ON THE VANGUARD

CHRISTIANS
“…So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”
Acts 11:26b

I have been called many things during my life time. The best ones have been son, boyfriend, husband, dad, friend, and brother. But I have also been called stupid, idiot, loser, selfish, greedy, unable, and a host of others I don’t care to remember. A name can bring honor or a lack of self-esteem, value or pain, worth or worthlessness. Funny isn’t, how names can hold so much weight? While it is true that ‘hey you’ can sound better than ‘hey stupid’, it can never sound as good as ‘hey buddy’. Yet where would we be without a name?
The Bible tells us here in Acts 11:26 that it was not Saul/Paul and Barnabas that called themselves ‘Christians’ first, but rather the people in Antioch that first called them by this name. But why would they call them this? It was because of their reflection. The disciples were being watched, and as the people in Antioch watched, they found the disciples to reflect what they had seen in Christ Himself. What were the characteristics of Christ? They were love, compassion, servanthood, faith, joy, and the like to name only a few. Christ was an example to these men that they didn’t just blow off, but rather embraced with everything in them.
I have heard many definitions of the word ‘Christian’ growing up. I think the best definition I can recall is ‘a mini Christ’. Now according to Strong’s Concordance, the word is defined as CHRISTIANOS, a follower of Christ. Three times this word is used in the New Testament, and in each use it is never the person calling themselves that, but rather others calling them that. This is important to note. How many times do we throw this word out to describe someone who simply goes to church or does good things? Not everyone who goes to a Christian church is a ‘Christian’ based on this definition because not everyone follows Christ. Is this not one of the reasons why Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis on the door, because ‘Christianity’ had become about rules and not about relationship?
When we are with someone we become like someone. A great example of this is when married couples begin to finish each other’s sentences. They spend such a great deal of time with that person that they begin to foresee what their spouse will say. Or let us think about children. Some of the behaviors that my children do are a result of things they have watched me do. It all goes back to the reflection in the mirror.
The disciples were not ‘Christians’ because they knew of Christ, they were ‘Christians’ because they knew Christ. They knew His ways and reflected them. They knew His words and lived by them. They transformed themselves into His image, and people saw it and called them ‘Christians’. The question then begs, could someone look at my life, or your life, and see Christ so evident in us that they would give us the title of ‘Christian’?