To this point in this series, we have stressed the necessity of unity and love in the church of Christ. This is a unity in the truth and a love that binds the Christian to the purpose of seeing that the church remains unified in that truth. To be unified in truth means to necessarily be distinct from those outside of the truth. We want to be a consistent and set apart witness in our culture today. This requires a consistent and steadfast testimony to the truth we affirm. It may, then, help to define what we are as “Christians.”
Follower of Christ
The word Christian means “follower of Christ.” This word is only used three times in the New Testament and first appeared in Acts 11:26 when we are told that Antioch was the place where the disciples were first called “Christians.” The other reference to this word in Acts is when King Agrippa questioned Paul by asking, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” (Acts 26:28). The final reference is in the book of 1 Peter where Peter exhorted the church he wrote to in the midst of suffering (1 Peter 4:16). In this passage, he encouraged his readers that they could rejoice in their hardship if they were sharing in the suffering of Christ, assuring them that the end to their suffering would be rejoicing and gladness when His glory is revealed. Peter said that it is a blessing to the insulted for “the name of Christ” (1 Peter 4:14), and told the believers there, “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name” (1 Peter 4:16).
We understand that, in the early days of our history, the name “Christian” was a term of derision used of a small sect of people who were hated by the Jews and looked down upon by the Gentiles. The life of the follower of Christ in the first century was not one of freedom and cultural influence. Peter wrote to the “elect exiles of the dispersion”. He intended to give them a refresher in the news of the “Living Hope”. He told them that, though they have been grieved by various trials, their faith was being tested so it could be found more precious than gold, resulting in the outcome of salvation for their souls. This was the promise of the “living hope,” an inheritance kept for those who believed in Heaven. Even if they received suffering in this life as Christians, Peter wanted them to remember that there was far greater grace to come (1 Peter 1:1, 3, 7, 9).
This grace was to be brought to them by the “revelation of Jesus Christ”. That is, according to Peter through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they must be holy, no longer conformed to the passions of their former ignorance. They were ransomed by the precious blood of Christ to be living stones “being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”. Unlike the world “who stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do”, the Christian is a part of “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”. In short, the Christian is God’s chosen vessel, claimed by His blood from the world, called out from darkness to fulfill His mission of proclaiming the excellencies of His grace, and one day to see the reward for his suffering result glory in the life to come (1 Peter 1:13, 14, 18, 2:5, 8, 9).
The Glorious Price
Peter said, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:10). This was a work so glorious that the angels long to look. Let us glory in the magnificence of it. We, as a people, were dead, conformed to the ways of the world and its ruler, sons of disobedience, and children of wrath (Ephesians 2:1-5). We could not come to God on our own (John 6:44), could not please Him (Hebrews 11:6, Romans 8:8), and hated Him (Romans 8:7). We fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23), are all under sin, not righteous, are altogether worthless, and even the best things we do are akin to soiled rags (Romans 3:23, 9, 10, 12; Isaiah 64:6). Our place was not favorable and certainly offered nothing to lend to God.
And so He acted. He died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6), made us alive in Him (Ephesians 2:5), and delivered us into His kingdom (Colossians 1:13). He washed us clean (Psalm 51:7), expunged our debt (Colossians 2:14), and called us according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Not satisfied to leave us simply unburdened by the weight of wrath, He called us His friends (John 15:15), claimed us as His people (1 Peter 2:9-10), and adopted us as His children (Ephesians 1:5). It is amazing grace and nothing we could earn. Now we rejoice as we live and move and have our being in Him. We want what He wants and seek His will to be done. That is good news. Our salvation was by His hand and this good news is received by our empty hand of faith. Therefore, we, as His people, are those who have received His gospel and laid claim to it by faith. And that faith was a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). The Christian is the beneficiary of amazing grace and the church is the full reward for His suffering. We have been bought with a price and now have an extraordinary call to become, as the apostles once were, “fishers of men.”
Implication & Application
In our pursuit of unity in love and standing in opposition to all that looks to disrupt that unity, we need to treasure in our minds what is worthy of cherishing and keeping. It is in the light of truth that things are best explored. One great flaw among many in our number, especially those given to the activity of discernment and critique, is a tendency to remain doggedly focused on the muck and mire. This is not our intention in bringing you this series. With our desire to see our church more unified and therefore more like Christ as His followers, we will necessarily call out what is not according to sound doctrine, but we will do it from the place of affirming what God has revealed.
Over the next several posts, we will look at what a Christian ought to be, even when that may look different from our culture. We will look different than the world as we pursue likeness to the truth. We will press up against, and unintentionally antagonize, the culture. It will happen. We strive to do it in love, not seeking to find demons to slay, but instead seeking to exemplify Christ where He has us.