Five Marks of an Authentic Christian

As we continue our look at Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae, last week we focused more on the author of the letter as Paul announced and introduced himself. This week, we are going to get the first glimpse at what Paul thinks about these believers in Colossae.

In order for us to understand the Colossians, we have to understand Rome. So very quickly, let’s give you a quick primer on the Roman Empire. Before Rome and since Rome, we’ve never seen anything like Rome.

If you study this thing historically, we’ve never seen anything like it. In its pinnacle, Rome covered nearly 2 million square miles (And that isn’t counting the entirety of the Mediterranean Sea). It was almost 8000 miles across from India to England. For comparison, the United States from sea-to-shining-sea is about 2,900 miles.

At its peak, about 40% of the world’s population was in the Roman Empire. For context, if we were to combine the populations of the three most populous countries in the world today China, India, and the US they would fall just shy of 40% of the Earth’s population.

On top of that, they rule the known world for fifteen hundred years. The United States is about 7 years shy of 250 years. Because of that longevity, they have impacted the modern world like you wouldn’t believe. There are two main ways that the Roman Empire not only transformed the world as they knew it but are kind of transforming even the world as we know it.

To talk about Rome you need to know about these two Romanas. Viae Romana and Pax Romana.

The first one is the Roman roads. The first Roman road was built around 300 B.C. By the second century, there were a quarter of a million miles of roads throughout the Roman empire and over 50,000 miles of them were paved with paving stones. Here’s what’s amazing about those roads that were built 2,000 years ago. Some of them to this day are still being used, including some bridges.

There are a lot of things that happened with Roman roads in regard to ease of commerce, trade, and those kinds of things. But what it did more than anything else is shrink the world. It created a world in which cultures, ethnicity, food, and religion began to boil together and you began to see the first forms of syncretism occurring in the world.

Let me help you with this. Mexican food here is not Mexican food. When we enjoy Moe’s and get a giant burrito piled high and tight that actually originated in San Francisco in the 1960s. Or if we go to the Chinese restaurant in town and get General Tso’s chicken. That is a completely Americanized dish. The name came from Taiwan but it emerged as a sugary fried chicken dish in New York in the 1960s. If you went to Mexico and got a burrito or to Taiwan and got a chicken dish they would be vastly different than what we see here.

This is the syncretization of multiple cultures colliding so you get something new. And Roman roads created that at a massive level. Whereas before, travel was really restricted to those who were courageous enough or wealthy enough, now you had a road system where anybody could travel.

And so this shrank the world. Like affordable commercial air travel did in the post-World War II landscape and like the internet has done for us. It created an unreal amount of access to other cultures, to other ideas, to other temples, to other bits of architecture, to new kinds of food. It shrank the world.

The second thing Rome really did is it brought about Pax Romana, or Roman peace. Now “Roman peace” is an interesting idea because if you were an enemy of Rome, or if you were on the outskirts of Rome, or you were a legionnaire in Rome’s army, there wasn’t a lot of peace for you. In fact, it was an extremely violent time. But inside the confines of the Empire, it was unbelievably peaceful. I think that is largely due to their rule of law.

You see, if people feel like they’re heard, they’re cared for, and they get justice, they don’t have a tendency to rise up against their government. It’s when they feel that there is no justice and there is no hope that they tend to rebel. They figured out that it is far easier to keep people imprisoned when they are happy and want to stay imprisoned.

Now, these are related to the two problems in Colossians that Paul is going to address. Number one: he’s going to go after the Empire a little bit. Saying, “Rome is not your hope.” He’s going to very subversively try and whittle away at the foundation of that. And then he’s also going to address syncretism.

Basically, with the melting pot of humanity that’s occurring, this world looks very much like our world does right now. And so, here’s what’s happening. The Colossians are saying, “Yes, we believe in Jesus and we love him. But, my neighbor worships some other God and I like the way he prays or the way he relates to his family, so I’m gonna borrow a little bit of his stuff. I’m going to create this kind of new thing.” And Paul’s going to try to undermine and attack that.

Now here’s the best news in all of this. We’re two thousand years removed from this, so we get to find out whether Paul is a liar or not. Was Rome the light and Paul was full of it? Or Was Jesus Christ the light? Who won? Rome or Christ?

Rome exhibited its power by crucifying people to show their might. Christ exhibits his power by being crucified and taking on the sins of the world. They both use the cross to wield their power. And to this day, one of those remains a very strong, vibrant part of reality, and one of them is studied historically.

So, he’s going to attack those two problems. But for this week, he’s going to be very encouraging to the church in Colossae. Let’s look at it.

Read Colossians 1:3-8

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

Many of the Colossian Christians had fallen prey to some of this syncretism. We’re not sure if there was a false teacher who was spreading this information or if it sprang up naturally as a blending of Christianity with their previous idolatrous worship. They were mixing the observance of designated holy days, avoidance of certain foods, and certain rules with the gospel as if the gospel that Epaphras taught them was not complete or accurate.

Paul wrote to the church to assure them that the gospel they previously received through Epaphras was the genuine item. It proved its authenticity by the fruit that it had produced in them and was producing in others everywhere it went. In so doing, Paul emphasized, as he often did, three virtues that are essentials of authentic Christianity: faith in Jesus Christ, love for other believers, and the hope of heaven. Also, in Paul’s opening comments, he reflects the authentic Christian virtues of thankfulness and prayer.

Five Marks of an Authentic Christian

Authentic Christians are marked by thankfulness to God with prayer, faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, love for all the saints, and the hope of heaven.

It was obvious to Paul that the Colossians were very different after they heard and believed the gospel which Epaphras preached. If people have not changed, we can assume that either the true gospel was not preached or that it was not believed. Belief in the true gospel results in the changes that Paul himself embodied and that he mentions here.

This doesn’t mean that we become overly judgmental and start looking at others as though we have arrived and somehow reached this pinnacle on our own. We are all working out our salvation with fear and trembling as God continues to work in us. Paul is encouraging the believers that because of their salvation they have seen these characteristics emerge in their life.

1. Authentic Christians are marked by thankfulness and prayer.

Colossians 1:3: “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, …” Paul had not yet met these new believers, but when he heard Epaphras’ report, he welled up with thankfulness to God for how these Gentile pagans and Jewish diasporas had responded. As a result, he and Timothy remembered them often in their prayers.

The fact that Paul thanked God for the Colossians’ salvation shows that he believed that God is the author and giver of salvation. If salvation is the result of sinners exercising their free will, then Paul would have congratulated the Colossians for making such a wise choice, much like a waiter will tell you when you give him your order, “Excellent choice!”

Paul knew that when people responded in faith to the gospel, it was because God had opened their hearts to respond (Acts 16:14). Thus, it is appropriate to thank God when He works the miracle of the new birth into dead sinners’ hearts.

In line with this, if God is not sovereign in saving sinners, then you’re wasting your time to pray that lost people would be saved. If God is not able to change the hearts of stubborn, self-willed sinners by giving them new life, then when you pray for their salvation, God’s answer would be, “I’d like to see them saved, too, but it’s not up to Me; it’s up to their free will. But I’m with you—I sure hope they pick me!”

But if God is mighty to save, then we can and should pray for the salvation of the lost and give thanks when it happens. Prayer for the salvation of the lost is implied when the Lord directs us to pray (Matthew 6:10), “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” For God’s kingdom to come on earth, people must be converted and come under the lordship of the king.

Having just celebrated Thanksgiving this week we should be well practiced in giving thanks, right? However, Thanksgiving has been stripped of most of its spiritual depth as we give thanks to one another for full bellies, familial closeness, and 40% discounts on consumer electronics. Too often in our culture, the word Thanksgiving has effectively been replaced with the idea of feeling fortunate or lucky.

I think that in all of the Bible less than 5% of the occurrences of the words that we translate thanks or gratitude have their object in people, the bulk of our thanks should be directed towards God who is the giver of all good things.

Thankfulness is a major theme in this short letter. In Colossians 1:12, Paul says that we are to be joyously “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” In Colossians 2:7, he says that we are to be “overflowing with gratitude.” In Colossians 3:15-17 he exhorts the church to “be thankful,” to sing “with thankfulness in your hearts to God,” and to do everything “in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

Concerning prayer, in addition to Paul mentioning his constant prayers for the Colossians, in 1:9-12 that we will look at next week he specifies the content of his prayers. In Colossians 4:2, he combines prayer and thanksgiving again when he commands, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.” And in Colossians 4:12, he reports that Epaphras was “always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.”

If like me, you’re prone to grumble about minor irritations and frustrations that pop up all throughout the day, I hope that you can see that grumbling and thankful prayer are opposites! In fact, thankful prayer is the antidote for grumbling. The next time you find yourself grumbling about something, stop, confess it to the Lord, and instead, by faith thank Him for bringing this irritation into your life so that you can learn to trust Him and rely more fully on Him through prayer. Thankfulness and prayer are marks of authentic Christianity.

The Triad of Christian Virtue

The reason Paul thanks God is because he sees in the Colossian church the common triad of Christian virtues: their faith in Christ Jesus, their love for all the saints, and the hope laid up in heaven for them, as contained in the gospel which Epaphras had preached to them. Faith, hope, and love are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 5:8; Romans 5:1-5; Galatians 5:5, 6; Ephesians 1:15, 18; 4:2-5; and, Hebrews 6:10-12; 10:22-24. One writer says that they are a sort of “apostolic shorthand” for genuine Christianity (R. C. Lucas, Fullness and Freedom) Let’s look at each of these three virtues:

2. Authentic Christians are marked by faith in Jesus Christ, rooted in the gospel.

Paul had heard of the Colossians’ “faith in Christ Jesus.” In other words, our faith must be in all that Christ is and all that He did for us on the cross. But saving faith is always in the person of Jesus Christ, not just in doctrines about Him.

Faith has no merit in itself, but rather is only as valid as its object. You can have all the faith in the world in a defective airplane, but that won’t make the plane fly or get you to your destination. Nothing is quite so nefarious today as this generic faith which has no defined object. “You just need to have faith that things are going to work out in the end.”

Many cults claim to have faith in Jesus, but their “Jesus” is a false Jesus who was conceived by the cult founder. He is not the Jesus revealed in the apostolic testimony of the New Testament. Our faith must be in the Jesus revealed in Scripture. But the point here is that we are not only to believe correct teaching about Jesus Christ, but also to believe in and cherish Christ Himself. He alone is our Savior.

Some claim to believe in Jesus, but if you asked them to explain the gospel, they would not be able to do it. But to have genuine faith in Christ, you must understand the gospel.

1) THE GOSPEL IS GOOD NEWS

“Gospel” means “good news.” I mention this so that we’re not just throwing around Christian jargon without considering its meaning. The Christian message is not primarily an ethical or moral code, but rather good news to those who deserve God’s judgment. As the angel announced to the shepherds on the night that Jesus was born (Luke 2:10), “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

To understand that good news, we first must understand the bad news: we all have sinned and deserve God’s righteous judgment. We stand before God guilty and condemned and we cannot save ourselves. That’s why we need a Savior. And Jesus, the eternal God who took on human flesh through the virgin birth, is the Savior whom God sent to bear our punishment on the cross. The good news is that God offers salvation as a free gift to every sinner who does not work for it, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5). There is no better news in the world than that!

2) THE GOSPEL HAS CONTENT

It is God’s “word of truth” (1:5). Through Epaphras, the Colossians had previously heard it, learned it, and understood it “in truth.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones makes the point that the gospel does not first come to us through our heart, our emotions, or our will, but rather to our minds or understanding. I don’t like altar calls after emotional testimonies about how Jesus can help heal broken relationships and free from addiction with stirring music calling on people to make a decision by raising their hands or coming forward. Too often the preacher has not made clear the content of the gospel. Rather, it’s an appeal to the emotions or to the will that bypasses the mind. Often such appeals result in false converts who were moved emotionally at the moment, but they did not understand the content of the gospel. Before the gospel can be believed or accepted it must be learned and understood.

Paul also describes the gospel as “the grace of God” (1:6). Grace is central and essential to the gospel. It means that we are sinners who rightly deserve God’s judgment. But it also means that because Jesus paid the penalty we deserve, God can be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:26). Thus Paul could write (Ephesians 2:8-9), “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

So when you share the gospel, make sure that you make the content of the gospel clear. The Holy Spirit must open the mind of the lost person so that he can truly understand the grace of God (1st Corinthians 2:14). And the Spirit must grant faith to that lost person so that he can stop trusting in his good works and believe the good news of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. The gospel is good news that contains specific truth content.

3) THE GOSPEL IS POWERFUL TO SAVE SINNERS

The Colossians were mostly Gentile pagans, vainly living for the lusts of the flesh, when the gospel came to them. But when God opened their minds to understand, their hearts to respond and their wills to believe, they were dramatically changed. But this powerful change wasn’t unique in Colossae. Paul tells them (1:6) that “in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing.” It was spreading all over the Roman Empire with the same powerful results that they had seen in Colossae.

We are witnesses to the power of the gospel to “Bear fruit and increase.” Where and when was this letter written? Where are we today? Let it sink in for a minute that the gospel that a Galilean peasant who claimed to be God died alongside thieves 2000 years ago has reached us here in Williston.

The gospel bears the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of believers, gradually but inevitably changing their thinking and behavior. Externally, the gospel increases as transformed believers tell others the good news. Paul emphasizes this powerful effect of the gospel to underscore its authenticity. The true gospel that Epaphras had proclaimed in Colossae had changed their lives and also the lives of others as it spread around the Roman Empire. Authentic Christians understand, believe, and cherish the good news of the grace of God in Christ.

3. Authentic Christians are marked by love for all the saints.

Often Paul pairs faith and love together as genuine indicators of conversion (e. g., Ephesians 1:15; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Timothy 1:14; 2 Timothy 1:13; Philemon 5). As he says (Galatians 5:6), “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.” While faith is essential for beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ, it is worthless if it does not result in love for others, especially for “all the saints” (1:4; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 13).

Love is the distinguishing mark of Christians. As Jesus said (John 13:34-35), “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Authentic Christian love is “in the Spirit” (1:8), which means that the Holy Spirit produces this love as His fruit in believers. The flesh is basically self-serving, resulting in the deeds of the flesh, which include (Galatians 5:20-21), “enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” But Paul describes the love which the Spirit produces in us (1 Corinthians 13:4-7),

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

If relationships were perfect or ideal, we wouldn’t need the repeated commands to love one another. These commands imply that we’ve got to work continually on our relationships. Love would not need to be patient if the other person were not irritating you. It would not need to be kind or not jealous or not provoked if the other person always acted in a loving way toward you. We all must battle the flesh daily by denying self and seeking the other person’s highest good. Sacrificial love for others, just as Jesus loved us, is an essential mark of authentic Christianity (Ephesians 5:1-2). Finally,

4. Authentic Christians are marked by the hope of heaven.

Colossians 1:5: “…because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel ….” Grammatically, the phrase, “because of the hope,” refers back to faith and love, meaning that their faith and love spring from their hope of heaven.

Before Epaphras preached the gospel to them, they had no hope and were “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). But the gospel brought the hope (or promise) of heaven and on account of this hope, they believed in Christ and grew in love for one another. “Hope” here does not refer to the act of hoping, but rather to the objective content of hope, namely, God’s promise of heaven for all who believe in Jesus. Since we’re going to be spending eternity with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we’d better learn to love one other now!

I realize, of course, that in heaven all the saints will be perfectly sanctified, so it will be easier to love them than it is now. While we’re all in the process of sanctification, the saints (including myself!) all have some rough edges. So how does the hope of heaven motivate us to grow in love for all of God’s redeemed people?

But the point here is, the foundation for faith and love is our hope for heaven. That hope is certain, laid up for us, because it’s based on the promises of God, who cannot lie; but it’s not yet realized.

You sometimes hear the argument that if Christians that are too heavenly minded they won’t be of any earthly good. John Piper spoke to this and I quote…

“The problem with the church today is not that there are too many people who are passionately in love with heaven. The problem is not that professing Christians are retreating from the world, spending half their days reading Scripture and the other half singing about their pleasures in God all the while indifferent to the needs of the world. That’s not happening! The people of God are not so full of love to God that they spend half their days in his word.

The problem is that professing Christians are spending ten minutes reading Scripture and then half their day making money and the other half loving and repairing what they spend it on.

It’s not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love for the lost and hurting of this world. It is worldly-mindedness that hinders love, even when it is disguised by a religious routine on the weekend.

Conclusion

Paul is encouraging the Colossians to take stock of the authenticity of their beliefs. It is working. There is nothing more they need to add. Jesus is enough. I encourage you to ask yourself, “Is my Christianity authentic or am I faking it?” Here are the tests:

Are you marked by thankfulness and prayer? Is your faith in Jesus Christ and His gospel? Are you working at genuine love for all of God’s people, especially those you rub shoulders with every day? And are you motivated in all you do by the hope laid up for you in heaven?

Perfection in these things is not required or possible in this life. But to be authentic Christians, we should be working at and making progress in thankfulness and prayer; faith in Christ and the gospel; love for one another; and the hope laid up for us in heaven.