Make Christianity Out of Christians

Let's stand for the reading of God's Word today.

Psalm 117, praise the Lord, all nations.

Extol him, all peoples.

For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord

endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

The New Testament reading for this morning is Matthew 28, verse 16 to 20.

Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.

And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

May you please take a seat.

Well, it's my privilege again to introduce Pastor Mark Hamilton.

Those of you who haven't been with us, this is probably your first introduction.

Mark is a pastor of a church in Buffalo.

He's a bivocational pastor, meaning he has a job as well and so he ministers as pastor.

And Mark, it's Faithful Stones, right?

Yes. Okay.

Faithful Stones Church and also as a detective with the Buffalo Police

Department.

And those two come together.

We said the other night, Mark wears two ministry hats, right?

Romans 13 says that the government and its agents are a minister

to us of God, right?

For a good.

And he's also a minister of the word of God in church.

So he wears both hats.

And so the Lord has used him to minister the word in that

church and a number of different, a variety of different situations.

But he's been encouraging us with the word of God.

And so I'm gonna ask Mark to come again and minister the word of God to us.

And I am absolutely convinced that you will be encouraged by what he has to say.

Brother?

Well, it's a joy to be here again.

And as we close out this conference, I just want to thank everyone that has been so hospitable,

so loving, overwhelmingly so.

And it has been a joy to have my family here with you together, welcoming a

city boy into your country church.

We're glad to be here.

We're glad to meet all of you guys and to build, to continue to build the relationships that

we've started.

It's a wonderful day.

It's the Lord's day.

Let's turn our Bibles to Acts.

We've been talking about who's Lord, Christ or the culture.

And what in the world do we do?

And I hope we've been answering those questions as we've been going through this conference.

So we're going to read God's word, chapter 11 of Acts, verses 19

through 26.

We're going to look at verses 25 and 26 today

and call you to worship, call you to work.

Make Christianity out of Christians.

Make Christianity out of Christians.

You know the saying, when they call you a Christian, make Christianities or something like that.

You know, when we have given and labeled a name,

we must make the most out of it, whether it is in good spirit or ill

motives, we know what we've been called to.

And I want to take a moment to look at this book again and set it in your minds

and call you to work.

Hear the word of the Lord.

Now, those who were scattered because of the persecution that rose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia,

Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the

Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.

And the hand of the Lord was with them.

A great number who believed turned to the Lord.

The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad.

And he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose

for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith and a great many people were added to the

Lord.

So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul.

And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.

For a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people.

And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christian, thus far as the

reading of God's holy word.

Let's bow in prayer.

Oh God, our Father, we come to you

asking for your help and your insight and your wisdom.

We pray that you would speak to us, but not only speak to us, feed us.

And in feeding us, we pray, oh God, that we would enjoy and eat

all that you have said and all that you are saying to your church.

You have called us out of darkness into light.

You have called us from ourself to Christ.

And we are no longer our own, we are Christ.

We belong to Christ.

We are not offended by that identity.

May we be emboldened by that identity.

May we have full courage and boldness to go into this world, to affect this city,

to affect our cities for the name and the fame of our God.

Oh God, help us, your people.

Help us to hear all that you are saying in this passage and cause us to obedience.

Not blind obedience, not completing a list of things, not

doing something in a mechanical way or because we think we're supposed to, but because we are your people,

because we are your children, because we're called by your name, cause us

to walk even as you walked.

Father, we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.

Acts chapter 11, we're looking at verse 25 and 26.

And so who's Lord?

Who's Lord?

This whole conference has been really trying to deal with that question,

the culture or Christ.

Now it's obvious to us as Christians who we obey and who we love

and who we follow, but it's not so obvious to the world and the world is pressing

into us.

It's pressing into us, it's competing for our thoughts.

And so I pose the question like I did as a challenge, as a challenge, challenge

ourselves and to challenge the culture in which we are called to disciple,

called to make disciples of by preaching and teaching

and compelling them to come.

And one thing I have asked you or I have given to you to think about throughout this

conference, and just to encourage you as a brother to remain faithful,

to speak his word, to speak he's Lord, preach he's Lord, proclaim

that very truth, that single -minded, narrow -minded truth and be a Christian.

Verse 25 and 26.

So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he had found

him, he brought him to Antioch.

For a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people.

And in Antioch, disciples were first called Christians.

And so we find ourselves almost at the end of this chapter, after watching Stephen die,

Saul had become one of the persecutors of the church.

But after seeing the risen Lord on the road to Damascus,

after coming to Antioch, he became a believer and he would become a pastor to the

persecuted.

Isn't that ironic?

He was persecuting one day and then God, by his grace,

saved him and brought him to be a pastor to those he once persecuted.

From Jerusalem to Antioch, from Jews to Gentiles, the church was changing and

looking less and less Jewish and looking more and more Christian.

The church was changing from Jerusalem and moving many miles from headquarters, from the home church,

the mother church, if you will.

We look at that word Christian, they were becoming Christian, they were called Christian.

Some believe the term was meant as a derogatory term.

Some believe that this term was meant to mock, but I believe it was a

genuine acknowledgement of who they were.

I believe this was a genuine acknowledgement of how they lived.

And I also do believe it was used to belittle and demean the Christian,

to mock the Christian as seen in the exchange with Agrippa.

Paul goes before Agrippa and he is persuading him in the words of Agrippa

himself.

And he says, will you in this short time convince me or persuade me to be a Christian?

Beloved, we live in a time where words and their meanings are changing

and being challenged every single day.

So we ask, what is a Christian?

What do you mean by Christian?

Well, it's very clear in the scriptures that a Christian is a disciple who follows Christ, one who lives in

Christ for Christ.

But why don't we see this name?

Why don't we see Christian even spoken of until almost

12 chapters into the book of Acts?

We don't hear it in the gospels.

We certainly see the witness in the Christian behavior, but we hear terms like disciple and follower

and witness and saints and brothers and those who belong to the way.

Those are the words that we hear, but they are not called Christians.

They're not called Christians after Pentecost.

They're not called Christians after Peter's sermon.

After 3 ,000 souls were added, after devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching,

fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers, after the arrest of John and Peter,

after they had witnessed and testified to the council, the council recognized they had been with

Jesus and still they weren't called Christians, after 5 ,000 souls heard the word and

believed, after testifying before the council, saying salvation is in

no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be

saved.

No mention of Christian for almost 12 chapters.

But as you see, Barnabas sought out Paul, then saw

to come help him teach the city of Antioch, the disciples that were

there from their witness, their faithful witness in this city.

And perhaps one of the most comprehensive and complete statements by Paul on being a Christian

is found in Galatians.

Paul no longer seemed to be living or speaking, but Christ himself seemed to

be living in him.

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

In the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and

gave himself for me.

What is a Christian?

I believe that is a very good working definition inspired by the Spirit.

A Christian is one who is in Christ.

He belongs to Christ, alive in Christ, dead to sin.

Paul would go on to say, for to me to live is Christ.

He was explained to the Corinthian church that our way is very

dependent on another.

It's different from ourselves.

It's different from the very path and the very ways that we

consider to be good.

And our way is dependent on that who is truly good, on the one who is truly good.

And the gathered church spends time in Antioch teaching this for a whole year.

He will remind them of my ways in Christ.

This was what Paul would say to the Corinthians in chapter four, to remind you of my

ways in Christ as I teach them

everywhere in every church.

Be imitators of me as I am in Christ.

I believe this was being taught every day for that throughout that whole year.

These are the types of things that were being taught.

Christ, being in Christ, the ways of Christ, the life of Christ.

And as a result of that teaching, Christ was dwelling richly in the believers at Antioch.

It was dominating their lives, enjoying God's grace.

They were engaging the culture.

They were speaking his words.

They were preaching he is Lord.

And they were remaining faithful and steadfast in that task.

Can I just tell you, being a Christian is not a result of being called a Christian.

Being a Christian is the result of your life so reflecting Christ that it is clear to

everyone that you're not anything else.

The city of Antioch took notice of the life of these people.

They took the life of these Jesus followers and these

men and women that were living a life for Christ and in Christ,

speaking about Christ, preaching about Christ, suffering for Christ, giving themselves up

for others for the sake of Christ.

The culture we live in, we are commissioned to engage those who reject

and resist the very name of Christ.

You feel it, you see it.

Every day, what is closing in on us is a

pressuring, a very real pressure

to our lives to deny the one who is Lord.

We are labeled all kinds of things.

We are falsely called so many things because of the name.

Jesus said, you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but the one who endures to the end

will be saved.

Remember King Ahab when he saw Elijah walking

and he says, isn't you the troubler of Israel?

Labeling Elijah, not for doing wrong, not for

dismantling or disrupting the culture

in a negative way, but because he denied the

true and living God.

What was his response?

Elijah responded to Ahab's accusation.

I have not troubled Israel, but you have in your father's house because you have abandoned the

commandments of the Lord and followed the veil.

This is a very good prescription for us when we're labeled and called so

many things for the namesake of Christ.

We have to speak the truth to the culture.

We have to proclaim Christ to the culture and gently and respectfully

proclaim that truth.

No matter who it is, to the governors, to the governing authorities,

to those that are in power, to those that are

higher than us, greater than us, they have a more prestigious

name than us.

He spoke to King Ahab and corrected his wrong accusation.

If you are insulted, the apostle reminds us, if you are insulted for the name of

Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you.

But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a murderer or as a meddler.

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed,

but let him glorify God in that name.

To be a Christian is to be like Christ.

And sometimes we water that down.

Sometimes we deny that identity and we vie for a

better identity, so we think, whether it's ethnicity, whether it is your

clan, whether it is your city, whatever it may be,

we elevate identity over identity in Christ

because we don't want to be insulted.

And this very name, Christian, was given to the people of God because of

what they were doing and how they were living.

As you look at verse 26, and when he had found him,

he brought him to Antioch.

Barnabas brought Saul on board to teach the disciples for a whole year so that

they can do the work of God, so that they can evangelize the city, so that they can

teach the city and speak to the ills of that city.

The very first day we talked about the city of Antioch being a big city with big city vibes, with all the

immorality, with all the delusional, the

delusional, shocking things that were committed day

by day, the idolatry, the immorality that plagued that city, much

like the big cities of America.

But Antioch was changed not by programs and

infiltrating the city with all kinds of things that

were not ordained by God, the things that were given by

God to change a city, which is the gospel, which is his truth, which is the

Christ, reclaiming rightly and reclaiming

authoritatively that Christ is Lord, that hearts need to be changed,

that minds need to be revolutionized.

They spent time with people.

That was Paul's pattern, and you'll see that moving forward throughout the book of Acts.

He did not just preach the word, but he spent time strengthening the disciples.

I think we see a lot of that going on here, and I'm so encouraged by what I see even in this church,

that the mutual encouragement and edifying around the word of God, the

consistency, the consistent loving and fellowship, centered around

Christ for a whole year they met,

and the result was people were saved.

People were changed.

And when people are saved and people are changed, the city changes.

The neighborhood changes.

The country changes for the glory of God.

When they were called Christians, this was an honor to be called a

Christian.

This was an honor to be associated with Christ.

And so the mission before us, as we look at how

Antioch was changed and how the people of God dealt

with the things, remember in verses 19, we began

with the people of God being scattered because of persecution, and they were only speaking to the

Jews when they first got there.

Some were speaking to the Jews, and then others would go and branch out and speak to the Greek -speaking Jews.

And in doing that, they would move far away from what was comfortable and

convenient for them.

They would deal with any issues of partiality and anything that they had in their own mind

and trust that God would save his own.

It was clear that the power of God had fell on the Gentiles.

It was clear that the power of God moved in other people besides the Jews.

And God had opened their eyes to that truth.

God had opened their eyes because they experienced the grace of God.

They experienced the joy of God, and that's what Barnabas says.

And when he went to confirm what was happening there, he said the joy of God

was evident, and he was glad that the grace of God was evident in that place.

It wasn't something that can be mimicked or something that,

some kind of manly pattern that could be followed.

It was the grace of God.

It was the grace of God and only the grace of God that would change the city of Antioch.

And that would be the template for every other city in which Paul

and Silas and Luke and John all the people of God,

all the apostles sent by God, they would go and change the city with this very

truth, being a Christian.

And they would remain faithful.

They would continue to speak his word.

They wouldn't change the message, but they would adapt to

their audience and in the power of the spirit.

Because underneath this all, the spirit is moving these people.

They are moving this people to speak and to proclaim

with great faithfulness.

That Jesus is Lord.

From cowardice, defend us.

From lethargy, awake.

Forth on thy errands, send us.

To labor for thy sake.

We go to all the world with kingdom hope unfurled.

No other name has power to say, but Jesus Christ, the Lord.

I believe this is an appropriate and applicable hymn to

remind ourselves of the task unfinished.

Because this is only beginning.

We're only in the closing chapter of Acts 11 and

we're to take this gospel into all the world.

And I pray that today you, as we consider these two verses with a

great command and a great encouragement of who

we are and what we're called and what we are in being a

Christian will catapult us into the cities, catapult us into this neighborhood,

catapult us into our workspaces with this truth.

This undeniable truth that Jesus is Lord and no one else.

This will never change because this is the word of God.

The word of God, the Bible says, as was read, all

power in heaven and earth,

it belongs to me.

Therefore, go get the nations.

As a Christian, go get the nations.

As my Christ ones, ones that belong to Christ, go into the world,

go into the world and preach this gospel, not

worrying about who is going to resist or reject, but trusting that they will

receive by the power of God.

When they call you Christian, make Christianity.

Be a Christian.

Remain faithful in the task to speak his word.

Remain faithful in proclaiming that he is Lord.

Don't waver from that truth.

Don't shy away from what is true.

Don't shy away from the message of truth.

Jesus is the way, he's the truth and he's the life.

There is no life apart from our Christ.

And sometimes we get that confused or we deny that very truth.

We give up that very truth, but they were called Christians because they were

living the Christian life and loving in a way

that marked them as God's own.

That's my charge to you today.

I don't know where you live, but I know that the people where you

live, apart from Christ, apart from

his saving grace, apart from you as a Christian,

going to love on them with the truth that Christ is Lord and the truth

that without him, there is no

hope.

Without him, there is no way for change.

Or transformation of hearts, let alone a city.

But I call you to consider and to think about your task

as a Christian.

Embrace the word Christian, embrace the name because what's in the name is

power.

What's in that name is unshakable,

unshakable, un -immutable, truth,

using that name, trusting in that name, believing in that name

is the hope that we go and enter into this world and enter into the culture,

into our churches, encouraging and edifying one another with this truth.

One of the things that Paul did as he and Barnabas

taught so many people that believed and turned to the Lord, he didn't just leave them there, but they

taught Christ.

They taught in such a way that these people

lived out this truth and lived out this Christianity that they had the

honor of being labeled like their Lord.

They had the honor of being labeled like the one who leads and guides and

is their sovereign.

When we look at these last few

verses, we see the church coming together in a very clear,

unmistakable way.

They had unity, they had one mind and one goal

is to make much of Christ.

They had one aim and one goal to make much of Christ.

And so the mission for us is absolutely overwhelming.

I'm not just saying, just go preach Christ and speak Christ.

I want you to understand that this is a mission impossible,

but so is the grace of God, it's impossible.

Without God calling, without God choosing, without God reaching

and first loving us or first loving those whom we love on,

it is an impossible and overwhelming mission.

But all the same, we are, as the church, we must so overwhelm the cities in which he's

placed us with grace.

Through Christian, Christ -like loving, loving all of our neighbors in the truth,

and then God would be so pleased to honor us with being accused of being a Christian.

It's like King Ahab falsely questioned and accused

the prophet of God, may we too be so accused

of being what God has called us to be.

Let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father, thank you for your goodness and your

grace, thank you for calling us

what we are.

Thank you for making us what we are.

We understand the world and the culture we live in.

They will label us, they will call us all kinds of things.

But as the apostle Peter said, let it not be for wrongdoing or as an evildoer or as a murderer or as a meddler,

but when we suffer as a Christian, let us glorify God in that name.

May we again take pride in the name of Christ.

May we lay down our feelings and emotions and

lean into the truth that we are not our own, we've been bought with a

price.

And we must glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which belongs to God.

Remind us every day that we must speak your words

and preach that you are Lord.

We must remain faithful and steadfast with one purpose because we are Christians.

And so Lord, we pray that your power would abound, that your spirit

would confirm.

We pray that the scriptures would guide us and comfort us and give us great wisdom to

interact and engage with those around us.

May the burden on our hearts

give us no rest until we walk out this truth

and honor your word and honor your name in the world in which you have placed us

and the culture in which you have placed us.

Lord, we pray that we would be your people, that we would be your

witnesses, proclaiming the one truth that is able to save,

set free and deliver.

We pray this not by might or power, but by your spirit.

Amen.