Lesson 18 How to Identify Real Christians

[Image:] Jesus giving instructions and sending his disciples out to preach in pairs.

[Press play to hear the MP3 of the Lesson]

Billions of people claim to be Christian. But they do not all share the same beliefs, nor do they live by the same standards. So how can we identify real Christians?

1. What is a Christian?

Christians are disciples, or followers, of Jesus Christ. (Read Acts 11:26.) How do they prove that they are Jesus’ disciples? He said: “If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples.” (John 8:31) This means that real Christians must obey Jesus’ teachings. And just as Jesus relied on the Scriptures to support his teachings, real Christians base their beliefs on the Bible. Read Luke 24:27.

[Read scripture] Acts 11:26: After he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year they assembled with them in the congregation and taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the disciples were by divine providence called Christians. [End of Read scripture]

[Read scripture] Luke 24:27: And starting with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them things pertaining to himself in all the Scriptures. [End of Read scripture]

2. How do real Christians show love?

Jesus told his followers: “Love one another just as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) How did Jesus show that he loved his disciples? He spent time with them, encouraged them, and helped them. He even gave up his life for them.

[Quotation] 1 John 3:16: By this we have come to know love, because that one surrendered his life for us, and we are under obligation to surrender our lives for our brothers. [End Quotation]

Similarly, real Christians do more than talk about love. They show by their words and actions that they love one another.

3. Real Christians are busy in what activity?

Jesus gave work to his disciples. “He sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:2) The early Christians preached, not only in their places of worship but also in other public places and at the homes of people. (Read Acts 5:42; 17:17.) Real Christians today likewise preach Bible truth wherever people are. They love their neighbors, so they gladly use their time and energy to share the Bible’s message of hope and comfort.

[Quotation] Mark 12:31: The second is this, ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” [End Quotation]

[Read scripture] Acts 5:42: And every day in the temple and from house to house they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus. [End of Read scripture]

[Read scripture] Acts 17:17: So he began to reason in the synagogue with the Jews and the other people who worshipped God and every day in the marketplace with those who happened to be on hand. [End of Read scripture]

Dig Deeper

Consider how you can distinguish real Christians from people who do not follow Jesus’ teachings and example.

4. They search for Bible truth

Not all who claim to be Christian value Bible truth. Play the video How Christianity Was Corrupted (5:11), and then discuss the question that follows.

[Disclaimer: The following video is created by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society; however, the audio description has been added by independent blind and sighted volunteers to assist those who are blind or have low vision]

[Click for Transcript]|[How Christianity Was Corrupted]
[Colour sketches of Jesus and his Disciples]
Presenter: All who truly followed Jesus reflected the light he radiated. But Jesus foretold that after the death of his apostles, there would be a falling away from pure worship.
[Artwork: People with arms up in protest]
That apostasy would be so extensive that genuine disciples would practically disappear until “the conclusion of the system of things.”
[Text: Matthew 13:40]
At the same time, a counterfeit form of Christianity would flourish.
[Christendom’s religious leaders stand over a large crowd]
And so, it happened.
[A huge cross cast its shadow on the crowd. Portrait of Pope Innocent X]
So-called Christian churches deviated from Christ’s teachings.
[Trinity image 3 heads in one]
The result was the abuse of power and untold suffering.
[A man tortured on a breaking wheel. Another man’s arms chained and stretched]
This was a period of deep darkness.
[A priest with arms outstretched and head held high. Geoffrey W. Jackson. Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses]
Geoffrey: In the centuries after the establishment of the Christian congregation, we see how many of those who were taking the lead in the Christian church (or, the Christian congregation) likewise started to love worldly wisdom. These ideas that came from Plato and other Greek philosophers started to infiltrate the so-called Christian thinking.
[David H. Splane. Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses]
David: And so, the apostates wished to blend Christian teaching and Christian tradition with pagan religious ideas. The idea was to make these things more acceptable to other pagans so that pagans could be drawn into the Christian religion.
Presenter: As the centuries passed, apostate religious leaders obscured the light even further by keeping the Bible in Latin, a language no longer understood by most people.
[A copyist writes in Latin]
Yet, at certain points during this darkness, there were still individuals who felt keenly the need to read and understand God’s Word.
[Bearded man reads the Bible]
For example, in the 1100’s, a French merchant known as Vaudès commissioned a translation of Bible books into the language of the common people.
[He writes with a feather pen]
Two centuries later Catholic priest John Wycliffe wrote powerfully against unbiblical practices of the church.
[In front of clerics, he points to the Bible]
By 1382, Wycliffe’s team released the first translation of the Bible into English.
[Tyndale with Bible meditates]
His students, known as Lollards, preached the Bible’s message to anyone who would listen.
[Sketches of Lollards preaching]
By 1495, the invention of movable type made it possible to print all or part of the Bible in 12 languages.
[Older man reads the Bible to a young lady]
Man: Our Father which art in heaven, . . .
Presenter: Soon, people were reading it for themselves. And some who did began to discern that the church had gone off course. In the 1500’s, such men as Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Luther, and John Calvin preached the need to return to the original principles of Christianity. These men and others tried to expose hypocritical practices and uphold Bible teachings even though this put them at odds with powerful religious authorities.
Geoffrey: You can see ones that were willing to stand out as being different even though they didn’t have a full knowledge of the truth.
[Sketch of a woman being stabbed in the heart]
Presenter: But standing out led to persecution,
[Burnings at the stake]
and persecution often led to compromise,
[A soldier with a sword holds a man down]
especially when it came to preaching.
[A civic hanging]
Nevertheless, in many lands, the 16 and 1700’s were marked by a strong upsurge in Bible study.
[A man with Bible in hand preaching to an assembly]
In England, many learned men refuted the Trinity doctrine as unscriptural. Among them, scientist Sir Isaac Newton, poet John Milton, and chemist Joseph Priestley. Besides rejecting the Trinity doctrine, Priestley declared that the teaching of the inherent immortality of the soul was false.
[He writes]
He held that the first-century Christians had the true faith and that any change to that pattern of belief was a corruption.
[He sets his pen down and nods with satisfaction]
(Logo: Black capital letters JW.ORG inside a white box. Copyright 2010 Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania) [Click to close]

How have some so-called Christian churches failed to teach what Jesus taught?

Jesus taught the truth from God’s Word. Read John 18:37, and then discuss this question:

According to Jesus, how can we identify Christians who are “on the side of the truth”?

[Read scripture] John 18:37: So Pilate said to him: “Well, then, are you a king?” Jesus answered: “You yourself are saying that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is on the side of the truth listens to my voice.” [End of Read scripture]

[Image:] Two first-century Christians searching for Bible truth by examining a scroll. Caption: The early Christians valued God’s Word

5. They preach Bible truth

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he gave his followers a mission that continues today. Read Matthew 28:19 and 20 and Acts 1:8, and then discuss this question:

To what extent would the preaching work be done?

[Read scripture] Matthew 28:19 and 20: Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.” [End of Read scripture]

[Read scripture] Acts 1:8: But you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you, and you will be witnesses of me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the most distant part of the earth.” [End of Read scripture]

[Image:] First-century Christians preaching to people at their homes. Caption: The early Christians preached to others

6. They practice what they preach

What convinced a man named Tom that he had found real Christianity? Play the video I Gave Up on Religion (5:20), and then discuss the questions that follow.

[Click for Transcript]|[I gave up on Religion]
[In an empty warehouse sits Tom. He explains]
Tom: When I gave up on religion, there was such an emptiness because I really wanted to believe in God my whole life. I wanted to believe. “Where were you? You knew I was looking for you, God.” And I felt abandoned.
[A boy unwraps a gift]
My love for photography goes way back to about age six, when I got my first little Kodak Instamatic. I just thought it was a wonderful way to document the world.
[The boy takes photos in the snow]
Dad was very much a give-back-to-the-community kind of guy. My mom, her biggest quality is empathy.
[Photos, boy with parents]
So, growing up with that, I saw the best way to be helpful to people was to become a priest, because I thought that those were the best people in the best position to be the most help.
[As a young man, he studies]
When I was 18, I went to the college seminary, and that was the road to the priesthood.
[Young man Tom with suitcase in hand enters the seminary]
I left there angry because we were all going through the motions of ritual.
[He pulls off his priest collar and leaves the seminary]
There was no authenticity. After a few years, I entered a monastery in the United States as a counsellor-in-training, working with alcoholic priests.
[He sits with a troubled priest]
But again, it reinforced my disappointment with the church because here was the big secret. Here was where all the troubled priests go.
[He focuses he camera and photographs a city]
I felt that everything I had believed in had been a lie. I tried Zen Buddhism; I tried Tibetan Buddhism. I went through all of the churches, and there was nothing there. Nothing. And I said, “We’re done.”
[In a film developing room Ton turns the lights off]
By this point, I had a real edge.
[Photo in liquid]
I was a very, very angry person. I felt that the world had done me over.
[Photo done]
I noticed that was reflected in my photography. There were less and less people in the pictures and more and more buildings and objects.
[In a classroom he writes on a chalkboard]
As a psychology professor, as a counselling professor, my mission was accomplished if my students could leave that class and they had learned how to think for themselves and not just to take in what they were being sold. I had a thing about organizations lying to people.
[Shelves of books in a library]
I’d been a student of all sorts of learning, but there was always something missing.
[Text: Tom was introduced to Jehovah’s Witnesses]
Joel: When Tom asked me to study with him, I did feel intimidated because here you had a man who was a professional in the secular world; he was a teacher at college and a psychologist. So, to me, that was a challenge.
[Tom writes]
I had a big old notebook of questions, and he sat beside me. He said, “So you have some questions.” And I said, “Yep. Here we go.” “How does your organization handle child sexual abuse? “How does the money work? “What’s the check and balance? Where’s the transparency?” And what I noticed, what he always did, he answered them from Scripture. This was revolutionary in my mind because these were not just some institution’s views or some individual’s views. This was the very authority of God.
[Reads his Bible in nature with his wife]
You know, studying the Bible changed my life for the better, completely.
[At the Kingdom Hall]
I love the diversity of the congregation. I’m learning so much about how we’re all the same.
[Now at a bowling alley with friends]
I have a lot more pictures of people.
[Friends smile for a selfie. Now in his bedroom, he dresses up]
When people lose hope, they’ve lost everything.
[In the ministry]
And by studying the Bible, you learn why there is suffering and why people die. You learn that this whole world is not spiralling out of control.
[Going door to door with his wife]
Coming to have a real, personal relationship with the Supreme Sovereign of the universe gives you hope. I love what I’m still learning. I learn every day. And that’s the difference: I have confidence in what I’m learning, confidence that it’s the truth.
(Logo: Black capital letters JW.ORG inside a white box. Copyright 2015 Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania) [Click to close]

In the video, what had caused Tom to give up on religion?

Why is he convinced that he has found the truth?

Actions speak louder than words. Read Matthew 7:21, and then discuss the question that follows:

[Read scripture] Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of the heavens, but only the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. [End of Read scripture]

What means more to Jesus, what we claim to believe or what we prove by our actions?

7. They love one another

Have Christians really risked their lives for fellow Christians? Play the video He Offered to Surrender His Life (2:55), and then discuss the questions that follow.

[Click for Transcript]|[He Offered to Surrender His Life]
[Llyod Likhwide. Malawi. Discusses persecution and agitation from the government]
Lloyd: The persecution spread throughout Malawi soon after the announcement was made that the Witnesses were banned in the country.
[Politicians speak]
Politician: The truth is this, that people who call themselves Jehovah’s Witnesses are not Jehovah’s Witnesses at all. They are Devil’s Witnesses.
[People follow the motorcade]
Lloyd: Their houses were burned, and their maize crops were confiscated because they refused to participate in the country’s politics. The regular visits that Brother Johansson was doing as a branch representative at that time really encouraged the brothers from various parts of the country who were affected by the persecution.
[Malawi refugees]
His wife, Linda, suggested that he should ask someone to accompany him so that he did not have to do the work alone. And she suggested that I accompany him. This was because of the fear of what might happen.
[Linda gives her husband food]
When we got to the ferry crossing, the soldiers told Brother Johansson to get out and stand in front of the jeep.
[Getting out, he opens his arms]
They said to me, You can pass, but we first have to shoot the white man.
[Soldiers aim riffles]
Because the Scriptures say: No one has greater love than this, that someone should surrender his life on behalf of his friends, I said: Shoot me instead! What did this man do?
[He reflects back]
Yes, it happened without me giving it a second thought. It just happened spontaneously.
[Jeep on a ferry]
I stood between him and the soldiers.
[Sharing scriptures with the soldiers and then shaking hands]
Prayer helped very much because the people that we thought were going to harm us had a complete change of heart.
[Peacefully driving away]
On the way back, Brother Johansson also saved my life.
[Mob beats on the jeep]
We were stopped by a youth mob at a roadblock. They asked for the political cards. They would have killed me. So, Brother Johansson just sped off with his vehicle.
[Mob throws things]
Yes, it was very exciting to see that Jehovah God has many ways of saving his people. Elisha said: For there are more who are with us than those who are with them. In the end, Jehovah will rescue his people. So, in countries where our brothers are banned, I encourage them to stand firm, trusting in God, the God who never fails, Jehovah.
[Black and white photograph: young brother Johansson, Linda, and Lloyd. Color photograph: Brother Johansson with his arm around Lloyd’s shoulder. Both with broad smiles]
(Logo: Black capital letters JW.ORG inside a white box. Copyright 2018 Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania) [Click to close]

In the video, what moved Lloyd to risk his life for Brother Johansson?

Do you think that he acted like a real Christian?

Read John 13:34 and 35, and then discuss the questions that follow:

[Read scripture] John 13:34 and 35: I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples—if you have love among yourselves.” [End of Read scripture]

How would Jesus’ disciples (real Christians) treat people of another race or nation?

How would they do so during wartime?

[Image:] A first-century Christian family bringing baskets of food to the home of fellow believers. Caption: The early Christians loved one another

[Box]

Some People Say: “Christians have done terrible things, how can they have the true religion?” What scripture could you share that shows how we can identify real Christians? [End of box]

Summary

Real Christians follow Bible teachings, show self-sacrificing love, and preach Bible truth.

Review

On what do real Christians base their beliefs?

What quality identifies real Christians?

What work do real Christians do?

Goal

If possible, tour a branch office of Jehovah’s Witnesses near you. Set Other Goals

Explore

Learn more about a group that endeavors to follow Jesus Christ’s example and teachings. Jehovah’s Witnesses—Who Are We? (1:13)

[Click for transcript]|[Coming soon] [Click to close]

See what led a former nun to find “a true spiritual family.” “They Used the Bible to Answer Every Question!” (The Watchtower, April 1, 2014)

[Click for article]|[Coming soon] [Click to close]

Learn how real Christians show love for fellow worshippers who need relief. Helping Our Brothers When Disaster Strikes. Excerpt (3:57)