An Authentic Walk 30MAR2014

1 Thessalonians 5:12-18
©Good News Community Fellowship;
Marikina City, Philippines

Those who are in Christ has made a
radical, transformed authentic
walk that exposes a superficial,
unchanged life.

A genuine walk with God, our genuine
Christian walk will preach louder to
the unsaved, unchurched than
anything we can ever verbally speak.

Do we have an authentic walk with
Christ? There is a big difference
between authentic walk and a
superficial walk with Christ. The
Bible teaches us that a real Christian
will have a certain character traits
that will differ from the non-
Christian.

Walking an authentic Christian walk is
not a request but a requirement.

When Christ set up His church, He
gifted the Church with leaders. This
passage is directly talking to the
church about their relationship to
their leaders as well as to live
authentic Christian life.

Three exhortations to the Church
regarding their proper attitudes
toward their leaders:
a) They are to respect them and
appreciate them because of their
work.

b) They are to esteem, value, and
respect them for their work’s sake.
Hold them in highest regard
because of the nature of their
responsibility before God.

Not just some respect, but the
highest respect is due to these
leaders, and it is to come from an
attitude of love for them. Why?
Because they are always right? No!
Because of their work! Because of
their calling! Because of who called
them.

c) They are to live in peace with each
other. The idea here is to maintain
peace because peaceful condition
existed in the Thessalonian church
but they had to continue to live in
peace.

Authentic Christian lives a life with
a highest regard to their leaders.

a) The idle need to be warned. Those
who neglect their duties need to be
stirred up to action.

b) The timid or the fainthearted
people tend to become
discouraged and despondent more
easily than most. They need
cheering up, stimulation to press
on, and extra help to live the
Christian life.

c) The weak need help. They have
not yet learned to lean upon the
Lord as much as they should for
their spiritual needs. Until they do
they need strong support from
other believers.

d) Be patient with everyone. God is
not finished yet with each one of
us. God is still working patiently
(long suffering) with us and so we
must be patient as well.

e) Retaliation is not an option for
a Christian. Even if the wrong
done to him springs from evil
intent, the offended one never has
the right to repay wrong with
wrong. One’s response should be
to show kindness in such
instances.

f) It is not enough to abstain from
evil; one is also to do positive
good – to be kind to each other.

Authentic Christian life lives
peaceably and does not seek to
get even.

Check your attitude concerning the
following areas:
a) Be joyful always. Authentic
Christian is joyful all the time.

Be joyful – some of the time.
Be joyful – when things are going
great.
Be joyful – only on payday or when we
have money.
Be joyful – only on Sundays.
No! Be joyful always.

New Testament Christianity is
permeated with the spirit of holy joy,
and there is no reason why 21st
Christianity should not have the
same joyfulness.

2) Pray continually. Authentic
Christian prays continually – both
in crisis and success moments.

It is not in the moving of our lips but
in the elevation of our hearts to God
which enables us to pray without
ceasing and to be all our days in the
spirit of prayer.

Realizing our dependence on God for
all that we have and all that we are,
realizing His presence with us
wherever we may be, and yielding
ourselves continually to Him for the
doing of His will.

Where there is such an inward state, it
will find outward expression in
verbal prayer that it becomes so
natural and so continual for us, that
the frequency of such prayers
becomes habit forming.

c) Give thanks in all
circumstances. Authentic
Christian always finds something
for which to be grateful. Even in
difficulties and trials, God is
teaching us valuable lessons.

Therefore, such trials are to be
welcomed. Knowing God’s
sovereignty and providence
prompts us to give thanks under all
circumstances.

Although, it is often difficult to see
the brighter side of a particular
trial, but it is our deep conviction
that God is over all, and that His
hand is in the particular trial we
are undergoing.

Then, we cannot but recognize His
goodness and make our act of
thanksgiving in every
circumstance.

What God wants us to have is an
authentic walk that will provide a
genuine expression of a transformed
life done in the power of the Holy
Spirit.

Not a reformation but a true
transformation that effect change
from inside out, to be seen in our
authentic Christian walk. Not
superficially and in hypocrisy but a
genuine life that exhibits the Christ-
like life.

An Authentic Walk 30MAR2014

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