Jesus People
May 2, 2010
19Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and they spoke the word to no one except Jews. 20But among them were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. 21The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord. 22News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion; 24for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord. 25Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”
Acts 11:19-26
This morning, we’re going to start with a little trivia challenge. I’m going to give you some information about how a particular company came up with its name, and I want you to try and guess the company. Got it? All right—we’ll start with an easy one. This first business used to be known as the National Biscuit Company until it shortened its name in 1971. Y’all know what it is? Nabisco. Sure. They just took the first letters of the three words and put them together. National Biscuit Company—Nabisco.
Let’s try another one. This company takes its name from a Danish phrase, meaning to play well. To play well. Any guesses? LEGO. The LEGO company. Lego, in Danish, means to play well. One more, and this one’s a little tougher. What company gets its name from a type of African gazelle? Anybody know? Reebok. The reebok is a type of African gazelle. And if we think about it, that makes sense, that a company who sells tennis shoes would name themselves after an animal that jumps and runs very quickly.
Because usually, there is some connection between what a company does and how they got their name. And the reason I started with this little trivia challenge today is because this morning, you and I are going to think about how we got our name. And I’m not talking about our individual names; I’m talking our title as a group—Christians. This passage from the book of Acts records the moment when the first disciples became known as Christians. And my hope this morning is that by focusing on how those first disciples got their name, we might also begin to think about what being called a Christian means in our world today.
For starters, I think it’s worth noting that this was not the first name the disciples had. Otherwise, why would we need to be told that the name had changed, right? This was a new development. Which means that somewhere in the past, the earliest disciples went by another name.
One of those names can be found in Acts Chapter 9, which I preached from two weeks ago. It’s the story of Paul’s conversion. And while he is on the road to Damascus, it is mentioned that Paul is going to persecute members of “The Way.” So, apparently, one of the first names given to the disciples was “The Way.” But here in Acts, Chapter 11, we are told that the disciples in Antioch are given the name Christians. And so, one question we might reasonably ask—why did the disciples switch from “The Way” to “Christians?”
One explanation is that the early church was becoming more institutionalized. It’s kind of what happened here at Park View back in 1899. Some of you may not know this, but in the very earliest days, before the church had formally organized, the group that met here was known as “The Tabernacle.” It was called that because of the structure in which they met. It looked kind of like a big picnic shelter. And just like the tabernacle in the Bible, “The Tabernacle” at the corner of Hatton and Ann Street was never intended to be a permanent place. So, when our founding fathers and mothers finally got around to building a permanent structure and organizing a permanent church, they decided it was time for a more formal, permanent name—and that’s how we wound up as Park View Baptist Church. “The Tabernacle” no longer seemed appropriate.
So, maybe that’s how it was with the first disciples. Maybe “the Way” seemed too informal and so they switched. But there is another reason the early church became known as the Christians, and we find it in this passage of Scripture. Notice that verse 26 does not say the disciples chose to change their name to Christians; it says that Antioch is where they were first called Christians. Which indicates that those first disciples didn’t choose this name for themselves. Instead, it suggests that this was as a name used to label the disciples by somebody else.
Scholars have debated this for a long time and there are many different opinions on the subject, but the best guess so far is that the disciples in Antioch were given this name by the Roman authorities. Up until that point in time, the disciples of Jesus were so few in number that they were functioning under the radar, so to speak. They didn’t have an official name because they didn’t have enough people to be considered a legitimate group. They were just a bunch of weird Jews. It was a fringe movement.
But in Antioch, after Paul and Barnabas preached for a year and the church began to grow, the disciples became numerous enough to warrant attention from the authorities. Kind of like today, when the government monitors groups to be put on a watch list. When it’s just one wacko out in a cabin somewhere in North Dakota, then there’s no need to worry. It’s when that one wacko recruits 50 more wackos that the government becomes concerned and starts monitoring them as a group of interest.
That’s what was happening in Antioch. By being called Christians, it meant the church was growing bigger and that they were receiving more attention; it just wasn’t necessarily the kind of attention they wanted. It meant that they were becoming known outside their own group. And it meant that their behavior and their actions were now different enough from their fellow Jews to give them a different name. And that was important, because the Jewish religion was officially protected under Roman law.
But this group of disciples in Antioch was no longer just Jewish. These were Jews who believed that the rabbi Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the chosen one. And so, that is the name they were given—Christians—the ones who believe that Jesus is the Christ.
You and I have now been using that term Christian for so long that it’s hard to imagine a time when it would have seemed insulting. But that’s exactly what it was. It was a derogatory label intended to embarrass the first disciples and to remind them that the person they claimed to followed was a criminal who had been executed by the state. Just imagine if we here at Park View decided to rename our church after the latest person to die in the electric chair. Don’t you think that would seem a bit odd? It would to me. And that’s exactly the point. In the first century, it was not a compliment to be called a Christian. It was an intentional effort to humiliate and delegitimize the Jesus movement.
But then something interesting happened. The name stuck. In fact, those early disciples wound up embracing the name. They saw no shame in being associated with Jesus. On the contrary, they were proud of their connection with the man who had died on the cross. And so, that name Christian, more than other, became the defining identity for Jesus’ followers from that day until now.
Which brings us to the present. And the question I’d like to spend the rest of my time thinking about this morning is—What does it mean to be called a Christian in the year 2010? Obviously, if somebody walked up to you on the street, and said, “Hey, you’re such a Christian,” I don’t think we would perceive that as an insult the way it was intended to be 2,000 years ago. But I still think it’s an important question for us to consider because I believe that today, more than ever before, there is a disconnect between what we call ourselves and what we have become. And I think probably more so than any topic I’ve talked about in the last few months, this concept gets at the very heart of why we are struggling as a congregation and why the church as a whole has lost so much of its credibility in our contemporary culture.
This week, I’ve been reading a book entitled They Like Jesus, But Not The Church. And it’s all about folks under the age of 30, who just like the title says, like Jesus, but not the church. Most of the folks interviewed in this book are the young couples in their 20s and 30s that congregations like ours say they are the most interested in. And the good news is that most of the people in that age group have very positive things to say about Jesus, the person. Some of them even claim to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
And yet, when that very same group of young people is asked about their perception of the church, the response is overwhelming negative. Most people in their 20s and 30s think that the church in the United States today is too political, arrogant, smug, self-assured, dominated by right-wing Republicans, oppressive of females, sanctimonious, homophobic, and hypocritical. Now, I’m not going to delve this morning into whether or not I agree with all those criticisms, because ultimately that makes no difference. You see, you and I in the church have yet to figure out that it doesn’t matter whether or not those descriptions are accurate; what matters is the perception. And the perception is that we in the church are no longer primarily associated with following Christ.
I mean, what does it say to you that two-thirds of Americans born between the years 1980 and 1991 identify themselves as Christians, but most of them do not regularly pray, read the Bible, or attend church? What it says to me is that many people in our world today, and in particular young people, have a different idea of what it means to be a Christian than I do. They no longer connect the name Christian with being in the church.
And I don’t know about you, but that makes me very sad. Again, we could sit here all day today and argue over whether or not it’s a fair assessment. But it is the perception that we have to address, whether or not we agree with it. And the perception is that we in the church today have strayed from the message of Christ.
And let me just say before some of y’all get all up in arms and think I’m getting namby-pamby on you: I’m not suggesting for one minute that we compromise on what we in the church believe. But I think it’s time we started doing a better job of articulating it. Because obviously, what we’re doing ain’t working. Oh, it’s working for the people who are here. And that’s great. There are needs to be met here at Park View; there are people who need to be visited and there are classes to be taught and meetings to be held and services to be planned. And I’m not downing all that stuff; I’m really not. I love the church, and I love this church. And because I’m already a part of the church, I know that we are doing all sorts of great things and I’m very proud of that.
But the question this morning is--if you weren’t already in the church, how would you perceive what we do here? Do people think of us first and foremost as followers of Christ or have we morphed into something else? Have we taken on another identity? Have we lost touch with our original intention?
Because at least in the minds of our young people today, that is exactly what has happened. There is a disconnect. They are attracted to Jesus, but they don’t like the church. And we can just ignore that perception, if we so choose. But it’s those people who aren’t already in the church that we want, right? Isn’t that the goal?
This is a vexing topic. It’s one that has been on my mind for some time now. And it’s a question I feel like we must address. Because if we in the church today lose our identity as Christians, then I don’t think it matters what else we have left. We may have great fellowship opportunities. And we may have great musical productions or children’s programs. But if the church is no longer defined by following Jesus, then what’s the point?
Because it’s Jesus that people want. That is the good news from the statistics that I just quoted. Jesus is probably more popular today than he’s ever been. People still crave the man from the Gospel stories, the man who taught mercy and peace and love and the man who went to his death to demonstrate what those ideas might really mean. And ultimately, no matter what kind of song and dance routine we have here at Park View Baptist Church, it is Jesus to whom people are attracted.
So, this morning, it is time for us to take a long, hard look at everything we’re doing. Because I don’t want historians 2,000 years from now to look back and say that 2010 was the year that the church stopped being called Christian. I want historians to say that 2010 was the year that the church rededicated itself to living into our identity as Jesus people. And that means that we can no longer gonna be satisfied by only talking about what we’re against; we’ve also gotta start talking about what we’re for. You and I can longer continue to justify the existence of this church, or any church, for its own sake alone; we must have a purpose beyond ourselves. We must work and pray and teach until the world recognizes us for who we are—a group of people so devoted to following Jesus Christ that it shows in everything we say and do. And it is only in his name that we will make a name for ourselves. AMEN