Do our lives and our churches reflect Jesus’ life and key teachings?

 

There is a great deal of division between Christians as well as Christian groups because we often have neglected the key teachings of Jesus and have been distracted by lesser things. We can help change that culture by growing in learning the essentials, applying them, and lovingly influencing others.  

We live in a broken world. Brokenness and sin infects everyone, every institution, and even how Christianity is practiced. As shown by Jesus’ core teachings, he strongly spoke against arrogance and legalism and insisted instead on a personal relationship where God is at the center. If you really think about it, how mind-blowing is it that the God of the Universe, stooped down to our level and wants to have such a relationship with us? How different would Christianity’s reputation be, if all Christians had that God-first dynamic relationship, along with the “fruit” that inevitably comes from that.

 

Within the heart of Christianity are some who are committed to taking Jesus’ teachings seriously. And there is now a growing movement towards a rejuvenated faith based on his life and teaching.

 

Authentic Christianity Movement is for those who are, or want to be, on the journey of growing into everything God meant us to be. We want to encourage you in that direction, regardless of whether you join us. Individually and together, we can change Christianity in America a little bit at a time, if we are living out and promoting authentic faith to others. We hope you will join us!

 

The 3 key aspects to help you understand what this group is about:

 

1. Key Themes of Jesus

2. Finding Community with Similarly Committed Christians 

3. Promoting the Cause of Authentic Christianity 

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So, what determines what authentic Christianity is? Of course, God does, and through the New Testament, he makes it clear what it is and what it isn’t. Unfortunately, we tend to get distracted, focus too much on other things, and lose the heart of what God wants. 

 

How do we find the key themes of true Christianity?

1. First, we must seek truth. In John 8:31-32 Jesus tells the people who believed in him, many of whom were suddenly rejecting him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." The truth about Jesus' teaching is found in the gospels. Study them closely yourself. This is too important to rely on the opinions of others who might pick and choose pieces of the Bible to fit their agenda.*

2. There can be no doubt - if God inspired the Bible - he was mindful about the key themes that he wanted to come through in scripture. He knew the impact of those themes, not only for Jesus' day, but also for our day. Above all, God made sure that the key themes of Jesus were the emphasis, not the relatively peripheral things. Things like the two-in-one commandment (below), key sermons (such as the momentous Sermon on the Mount), and things that Jesus repeated often, which in the context of the whole Bible help put things in perspective.

3. These themes were often elaborated on in many other writings of the New Testament. 

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*Besides the key scriptures in this text, there are many collaborating scriptures listed at the bottom of the page. Check it out for yourself. 

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"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind and… equally important, love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
(Jesus in Matt 22:37, 39-40)

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For those of us who have read or heard this multiple times, we tend to subconsciously think ‘yeah, yeah, I know this’ and don’t think much about it anymore. It is actually a profound life-changing thing if you take it seriously. It's easy to claim to have love for God or Jesus, but how many of us have the ‘action’ that demonstrates it?

 

 

Loving God Wholeheartedly

 

Besides loving God wholeheartedly, the scripture above contains these important concepts:

1. This kind of love requires a personal relationship with God (Father/Son/Holy Spirit) that is always growing. How can you possibly have that kind of wholehearted heart/soul/mind love without such a relationship? This site assumes that you have accepted Jesus as God's son as payment for your sins or are at least considering that and all that it means. That decision is more than a one-time thing. It's a total change in direction.

2. This and other scripture requires God to be the center of our lives, not just a ‘part’ of our lives, competing with other things (money, power, image, political ideology, another person, focus on finding a love relationship, etc.). It is not something that can happen instantly for most people – it is a journey to get to know the God of the Universe and ultimately to grow to wholeheartedly love him.

3. Everything in this scripture passage (esp. "all the demands... are based on these") says that loving God and loving others are the most essential aspects of faith. When you grow to wholeheartedly follow those, you will more naturally follow the life God wants for you.

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Loving Others

 

Jesus also makes clear the equal importance of the 2nd commandment to love others. Why is it 'equal'? 1 John 4:20-21 says “But if we say we love God and don't love each other, we are liars. We cannot see God. So how can we love God, if we don't love the people we can see? The commandment that God has given us is: ‘Love God and love each other.’” We can do lip service towards this but practically speaking, how many of us show loving others – as ourselves - as a practical priority in our life? In the good Samaritan story (Luke 10:25-37), Jesus makes it clear that it’s not just for your friends and fellow believers, it also those whom you or your group see as ‘enemies’ (Samaritans were seen as racial enemies with Jews).

 

Jesus emphasizes this ‘love’ theme repeatedly in his teaching. Having such genuine love for others, in itself could radically change Christianity and our country.
 

 

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Authentic Faith Results in ‘Fruit' and Joy

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“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.... For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me… These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

(Jesus in John 15:1-5,7, 11)

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Jesus strongly emphasizes that he requires us to be deeply connected to him and ultimately showing more and more fruit - or risk being ‘cut off the vine.  He is teaching that Christianity is not a static one-and-done thing - it’s a lifelong growing process.

 

The result of staying continually connected with Jesus as he requires, is a lifetime of 'fruit' and a joy that is 'full.' Not just joy for a limited period of time, but a growing abundant life, although we will still face great difficulties in life. So how do you stay connected? It starts with serious Bible study and spending time with him and getting to know his voice. 

The ‘fruit of the spirit’ includes the Galatians 5:22-23 list (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), and other characteristics talked about in the Bible. This kind of fruit is a ‘test’ of a true Christian (see James 2 through 5). We can ask ourselves, do I exhibit the characteristics/fruit of the Spirit in a way that is obvious both to our sisters and brothers and to non-believers? 

 

Jesus talked repeatedly about other key distinguishing aspects of authentic faith in the Sermon on the Mount, including humility, not seeking riches above God, worrying, or judging others. The outcome of this and the other things listed on this page is more than spiritual growth: you become a better, healthier, happier person.

 

 

Being Authentic vs Inauthentic

 

Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21)  On more than two dozen occasions, Jesus strongly speaks against the hypocrisy, superficiality, greed, and pride of Jewish religious leaders, especially the Pharisees. They would pick and choose scripture that suited their agenda (ignoring contrary scripture). In addition, they created many additional extra-biblical rules.

By contrast, Jesus’ ‘new covenant’ was radical: “…This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.” (2 Cor. 3:6). The implication is that it is possible to be a Christian in name only, a superficial one, one who has gone astray, or someone who is just going through the motions. Most of these things are caused by having other ‘gods’ in our life or following false teachers or influencers.

 

Part of authenticity is an awareness that we are sinful and need repentance and to put God at the center of our lives (Luke 13:2-9, Rom. 7:14-25). Often it is through the great difficulties in life that, if we are open to him, we will realize his love as never before: "...we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit...” (Rom. 5:3-5).


The good news is that producing fruit and avoiding being inauthentic doesn't involve as much work as trying to follow many different commandments equally. It flows naturally (if we let it) out of growing in loving God and others. It's like when you are in-love with someone, it's not hard to do 'all the right things.' 

Two ways we can grow in authentic faith is in a community with similarly committed Christians and in promoting this cause with others. Continue with "Finding Community with Similarly Committed Christians" and "Promoting the Cause of Authentic Christianity (excerpts and links below.)

We also seek to show God's love to others including through the development of a scalable ministry to help homeless people.

 

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Whether you are an authentic Christ-follower, or just have a desire to grow as one, we want you to join the journey and be part of this community! We have started a Facebook private group discussion site at 'Authentic Christianity Movement.' This is the chance to grow and encourage each other.

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This is a volunteer, not-for-profit effort. We would love to have you join us in any areas that you have an interest (as shown in "Promoting the Cause...")  We are also looking for 'partners' who 'catch the vision' and can serve as leaders.

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SUPPORTING SCRIPTURE (in addition to scripture in the article above):
BROKEN WORLD: Ephesians 6:12, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, James 4:4, 1 John 2:16, 2 Peter 1:4, John 3:19, 1 John 2:2, Genesis 6:5,
PROBLEMS WITH JEWISH LEADERS: John 8:12-30, John 8::31-59, Luke 11:42, Matthew 12:38-42, Matthew 19:3-9, Mark 12:13-17, Matthew 22:34-40, Luke 7:30-33, Luke 7:36-50, Luke 19:37-40, Luke 20:1-8, Luke 20:19-26, John 8:1-10, Mathew 22:41-46, Mark 12:38-40, Mark 12:41-44, Matthew 12:1-8, Matthew 12:9-14, Luke 14:1-14, Mark 7:1-13, Luke 13:10-17, Luke 13:31-33, Luke 12:1-3, Matthew 5:20, Matthew 16:6-12, Matthew 21:33-47, Matthew 23:1-35, Luke 16:1-15, Luke 18:9-14, Matthew 9:2-7, Matthew 10:9-13, Matthew 9:32-34, John 9:39-41, Mark 12:18-24  
SINFULNESS: 1 John 1:8-10, Romans 3:23, James 4:17, Romans 5:12, Jeremiah 17:9, James 1:14-15, Isaiah 53:6

KEY THEMES OF JESUS (in addition to scripture in the article above):
LOVE GOD/LOVE JESUS: Matthew 10:37, John 8:42, John 14:21, 1 John 4:8,16, John 14:15
LOVE OTHERS: Matthew 10:37. John 14:15. John 13:34, John 15:12-15, John 21:15-17, Matthew 5:43–47, Matthew 6:24, Luke 14:13-14, Matthew 25:35-40, Mark 10:21, John 13:35, 1 John 4:7-10

CENTER ON GOD/JESUS: Matthew 6:19-33, Matthew 10:38, John 12:26, John 8:31-32, Matthew 16:24, John 8:12, Matthew 7:21, John 10:27, John 15:14, John 10:27, Matthew 4:10, 
RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS REQUIRED: Matthew 6:9-13, John 15:12-15, John 21:15-17, Matthew 11:28-30, John 15:16-17
GROWTH AND FRUIT REQUIRED: Matthew 11:28-30, Luke 13:6-19, John 15:16

JESUS ON TRUTH: John 18:37, John 4:23-24, John 8:31-32, John 8:44-46, John 14:16-17, John 15:26, John 16:13, John 17:17-19

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