Word of Salvation – Vol.50 No.2 – January 2005

 

Why Are We Called Christians?

 

Sermon by Rev J Joubert on Q/A 32 of Lord's Day 12

Scripture Readings:  Isaiah 40:28-31; Acts 11:19-26

Suggested Hymns:  BoW: 211; 331; 210; 169; 452; 63A; 241

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ...

Some time ago I had discussions with parents about their spiritual walk and that of their children and what it means to be Christians. They said to me that they and their children believe in Jesus and are therefore Christians. We had a long discussion about this. Among other things we talked about three words - believer, follower and disciple. After our discussions I made a statement that shocked them. I said: "Just to believe is not enough!" As a matter of fact I even said that to get our children to believe in the right things would not be enough.

Brothers and sisters, I suspect that there will be people here today who will question my statement that believing is not enough. "Johann, are you saying that believing is not enough? I was taught to just believe the right things about God and the Bible."

Allow me to explain, dear friend. Merely believing is not enough - not because believing is not important, far from it. Merely believing is not enough because in our culture today believing is made out to be a preference based subjective feeling. In other words: "I believe what I feel is right!" And this kind of believing is not enough.

We need a deeply held conviction in God and His word - a conviction that will root and ground us in that faith that will cause us to stand firm no matter what tests or trials or storms come our way. I am talking about a belief that goes so deep that it unlocks the secrets of one's very own identity, purpose and destiny in life. It is this kind of belief that will equip us to be 21st Century gladiators who can enter the arena of an antagonistic culture and not crumble under its pressure.

Bothers and sisters, I believe that our children are living in a culture that is radically different from the one you and I experienced. In our day people found the strength to stand up for what they believed - even in the face of pressure and persecution. Today people say: "How can you expect me to stand up for what I believe. I will be ridiculed. I will be marginalised. I will be the odd one out." Do you hear? They are willing to intellectually go along with accepting certain things about God and the Bible, but they don't want to stand out because of it.

It is in this context that I'm asking: "Is this really what the word Christian means - to accept certain things about God and the Bible intellectually, but not to stand out because of it?" Dear friends, my question is not a new one. It is one that has been asked since the time people started to follow Jesus as the Christ. It is also a question that is part and parcel of what we have to deal with.

In the Heidelberg Catechism, Question 32, we are met head-on with an interesting question: "Why are you called a Christian?" What a question? How would you answer it?

The Catechism answers it as follows:

Because by faith I am a member of Christ and I share in his anointing.

But what does this mean? Allow me to pull this answer apart. We could interpret faith here as what I "believe" or as "conviction". To believe something is to accept it as true, genuine or real. The only problem is that the people of our day think that things are real, genuine or true, only when they accept things for themselves subjectively. In other words, there is no objective truth. It is only true for as long as I subjectively feel it is true.

On the other hand, to have convictions is to be thoroughly convinced that something is objectively true. In other words - it is true regardless what I feel or think. A conviction goes beyond having a personal preference about something. It goes deeper than subjective opinion. Having convictions is being so thoroughly convinced that something is absolutely true that you take a stand for it, regardless of the consequences.

Brothers and sisters that is the "believe" that we are talking about when we say "by faith". This is the kind of faith that Daniel had. He stood firm in a Babylonian culture that was antagonistic toward his belief that the God of Israel was the one and only true God. This was the kind of faith that caused him not to compromise even if it meant that he had to face a den of ravenous lions.

This is the kind of faith that the apostle Paul had that caused him to face whippings, stoning, and imprisonment and eventually to be beheaded. Just listen to what he had to say in 2 Timothy 1:12 - "That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day." Paul had convictions. He knew the Person he believed in. He was so convinced in his mind and persuaded in his heart that he remained faithful to what he believed, even to the point of death.

Dear friends, who of you have read the books, "Rachel's tears" and, "Rachel's diary", or have seen the video "The untold story of Columbine?" This is the kind of belief that several of the students at the Columbine High School had when guns were pointed at their heads and they were asked: "Do you believe in God?" And it cost them their lives.

The morning of April 20, 1999, sixteen year old Cassie Bernall handed her friend Amanda Meyer a note that said: "Honestly, I want to live my life completely for God. It is hard. It is scary. But it is totally worth it!" Later that day she was shot dead. Rachel Scott was also among those killed. One year earlier she wrote in her diary: "I'm not going to apologise for speaking the name of Jesus... I'm not going to hide the light God has put in me. If I have to sacrifice everything ... I will". And she did.

Brothers and sisters, this is the faith that Heidelberg Catechism, Answer 32, is talking about - it is that convinced, committed kind of belief in God and His Word that each of us is challenged to pursue. When this is our lifestyle, we can say: by faith I am a member of Christ.

Allow me just for a brief moment to focus on the word member. What does it mean to be a member of Christ? Does it mean that we are mere associates of Christ? Does it mean that we are just affiliates? Are we just his partners? No, to be a member of Christ means much more - it means that we become totally imbedded in Christ. It means that He took over total control of our lives. It means that the old self has died and that Christ Jesus is now living in and through us. Only when this has happened can we say: "...by faith I am a member of Christ and I share in His anointing."

Have you ever wondered why the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch? It was because by faith they were members of Christ and they shared in his anointing.

Antioch was a mission-minded body of believers, displaying evidence of God's power and grace in their midst. They were such a contagious congregation that, twice, Luke mentions the great response they received to sharing the Good News:

Acts 11:21 - "And a great number believed and turned to the Lord."

Acts 11:24b - "...and a great many people was added to the Lord."

Let me remind you that an apostle or any other official from the church in Jerusalem did not start the church at Antioch. Men from Cyprus and Cyrene began announcing the good news to the Greeks in Antioch (Acts 11:20). They were not formal preachers. In fact, the Greek word Luke uses for 'preaching' in verse 20 is not the word for a formal sermon. It is the word from which we derive the English word, 'evangelise', which literally means: "to share the good news". By faith they were members of Christ and they shared in his anointing.

But what does it mean to share His anointing? Let us look at the second section of Answer 32 of the Catechism, for it continues to explain what this anointing consists of. It says:

I am anointed

To confess His name.

To present myself to Him as a living sacrifice of thanks.

To strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil in this life.

And afterwards to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity.

Wow! What a mouthful. I am anointed to confess His name. I am anointed to present myself as a living sacrifice of thanks to Him. I am anointed to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil. I am anointed to one day reign with Christ for all eternity!

What does it mean to confess His name? Does it merely mean that I admit that He once lived? Does it merely mean that I acknowledge that He is real? No, brothers and sisters, I think it means much, much more. We need more than personal opinions or lightly held suspicions about God. We need convictions. If each of us is going to risk rejection, persecution or even worse, we need to be sure that we are committing our lives to something genuine, something true, and something real.

Who of you have seen the movie, Chariots of Fire? It is a true story about two British runners competing in the 1924 Olympics. Eric Liddell, a committed Christian, was encouraged by his missionary dad to "run in God's Name, and let the world stand back and wonder." Contrarily, Liddell's teammate, Harold Abrahams (played by Ben Cross) ran for personal glory.

On the boat to the Paris Olympics, Liddell (played by lan Charleson) learned, that in order to compete in the 100-metre dash, his best distance and the race he was favoured to win, he had to run the qualifying heats on Sunday. He resolved not to run on the Sabbath. During a reception in Paris, Liddell was pressured by Scotland's aristocracy to run. Lord Birkenhead began: "We decided to invite you for a little chat to see if there is any way we can help resolve this situation." Lord Cadogan then added, "There's only one way to resolve this situation. That's for this man (Liddell) to change his mind."

Unruffled by the pressure, Liddell responded, "I'm afraid there are no ways, sir. I won't run on the Sabbath, and that's final. God made countries, and God makes the kings and the rules by which they govern. And those rules say that the Sabbath is His, and I, for one, intend to keep it that way."

The Sunday Eric Liddell could have been running, he worshipped in a Paris church and preached from Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV): "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Harold Abrahams, however, prepared for the race and confessed to Liddell, "I used to be afraid to lose. But now I am afraid to win. I have ten seconds in which to prove the reason for my existence, and even then, I'm not sure I will." Abrahams did win the gold medal in the 100-metre, while Liddell applauded him on the sidelines. But his gold medal gave him only fleeting satisfaction.

Later in the Olympics, Liddell competed in the 400-metre, an event he had not trained for and was not favoured to win. Surprisingly, Liddell not only won, but broke the world record in the process.

Brothers and sisters, this is what it means to confess Jesus. Not mere lip service, but convicted action. It is this kind of conviction that causes people to sacrifice everything. I believe this is what Paul had in mind when he said in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

Rachel Scott, Cassie Bernall, Eric Liddell, the apostle Paul, the disciples in Antioch and the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism understood something about what it means to be a Christian - it is far more than mere belief. It is all about conviction.

Dear friend, the question today is this: Why are you and I being called Christians? Is it mere acknowledgment that Jesus once lived? Is it a mere affiliation to the Christian cause? Or is it because we are convicted that life is only worth living because Jesus came to save us unto eternity? If it is the latter how does that impact your life and the lives of the people around you?

I am reminded of the words of the apostle in Acts 20:24, "I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."

This is what we are called for. Although the word Christian occurs only three times in the Bible - once in one of our Scripture passages and another two times in Acts 26:28 and 1 Peter 4:16 respectively, this is what it means: "By faith we are members of Christ and we share in his anointing. We are anointed

To confess His name.

To present ourselves to Him as a living sacrifices of thanks.

To strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil in this life.

And afterwards to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity.

Are you prepared to do this?

Amen.