The Authenticity of Jesus

Jesus was and is authentic. He is believable, trustworthy, reliable, genuine.

JESUS IS REAL!

First, He is real in that He exists. He is not made up like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. I hope I didn’t shatter any illusions.

Also He is real in that He is believable.

John 14:1
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.

Jesus is real in that He is trustworthy.

Acts 14:23
Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

Jesus is real in that He is reliable.

2 Corinthians 1:9
In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.

Jesus is real in that He is genuine.

Mark 12:14
They came to Him and said, “Teacher, we know that You’re genuine and You don’t worry about what people think.”

Salvation is not about going to heaven! I know that is a shocking statement for those of us who have grown up in the American Church.

The plea to people in most churches in American is to come and be forgiven of your sin so you can go to heaven. That is not the call Jesus gives in the New Testament.

The call of Jesus is to come and give Him your life. The call is a to complete surrender to Jesus.

Matthew 4:18-21
As Jesus walked alongside the Galilee Sea, He saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, throwing fishing nets into the sea, because they were fisherman. “Come, follow me,” He said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” Right away, they left their nets and followed Him. Continuing on, He saw another set of brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father repairing their nets. Jesus called them and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed Him.

Jesus didn’t beg them to let Him forgive them so that they could go to heaven. He didn’t try and convince them that they needed to be better people. Jesus called them to leave everything and follow Him. Jesus called them to allow Him to totally transform their lives and become people who focused on what God focuses on - changing people’s lives.

It was a call to come and DIE!

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, But Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Salvation is about surrendering, dying and being transformed.

Jesus calls us to surrender our lives to Him so He can transform us. Jesus wants us to be transformed into being just like Him.

Romans 8:29
For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

2 Corinthians 3:18
So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord - who is the Spirit - makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.

Salvation is an event and a process.

The event is when we realize that we are dirty rotten sinners who deserve death and hell. We confess, agree with God that we sin because we are sinners and then repent, turning from our sin to Jesus.

Then the salvation process begins. The goal of the process is for us to become like Jesus.

So, since Jesus is real that means becoming like Him is becoming real.

We are to become believable, trustworthy, reliable and genuine.

When I ask people why they are not involved in church or why they do not follow Jesus the number one answer I get is because Christians are hypocrites.

This attitude is reflected in a statement by Mahatma Gandhi. He said, “I like your Christ but I don’t like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”

The world does not want or need a really good Joe.

The world does want and need a real Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is getting rid of all the stuff that would hinder or stop us from being filled with Jesus (being real). Then when we are completely surrendered to Jesus and He is filling us, the world will see Him in us. We will be transparent display cases of Jesus and His glory to a dark and hurting world.

The world is desperately looking for the authentic.

Jesus is authentic!

Jesus does not require us to be:
talented
smart
rich
accomplished
morally perfect.

Jesus does call us to be totally, fully, completely, absolutely, 100% submitted to Him as our Lord, our Master, our Present, our Future, our Everything.

For us to be real like Jesus, everything we are and ever will be has to belong to Jesus.

For us to be real like Jesus, everything we have and will ever have has to belong to Jesus.

We have to view our:
Material Possessions
Marriages
Families
Achievements
Abilities
Time
as belonging to Jesus and not us.

Everyday I pray the following for my families, my biological one and my faith one.

Father, make us pure and holy like Jesus. Make us radically surrendered disciples and followers of Jesus, who have humble, holy courage because we know, we love, and we obey Jesus. Fill us with the Holy Spirit and focus our whole lives on Jesus and nothing else. Give us one pure and holy passion, one magnificent obsession, one glorious ambition for our lives - to know and follow hard after Jesus. To grow as Your disciples in the truth and to see this world as what it is - poor, broken, and unsatisfying.

In the Realness of Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe