Latest / Growing Together in the Gospel / Acts Series Part 15: The Disciples were called Christians first at Antioch

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Acts Series Part 15: The Disciples were called Christians first at Antioch · Growing Together in the Gospel

0:01
SPEAKER_00: The word Christian is one of the most recognized words in the world.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: It can mean very different things to different people.
0:07
SPEAKER_00: But only describes a personal faith in Jesus.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: I'd rather have a cultural background, only traditional belief in God.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: We often find ourselves being qualified too.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: Bible practicing Christian.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: Uncommitted Christian.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: He's a born-again Christian or a Bible-believing Christian.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Because the word on the table has become so called.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Yet in the New Testament, Christian appears only three times.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: The first appearance chapter 11 were new Christ.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: The disciples are called Christian's first article.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: Before they were ever known as Christian's art, they were known as disciples.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: People who followed Jesus learned from him, became like him, and joined in his mission.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: Christian was not the title they chose for themselves, it was the description others gave them because their lives so clearly reflected from it.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: Let's listen to Dean.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: Over the last few weeks in the Book of Acts, we have been looking at three sets of individuals, really, and noticing God's grace as it reaches out beyond Jerusalem to different parts of the world.
1:14
SPEAKER_01: We saw the Ethiopian eunuch reminded us that nothing can stand us, stand in the way of us becoming one of God's people.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: We saw, if I can remember rightly, we saw Paul showing that no one is outside his grace, even those who consider themselves enemies can be brought inside and made part of the family.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: And last week we saw Cornelius, this Gentile who Peter is sent to, showing us that nowhere is excluded from God's kingdom.
1:36
SPEAKER_01: Every nation, every tribe, every tongue, all are called to be a part of this.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: And there isn't another no in this passage, at least not the one that I could find.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: But what we're going to see this week is what happens when all these people are brought together.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: Because it's great when you've got individuals being saved, this person's saved, that person gets saved, that person gets saved.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: And you're probably like this.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: When you met Jesus, everything was great.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: It was when you had to become part of a church that suddenly there are a few sticking points.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is wonderful, we love Jesus, but his church, that can be a tricky place.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: Here we're going to see in Acts chapter 11 a model church.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: There are very few of them in scripture, but we find one here in the church in a place called Antioch.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: Antioch was probably the third biggest city of their region, maybe I don't know, Birmingham sort of size, Manchester sort of size, a kind of a big place, an influential place.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: And it's a place where this church takes roots and grows.
2:25
SPEAKER_01: And before we get there, I've just got to share some good news.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: I have come into some money.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: I've found myself a trillionaire of all things.
2:34
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that amazing?
2:35
SPEAKER_01: See, I have here a genuine Zimbabwean$100 trillion note replica.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: In about 2008, 2009, these these were being printed, and due to inflation, um, the price, the number of dollars had gone up and up and up to the point where they reached$100 trillion.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: You could genuinely be a trillionaire.
2:57
SPEAKER_01: What's ironic is that the paper that this is printed on is probably worth more than the$100 trillion because that's how inflation works.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: The number goes up, but the value goes down.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: It happens whenever there's this thing called hyperinflation.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: So numbers go up and up and up, and you get these vast amounts.
3:12
SPEAKER_01: There's stories I know in Germany before the Second World War they had hyperinflation and they had wheelbarrows full of cash, and people would pour out the wheelbarrows and nick it because the wheelbarrow is worth more than the cash that was in the wheelbarrow.
3:23
SPEAKER_01: That's the nature of it.
3:24
SPEAKER_01: The money, the value goes up, trillions of dollars, but the value goes left, worse than left, worthless, really.
3:29
SPEAKER_01: Less than one pence in our money that would be worth.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: And so they had to redo it.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: But that's what inflation does.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: And the reason I share that is because inflation, I think, is a good example of what's happened with a word that we often use, the word Christian.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: I believe Christian has gone through a process of inflation.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: And you ask people what is a Christian, you get different answers.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh Barner is a research group and they did some of this.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: They asked people what does it mean to be a Christian?
3:55
SPEAKER_01: 86% said believing in God was essential.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: That's not bad.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: 63% said praying regularly was essential.
4:03
SPEAKER_01: 58% said being honest is essential.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: 53% said being forgiving is essential.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: 51% said being grateful is essential.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: 42% said reading the Bible regularly is essential.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: 35% said attending church regularly was essential.
4:18
SPEAKER_01: The idea of a Christian it's got bigger, but the value seems to have got less.
4:24
SPEAKER_01: So we have sort of qualifiers today.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: We have different ways of describing it.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: So you can be a practicing Christian, you can be a committed Christian, you can be a devout Christian, a genuine Christian, a faithful Christian, a serious Christian, a mature Christian, a growing Christian, you can be a born-again Christian, a Bible-believing Christian, a gospel-centered Christian, a Christ-centered Christian, an evangelical Christian, a spirit-filled Christian, a charismatic Christian, a conservative Christian, progressive Christian, Anglican Christian, some Baptist Christians, Methodist Christians, Pentecostal Christian, non-denominational Christian, cultural Christian, nominal Christian, self-identified Christian.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: I like this one, an echo-Christian, Easter and Christmas only Christian, a lukewarm Christian, a radical Christian.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: We add these qualifiers because we say, are they a Christian?
5:03
SPEAKER_01: And when they go, yeah, but are they a born-again Christian?
5:06
SPEAKER_01: Are they a spirit-filled Christian?
5:08
SPEAKER_01: Because we we add things to it, because although the names are getting bigger and the list is getting longer of things that we're adding to it, it means that the value of Christian is getting less and less.
5:17
SPEAKER_01: We rarely just say Christian anymore because we recognize this.
5:20
SPEAKER_01: The word has lost its meaning.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: To different people, it means different things, and we can say that we're a Christian, and what we mean is I'm not an atheist.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: Or we say I'm a Christian and we say that means I was, I was raised in, I went to a Church of England school when I was younger.
5:34
SPEAKER_01: Or we say I'm a Christian and all it means is that I'm a good person.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: And so the names have got bigger, the value of it gets less and less.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: And today we're going to find the very first time that the name Christian is applied.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: And hopefully we're going to see that the value of it and what it means.
5:51
SPEAKER_01: This church in Antioch is a church that's worth watching.
5:54
SPEAKER_01: The gospel was spread, it's gone to different people, different places, and now it forms a community.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: Not just a church building in a place, but the whole town, the whole city, even, is taken over and is radically shaped by the gospel of Jesus.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: This is what the church does as it grows and spreads.
6:10
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't just set up little outposts, it takes over culture and markets and homes and families and relationships between people.
6:19
SPEAKER_01: And we see in chapter in Acts chapter 11, verse 19, it says, Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: Remember last week?
6:42
SPEAKER_01: The fact they're speaking to Greeks is absolutely outrageous.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: This is not what you're meant to do, but it has happened.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: God has broken down the wall.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: Now all nations are coming in.
6:52
SPEAKER_01: So they're speaking to the Greeks, telling them the good news.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: And it says the Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned into the Lord.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: The chapter begins with the scattering, the people going, but notice who's missing.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: No apostles, none of the famous leaders that we've encountered, no Peter, no John, not even a Paul at this point, no celebrity preachers, ordinary believers who have traveled because of the persecution, they found jobs, they've settled in, and wherever life took them, they speak about Jesus.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: And as they do, something extraordinary happens.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: Greeks and Jews are coming across the line.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: They are stepping towards Jesus.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: The Lord's hand is with them, and the church grows.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: Not because professional preachers, it grows because ordinary disciples naturally speak about Jesus and where God has put them.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: A church that, like Antioch, a model church, is full of ordinary believers.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: Not celebrities, not those who rise above others, but ordinary people.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: Not asking the question, will we get people to come to church?
7:56
SPEAKER_01: But how can the church go to them?
7:58
SPEAKER_01: And this is a church that is doing that.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: So when we think about Christian, we could say that, well, Christians are ordinary people.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: They're ordinary believers, people who follow Jesus and do what he's called them to do, go into their places that God has put them to proclaim the gospel.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: But we also see that they they celebrate grace.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: The verse goes on, and it says, News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.
8:27
SPEAKER_01: Barnabas, Barnabas' names means and son of encouragement.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: And he comes, and this is imagine, imagine this, Barnabas is quite well known at this point.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: So you're this little church of ordinary people, and then this headquarters, HQ Jerusalem, says, We're sending Barnabas to come and see you.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: Do you think it'd be a bit like Ofsted?
8:44
SPEAKER_01: Kind of, oh man, quick, buck your ideas up, right?
8:46
SPEAKER_01: Tidy up, quick, clean away, put that away, stop out your mess.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: Don't let them come to church today because they're going to mess things up.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: And he comes, and yeah, he comes, one of the churches praised here, but also Barnabas is praised here because it'd be easy for Barnabas to come from Jerusalem, you know, this the first church, the original, and come and go, Well, we don't do it like that.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: And that doesn't look quite right.
9:05
SPEAKER_01: And this is wrong, but he comes and what he sees is the grace of God.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: Now that means Barnabas had eyes to see the grace of God.
9:13
SPEAKER_01: And that's the challenge for many of us.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: You can come to many situations and you see what's wrong because you are designed to see what's wrong.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: You choose to see what's wrong.
9:22
SPEAKER_01: It's more your mindset than it is.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: There's always something wrong in the church.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: But some people come without a particular intention to find what's wrong.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: Whether it's to bolster themselves or to raise themselves up or push others down.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: There are many reasons why people might do this.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: But there is a tendency that needs to be stamped out.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: That we come to things and we tend to look for what's wrong.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: Barne of us comes and sees the grace of God.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: My prayer is, God, would you open our eyes to see more of your grace?
9:47
SPEAKER_01: There's plenty of wrong in this world.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: We've got enough wrong.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: Lord, may we see your grace.
9:53
SPEAKER_01: May we see your work.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: May we see what you're doing.
9:55
SPEAKER_01: But the other side is also true that there is grace to be seen.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: There are things to be encouraged.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: God is at work.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: God's grace is being celebrated.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: Jew and gentle are standing side by side.
10:06
SPEAKER_01: They're gathering, they're meeting together to praise God.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: They're standing arm in arm, every nation together, all the cultural divides, all the nationalities, all the things that should separate them.
10:15
SPEAKER_01: They stand before Jesus as one.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: God's grace at work.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: And so a church, a church that is full of Christians should be one where people stand side by side, where we are defined by who we are in Him, and that is above everything else.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: Nothing else should separate us.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: We're united.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: We're not uniform.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean we all wear the same jumpers and wear the same clothes and talk the same way.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: We are different, but united.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: And that is part of the beauty of God's church.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: Diversity, but in him we stand as one.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: In him we are loved equally.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: There is no one with more love or less love, more grace or less grace.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: Each of us have full access to all that God has for us.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: So the church they celebrate grace.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: They also make disciples.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: It says Barnabas then, he saw what God was doing in verse 25.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: And then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.
11:06
SPEAKER_01: So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: He goes and finds Saul because Saul bridges this gap.
11:15
SPEAKER_01: Saul is both he's both Greek and Jew.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: And so he's a wonderful person to bring in to help the church to grow in their unity, to teach them.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: But you notice they come not to set up events, not to set up programs, not to run ministries, they come not to entertain, they come to teach, to form them, to grow them.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: The goal of any church is not simply conversion, it is discipleship.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: And that's what they do for a whole year.
11:41
SPEAKER_01: They teach great numbers of people here's what it means to walk with Jesus, here's what Jesus has done for you, here's how that applies to your life, here's how it shapes you, here's how it addresses the things that you you're up against, the challenges you face, the obstacles of this world, the difficulties in navigating the culture that you're in, here's what it means to be his follower, to walk in his ways.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: Discipleship is at the root, and it causes us that if we're going to be a church who are like Antioch, it causes us to ask, well, is that at the base of what we do?
12:11
SPEAKER_01: We can be busy, we can have ministries and programs, but underneath it are disciples being formed, our hearts being shaped, are people being drawn into an awareness of God?
12:21
SPEAKER_01: Are they more able to walk with Jesus, to stand on their own two feet and to know God's will and to walk in it, to love him, to have their hearts shaped by him.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: They disciple them and grow them as they teach for a whole year.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: But then we see that they are led by the Spirit in the next verse at verse 27.
12:41
SPEAKER_01: It says, During this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: And he adds, this happened during the reign of Claudius.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: They are led by the Spirit.
12:55
SPEAKER_01: There is the Spirit at work and they are sensitive, they are responsive to him.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: It's one of the easiest things for a church to do, to do things, to be busy, to be active, and yet not to be discerning what the spirit might be saying.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: We've just heard from our young people the spirit is at work.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: That he is working, he is ministering and he is calling, and it's for us to see what God is doing and to be responding to it.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: And if we aren't, to at least be examining ourselves, Lord, is there any unjust way in me?
13:24
SPEAKER_01: Is there anything in me?
13:25
SPEAKER_01: Is it in my unbelief?
13:26
SPEAKER_01: Is it my lack of faith?
13:27
SPEAKER_01: Is it my unwillingness to love?
13:30
SPEAKER_01: Is there anything in me that's hindering your work?
13:32
SPEAKER_01: It's not that we're the we'll be the only obstacle, there are all sorts of things going on.
13:36
SPEAKER_01: There's God's timing and his work.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: We've discussed this at other points, but it's for us to say, God, I am listening.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: In fact, in this month we got our prayer guide, it will go out in a weekly email and there'll be some hard copies.
13:46
SPEAKER_01: But at the back of it, I put a guide into praying to God in a way that listens to him.
13:51
SPEAKER_01: Because prayer can so often just be a list of where I read off all the things that I want God to do and I'd like him to work and all my needs, all my cares that I cast on him, all wonderful.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: But there should, as we grow as disciples, be a point where we listen to what God is saying.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: God, by your spirit, would you bring to mind anything you want to talk to me about today?
14:09
SPEAKER_01: God, would you bring to mind anything in my heart that isn't right today?
14:12
SPEAKER_01: Lord, would you show me if there is anywhere that you want me to be, anywhere one you want me to speak to, anywhere you want to lead me?
14:19
SPEAKER_01: Lord, would you guide me?
14:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm listening.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't mean that God every day will give you something.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: You'll always have his presence and his peace.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: You can receive that.
14:27
SPEAKER_01: But it's that cultivating that I'm listening.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm listening.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: I want to be sensitive to your spirit.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: In the book of Hebrews, three times in the first few chapters it says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: Three times.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: Apparently, that Hebrews is written as if it's the original sermon recorded down for us to read.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: If that's so, the first sermon three times says, Today, if you hear his heart, do not harden your heart.
14:55
SPEAKER_01: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.
14:58
SPEAKER_01: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.
15:01
SPEAKER_01: It means the Spirit can speak, but if our hearts are hard to it, if we believe we don't need him, if we're not even listening to him, then we can miss on the joy.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: And what we're going to find as we go on through Acts is that God speaks over and over again as the gospel spreads.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: In fact, in in a few weeks we're going to come and spend a whole Sunday on that.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: What does it mean to hear God speak?
15:20
SPEAKER_01: Because it's a huge part of Acts.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: It should be a huge part of our lives.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: What does it mean?
15:24
SPEAKER_01: How do we discern it?
15:25
SPEAKER_01: How do we weigh it?
15:26
SPEAKER_01: How do we respond to it?
15:27
SPEAKER_01: But for now, we're just recognizing the truth that this church were able to hear his voice.
15:32
SPEAKER_01: And because they heard his voice, they were able to love generously.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: They hear about this famine, and it says, as each was able, they decided to provide for brothers and sisters living in Judea.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: So they hear God's voice and then they respond.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: There's going to be a famine.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: Let's gather up as much as we can, as much as we are able, and let's send it to our brothers and sisters that they might be supported.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: Where we have, let's support those who lack.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: And in time, those who lack come to a point where they have and they share back.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: But love increases.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: A healthy church is one very simply that loves.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: That isn't asking how little can we give, but how much can we love?
16:15
SPEAKER_01: Now those things, they're all wonderful things.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: Ordinary believers celebrating grace, making disciples, led by the Spirit.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: They love generously.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: And this church is growing and it's thriving and it's encouraging and a blessing.
16:28
SPEAKER_01: But you look at those things and you've asked the question what did the culture make of this?
16:32
SPEAKER_01: What did they think?
16:33
SPEAKER_01: What do the people watching this church mean think of these people?
16:36
SPEAKER_01: These weird people from different backgrounds standing together, worshiping the same God, declaring that Jesus is alive, following him.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: All these things are present and they're wonderful.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: We want them to be a part of any church.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: We want them to be a part of our church.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: But what we read in Acts chapter 11 is this.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: Almost a throwaway line, but it's the very first time that a Christian is used as a describer of God's people.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say the disciples were the Christians were first called Christians at Antioch.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: He says the disciples were first called Christians, and that's important.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: Christian wasn't actually their identity, it wasn't really who they were.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: It was most scholars think it's written as if it's a nickname, a nickname that means you little Christs, you mini Jesuses.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: They watched them and they said you're like a little Christ running around doing your thing, but it's because they were disciples that they were called Christians.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: As you look through Luke, there's three times where we find the word Christian, but we find words like disciple.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: Disciple appears over 260 times in the gospels.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: Saint appears a few more.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: Brother or sister is another one, follower of the way, servant, child of God, or in Christ.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: These are the words to describe them.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: And because they are these things, when they live their life, when they do what they're called to do, the people look at them and say, You're like a Christian.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: But you notice it's not a name they gave themselves.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: They didn't say, We are Christians.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: We are little Christs, and we've come to do our Christ work here.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: People watched them and they noticed, you're like a Christian.
18:20
SPEAKER_01: You're like a little Christ.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: I find that interesting because we often use Christian as the label to identify ourselves.
18:27
SPEAKER_01: I am a Christian.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: I've become a Christian.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: When we tick a box, we get asked what's our religion, we tick the box, a Christian.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: That's who I am.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: But in the book of Acts, Christian isn't a label you apply to yourself, it's a label that other people recognize in you.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: And that means there's a bit of a challenge in there.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: I am actually a disciple.
18:47
SPEAKER_01: I am a holy one because of what Jesus has done.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: I'm a brother or sister, I'm a child of God, I'm a follower of the way, I'm his servant, I am in Christ.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: And because of that, because I live and I'm learning to follow him, because I'm growing in him, because I'm learning from him and walking in his ways, because I'm serving him, because of that, I am being changed so that when other people look at me, they go, Are you one of those Christians?
19:11
SPEAKER_01: Do you see the difference?
19:13
SPEAKER_01: One is I call myself it, so I must be it.
19:16
SPEAKER_01: I can put any label on myself I want.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: I am a Christian, therefore I must be.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: But Axe is saying, No, no, no, it's not something you can apply to yourself.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: But if you live as a disciple, if you love, if you are an ordinary believer who speaks of Jesus, if you live with gracious and generous love, if you are led by the Spirit, if you serve those around you, if you experience God's grace and celebrate his grace, if you do those things, then other people will look at you and say, You are like a Christian, a little Christ.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Christian is who I become because I'm following Jesus.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: Not a practicing Christian or committed Christian or Bible-believing Christian, all those things are added things that we add to.
19:53
SPEAKER_01: If I'm a disciple, I will do all those things and then I will look like Jesus.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: See, Christian is often the word that we use for ourselves, but it is a nickname that other people should apply to us.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: And just like the Zamb Zimbabwean dollar, we added more and more to Christian to try and qualify it and explain it.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: But actually, Christian is enough.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: Because if I'm a Christian, then I am following Jesus.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: The only way I can become a little Christ is if I am following Christ.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: The only way I can be holy like Jesus is because he has made me holy.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: The only way I can be part of his family is because he has made me part of his family.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: If you notice that Barn of research that asked, What is a Christian?
20:35
SPEAKER_01: They said things like reading the Bible, they said things like believing in God, they said things like praying, they said things like doing good, but you notice those are all the doing things.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: None of these are doing things.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm a disciple because he has called me to follow.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: He's the teacher.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm a saint because he has made me holy.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm a brother and sister because he has made me part of the family.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm a follower of the way because he picked me up and put me on the right path.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: I'm his servant because he is Lord.
20:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm in Christ because he has put me in him.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: These are not doing things, these are my identity, and they lead to the doing.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: It's the opposite way around.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: What is a Christian?
21:09
SPEAKER_01: Someone who prays and goes to church and does good.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: A Christian is someone who is in Christ.
21:15
SPEAKER_01: And so they do these things.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: And so the overflow is that they live in a certain way.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: And because of that, then people outside recognize something in them.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: It begs the question: if you were to ask your neighbor what your nickname is, what would it be?
21:31
SPEAKER_01: How would they speak about you?
21:33
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's that's awkward Alan.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: He lives next door.
21:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's boring, Barry.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: We should stay clear of him.
21:40
SPEAKER_01: That's holier than thou, Hector.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: I've got to think of names of people who aren't in the church.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry if I touched on anyone.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: How do other people think of you?
21:49
SPEAKER_01: Because that's the real challenge of this.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: In Acts chapter 11, the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch, the first time where this nickname was given.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: And I pray that it would be our nickname.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: Christians get a lot of nicknames.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: But I would love for our nickname to be that they're Christian.
22:08
SPEAKER_01: They're like little Christs.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: When they enter a room, they bring grace.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: When they come, when they live on our road, they bring love and beauty.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: That they that they take interest, that they care, that they talk about Jesus a lot.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: They seem to love him, they seem to know him.
22:25
SPEAKER_01: It's not just an idea they believe in, it's like he's part of their life.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: More than that, it's like he's the center.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: They live as if they're brothers and sisters.
22:33
SPEAKER_01: There's all sorts of different people coming in and out of that house.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: This is what it means to be a follower.
22:42
SPEAKER_01: We are Christian, but not because we call ourselves Christian.
22:46
SPEAKER_01: We are only Christian when we live like Christ.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: And so it comes back to Acts chapter 11, this whole wonderful, beautiful church of all the things that it can be known for, and all the things that we as a church could be known for, all the things that we give our success to.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: Is it numbers and is it services and is it ministries and is it activities and is it conversions and is it all these things that we can do?
23:10
SPEAKER_01: The success of a church is are they known as Christian?
23:14
SPEAKER_01: Are they recognized as Christian?
23:16
SPEAKER_01: When people think of that church, they think, oh yeah, that's those Christians who meet on Etenham Street and then spread out through the week to do whatever it is that they do.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: This is the influence, the impact of Antioch.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: This little church of ordinary believers who are recognized as being Christian because God has done a work in them.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: They have tasted his grace, and that is now their reputation.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: Their identity is children of God, but their reputation is they are Christian.
23:47
SPEAKER_01: That's why communion is so important.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: Because when we come to this table, we aren't doing something really.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: We're receiving something.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: When we come to this table, we're coming as children of God.
23:58
SPEAKER_01: It's a family table.
23:59
SPEAKER_01: God pulls out a chair.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says there's a space for you, and we come and sit with him, and we eat with him, and we remind ourselves, I am who I am because you are who you are.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: I am what I am because you have done what you have done.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: My identity is not in what I do.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: My identity is I am yours.
24:18
SPEAKER_01: You died, you rose, you put new life in me.
24:22
SPEAKER_01: Because of that, the life I now live, I live by the grace of God.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: And the reputation I pray for is that I would be a Christian.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: Because people would see Christ in me.
24:33
SPEAKER_01: So what we're going to do in a moment is come around this table.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: If I was trying to be a bit provocative, which I like to be sometimes, I'd say, today I want you to stop being a Christian.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: Start being a disciple.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: Continue being a disciple, growing, being a follower of Him.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: And if you do that, then you'll be a Christian.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: Then people will recognize you are a Christian.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: But it starts when we become who we are in Christ.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: Not doing, not achieving.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: I am yours, Jesus.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: Because I am yours, I want to look like you.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: Let's just pray before we come to the table together.
25:10
SPEAKER_01: Father, we we recognize soft and we we've over the years turned things around.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: We've taken Christian, this wonderful nickname given to people because they recognized there was something different about them, and we've turned it into a label and we've devalued it.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: And today, Father, we recognize that it isn't something we apply to ourselves, it's something that we live out, it's something others recognize in us because you have begun a work in us, you are doing a work in us.
25:38
SPEAKER_01: We pray today that we would take seriously our role in being your disciples, walking with you, learning from you, being with you, having your life in us.
25:51
SPEAKER_01: And as we do that, that we might overflow in good, in love, in grace, in mercy, in speaking and pointing to Jesus.
25:59
SPEAKER_01: And then because of that, others would see that we are Christian.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: But save us, Lord, from simply sticking the label on, but then not living that way.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: Save us from the busyness but not the identity.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: Save us from the doing and not pausing long enough to realize you have done it all.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: As we come to this table, we come today as your children, Father.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: Not as workers, not as performers.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: We come as your children.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: And as we sit with you, we realize that's all we need to do.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: You invite us to yourself.
26:38
SPEAKER_01: When we're with you, then we become like you.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: When we're like you, we can do what you did.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: Help us to get that order right, Father, because there is such pressure, such a burden when we don't.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: There's such a pull to have to keep up appearances and try to do our best.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: But when we're with you, it's your life flowing through us.
26:58
SPEAKER_01: When we spend time with you, it's your power.
27:03
SPEAKER_01: It's your strength, it's your spirit that shapes us and transforms us so we look like you.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: So as we come to this table, we receive again the grace that you're the one who did it.
27:16
SPEAKER_01: You died, you rose, you put your life in us.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: Now we get to live our life by your strength.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: Meet with us, Lord.
27:26
SPEAKER_01: Lift burdens that are too heavy, lift pressure that we put on ourselves.
27:33
SPEAKER_01: We come as we are to receive your grace today.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us on Growing Together in the Gospel today.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: We hope you've enjoyed the challenge presented in the teaching and would welcome your thoughts or questions that you can direct to us through the podcast.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: Just look for the Send Us Your Questions link once you open an episode.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: And if you're interested in exploring things further, you'll find our website packed with information too.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: We meet on Sundays at 10.30 in the morning, where, through a crate, classes for young people, and really good coffee, everyone is looked after.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: There really is something for everyone at LBC.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: So please don't be shy.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you drop us a line or come and see us?
28:22
SPEAKER_00: We'd really love to meet you.