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Join Wayne Burger each week as he explores various topics and scriptures and challenges listeners to meditate on God's Word more deeply.
The Bible was written to instruct Christians as to how to live and how to worship God. I want us to study where those who followed Christ were called Christians for the first time.
We're called Christians because we're followers of Christ. One might think that the word Christian would be found all through the New Testament, but did you know that word "Christian" only appears in the Bible three times?
One time Agrippa said to Paul, when Paul was preaching to him, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." That's Acts 26-28 in the King James Version. Later, Peter said, "if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but to glorify God in this name." 1 Peter 4-16.
I want us to study Acts 11-26, where those who followed Christ were called Christians for the first time. The background, of course, of Acts 11-26 is this. Men from Cyprus and Cyrene came to Antioch of Syria, preaching the Lord Jesus to the Gentile people.
Verse 21 of Acts 11 says, The hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. Then, of course, Barnabas and Saul, who later became Paul, worked with that church for a year. Then, during that year's time, the statement is made in Acts 11-26, that the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
The Greek word for called means a divine call. The normal word for called is kaleo, but this word is different. It's not the normal word for called.
It is krimatizo, and means something which originates from God. The name Christian was not something that was given to believers by those who were against Christians as a means of derogatory language. Rather, this name was given by God.
That's what this Greek word krimatizo means. Every time that that Greek word is used, it means a calling or a message from God Himself. In Matthew 12-22, God spoke to the wise men and told them to go back a different way, not to go to Herod.
The same word is used there. Several times, in fact, I think it's maybe nine times, and then once used in the noun, every time is God doing the speaking, and so it is here that it was God who gave these people the name Christian. As I said, the noun form of it is also found in Romans 11-4 with the statement divine response, or as the King James has it, the answer of God.
It is interesting to note also that the Greek word was used by the Greeks in reference to a response given when they consulted their gods. In other words, in the Greek language, that word was spoken when God said something, whether it was an idol that they thought they got a message from, or if it was even the true New Testament charts that God spoke to and about. This seems to be a fulfillment of a promise God made in Isaiah 62-2.
Although Acts 11-26 does not say this is a fulfillment of that, but let me read Isaiah 62, verse 2. For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake, I will not keep quiet until her righteousness goes forth like brightness and her salvation like a torch that is burning. The nations will see your righteousness in all kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name which the Lord will designate. This is probably fulfilled in this.
It probably had a dual fulfillment in that local situation that Isaiah is talking about. But let's notice some of the things that are stated in this passage here in Isaiah. For Zion's sake, and of course that's the mountain on which Jerusalem was built, he said I won't keep it silent, I won't keep it from Jerusalem, and that I want her righteousness to go forth like brightness and her salvation like a torch that is burning.
He said I want brightness and truth and righteousness to go forth from Jerusalem. And that's what has happened in the book of Acts. The church was established in Jerusalem.
The brightness of God, the light of His Word, has gone forth from Jerusalem. That's what Isaiah had prophesied in chapter 2, verses 2-4, where he said that the mountain of the Lord's house will be established in the top of the mountain and shall be exalted above the hills. And the Word of the Lord will go forth from Jerusalem.
And so this passage in Isaiah 62.2 says, for the sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not keep quiet until her righteousness goes forth like brightness and her salvation like a torch that is burning. And then notice it also says, the nations will see your righteousness and all kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name which the Lord will designate. In Acts 11.26 is when we see the first Gentile church established.
The first Gentile convert had been converted a couple of years before then, and that of course was Cornelius recorded in Acts 10.1-11.18. And now then in Acts 11, a couple of years later, in the city of Antioch, a Gentile church has been established. And so the nations, the Gentile people, have heard of God's righteousness. And in this passage, if it has reference to it, he said, I'll call you by a new name which the Lord will designate.
Why did God wait 10 years before calling his disciples Christians? I believe that there's a reason for that. Maybe he waited until the Gentiles were in the church before giving his followers this name. He didn't want the Jews to have a name that was later on given to the Gentile people.
I think he wanted the Jews and the Gentiles at the same time to be given this special name of Christian. Had the Jews been given this name first, they may have felt like it kind of belonged to them and that they were just kind of loaning it to the Gentile people. And so I think God waited on purpose before he called his disciples Christians.
In this way, the Jews and Gentiles were both called Christians at the same time. Who has a right to be called a Christian today? Who has the authority to say, I'm a Christian? Is there an organization that has the right and power to say, those are Christians and those aren't Christians? You know, really, even today, God is really the only one who can truly say who is a Christian and who is not. No one has that authority to bestow that name upon anyone other than the Lord himself.
Who received that name then? Those who have been disciples. Notice the language in Acts 11-26, and the disciples were far called Christians in Antioch. Notice that he said it is the Gentiles, the disciples.
These Gentiles have become followers of Christ, a disciple, simply someone who disciplined their life after another. The Pharisees had disciples, Moses had disciples, not by his choosing, but by the Jews wanting to be a disciple of Moses. And so in this situation, these people have become followers of Christ, and they are disciples of Christ.
That was a very common term in the book of Acts. It applies to those folks who have chosen Jesus as their example, the one they're going to follow. But now then, Jesus, or God the Father, has given them this name.
Not only are you a disciple, but now I'm going to give you a special name, the name Christian. But who received that name? Those who were disciples. How did one become a disciple? You know, Matthew tells us about this.
He said in Matthew 28, 18-20, that they were to go into all the world and make disciples by teaching and baptizing people. That was part of the Great Commission. And so how does one become a disciple? He must be taught what Jesus wants them taught, as is explained in the New Testament.
He must then be baptized for the forgiveness of his sins and thereby become a disciple of Christ. So who is a disciple? It is someone who is following Christ, who has been baptized according to the Great Commission. And Jesus sent them out and said, I want you to go into all the world.
He said in Mark 16, 15-16, and he that believes in his baptism is saved. So who is a disciple? It's one who submits to Jesus Christ, believes that he is the Messiah, and who is baptized for the forgiveness of his sins. Not everyone who claims to be a Christian is a Christian.
The same way those people became Christians is the same way people become Christians today. They first need to become a disciple. A disciple is simply somebody who is going to live according to their master, to their teacher.
And thereby when they submit to the teacher, become obedient to God's will, we become disciples, and therefore we then can be called Christians. The question really for each of us to ask is this. Am I a New Testament Christian? The word Christian is thrown around very easily in our country.
This is a Christian nation. This is a Christian church. This is a Christian literature.
This is a Christian college. But how does the Scripture use the word Christian? It is easy for anyone to be called a Christian today, but if we're really going to be a New Testament Christian, we must do what the people in those days did. We must become a disciple of Christ by being taught and by being baptized for the forgiveness of our sins.
And then we have the right. Because God calls us to be Christians, He says that we can wear that name at that time. Let me encourage you to evaluate your own spiritual condition.
Are you truly a New Testament Christian? There are lots of man-made Christians. There are lots of people who call themselves Christians simply because their religion is based upon something in Christ. But to be a real true New Testament Christian, we must do it the way God said.
It's a great privilege to wear the name Christian. We don't want to be like Agrippa that we talked about first. He said, "almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."
We don't want you to be almost, but be altogether a Christian. And if you are a Christian, don't be surprised that you may suffer. Physical persecution, mental persecution, mocking derision in various ways, rejection, because that's what Peter said was going to happen.
If you suffer as a Christian, don't be ashamed, he said, but glorify God in this name. What kind of Christian are you? Are you a man-made Christian, or are you a God-made Christian? You know, quite often when people speak of their churches, it might be a Baptist church, a Lutheran church, the various kinds of denominations. But it's sort of hyphenated.
I'm a Baptist Christian. I'm a Methodist Christian. I'm a Lutheran Christian.
You know, that's not Bible language. In the Bible, you either were a Christian or you weren't a Christian. You weren't a hyphenated Christian.
You weren't a particular kind of Christian. There was only one kind of Christian. Those were those people who were disciples of Christ, following Christ, submitting to Christ, worshipping the way God wants it, being obedient the way God wants it.
That's a New Testament Christian. I wish that everyone who claimed to be a Christian really was a New Testament Christian, a Christian that was called that in the city of Antioch in Acts 11-26. Please think about your call.
How did you become a Christian? Does it match what the people in Acts 11 did? They believed and were baptized and became disciples or Christians. God wants all of us, but He wants us to do it His way. Let's study and evaluate our condition and see if we truly are a Christian according to the New Testament pattern.
Thanks for joining us this week and spending time in God's Word. Special thanks to Mac Graham, John Kachelman, and LightWay Media for recording, producing, and making this podcast possible. If you're ever in the Littleton, New Hampshire area, we'd love to have you join us for worship and Bible study on Sunday afternoons at 4 at the Senior Center.
You're always welcome. For more information about this podcast, visit lightwaymedia.com/meditating-on-the-Word. And find the link there to email me to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter with more information you can use in your personal Bible study.
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Until next week, keep meditating on the Word. Thank you.