The Christ-follower as Disciple & Missioner: Part II

by Pastor Lane

As a disciple, we are transformed by God’s grace through self-denial, sacrificed and suffering to grow in authenticity of Christ-likeness. Transformation impacts life through authentic living. Established in Christ’s righteousness, authenticity is the way we begin to live when we trust that Christ has imputed his righteousness upon us. A disciple learns to live in the righteousness that comes by faith in Christ Jesus. Not by any other form of righteousness that comes through good works, good thinking, intentions, or otherwise. The gospel reveals righteousness from God to us, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last (Rom. 1.17). God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5.21). God’s grace frees us from living in our own self-righteousness or worldly righteousness to rest in Jesus’ righteousness that comes through faith.

There are several killers to this authentic living that we must beware of. An unrepentant spirit can kill authentic living by hardening one’s heart toward God and allowing sin to blind them and deceive. Perfectionism takes ones fear of being wrong or ‘not perfect’ and causes them to build in standards, other than God truth, to live by. Controlling tendencies, a fear of losing control or being controlling toward others, can lead a person to manipulate and rationalize sin in life in an effort to practice ‘sin management.’ Discontentment kills authentic living by living to please others and working to make others think more highly of us than we think about ourselves. It can also cause us to be ungrateful or greedy, consumed with wanting more in life. Contentment is too often believed to be related to material possession. Paul says that contentment is to be learned in every situation, regardless of the circumstances (Phil. 4.11) “but godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6.6). Legalism kills authentic living as it bases righteousness on an adherence to a set of rules, striving to make one feel better about themselves and appear better before other people. It establishes a pseudo-righteousness based on one’s set of rules or legalisms. Inevitably it can begin to impose that same set of rules onto others. Authenticity killers are anything that creates a righteousness based on something other than God’s righteousness by faith in Christ Jesus alone.