This is the second in a ten week series on the Qualities of a Healthy Church. Last week we laid out the criteria for determining church health. We don’t measure it, like so many churches, by the ABC’s–Attendance–Building–Cash. We have decided to use our church’s Core Values to determine if we are healthy or sick. This morning we will examine the second of these eight core values which we call Authentic Spirituality.

In order to illustrate what it means to be authentic I want you to take a look at this famous painting. Most of you probably recognize this painting. The title is American Gothic and the original currently hangs in the halls of the Art Institute of Chicago. Now take a really good look at this picture because I am going to show you another one with slight variations to see if you can tell the difference. Take another few seconds to study the picture. OK, ready for the next one? (Same picture with heads of Rich & Karen) I am sure you tell the difference. In the original the couple is not smiling and in this one they are! To be authentic means to be genuine, to be real. This is a rip-off, an imposter, a fake. This is not the real thing either, but it closely resembles the original. As Christians, who are we supposed to resemble? We are supposed to resemble Jesus. Being an authentic Christian means that we increasingly look like Jesus. We will never BE Jesus, but our life pursuit is to become more and more like him. The reverse is true. If we pretend to be like Jesus we are not genuine, we are not the real thing. We may be able to fool a lot of people as we wear a Christian exterior, but God sees the heart and he can spot a fake immediately.

To be an authentic Christian means to be REAL-Reflect Jesus, Eternal Focus, All-surpassing Power, and Love through Speaking and Serving. An authentic Christian reflects Jesus and that is spelled out for us in vv. 4-6. ⁴The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. ⁶For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. The god of this world is Satan and this text tells us that the minds of unbelievers are blinded by Satan’s deceptions. In v. 3 Paul says the gospel is veiled. For the unbeliever the gospel is foolish–it doesn’t make sense to them. "Why would anyone want to follow the teachings of a 2,000 year old dead guy?" Others claim to be a Christian but they are deceived into thinking that they can go to heaven because they are good.

There are only two kinds of people in the world, those to whom the gospel is veiled and those whose veil has been removed. If you are a Christian at one time the gospel was veiled to you–you didn’t understand it. I was this way. I had Christians telling me that I wasn’t a Christian. I disagreed with them. I had gone to church most of my life. I knew John 3:16--For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. I believed that Jesus was the Son of God and died on the cross, but I didn’t know he died for me. I believed facts about Christ but did not believe in Christ the person, let alone in Christ as Lord, which was the message Paul preached. I was blinded and my soul was dark, but I didn’t know it. What happened? Something like what happened to Paul. He was also deceived. He thought he was serving God by throwing Christians into prison and having them stoned, until

he met Jesus on the road. In Paul’s experience, Jesus literally was a bright light that met him along the road. We will probably not see a bright light, but the same thing happens to us as it did to Paul. The light of God shone into my heart and I became a new creation. The same God who created literal light out of darkness also creates spiritual light out of our spiritual darkness.

If you have never thrown yourself at the mercy of God and asked Jesus to save you, here is a simple prayer for you. Lord, my heart is dark. Shine in my heart! Two parts: admit to God that your heart is dark and blinded and then ask him to shine in your heart and make you new.

If you have never asked God to forgive you, then it is not possible to be an authentic Christian, the second part of which is having an Eternal Focus. Look at v. 16. ¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Where is your focus? What do you see? Do you see your own pain and your troubles or do you see the unseen, eternal around you? This is a great paradox. Paul tells us to fix our eyes, not on the seen or visible, but on the visible. Can you imagine an optometrist telling you to do this. You cover one eye and look at the chart in front of you. C-L-D-O "No, no", he says, "Don’t look at the chart on the wall, look at the invisible chart!" We would look at the optometrist as if they were nuts.

What does it mean to have an eternal focus and see the unseen? When we have our own problems–and we do!–people tell us to get our focus off of ourselves and think about others. Look at all of the starving people in the world, at least were not as bad off as them. There is the old saying, I complained because I didn’t have any shoes until I met a man who didn’t have any feet. This is an example of getting our minds off of our own problems but were are not yet looking at the eternal. I have altered that saying somewhat: I complained because I didn’t have any shoes until I met a man who didn’t have any feet...so I took his shoes. He was going to need them anyway. I am poking a little fun to illustrate a point. I have feet, this man doesn’t have feet. Is that supposed to make me feel better? If my dad died from cancer and I know someone whose mom AND dad died from cancer, is that supposed to make me feel better?

Instead of comparing your situation to something worse off than you, compare your situation to something far greater. My dad died of cancer, but I am going to live forever! I lost my job but this life only lasts a short time. I have a chronic health problem, but one day soon I will have no more pain! Paul calls our troubles in this life, "Light and momentary." Paul is not saying our problems are no big deal, he is saying that they are light and momentary. Even though our problems seem big and often hurt, compared to all eternity they are very small and temporary. We don’t use this truth to discount our pain. If someone tells you their son was killed in a car accident, you should not reply, "Don’t worry, your problems are just light and momentary." You listen to that person, you grieve with them and tell them you know it hurts a great deal. But over the months and years we gently encourage them with the fact that even their great pain is temporary compared to an eternity of blessing and comfort. How long is eternity? I heard an illustration years ago that is helpful. Imagine a five foot wide, solid steel ball hanging in the air. Now picture a small sparrow flying by the steel ball and just the tip of its wing brushing the ball. Now think about this sparrow repeating this brush of the wing once every thousand years. When that ball is worn down to the size of a B-B, eternity will have just begun.

We can’t just think about a generic eternity, we must focus on the Biblical idea of eternity. For example, one article in Open Minds says this: (awareness of invisible creatures) This person and countless others like him are intensely aware of the unseen world. They have their eyes fixed on the invisible part of creation far more often that the average Christian. But they are deceived. They talk to demons and think they are spiritual mentors. They have out of body experiences that are deceptive visions of reality. Eternity is not a higher plane of existence. Death is not an illusion-it is real and you either spend all of eternity miserably alone and separated from God or you spend all eternity in an intimate relationship with God free from pain and sorrow. If you need to fix your eyes on the unseen, here is a short prayer for you. Lord. I see my pain. Show me my eternal comfort.

The third element of being a REAL Christian is the knowledge and experience of an all-surpassing power. Look at v. 7, ⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay. In Biblical times, a jar of clay or an earthen vessel as some translations read, was a simple clay pot. Clay pots held water, oil, grain, all kinds of things because they were cheap and easy to get–kind of similar to our plastic bowls–they were everywhere. But they were also very fragile and easily cracked and broken. We are the clay pots he is referring to–fragile and easily broken. Paul says we have this treasure, the great treasure of the gospel. We have the message of Jesus, the most valuable thing in the universe which is stored, as it were, in simple clay pots like you and me.

Why would God keep such a treasure in broken pots like us? To show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. God wants us to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we need him because when we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, God wants us to know it was him who kept us strong. Like the Coke can that was crushed because it was empty. That is like an empty clay pot. That is a picture of you and I when we are not filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. When we are empty we cannot resist temptation, we cannot overcome sin and walk with God. Several years ago a survey was done of pastors who left the ministry because of moral failure. The survey showed four things that was true of every single man. Every single person was counseling women alone and making other bad decisions. But one of the four things was that every man had stopped having daily times of fellowship with God through prayer and Bible reading. Every single one. You know what that tells us? These men were empty. They were pretending to be full, trying to be a pastor and helping others, but inside they were empty. When external pressures were exerted on their lives they were crushed and broken.

But the can that was full is like a human clay pot that IS full of the Holy Spirit. It is filled to the measure of the fulness of God. Now when external pressures exert themselves the person is hard pressed, but not crushed. If you are having trouble paying the bills, the all-surpassing power of God strengthens you. You feel hard-pressed, but it doesn’t take you down. Parents when the kids are creating chaos and your patience is at the limit, if you are a clay pot that is filled up, the power of God sustains you through that. How do you get filled up? Here is a simple prayer for you. Lord, I am an empty vessel. Fill me up! The first step is to admit that you are empty. Don’t be like those pastors who pretended to be full but were empty. Admit when you are empty and then simply ask God to fill you up. How often should we do this? The better question is, How often are you empty? I don’t know about you, but I wake up empty EVERY DAY. Sometimes I say, fill me up Lord, and many days I attempt to get through the day as an empty clay pot. This prayer could be like eating breakfast or taking the first step out of bed. Lord, I’m empty, fill me up!

Also, this is a good reminder that we are not the only ones who are empty. When someone is rude or mean to you in a given day, remind yourself that they are empty. Only empty people hurt others. Only empty people walk around angry and depressed all of the time. Be patient with empty people because you are often one of those empty pots. The most loving thing you can do is to forgive their emptiness and tell them how to be filled again or for the very first time.

Which leads to the last element of an authentic Christian which is loving others through speaking and serving. Hey, did you hear this week Jubilee has T-bone steaks on sale for 5 cents a pound!!

What would you do if you discovered that was true? Would you call your friends and family and tell them to rush over to Jubilee? Of course you would! News like that is too good to keep to yourself. In v. 13 Paul is quoting from a passage in the Psalms. ¹³It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. ¹⁵All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

If you believe strongly in something, you talk about it. I don’t have any conversations about UFO’s because I don’t believe in UFO’s! Do you speak about Jesus to others? Are you so passionate about Jesus that you can’t help but talk about it? How do yo develop this passion? You are passionate when your life reflects the light of Jesus. You are passionate when you focus on the eternal instead of on your pain and trouble. You are passionate when you are filled up with God so that it spills over into the loves of others.

Next month we are going to be visiting Karen’s family. Ryan has already challenged us. This week at dinner he said, "when we go to Grandma and Grandpas we have to share the gospel all we can. Kellyn had recently asked to become a Christian so Ryan tells her, "Kellyn, you have to tell them that you are a Christian." That will be a challenge. They have heard it many times over from Karen over the years and do not like talking about God. Speaking to them may involve speaking with our lives, loving and serving them like we have never done before.

An authentic Christian is one who is being transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. It is a process of learning total dependence. Let’s pray through these prayers and perhaps one or more of them will speak to you as we do.

Rich Maurer

January 13, 2002