What is a Real Christian?

Good evening and greetings in Jesus' name. Blessing together, together, and worship our Lord. I feel like we've heard a lot already today, and I'm not sure what I can add to it, but see what the Lord has for us.

Something I've been thinking about, just some conversations I had overheard during Bible school and when I talk with people, what does it really mean to be a Christian? Or maybe the question, what is a real Christian?

There's an older fellow that brings way out to our farm there, and he's told me already that he's a believer.

And I've heard of others where you ask them if they're a Christian and it's, "Oh yeah, yes, I am a Christian. Do you read your Bible? Do you walk with the Lord?" "Oh well, I'm not that kind. Not that kind of a Christian."

So what really is a Christian?

We live in a day when there's a lot of imitations of Christianity. There's a lot of imitations of different things, different products.

Just something I thought about,

especially when buying food, I had to think of since I milk cows and probably about 20 or so years ago, there was this seal called the real seal. I don't know if any of you know what that is. It's kind of a red. I thought about trying to draw it, but I'm not sure how well I could do with that.

But it kind of had a red triangle, rectangle with the in the center, it said real in it. You'd often see it on milk trucks and milk products. And so I was looking a little bit what that meant, and we had some butter there and it had the real seal on it.

And not too long ago, we had bought some butter and it said butter on the pack. It looked like butter and it was a lower price than butter normally is. And so we got some, brought it home, and after a while I was looking at this and I was like, and I forget what the percentage was, but it was less than, it was around 30% of it was real butter and the rest was some other stuff that was mixed in with it.

I forget what all was in it.

But this real milk seal came out because 40 years ago, 40 or so years ago, there was a concern about all these imitations coming out like cheeses and things that weren't made with milk or weren't all milk. And so I found some information on that and I thought it was kind of interesting.

It says the real milk seal signifies your dairy product is made without vegetable proteins, plant oils, and common additives like casein, caseinates, and was created to combat imitation cheeses, especially in pizzas. If a product has the real seal symbol, that means it was made with milk from cows that were raised on U.S. dairy farms and meets strict quality assurance standards.

So there are certain standards that this milk has to meet in order to have that real seal.

When you see the real logo on a product in a store or in a menu in a restaurant, you can trust it's the real thing and not a pale imitation. Real dairy products are all natural with simple, clean ingredient lists you can feel good about. And for example, if you look on a real butter container, it'll say it contains cream and salt.

That's real. That's what it contains. There are no imitations.

And I guess what really irritates me is when, I mean, if you buy margarine, it says margarine on it, that's margarine. And if you buy butter, I like when if it says butter on it, that it is butter, not less than half. And there's some juices that'll say, sometimes it'll just say orange drink or orange juice. And if you look on the label, it might say it's less than 2% actual orange juice in it. But there's a whole list of ingredients to come up with that orange flavor so that it tastes like orange juice.

And that always kind of gets me. In some ways, I've been tricked into drinking something or eating something that isn't what I thought it is.

So these marketing companies, marketing milk products, came up with this seal that if you look for that, then you're getting the real thing.

Just something I noted or that I noticed in this real seal, it says this milk will meet strict quality assurance standards. There are certain standards that we need to follow. Our bacteria counts, our cell counts all have to be under, there are thresholds that we have to meet in order for them to take our milk. So we have to follow those in order to have a market for our milk.

I looked up the word real. What does real mean in the dictionary? And it says not imaginary, fictional, or pretended. It's actual. Authentic or genuine. Essential or basic. This is some of the definitions. Being no less than what is stated, worthy of the name. Like if you have a real friend. It's not just someone that's there when times are good and when hard times come, your friend leaves because you're facing something, but they're there through it all.

Serious, not to be taken lightly. Sometimes we talk about a real need or a real, it's for real. We're not just pretending.

And I guess with our Sunday school discussions we've been having about loving one another and we have the ability to deceive ourselves. When someone makes a product to taste like, say, butter or a certain juice, and they play around with that so they don't need to have the actual thing in there till they have us tricked into thinking it's something else.

We can kind of do that in our spiritual lives as well.

Do we try to put on a front that we're not or are we for real?

And a lot of times to find out if we're for real or not is when we face trials, when we face hard times, that's when we find out if we're for real or not.

So I thought I'd look at in Acts chapter 11, verse 19, starting at verse 19 is where Christians were first called Christians. I'd just like to look a little bit at some of the actions they took there and what made them real Christians.

In Jesus' day, there was a lot of religion, a lot of the Jewish people especially.

Jesus and John told the scribes and the Pharisees that they need to bring forth the fruits, meat for repentance. They looked good on the outside, but they weren't really the real thing.

Just read in Acts chapter 11, verse 19 to 30. That's the end of the chapter there.

Acts chapter 11, verse 19. This was after Stephen had been killed and there was persecution. They were being scattered around and went about preaching the gospel. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenix and Cyprus and Antioch preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch spake unto the Grecians preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord.

Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem. They sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch. Who when he came and had seen the grace of God was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith and much people was added unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus to seek Saul and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people and the disciples were first called Christians.

No, the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. And in those days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch and there stood up one of them named Agabus and signified by the spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.

Then the disciples every man according to his ability determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Several things I'd like to notice here in this passage.

They went preaching not only to the Jewish people. They were preaching to the Jewish people, but they also says they were preaching to the Grecians. They didn't have boundaries.

The gospel was for everyone. People were coming to the Lord.

And then the church in Jerusalem heard about it. They sent Barnabas to them to help establish their faith and give them some instructions. And it says he was blessed with what he saw. He was blessed that he saw the grace of God in them and encouraged and exhorted. It says he exhorted them.

Verse 23 where it says, "And when he came and had seen the grace of God, was glad and exhorted them that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord."

And that stood out to me. It wasn't just a starting out. He was glad what he saw and what the grace of God had done in their lives, but he was also concerned that they would continue.

Not just onto the end of their life.

And that if we look at that word exhorted there, it would have the idea of he was inviting them or invoked by imploring or beseech. Comforting them or intrigue.

And pray for them that they would be faithful. And he also told them that they should with purpose of heart cleave unto the Lord. And I had to think of that purpose. They weren't just

pretending or he didn't want them to fall away, but that they would purpose to follow the Lord. I had to think of Daniel in the Old Testament where he was taken captive into Babylon, was there with, had a couple of friends there, but he had purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's meat.

He decided ahead of time, no matter what happens to him or where he goes, he's not going to stay committed to the Lord. And when they were trying to find fault with him or find a reason to get him taken out of their way, they said there's really nothing that we can say about his life. He lives an upright life, but if we somehow can get between him and his God, that's where we can maybe get him.

And we know how they made that decree that no one was to pray to anyone except to the king. And Daniel, he had purpose in his heart that he would be faithful to God. And he continued to serve his Lord even in spite of that. And we know how God delivered him from the lions then.

But he had purpose in his heart. I had to think of the three Hebrew children as well. When they were to bow to this image, we don't just purpose to serve the Lord when it goes well, but we purpose to be faithful even if it maybe doesn't go in our favor.

Those three Hebrews that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when they faced the fiery furnace, the king told them that, "I can take your life if I want to." And they reminded him how that their life is in God's hands and he can deliver us from you.

And even if he doesn't, we still are not going to serve your gods.

Purpose of heart, a commitment like that. Also thought of Joseph in the Old Testament where when he was taken captive as a young man and taken into Egypt, away from his homeland, away from people that knew him, he was committed to doing what was right. And in temptation, he was faithful. He told Potiphar's wife there that he can't do this great sin against God.

He had purpose that he would be faithful to the true God and not turn away from that. He was for real. He was going to be real.

This Barnabas here had encouraged the Christians there to cleave to the Lord. That word cleave is the same word that's used for a husband and like a young man leaving his father and mother and cleaving to his wife. They're together for life now. There's no other option.

Job was also one that feared God and was going to be faithful no matter what came up in his life. He was going to serve the Lord even if he didn't understand everything.

His wife even encouraged him to curse God and just die. But he said he's not going to do that in spite of everything that came his way. And I have to ask myself that the question, do I have that kind of commitment, purpose of heart to serve God no matter what the circumstances we might face?

And I think we need a purpose. We need a purpose in our hearts to serve the Lord at any cost before we're faced with the temptations because if we don't, when the pressure's on, we probably won't. There's a bigger chance of falling.

So here this church, they were called Christians and Barnabas exhorted them that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord.

And looks like they were there about a year or so. And another thing I noticed toward the end there, there was this drought or this dearth that came. There were needs. And in verse 29, it says the disciples, every man according to his ability determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea, those that were worse off than they were. They gave of what they had to those in need.

And I think that's still what real Christians do. We try to have our eyes open for needs, especially with those within our own brotherhood and those beyond.

Jesus told us to lay up treasures in heaven.

And by helping our fellow man, helping our fellow brethren, that's how we lay up treasures in heaven and that's how we serve our Lord.

Real Christians are fruitful and we provide nourishment for others. I have to think of fruit or something that is nourishing for others. I like to look at the fruit of the spirit a little bit in Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 through 26, where it talks about the

real Christians will be bearing fruit.

Galatians 5:22-26, where it talks about the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such, there is no law.

And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let us not be desires of vain glory, provoking one another and envying one another.

Bearing fruit that is nourishment for others. And it's not just an imitation that it's real fruit, having a real compassion for others, a real love, not just pretending, but. And there are times when maybe we have a hard time loving someone, but we still pray that God could give us that real love and do what is right and reach out to those.

I'd also like to look at John 15, verses 1 to 17, where it talks about bearing fruit and being connected to the vine. We draw our life from our Lord, not from some other source.

In John chapter 15, it says, "I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that bears fruit, he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit.

Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, ye can do nothing."

We can do nothing without him, without being connected to the vine. We know, especially here in the spring, the trees and everything are really budding and putting forth leaves. But when we cut that branch off, that branch just withers up, doesn't bear fruit. It dies.

But sometimes it seems to me, you know, that people can put on a front that we are someone that we're not, even when we're withering up. But we need to draw our life from the true vine, from Jesus Christ. It says, "For without me, ye can do nothing.

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered. And men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples.

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love."

We can only bear that fruit as we abide in his love. "These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full." He wants to give us joy and he wants to give us, wants our joy to be full. "This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.

You are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.

Henceforth, I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit.

And that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you that ye love one another." So we're to bear fruit and this fruit is to remain. This fruit is to be worth something. It's not just a pretense. We can maybe get artificial oranges or apples, peaches, but it can look really good and nice, but it does nothing to nourish us. It's just something to look at, but there's nothing real about it.

So real Christians are fruitful and we provide nourishment for others.

And real Christians call sin, sin. We don't try to gloss it over or hide it.

I had to think of John the Baptist when he told the Herod that was the governor, whatever he was there, that he shouldn't have his brother's wife. And he sounded like they had quite a bit of interaction there and he said that shouldn't, that's wrong.

And he put him in prison for that, but he liked to hear him. He liked to talk with him and he didn't kill him right away, but we know how his wife later got that across that it cost him his life.

And to be a real Christian comes with a cost. It costs us everything. We are to give up everything. I have to think of these imitation products that are out there, especially if we're a bargain hunter and we like to buy things for less than maybe what it's worth. We tend to sooner end up with those kinds of things because we're concerned about the price. But the real thing is often more expensive.

It costs more.

Fruit that's just an imitation is cheap, say a plastic apple versus a real one.

It's going to cost more. And real Christianity is costly.

Real Christians are thankful. We are thankful for the grace of God and for what God has done for us. We shouldn't be complainers. It's easy. There's plenty of things to complain about. But real Christians realize that God did a work in their life and they are grateful for what God has done for them.

I had to think of that Josh that was here that shared those evenings with us about his life and he just feels like he has a lot to be thankful for.

Real Christians are thankful. And real Christians look for ways to help others. I'd mentioned that a little bit before, but we don't do it for our own personal gain, but we have a compassionate desire to see others prosper. Sometimes it seems maybe I want to help someone or help someone out with whether it's money or working for them or something, but I don't really want them to come up past me.

I'll help you to a point, but I'll still be ahead of you. That shouldn't be our desire.

When we're helping others, it's not for our own personal gain, but it's for a compassionate desire to see others prosper. Now I've experienced that already where people have helped me out. You just feel that they want to see me do well and it doesn't matter if I do better than they do to encourage someone along.

And then sometimes I ask myself, am I for real? Am I a real Christian? And I believe as we read God's word, as we meditate on that, it gives us direction as we interact with God's people, with our brotherhood.

Others can see things in us that we can't see ourselves.

We're kind of blind to our own faults. It just kind of amazes me how children don't have to be very old till they have a sense of justice or what is right in their siblings, but kind of excuse me and let me kind of get off of it.

And we tend to kind of do that. Maybe I have a weakness or something and I'd like to have a little room for that, but then my fellow man, I don't

give them much space.

I think if we're wondering how real we are, what are my thoughts? What do I think about a lot? Is it my work? Is it money or the future? What the future might hold or politics? There's a lot of things that can fill our mind.

And sometimes it gets our mind kind of gets consumed with depending if we're facing a situation at work that we don't know, not sure how to handle. But if that's constantly in our thoughts and we're not thinking about seeking the Lord for decisions in our work with our money and our future, we need to commit those things to Him. Do I walk with God and have faith in Him that He can take care of us and that He has resources beyond our own, my own?

I had to think of some Old Testament characters like Enoch. It said he walked with God. It doesn't give a lot of details about his life, but it just says that he walked with God and he just apparently didn't die like everyone else does, but it just says God took him. And Noah and Abraham, they knew their God. And especially Noah, God was during a wicked time and God told him to build an ark for that saved his family and saved life for after the flood.

Do I have an awareness of God? God sees us all the time. We can hide things maybe from our fellow man, but we can't hide from God. God knows what we look at, what we read, what we think about. To just live in that awareness and rest in that, that He is

that He would give us direction and keep us from temptation.

Asking Him for direction and a trust and a devotion to.

Real Christians have an openness and an honesty with God and our fellow brethren. We don't have anything to hide. We walk in the light. We walk before God in the light and also our brethren.

I had listened to a number of years ago when Pablo Yoder first moved to when they moved to Nicaragua, we would get their newsletters and some of the experiences and robberies they had there. And now more recently, I had heard, listened to some of his messages on just how God had delivered them. And then he had cancer and he died from that this past summer. And just it seemed like a very open family. They just say it the way it is. And he struggled with, is he for real or not as he was facing death?

And you know his children and others would assure him that there's no known sin in his life and he's covered in the blood and that would comfort him. And then he would think about, well, maybe he should have, the neighbor there, he should have talked to him about the Lord. And they would assure him that you did talk to him about the Lord.

You did. You were open with him and told him that he needs to repent. And Satan likes to try to tempt us and to tell us that maybe we are not for real. But I think we can have that confidence as we evaluate our thoughts, the path, the direction that we're walking.

Are we walking closer to God or are we drifting away from Him?

And I had to think of how others are also following us, watching our actions.

Our neighbors, those we might not even know, they can see how we respond to situations that are maybe less than ideal. They're watching how we respond to that. So others are observing our actions. Let's be open before them. Let's be real and genuine.

And just a couple of verses in closing here that stand out to me is one is in Micah 6:8.

I think I can almost quote it, but I thought I'd better read it so I say it, get it right. He has showed thee, O man, what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.

Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God. And then also Ecclesiastes, just the end of Ecclesiastes there where the writer, he had looked at different situations, different things and the vanity of life. And then at the end there in Ecclesiastes 12, verse 13 and 14, he says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." God's going to judge everything, whether it was out in the open or if it was secret, whether it was good or bad.

So let's be genuine. Let's be real. What you see is what you get. Let's not try to be an imitation. Water it down. Let's be real, real people and not drift away from the truth.

Does anyone have?