How Do We Recognize And Define A Real Christian?

[Meg]

I have got to ask this question, I think deep down this very question haunts many if not all of us. I know I have done my best to develop and define my own faith based on Scripture alone. I see incredible expressions of what looks and sounds like real faith undermined by other behaviors that indicate anything but, in the people who profess Christianity who I know here in person.

Then there is the public sector. Before I came online and got a view much broader than what goes around in this sheltered community, I thought I had discovered some wonderful public figures. But the more I research the resources that are gathered in the whole of the Rapture Ready Ministry, the more the Christian leaders I thought were some of the best, turn out to be some of the most dangerous false teachers, particularly because they are so famous, it seems like some sort of betrayal to question their leading, and most people do not.

I am beginning to get an impression that we are caught in a vise between the cult of fame and personality, and the severely embattled truth of what Christianity was originally meant to be way back when the original New Testament was defined by God The Father with the fully stated intent that His Word would stand forever. Because somewhere amidst all this confusion, competing theologies, varied doctrines and fiercely defended beliefs is the genuine truth thats going to be strong enough to stand the test of Eternity. So how then do we recognize it when we see it in another person, or most critically, in ourselves?

[Adopted Son]

Simple. IF they possess the HOPE of the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ and eternal life with Him, LOVE with the completeness Christ exhibited while on this earth, and act in the CHARITY of a heart full of love, you can be relatively certain they are born again in Jesus Christ.

[mattfivefour]

Simple. IF they possess the HOPE of the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ and eternal life with Him, LOVE with the completeness Christ exhibited while on this earth, and act in the CHARITY of a heart full of love, you can be relatively certain they are born again in Jesus Christ.

Could not have said it better. Jesus said both, "You shall know them by their fruit" (Matthew 7:16) and "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 15:35) True love—self-sacrificing in all things—is the hallmark of God's true followers. Love is the first and the greatest fruit. From it and with it flow the others: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control ...." (Galatians 5:22-23)

Find a person who claims Christ as Savior AND Lord ... and who exhibits these fruit with love above all, and you have found a true follower Spirit-indwelt follower of Jesus Christ. And, indeed, the Spirit in you will give witness to the Spirit in them.

But you ask a very interesting thing:

So how then do we recognize it when we see it in another person, or most critically, in ourselves?

Indeed, that latter part IS most critical! How do we recognize it? In the same way we recognize it in others. The Holy Spirit, through Paul, tells us to examine ourselves. (2 Corinthians 13:5 NIV) In so doing we shall not come under condemnation. This is why 1 Corinthians 11:28 says "But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup." (NASB)

The Bible is both a picture ... and a mirror. It is a picture of Jesus Christ ... and overlaid on it we see a reflection of ourselves. The temptation that we experience when we earnestly look into god's Word is that we become discouraged. This is Satan's work. He is the accuser. And he not only accuses us continually to god, but he accuses us continually to ourselves. We see the perfection that is Christ and the imperfection that is us. and the closer we draw to Christ the more flaws we see in ourselves. That is because that as the Light grows brighter in us it reveals more. God wants this so that as the flaws are brought to our sight we will offer them up to Him, asking HIM to remove them — for it is only by the Spirit that our flesh, our old nature, can be destroyed. (Romans 8:13) As I said, Satan tries to pervert this process and have us look at our flaws and give up. But God in His love says, "Come to me and I will give you rest." He is the author and the finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He is the one who works in us both to will AND to do those things that please Him (Philippians 2:13). And He is the One who will make us holy, faultless and irreproachable and present us in that fashion before the Father. (Colossians 1:22; Jude 1:24)

Anyway, look for an overarching and growing love in yourself for God and for His Creation ... your fellow man above all. If you trust God, believe in Christ, want to learn more and more of Him, and wish to please Him with your life, you can be absolutely certain you are His.

I hope this helps.

[soundingthealarm]

Could not have said it better. Jesus said both, "You shall know them by their fruit" (Matthew 7:16) and "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 15:35) True love—self-sacrificing in all things—is the hallmark of God's true followers. Love is the first and the greatest fruit. From it and with it flow the others: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control ...." (Galatians 5:22-23)

Find a person who claims Christ as Savior AND Lord ... and who exhibits these fruit with love above all, and you have found a true follower Spirit-indwelt follower of Jesus Christ. And, indeed, the Spirit in you will give witness to the Spirit in them.

But you ask a very interesting thing:

Indeed, that latter part IS most critical! How do we recognize it? In the same way we recognize it in others. The Holy Spirit, through Paul, tells us to examine ourselves. (2 Corinthians 13:5 NIV) In so doing we shall not come under condemnation. This is why 1 Corinthians 11:28 says "But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup." (NASB)

The Bible is both a picture ... and a mirror. It is a picture of Jesus Christ ... and overlaid on it we see a reflection of ourselves. The temptation that we experience when we earnestly look into god's Word is that we become discouraged. This is Satan's work. He is the accuser. And he not only accuses us continually to god, but he accuses us continually to ourselves. We see the perfection that is Christ and the imperfection that is us. and the closer we draw to Christ the more flaws we see in ourselves. That is because that as the Light grows brighter in us it reveals more. God wants this so that as the flaws are brought to our sight we will offer them up to Him, asking HIM to remove them — for it is only by the Spirit that our flesh, our old nature, can be destroyed. (Romans 8:13) As I said, Satan tries to pervert this process and have us look at our flaws and give up. But God in His love says, "Come to me and I will give you rest." He is the author and the finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He is the one who works in us both to will AND to do those things that please Him (Philippians 2:13). And He is the One who will make us holy, faultless and irreproachable and present us in that fashion before the Father. (Colossians 1:22; Jude 1:24)

Anyway, look for an overarching and growing love in yourself for God and for His Creation ... your fellow man above all. If you trust God, believe in Christ, want to learn more and more of Him, and wish to please Him with your life, you can be absolutely certain you are His.

I hope this helps.

"Thank You JESUS!!!!!!!"

such a great description of the difference between condemnation verses conviction

[Meg]

Thanks Matt, this does help:

Anyway, look for an overarching and growing love in yourself for God and for His Creation ... your fellow man above all. If you trust God, believe in Christ, want to learn more and more of Him, and wish to please Him with your life, you can be absolutely certain you are His.

I hope this helps.

At least I can safely say I am His... What happens though when someone otherwise sincere falls for something false? I heard something about at least one family who went after Todd Bentley atr the height of the Lakeland thing.

[mattfivefour]

If they are Christ's they will eventually recover themselves for the Spirit of Truth that is in them will lead them back into the truth. If they continue in error it is likely because they never knew Him in the first place.

[Meg]

If they are Christ's they will eventually recover themselves for the Spirit of Truth that is in them will lead them back into the truth. If they continue in error it is likely because they never knew Him in the first place.

I guess I thought it was possible to start out good, and drift into bad, really bad because of these passages:

1 John 2:15-19

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

[mattfivefour]

Sis, your answer is in the final part of the verse you quote ... and says exactly what I said:

"if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us."

In other words, sis, they may have looked like Christians, but the fact they departed rom the faith shows they never were. that's exactly what John is saying.

You cannot drift off into error as long as you remain humble; have no confidence in anything of yourself; live a life filled with prayer; immerse yourself in Scripture but don't try to find special knowledge in it but rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal what He wills; and daily submit yourself to Him, reckoning yourself to be dead to sin and alive to Christ, dead to your own will and wants and alive only to His.

[Meg]

Sis, your answer is in the final part of the verse you quote ... and says exactly what I said:

"if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us."

In other words, sis, they may have looked like Christians, but the fact they departed rom the faith shows they never were. that's exactly what John is saying.

You cannot drift off into error as long as you remain humble; have no confidence in anything of yourself; live a life filled with prayer; immerse yourself in Scripture but don't try to find special knowledge in it but rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal what He wills; and daily submit yourself to Him, reckoning yourself to be dead to sin and alive to Christ, dead to your own will and wants and alive only to His.

And if I understand the other things you say elsewhere, especially don't try to find special knowledge outside Scripture, right? )I know thats right, but one good look at lighthouse Trails...

Lighthouse Trails Research Project - Exposing Contemplative Spirituality

[myinnuendo999]

many good answers and I could add to it. But I'll just say go to the book of 1 John and read

[seank6]

I have a question that relates to this topic. I know that only Jesus knows someones heart if they are true and have accepted hime but my question is this..can the Holy Spirit tell you if someone is true or not?The reason I ask is this in the past few months as ive grown in my faith i get certain feelings in my gut when i meet someone and im right almost all the time.so would that be concidered a gift?or discernment,or just ones own judgements?

[mikhen7]

I have a question that relates to this topic. I know that only Jesus knows someones heart if they are true and have accepted hime but my question is this..can the Holy Spirit tell you if someone is true or not?The reason I ask is this in the past few months as ive grown in my faith i get certain feelings in my gut when i meet someone and im right almost all the time.so would that be concidered a gift?or discernment,or just ones own judgements?

There is a gift of discernment but do not rely on emotions. To be sure ones life must follow the dictates of the Scripture. Please ponder the passages below. God is awesome!

Here is a few verses:
Rom. 8:14-17,

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Eph. 1:13-22

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

I once met a man who seemed like a strong believer. There were a few things I wondered about but I shrugged them off. One day he surrendered to ministry. The pastor and he became pretty close. I would often go visit the church and the pastor only to find them sharing crude humor and making light of dead people and corpses (the pastor assisted at a mortuary) . I tried to overlook it but it weighed heavy on my spirit. Time passed and I got kicked out of the church by the pastor because I had 500 tracts printed up and had distributed them at a mall in Joplin, Mo. He said I was a renegade and did not do this by the authority of the church. ?????? So I was anathema to Him.

At any rate a few days later he dropped dead in his front yard cutting grass. Two other pastors, who were his cohorts in other cities also dropped dead that same week, one of them also was cutting grass at the time (I am not sure of the other).

The man I started with....well soon after, he was handing out large nice leather bound Bibles to people, he even offered me one. I refused because I knew his story of aquisition was fishy. I could go on about some other things that occured and might do that one day, but suffice it to say my conscious (understanding with the Holy Spirit's help) was correct. He had broken into a warehouse in K.C. Mo and stolen the Bibles. He was soon after busted as being a ring leader in a counterfeit ring. Wow, was I surprised.

The Bible tells us to be sensitive to our conscious because the Holy Spirit speaks to us.
Rom. 9:1,
1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,

I believe what paul is saying is His understanding was being confirmed by the Holy Spirit.

Of Course there are many other passages that we could refer to but I will leave you with this one:
Rom. 8:5,
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

God Bless!

[Meg]

I have a question that relates to this topic. I know that only Jesus knows someones heart if they are true and have accepted hime but my question is this..can the Holy Spirit tell you if someone is true or not?The reason I ask is this in the past few months as ive grown in my faith i get certain feelings in my gut when i meet someone and im right almost all the time.so would that be concidered a gift?or discernment,or just ones own judgements?

Sean, I'm going to say always err on the side of caution. If we get you thinking this is a gift of the Holy Spirit and encourage you to depend on it, that can really lead to trouble. One key is the word "almost". That tells me what you've got is a pretty good talent for reading people. Its always best to get undeniable facts though. Thats my best take. I hope Matt spots this thread though, he's got a lot of experience with things like this. Are you in a Pentecostal church, Sean?

[seank6]

Sean, I'm going to say always err on the side of caution. If we get you thinking this is a gift of the Holy Spirit and encourage you to depend on it, that can really lead to trouble. One key is the word "almost". That tells me what you've got is a pretty good talent for reading people. Its always best to get undeniable facts though. Thats my best take. I hope Adrian spots this thread though, he's got a lot of experience with things like this. Are you in a Pentecostal church, Sean?

no i go to an independent bible based baptist church.

[anath]

Simple. IF they possess the HOPE of the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ and eternal life with Him, LOVE with the completeness Christ exhibited while on this earth, and act in the CHARITY of a heart full of love, you can be relatively certain they are born again in Jesus Christ.

You nailed it, brother AS!