Sermon Tone Analysis

What Is A Christian?

Acts 11:26

1.

A local businessman was teaching a Sunday School class of fourth grade boys, and he was really trying to impress the class because his son was a member.

So during the lesson he asked the class this question: “Why do you suppose that people call me a Christian?”

2. Well, there was dead silence.

Not one boy or girl spoke up.

He asked the question again:  “Boys and girls, why do you suppose that people call me a Christian?”

There was still no response.

3.

Finally, the man paused, scratched his chin, and said:  “Now come on, think about it.

Why do people call me a Christian?”

His own son broke the silence and spoke up and said, “Maybe it’s because they don’t know you!” 

4.

Well, why do people call other people Christians?

What do they mean by that term?

In fact, what do you mean by that term?

5. Today that term is used more than any other term to describe a follower of Christ, and to describe so many things.

People talk about the Christian church, the Christian faith.

They debate whether or not we are a Christian nation.

Yet, I believe the average person has no real clue what a Christian really is at least biblically speaking.

Many who profess to be Christians really are not Christians at all, and many who use the term don’t even really understand what they’re saying.

6.

To illustrate this, think about the following: You can be born and raised in a Christian home, attend a Christian school, join a Christian church, live by Christian principles, read a Christian Bible, and even have a Christian worldview, and still not be a Christian.

These things may mark a Christian, but they do not make a Christian.

There is a difference between being Christian in name and a Christian in nature.

7. Two stories that happened to me personally this past week will illustrate this.

I was on an airplane flying to Dallas, Texas working on this message, and I’m always looking for a way to get into the gospel.

So I turned to the man next to me and I said, “Sir, I am a minister working on a message and you can help me if you would.” 

8.

He said, “I will be glad to, what can I do for you?”

I said, “Just simply answer a personal opinion poll.”

I said, “What is your definition of a Christian?”

He gave me a great answer.

He said, “A Christian is one who learns and follows the teachings of Jesus Christ.”

Well, I thought that was a great answer, which allowed me to ask him the second question.

“Are you a Christian?”

He said, “Yes,” but then quickly added, “I am a ___.” (a different denomination from mine)   That made me a little bit suspicious.

9.

As I began to ask him further questions, his meaning of a “Christian” was greatly clarified.

For example:  He let me know he did not believe a lot of the Bible.

He did not believe that you could really know for sure that Jesus said anything he was purported to say in the four gospels.

He said that neither a Buddhist nor a Hindu nor a Muslim had to accept Jesus Christ in order to go to heaven.

10.

When I asked him how I could become a Christian if I was not a Christian, he stroked his chin, and said “That is a very tough question,” and then basically said, “I guess you would have to study the Bible.”

(Which really confused me because he admitted he did not believe a lot of the Bible)  In fact, when I asked him if the plane were about to crash, could I become a Christian before it did, he said, “That would be impossible.”

11. “What is a Christian?”

One lady said, “A Christian is someone who lives by the Golden Rule and treats other people the way they should be treated; tries to be honest and do the right thing.”

12.

When I asked her if according to that definition a Buddhist, Hindu, or Muslim could also claim to be a Christian if they tried to live by the Golden Rule, she said, “Absolutely.”

13.

Now, I want to go to what the Bible says a Christian  is.

I was amazed to learn that even though the term “believers” is used 80 times to describe Christians, “saints” is used 60 times, and “disciples” is used 30 times, the word “Christian” is used only three times.

Yet these three instances are crucial because they tell us what a Christian is all about.

14.

Now although the word was used commonly, both inside and outside the church by the middle of the First Century, Christians themselves probably did not use it in either place in the Bible.

In all three verses we are going to note that people were “called” Christians by the outside world.

15.

In AD 116 the Roman historian Tacitus wrote about the persecution by Emperor Nero of those whom “the common people were calling ‘Christians.’”

The word “Christian” was clearly a term of abuse, derision, and shame.

But Christians took that name of shame and turned it into a badge of honor, and when you see what a Christian really is all about, and what a Christian really is, you will understand why.

!

I.

A Christian Is Someone Saved By Christ

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

So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people.

And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”

(Acts 11:26)  It is interesting that Antioch is mentioned as the place where believers were first called Christians.

Antioch was the site of the first Jewish Christian outreach to the Gentile world.

It was a city 300 miles north of Jerusalem.

It became the headquarters of Paul’s missionary journeys.

They had a population of about a half million people and it was the third largest city in the Roman Empire.

2. What makes the city so interesting is that it was strongly religious, though not Christian.

Julius Caesar built a kaiserion there for emperor worship.

He rejuvenated Antioch’s Pantheon, which was a temple honoring all of the many different gods that the Roman Empire had.

In this city you could see the groves of Daphne and the sanctuary of Apollos. 

3.

It was in this city that a pagan world began to take notice of people who walked differently, who talked differently, who lived differently, who exhibited a character and a compassion never before seen in the history of the world, and they began to call these people “Christians.”

4.

Now you  notice that we are told that “the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”

“Disciples” and “discipleship” are words that dominate both the gospels in Acts with over 250 mentions.

A disciple is literally “a learner.”

That is, a disciple is a learner who listens to only one teacher--Jesus Christ.

The word “Christian” literally means “little Christ.” 

5.

Believers called those referred to as “Christians” by unbelievers “disciples.”

The two titles were synonymous.

Both words describe the same people.

All true disciples were Christians, and all true Christians were disciples.

A disciple is simply someone who learns the truth that is found in God’s word, and then lives the truth that is found in God’s word.

In fact, the definition Jesus gave the disciples was this one:  “If you abide in My word you are My disciples indeed.”

(John 8:31) 

6.

An American is someone who belongs to America.

A Christian is someone who belongs to Christ.

Now how does a person become an American?

By being born in America generally speaking.

Well, how does one become a Christian?

Also by birth, by being born again into the Christian family.

You can be born once and be an American, but you have to be born twice to be a Christian.

7. Let me put it this way:  A Christian understands that there was a time that he was not a Christian, and that he had to be saved, and has been saved in order to become a Christian.

8.

Now I know we are being told today that we have got to be careful that we don’t use too many Bible terms for unbelievers because they don’t really understand them.

But one term that we need to get back to is the term “saved.”

We need to teach people what being “saved” really means, because it’s a good Bible term.

9.

Acts 2:47 says, “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

The Philippian jailer said to the Apostle Paul, “What must I do to be saved?”

(Acts.

16:30)  Rom.

10:13 says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  1 Tim.

2:4 says, “God desires all men to be saved...” 

10.

You see, we were all born lost, and that’s why every person needs to be saved.

As a matter of fact, David said in the book of Psalms that we began to speak lies from our birth.

Now I often have wondered how a little baby could lie.

But I realized after I had my first son that it is indeed possible for even a little baby to lie. 

11.

When we brought James home from the hospital, he wasn’t but a couple weeks old.

One time in the middle of the night he began to cry.