Đức Tin Cơ Đốc Thật Sự

There is a question I get on a regular basis that I would like to deal with this morning. I have been asked repeatedly how to know if a person is really a Christian. How can one know for certain if someone is a Christian? Let me state the answer in two ways. First what being a Christian is not, and second, how to spot a real one.

What Being a Christian is not

First, being a Christian is not a matter of being religious. What is religion? It is a set of beliefs held by an individual that determines their world view, their morality and values and underlies everything they think, say and do. This is not about salvation or heaven or hell. Those are all beliefs in the Christian religion. But religion in and of itself is really nothing more than an individual’s personal beliefs and values.

Everyone has a religion. Christianity is a religion, just as Islam and Judaism, and are. Atheism and agnosticism are religions. Atheist’s say there is no God. That is a religion. Agnostic’s say there may be a divine supernatural being but they deny any possibility that a mortal can possibly know for certain. Then there are people closely akin to agnostics that believe that all religions are of equal value and it is simply a matter of personal preference as to which religion one desires to practice. Their view is that all roads lead to the same divine supernatural being.

Second and this may be a bit shocking but not everyone who professes to be Christian is in truth a Christian. A person may claim to be a tree, but their saying it doesn’t mean it is true. There are those who believe in the Christian Religion and then there are those who are Christian, they are not the same. The Christian religion is just that, a religion made up of a belief system complete with rituals.

There are a lot of people who would say that they are a Christian, they believe in God, they observe Christmas, and they may be very active in their local church. That doesn’t make them a real Christian. Going to church does not make one a Christian any more than going to a garage makes one an automobile.

James, the half-brother Jesus said in James 2:19-20 “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”

Third: There are even those who claim to be Christian and say that Jesus is Lord, and may even do amazing wonders, and may even preach great sermons but that does not mean they are a Christian. They may be church leaders or famous evangelists, but having a title and doing religious things in Jesus name does not and necessarily mean that they are a Christian. Jesus makes this perfectly clear in Matthew 7:21-23,

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

What Being a Christian Is

A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ; a person who not only believes what the Bible teaches but puts it into practice. A Christian is not defined by a belief system or rituals but by the relationship and fellowship they have with the person of Jesus Christ.

Billy Graham was asked one time about his view of the Christian Church and he said that on any given Sunday, in any given church in America, less than 50% of the people attending church are Christian. Personally, I think he was being generous.

We can claim being a Christian all we want. We may be able to theologically explain God, the cross, the meaning of the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. We may be able to explain why we believe in the virgin birth and how a person is saved by grace through faith. But, and this is a very big but; what defines a real Christian is not what they say they believe but how they live.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:15 "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "So then, you will know them by their fruits.

How do we recognize a tree? Some can tell trees by their leaves and bark, but the real proof of any tree is the fruit it bears. The difference in an Apple Tree and a Lemon Tree is evidenced in the fruit it bears. An Apple tree cannot produce lemons. It is the roots of the tree that produces the fruit on the tree.

Jesus said you will know them by their fruit. Many other writers of various books of the Bible say the same thing. One book that stands out is James. James does not try to be politically correct or nice.

James 1:26-27

26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

James tells us 3 things here that, in the eyes of God, prove that we are Christian.

First: A genuine Christian has the fruit of bridling the tongue.

In verse 26 the first thing James mentions is that a real Christian is one who has control over their words. He says that they have put a bridle on the tongue. This is a good word picture. The first thing a person has to do before they can ride a horse is put a bridle on the horses head. There is a steel shaft or bit that goes into the horse’s mouth. The reins are attached to both ends of the shaft and the rider controls the horse’s movements by pulling on the reigns. James goes on to say in James 3:2-12,

“ For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. 3 Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. The tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. 8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

Words can be used as salve to heal emotional wounds or they can be used as bullets to maim and kill. In America today there is a huge problem with Cyber-bullying. Kids on the internet and especially the chat rooms have been abused and threatened. Almost half of American youth have been the victim of cyber-bullying. We know of many cases in which a young person has been threatened and abused so much that they have committed suicide.

It’s not just the internet. 1 in 3 women in America have been verbally abused and some of them physically abused in their life time.

No one knows how many homes have been destroyed; wars started and churches spit because man has not been able to put a muzzle over his mouth. More fights are started and more lives destroyed by words than anything else.

The suicide rate of youth in NM is twice that of the national average. Over 40% of youth in the nation have self-reported feeling so depressed that they have seriously considered suicide. When asked why, they say it is because of the others treat them. Most of that treatment has been verbal abuse.

Words have been used to assassinate a person’s character, undermine their sense of self-worth, and to destroy their heart and mind. The really sad part is that the verbal abuse and violent attacks that destroy people’s lives is as prevalent in the church as it is in the rest of the world.

More people leave the church and more pastors and church staff have left the ministry because of verbal attacks than anything else. It is absolutely amazing and shocking how “Christians” devour one another with their words.

We need to hear the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:33-37.

33 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 "You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35 "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. 36 "But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37 "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

I wish sometimes that every person had a shock collar on them. Every time they say something mean they would receive a very nasty painful shock. Then again that would be scary. I have no idea how many times I would find myself laying on the ground writhing in pain due to the words that have come out of my mouth.

James is absolutely correct in saying that we have been able to tame and bring under control just about everything except our tongue.

Jesus tells us that the first proof of whether a person is a genuine Christian or not is in how they use their words.

Second, James says that the 2nd proof of being a genuine Christian is in our ministry to others in their time of need.

In 27 he says. “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress.” James goes on to expound on this in chapter 2.

James 2:14-19 “14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”

Many Christians think that faith is simply a matter of what they believe; that if they believe in Jesus and the Bible that they have faith. This is not true. True Christian faith is proved not by the things we believe in our minds but by the ministry performed by our hands. For the ministry, the good we do to relieve human suffering of any kind is the real proof of a person’s faith.

We have a saying, “Words are cheap.” It is in deeds or works that faith is proved.

Jesus gives us a very chilling and sobering picture of the end-times judgment of all mankind.

Matthew 25: 31-46

31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 44 "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 45 "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

When Jesus declares, “I was hungry and you did not minster to me by giving me food”, there is a shock that moves through all the people. “Lord when did we see You hungry and not feed you? We have no memory of seeing you in need.” Jesus takes the absence of ministry to others personally. To not give food to the hungry people in the world is to neglect ministry to Jesus Himself. He identifies Himself with those who are hungry, thirsty, in need of clothing, compassion and companionship.

I can almost hear the murmuring and complaining, “This isn’t fair, we never saw You hungry. How can You condemn us to eternal hell because we didn’t see you and feed you?” And I can almost hear His answer, “Did you bother to go out and look for those who are hungry and thirsty and in need of ministry and care.”

Did you know that NM is the hungriest state in the nation? We have an almost 16% food insecurity rate in NM. The poorest countries in Latin America, third world nations, have a food insecurity rate of 11%. NM is hungrier than many 3rd world nations.

It get’s worse. 1/4th of all the children in NM go to bed at night not knowing if or when they will eat again. 25% of the total population of children in NM is hungry. When NM church people stand before Jesus in judgment is He going to say to us, “Well done, I was hungry and you fed me.” Or will he say, “Depart from Me you accursed, for I was hungry and you did not feed me.”

Jesus will not say, “Oh, you’re a Christian, it’s OK if you don’t feed the hungry.” What He will say is, “You call yourself a Christian and you didn’t feed the hungry. You are not a Christian, I never knew you.”

This is extremely important to understand. Feeding the hungry and ministering to others in need does not make us a Christian. We are not saved by doing good works, we are saved by faith. The good works are proof that we have been saved. Feeding the hungry and ministering to others in need is proof that we are a Christian. Ministry to relieve the plight of human suffering is the fruit of genuine faith.

The 3rd proof of a person’s Salvation is that they avoid sin.

In the last part of James 1:27 he says, “to keep oneself unstained by the world”. Now this is the one that is easiest for us to grasp and understand. A Christian does not commit the sins of adultery, murder, thievery, lying, etc. Christians are to have higher moral and ethical standards than the rest of the world. We are to not only believe differently but to act differently. The proof of one’s genuine Christianity is in the evil they do not do.

At the same time we need to have a better understanding of how Jesus looks at these sins. A person can say, “Well, I’ve never killed anybody. I’ve never shot or stabbed anybody. I have never taken a person’s life.”

But Jesus says in Matthew 5:21-22, “21 You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' 22 "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.:

The point Jesus is making is murder isn’t necessarily taking a person’s physical life. Murder is constituted when we hate someone. Murder begins in the heart.

The only reason some people are still alive today, is that it is against the law to kill them: if murder wasn’t against the law and if we weren’t afraid of getting caught and prosecuted more people would be dead. Just the thought in our mind to wish that someone were dead, is murder. Just the attitude of our heart of ill will toward another is murder.

This goes back to the very first point. The words we speak have killed more people than all the guns, knives, and bombs in the world. You see there is more than one way of killing someone. We can kill people physically. We can also kill people emotionally. The words we speak, the way we act toward another can kill them inside.

Any person who speaks cruel words to another to hurt them is a murderer. Whenever we use words to hurt someone, we are guilty of first degree, pre-meditated, cold-blooded murder. When we look down on someone and disregard them or think that we are better than they are, we are guilty of murder.

Jesus says the same thing about adultery. He says if a man looks at a woman with lust in his heart he is guilty of adultery. He may not have actually touched another woman, and the only reason he hasn’t is that he never had an opportunity. That man is just as guilty of adultery as a man who actually has physical relations with another woman. Women can be just as guilty as men.

Now here is a point to ponder. If a man has an affair with another woman and it hurts his wife. He is not only guilty of adultery; he is also guilty of murder.

Conclusion

There is a major principle in all these versus that we desperately need to understand. There are two kinds of sin. There are sins of commission, like murder and adultery. Then there are the sins of omission, like not feeding the hungry. James 4:17 says, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

To not feed the hungry is just as much a sin as murder. It is just as much a sin as stealing. To not feed the hungry is the same thing as stealing food from starving children so they will die.

So let me ask a question that applies to all of us, including me. What if it was judgment day today? We are all standing before God and He demands to see the fruit of our proclaimed Christianity. Is our faith all talk or is there obvious fruit that all can see to prove that we are people of genuine Christian faith?

Let me put it in another way. If we were to be put on trial for being a Christian based upon what we have looked at so far, would there be enough evidence to convict us?