Christian....Christ In Common

Acts 11:25-26 -    Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to hunt for Paul.  When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch; and both of them stayed there for a full year teaching the many new converts. (It was there at Antioch that the believers were first called “Christians.”)

 

Many of the believers couldn’t believe Peter had actually sat and dined with gentiles. They were confused …  disappointed… even angry at him and began speaking out about this horrible thing openly with other Jews. Peter had to come home and let the Jewish believers hear from his own lips the wonderful truth that God wanted to save all people…before the people completely understood that God himself had ordained this practice of giving His love to all people.

 

When you combined Barnabus’ an Peter’s passion to preach to the gentiles…and the way God used the believers that fled Judea to spread the gospel… believers increased at an amazing rate. The zeal of the believers in Antioch prompted those that did not believe to tag them with a title… bringing the term ‘Christian’ into use for the first time.  The term was never used by Jesus…or the disciples….or any believer.  In fact...it is only used 3 times in the new testament at all. The term was invented by those looking on from a perspective of disbelief.  Some commentaries even said the term was imposed on them by the government…in an attempt to label what the leaders at that time did not understand.

 

I admit that I do not usually care for titles…they give the bearer a false sense of pride…puff up the ego so to speak.  And perhaps Jesus did not introduce the title Christian for the same reasons. Jesus did not promote a religion…but a deep faith and belief in Him…as the giver of eternal life through a sacrifice most of us have trouble completely accepting or even following fully. Titles and rules continue to separate believers into denominations…. the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary estimated 34,000 denominations in 2000, rising to an estimated 43,000 in 2012. That simply blows my mind….making me wonder how in the world there could be 43,000 different ways to worship the God that gave me life. BUT…then I remember that verse in Romans 8…  that says God works all things for good….and I stop worrying about it.

 

One thing I do like about the title…one thing I do think is good…is the literal meaning of the term. Those unbelievers saw a difference in those early ‘Christians.’ They saw that they all acted the way they did because they had Christ in common. Those early believers did not argue over which denomination of believers in Jesus to join…. They all worshiped together wherever they could find a home or field to gather.  They did not concern themselves with what set of rules should govern their worship….whether to sing hymns or contemporary music….whether raising your hands in worship…speaking in tongues…or reciting chants and prayers aloud was proper.  They let the Holy Spirit do whatever He wanted in their midst.

Once again it’s personal for me. This new season of life where God is moving me to a new city…much like Peter and Barnabus… finds me leaving a church that allowed me to worship any way I wanted. I experienced moves of the Holy Spirit like I had never known before.  My heart already knows that God is calling me back to where I grew up… and to a different set of worship rules.  Well meaning ‘Christians’…who have put their own twist on the best way to worship have already ‘hinted’ that I will not be happy going back to the routine and order of that style worship.

 

My heart is going to believe that even this new season has a purpose.  It will be to learn even more about God and His plan for me. It won’t have anything to do with how I worship…but what job God gives me to do when I get there. Perhaps He let me experience a new way just to help me understand how desperately we all need to unite in these last days to worry more about telling people about God…not trying to get them to join a specific church. …to let the title Christian….Christ in common…be more literal.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that I believe in you …not a certain religion. Forgive me when I have allowed the rules or procedures of where I worship contain me and limit what I experience about you.  Help me to keep my heart and mind open as I move… to let my concerns be your concerns …to let my heart hear you tell me what you have planned for me to do when  get there.  Amen.