Word of Salvation – Vol. 33 No. 04 – Jan 1988

Why The Believer Is Called A Christian

Sermon by Rev. M. P. Geluk on Lord's Day 12b

Reading: Colossians 3:1-21

Singing: Ps.H.281:1,2; Ps.H. 281:3; Ps.H.1; BoW.2; Ps.H.450; BoW.905

In the first half of Lord's Day 12 we are made to see why Jesus is called the Christ and how as Prophet, Priest and King, He makes sinners whole.  Today, in the second half of Lord's Day 12 we want to see why the believer is called a Christian.  In this Lord's Day, the Catechism first shows how Christ works out our salvation and then, secondly, it goes on to explain how Christians can show that they are saved.  Today we concern ourselves with the second part.  Our theme is as follows:

            Why the Believer is called a Christian.

From this we will see that:

1.  It is because, imperfect as he is, he is a member of Christ by faith.

2. It is because he is anointed by the Holy Spirit to the three-fold office
            of prophet, priest and king.

1.  In the first place, we see that the believer is called a Christian
            because, imperfect as he is, he is a member of Christ by faith.

Please take a close look at the way Q.32 is put.  It asks: But why are you called a Christian?  It is assumed that the person faced with this question is a believer.  The Catechism is the confession of the church.  It is your confession and my confession.  As members of the church we say that the answers given here are our answers.  This is what you and I believe to be the gospel truth.  Now, why are you and I believers, and called Christians?

Have you ever asked someone that question, in the way it is put here?  Have you ever asked it of yourself?  Why are you, why am I called a Christian?  We do not often ask it in this way, do we?  We usually ask a similar but yet quite a different question: What is a Christian?  What makes you a Christian?  And what makes me a Christian?  And then we can have a whole debate as to what it is that makes a person a Christian.  We talk about standards, behaviour patterns, doctrines that need to be accepted and doctrines that need to be rejected.  All very important of course, but is it that which determines what is a Christian?

Some churches and sects refuse to regard people as Christian unless they keep the Sabbath on Saturday, are willing to be baptised by full immersion, or speak in tongues.  The question “what makes a Christian”, can lead to lots of controversy.  It is the same when people ask: what must I do or what is expected from me in order to become a member of your church?  When that is asked, do people then think of some do's and dont's, rules and regulations?  I suppose it is to be expected that people think in those terms for we have a society that is like that.  To belong to a club, organization or profession, you have to quality.  There are exams to pass, standards to be met, and you may need to be rich.  And so people come to think of church membership and being a Christian in the same way.

But what a blessing it is that the Catechism does not ask: what makes you a Christian?  Instead it wisely asks: but why are you called a Christian?  And the answer must always be because, imperfect as I am, I am a member of Christ by faith.  If a person cannot speak of his or her faith in Christ, then they do not know what it means to be a Christian.  They do not have to answer like a theologian but in their own simple way they can indicate that they know who Christ is and that they trust in Him for their salvation.  If people show that they do not have that, then they need to be evangelised and instructed in the Gospel.  But the question: why are you called a Christian? is a much better one to ask than "what makes you a Christian?" With the last question we end up telling about ourselves, what we do or do not do, what we are or what we are not.  But the first question, the one that asks "why are you called a Christian?" lends itself much better to talking about a knowing and trusting of Christ.

So when you belong to Christ, when you are a member of Christ by faith, you are a Christian.  Then you share in what Christ has.  If you leave out the words "by faith, then belonging to Christ or being a member of Christ ceases to be fact.  Exclude faith and the word Christian has lost its meaning.

Faith in Christ is all important.  Faith in Christ means that I know Him as the Son of God and that I trust that as Saviour He has forgiven all my sins and put me into a relationship of peace with my Father in heaven.  No one is born with such faith.  No one has been a Christian all his life.  You might have been in a Christian home all your life, you can have Christian parents all your life, but no one has been a Christian all his life.  To be a Christian means to have faith in Christ.  A living faith, a faith that makes you turn to Christ for forgiveness, renewal, strengthening, guidance, yes, all those things that speak of a living relationship between you and Christ.  And all that was not there when you were born because when you were born you were dead in trespasses and sın.

It you are born of Christian parents then you belong to the covenant of grace that God has drawn up between Himself and believers and their children.  That kind of covenant-belonging was there from the moment you came into being.  But even covenant children are not automatically Christian.  They too must learn of Christ and respond to Him in faith.  That faith may have started to grow very early in your life but you were not born with it.  You can only be called a Christian when you are a member of Christ by faith.  If you had died in infancy, God would have taken you to himself in heaven because of the gracious covenant He has made with believers in which their children are included.  But now that you are no longer a child but capable of knowing and trusting, you can be called a Christian only when you know and trust Christ as your Saviour and Lord.

So you are not a Christian because you were brought up Christianly.  You are not a Christian because both or one of your parents are.  You are not a Christian just because you belong to a church.  You are not a Christian just because you behave so well.  And do not say that you cannot be a Christian because you are too sinful, or because you are no good, or because you are hopeless, or because you have been in prison, or committed adultery, or have been drunk, or have lied, or stolen, or whatever.  Imperfect as you are, you are a Christian when you believe in Jesus Christ.  When you confess Him to be the Son of God, the Saviour who was born in that special way through Mary, who is fully human, fully divine, who suffered and died on the cross because of your sin, who literally and physically rose from the dead to give you new life, who went bodily into heaven and who now rules over all things and who will come again to judge the living and the dead.  If that is what you believe Christ to be, and that what He has done and what He is doing still, that it is all for your salvation, then you are a Christian.  So the believer is called a Christian because, imperfect as he is, he is a member of Christ by faith.

Then in the second place let us see that the believer is called a Christian also because he is anointed by the Holy Spirit to the threefold office of prophet, priest and king.  Please note carefully that this second truth about a Christian is not another condition but simply a result of the first truth.  You are members of Christ by faith.  You cannot take anything away from that nor can you add anything to it.  By faith alone and not faith plus something else.  But being a Christian believer brings with it a sharing in Christ's anointing.

First we talked about why a believer is called a Christian and now what he does as a Christian.  When a person is a Christian, you do not put him in moth balls or hide him in a museum.  God has made us Christians because He wants you and me to glorify Him by our lives and works.  We are saved in order to serve.  John Calvin's motto was: I offer my heart to you, Lord, promptly and sincerely.  And the emblem of the Reformed Theological College is: doctrine and life to the glory of God.

Now how do you do that?  Well, you might recall from the first half of Lord's Day 12 that Christ has been anointed to do the work of salvation by being a prophet, priest and king.  Christ was anointed, which means: set apart, by the Holy Spirit in order to be the Saviour.  The Christian is also anointed, also set apart.  Like his Saviour and Lord, the Christian also has been given the Holy Spirit to do a task.  As the Spirit enabled Christ to do His special work, empowering and equipping Him, so also does the Spirit of God empower, enable and equip the Christian to do his special work.  The Pentecostals have made much of the anointing of the Spirit but the authors of the Catechism already recognised this biblical truth centuries ago.

So Christians are anointed, set apart, yes, each one of them, to serve God.  They offer their hearts to Him.  Their doctrine and life testify to His glory.  And that, congregation, will not necessarily lead you to sweet success and crowning glory.  Serving Christ can just as easily lead you into difficult times and maybe into the gutter.  Not that the Christian takes on a gutter-like behaviour but your serving of Christ may bring you to people who live in the gutter.  Being anointed to serve Christ, yes, to share in the work of the Lord does not have to be a bed of roses.  In the world there is much talk of achieving happiness, success, self-fulfilment and other such values.  There is less talk about loyalty, faithfulness, making sacrifices and denying oneself.

Regrettably, parts of the Christian church have taken over the humanistic values of the world and have adapted them for Christians.  We hear, (and there are plenty of books from Christians about it too) that as Christians we have a right to be happy, we should expect success, we should look our best, radiate confidence and be dynamic.  ‘Why should the sons and daughters of King Jesus go about poorly and second-rate?’ it is asked.

But we should observe the Scriptures more than the world's humanistic values.  The prophets priests and kings of the O.T. frequently faced hard and difficult times as they served God, especially when life in the nation swerved from God's ways.  We know that John the Baptist led a tough existence, out there in the desert.  And what about the apostles and early Christians?  Their lives were not always easy.  And Christ Himself experienced opposition, persecution, ridicule, misunderstandings and suffering.  But Christ and those who followed Him lived to God's glory and went wherever they were sent.  It called for faithful obedience, even if it meant losing out on earthly comfort and earthly happiness.

Now as Christians we are set apart to confess Christ's name, present ourselves to Christ as living sacrifices of thanks, strive against sin and the devil, and to reign with Christ.  Notice those action-words: confessing, living sacrificially, striving, reigning.  Being a Christian is certainly not an arm-chair existence.  It is to get up and go.  It is being involved, following the Lord.

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In this serving of Christ the Catechism points to the work of prophet, priest and king.  That's how Christ did His work, and that's how we may do ours.  So every Christian is prophet, priest and king.  You could say that this is the office of every believer. 

We are familiar with the special offices of the church, those of minister, elder and deacon.  And in our present time we talk about them a fair bit.  Some say there are only two offices, that of elder and deacon.  And others speak of four, minister, elder, deacon and evangelist.  Furthermore, there is a lot of discussion about the role of women in the church.  Does Scripture allow the woman to be in office?  Some say ‘yes’ as to the office of deacon, but ‘no’ to the office of elder or minister.  Others say she may be in all of the offices, and again others say in none.  Now the Catechism does not speak here of the special offices of the church and therefore we should not either.  But we just want to point out that in all the talk about the special offices we should not begin to think that these are the only offices.  There is also the general office of all believers.  Every Christian, both men and women believers, have this office in which they are prophets, priests and kings.

So whilst the church needs to have a few special offices, it is even more important that all the members realise they all have an office.  The church is made up of a whole lot of prophets and prophetesses, priests and priestesses, kings and queens.  Every Christian here is anointed, set apart, to do the work that comes with that office.

What should we be doing as Christian prophets and prophetesses?  We should confess the Lord's name, says the Catechism.  That is something we may do with our mouths but it is not the only way.  Deeds can sometimes speak louder than words.  The O.T. prophet Hosea had to speak to the nation Israel about her spiritual prostitution.  In addition he was told by God to marry an adulterous wife and Hosea's difficult marriage became a visible lesson of how God was still willing to show His love and grace to His people who had gone after other gods.  The prophet Ezekiel was not to show any sadness about the death of his wife.  Jeremiah had to go about carrying a yoke on his shoulders.  So as Christian prophets we have to add deeds to our words in order to be a living witness for God.  We all hope, for example, for happy marriages and Christian families, and we should work towards that.  But if for some reason the marriage is unhappy and our home faces rebellion and strife then we should not drop out, seek a divorce, or say that we deserve more happiness than we got.  Also in such times the Christian is to go on serving Christ as prophet and prophetess by upholding God's will for life and setting an example.  To confess Christ's name faithfully and loyally, it is necessary to listen to God as He speaks to us through His Word.  Those who readily claim to be doing God's will in a particular situation but show ignorance of what the Bible as a whole teaches should be ashamed of themselves, for they bring confusion and dishonour to the Name of God.  To be a Christian prophet calls for regular study of the Scriptures.  How can you claim to be representing God if you are not really sure what He has said?  And of course we need to pray: "Lord, grant me wisdom so that when I confess your name in word and deed, I may truly serve and honour you and not seek to further my own cause".  Yes, be a Christian prophet and prophetess, at home, in the church and in the world.

What about our rule as Christian priests and priestesses?  The Catechism says we are to present ourselves to Christ as living sacrifices of thanks.  This aspect of Christian serving calls for unselfishness and a willing attitude to assist others wherever such help is needed.  The early church's readiness to sell property and to help the needy is a good example of being a Christian priest.  What we have in this world is really what God has given to us and we are to be good stewards of it.  With our gifts and talents we serve the body of Christ for the common good.  And we are mindful of the needy outside the church.  As priests we freely give of our income that which is the Lord's.  Not just now and then, or when we can afford it; but, consistently, faithfully, and more than just a few loose dollars when we earn hundreds.  As priests we pray for others, we speak to our heavenly Father and lay their needs before Him.  And as priests we work for the good of mankind by being a light and a salt.

Our role as Christian kings and queens is to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil.  We realise that sin and the devil are at work in the world and in the church, which means in ourselves.  As regards ourselves we strive to fight with all the weaponry given to us by God.  Ephesians 6 gives us a description of the armour of the Christian King.  Its weapons are the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, faith and prayer.  With these we seek to control our lives and prevent Satan from gaining control.  There is a spiritual war going on that never lets up.  As kings we are always to hunger and thirst for righteousness.  We are to discipline ourselves and in the church we exhort one another.  But always with love and compassion, seeking to win back the other to the Lord.  We may even reign with Christ, both now and later.  Little may we realise it but in our prayer tor justice and peace in our own nation and in that of others, we are reigning with Christ who will have His will done for the sake of the gospel and the church.

Seeing our Christian task as prophets, priests and kings covers, of course, a multitude of practical things, more than we have time for.  But it's all tied up with our being Christian.  By faith we are members of Christ.  And by the Holy Spirit in us we do the work of a Christian.  We did not give this work to ourselves – God set us apart to live this life.  It may not be easy sometimes and at other times we see our glaring weaknesses.  But God knows what He is doing.  He gives the necessary strength and wisdom when He calls us to serve Him.  In fact, He is never absent from us.  He is always there to work and live in and through us.

AMEN.