower of Jesus is an authentic follower of Jesus. Commitment and authenticity go hand in glove. You can't have one without the other.
John Piper, in his book What Jesus Demands From the World, echoes a similar theme. He says you can teach a parrot to recite Jesus' commandments, but you can't teach a parrot to "observe" and live out Jesus' commandments. Likewise, it's not enough that people simply repeat what Jesus taught or dress themselves up in pious language. We must live in a way that represents and glorifies Jesus Christ.
In Authentic: Character Traits of a Genuine Christian, Pastor Brian Tubbs explores the concept of authenticity in Christ. He examines it from two perspectives:
- How should people look at Christianity from the outside? Many observers of the Christian world wonder how so many people who claim the name of Christ can cause heartache and tragedy or live in a such a way that hardly reflects Jesus' noble teachings. After all, the Ku Kux Klan claims to be Christian. Adolf Hitler referred to himself as a Christian, and you've got self-identified Christian churches, like Westboro Baptist Church, spewing hatred toward homosexuals and picketing the funerals of dead American soldiers.
- How can genuine Christians know that they are growing authentically in Christ? How can we know that we're on the right track in our spiritual growth? It turns out that the Apostle Paul gives some pretty clear milestones by which we can track our progress. This ebook looks at Paul's standard for measuring our growth in Christ.
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