Lesson Three: The First Real Christians

Introduction

After Jesus ascended to Heaven, what it meant to be a first century Christian?

Acts 11:19–30 “Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with …”

Acts 1:3 To summarize, after His resurrection Jesus showed Himself alive by “many infallible proofs.”

1 Corinthians 15:6  After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

Said another way, a ton of indisputable data made His literal resurrection unquestionable and irrefutable.

He stayed on earth for more than forty days, showing Himself to more than a dozen more, time in and time again.

He was preparing His disciples for the Great Commission. Teaching them what to do when He was gone. a. express love b. hope to hold on to.

Peter preached with great courage, in Jerusalem that Jesus is the Saviour and the need to repent from their dead religions and return to the true God, revealed as Jesus Christ.

Three thousand people were saved and were baptized.

Acts 2:41-42. v.41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. v.42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Being baptized in those days was a death warrant, the Romans and the Jewish rulers didn’t like Jesus.

It wasn’t long before three thousand became five thousand.

Acts 4:4 “Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.”

Acts 6:7 “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.”

The news of the resurrection it it spread like wild fire. The world literally was being turned upside down.

Acts 17:6 “And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;”

Roman authorities and Jewish rules were scrambling to stomp out the fires aggressive action. Oppression and persecution poured out upon the new followers of Jesus. they were being arrested, falsely accused, fake trails, tortured, imprisonment, beatings, stoning, beheading, and more were meted out with fiery fury and viral publicity.

So how did Christianity spread?

More importantly, how do we know it is legitimately the truth of God?

In this study we will examine these questions and three others.

1. Would You Die for Your Own Lie?

It seems like the first disciple would have turned back, doesn’t it?

Unless the story was indisputable. Unless the evidence was absolutely compelling, this new Christianity would have faded into obscurity like a flash in the pan. So basically, the disciples would have faded and fizzled out and just died.

Unless the story was so true, so validated, so in control unquestionable, that is worth dying for. People don't die for a lie. Gone fishing disciples don't randomly assault Navy seals, steal the body, the makeup of a ridiculous con, and then allow themselves to be brutalized and martyred to keep their cover story. Especially these disciples. Spineless, gutless, and fickle, they had no loyalty to the dead Jesus. Why would they waste their time stealing a body, risk fighting professional killers, and fight for the cause that died on the cross?

Why would they go back to the dead Jesus? More so why would they go back and die for the dead Jesus? Why would so many thousands of people believe how could so many 1st century minds buy into something so impossible? unless the evidence was there. Not a few people died for this story. Tens of thousands did. And many were eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus or new eyewitnesses of such.

A. Transformed Disciples

Consider this as the persecution came to those thousands of early followers they didn't forsake their story. They didn't turn their back to the old way of life. They didn't return to their old beliefs. They fled for their lives but held on to their faith.

Ask yourself Why? because they knew it was true. They knew he was the truth. They knew him.

They not only fled for their lives, but they also fueled their faith, they furthered the story. Threats couldn't make them shut up. As they fled they took their news with them, Jesus rose from the dead Jesus is the God-man. Jesus paid it all. Jesus is the only savior. Believe in him. Receive him. Repent changed your beliefs about Jesus, about God.

Acts 5:40-42 “And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”

Christianity is more than a body of beliefs, it's a risen body that leads us to God and his body of truth. It's all about Jesus and what he did. Yes, Christianity has a body of beliefs but all of that revolves entirely around and rests completely upon the resurrected body of the living Jesus. This is God’s story come and his whole redemptive plan is based upon his exceeding grace and goodness in man’s complete inability and destitution.

B. Unlikely Convert

As if the story can't get any more intense, another bizarre turn of events ratchets the whole thing up. Remember Romans and Jews are using all of their collective might to stop this message and squelch the spread of this way. Like zealous extremists, they're aggressively punishing all followers of Jesus. Every time they stomp out a fire it spreads in 15 other directions. They are herding cats it's like they're trying to put a fire out by pouring jet fuel on it.

Then along comes there are #1 persecutor of Christians Saul. He basically defects and he becomes one of the greatest minds of the 1st century. He's unbelievably brilliant. He's highly educated and credentialed. He is a dual citizen both Jewish and Roman. He's powerful respected. He's passionately zealous for Judaism. He's fearless loyal. he's incredibly well connected.

Think of it this way, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, think of Adolf Hitler all being combined into one person, but had a few PhD.s to his resume. He was smart. Saul was bloodthirsty, Christian exterminator who believed he was doing God a favor. Saul knew the Scriptures as good as anyone. He was given full authority by the Jews and the Romans to exterminate people.

How do you convert someone so calloused?

How do you get the anti-Jesus poster child to become a Jesus follower?

How do you convince an archenemy of Jesus to become an ardent follower of Jesus?

He was the last guy on the planet that you would ever convert to be a Jesus follower.

There's only one way you get a guy likes all to believe. You show him undeniable, irrefutable evidence. You blow him away, you pulverizing his belief system, making it so convincingly that he could never honestly think the same again.

You prove truth with all intellectual honesty and integrity. You make truth categorically, not sort of, not almost, not seemingly likely, not emotional, not convincing, not plausible. Categorically, emphatic, and absolute.

So, we know that Paul was a lot of things, but he wasn't intellectually dishonest. In all his pride, arrogance, and zeal, he wasn't so foolishly delirious that he would continually blindly against the free table evidence. He wasn't stupid. He was just absolute sure this Jesus thing was a hoax and needed to be put down. To make an impact on Saul it was going to take the act of God to rock his world. Which is not a problem for Him.

Acts 9:3-6 v.3 “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

v.4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

v.5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

v.6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.”

The Romans, the soldiers, the Pharisees, the rulers , they didn’t want to know the truth. When truth rolled a stone away, walked out of the grave, and wowed the earth for forty days, all they could think of was how to deny it. They didn’t want to know Him.

But Saul was different. He was more committed to the truth than the politics, power, prestige, and personal agenda. He was zealous and fervent, but not ignorant. He actually did love God. Someone that Ruth reached out, blinded him, and sat him down, he listened.

Wait a minute. What about you? are you willing to be intellectually honest? would you choose a lie just because you don't want the truth to be true? don't be silly. Look at the facts.

Jesus showed up, knocked Saul to the ground, and said stop persecuting me. In rapid answer, Saul simply said who are you? and to which Jesus said I am Jesus the one you persecute. Saul’s instant response is, Lord what do you want me to do?

And just like that, the worst oppressor of the followers of Jesus became an instant believer. Lord that means I believe you are who you say you are. I repent I changed my belief about who you were and are. I believed you were a scam period now I believe you are the savior. I believe you were dead period now I believe you're alive. I believed you were a liar period now I believe you are Lord.

What I find very cool about this is instantaneously soul is changed he didn't negotiate with Jesus. The moment of truth was undeniable for Saul. He wasn't a Jesus doubter anymore. So learned that God and Jesus were the same.

Isn't it interesting the world's most active killer of Christian becomes a Christian? Unthinkable, unimaginable, unbelievable. It's all true. No movie script or screenplay here. No Disney Imagination. This is the real deal.

2. Where Did Christian Come From?

In short, Saul is now called Paul, is brought into the church in the city of Antioch. Followers of Jesus are gone all over the region to avoid persecution, but they can't keep quiet about Jesus. They're trying to stay alive, but something else is driving important to them. Truth trumps survival.

Could you keep it in if you witness the resurrection or tell people about it?

They could not keep quiet about it. The story is true, compelling, transformational, they had to tell somebody.

At first, they were suspicious of Saul. Who wouldn't be? followers of Jesus expected that this was a tricky way of getting into their assemblies where he could have killed them. Thankfully, Barnabas was Saul’s friend. He vouched for him and helped him to be accepted in the church at both Jerusalem and Antioch.

Acts 9:26-27 “And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.”

In the church at Antioch, the believers had genuine unity and so sincere compassion. This was a truly great church doing good work, even amidst all the threats of persecution and problems. This church made a massive difference, so much so, that outsiders were talking. Unbelievers were gawking, some curiously, some spitefully. In their homes, and their businesses about their daily lives, these followers of Jesus were the topic of discussion. This new way was disruptive, disturbing, enough so that it was a pervasive part of the cultural dialogue.

Let's talk about it, this was so pervasive was the presence of this message, a resurrected Jesus, the Christ, so annoyingly present was the power of this love, that culture needed a hashtag. The way or the followers of Jesus or believers in Jesus was too long and arduous. Social media needed a shorter tag. So as a culture has a way of doing with epidemic shifts, culture came up with a hashtag for followers, “ Christians.”

Acts 11:19-21 “Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.”

Acts 11:26 “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

The term Christian means follower of Christ or like Jesus. It was intended to be derogatory. It was in many ways a death tag, a warrant for imprisonment persecution martyrdom. it was not a compliment period it was not a term of endearment.

No one was using the term to get elected, get business, or get fans. No one would have chosen this tag unless they truly believe that Jesus rose from the dead. To become a Christian was not beneficial for financial, political, or personal gain. The truth is, it was a leap off the cliff, social and cultural suicide. This is my friends must have been some kind of compelling truth.

3. What Does Christian Mean?

With all this beautiful story of brokenness and blessings behind us, what is an accurate definition of a Christian? Let's lay aside the modern miss definitions and religious contexts and look simply at the biblical account. Four keywords center, believer, receiver, follower.

a. A Christian is a sinner

Until you see yourself in true need of a Savior, you will never really see Jesus as the savior he is. You will always try to impress him, earn him, or somehow get to God on your own. In truth, I'm much smaller than I want to believe, and Jesus is much bigger than I want to believe. Let the truth sink in for a moment. You are a Sinner. The question is do you realize it and are you willing to admit it. You can't be a Christian if you don't first need a savior.

Illustration. Story of the little girl.

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”

b. Christian is a believer and receiver

A Christian is someone who has come to heart faith in Jesus Christ as the resurrected God-man. To be a Christian, you must choose to believe that Jesus Christ is God’s only answer for sin, not religion, not a church, not good works, not your best effort. You must come sinful, failing, needing, and cry, Mercy. God's grace, love, and pardon take over from there. You must humble yourself as a failure and let God extend his grace as a savior. It's a one-way proposition. You have nothing with which to bargain. You can offer Jesus only one thing, belief.

He simply asks do you believe in Me?

John 3:15-16 “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. v.16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Acts 10:43 “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”

John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

Romans 10:10 “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

You don't become a Christian because of your family heritage, your church attendance, your baptism, or your casual mental assent. You become a Christian by personally becoming a believer in a receiver of the hope only found in Jesus Christ as Savior.

Many people think of this as a 50/50 transaction. As though Jesus did his part and you must do your part, he meets you in the middle with salvation. Not true folks. It's 100% Jesus, 0 % from you. Real salvation is when you finally accept that you have 0% to offer Jesus, and you accept him as 100% your savior.

A Christian isn't a good person. A Christian isn't a religious person. A Christian is a broken person who fell down before Jesus and asked for His mercy. And Jesus always answers the prayer affirmatively. He always saves anyone who will believes and receive.

c. A Christian is a follower

A Christian is a person who seeks to follow Jesus and a personal relationship with Him after coming to salvation by faith. This is an everyday, ongoing relationship that brings growth within you through the teaching and life of Jesus. This is a person that, after being born into a relationship with Jesus, seeks to develop that relationship and Know Him personally, like a friend and a father.

First-century Christians were called such because of their obvious belief and evident relationship with Christ. They knew him, and others knew Him. They followed him, and others could see it.

Acts 11:26 “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”

That's what Fist-century Christians were. They were regular people who came into contact with irrefutable evidence, a living powerful Jesus, and a message of hope, man can have a personal relationship with God because of Jesus. The biblical account of the term Christian shatters a lot of caricatures. It strips away a lot of bad information and faulty paradigms. Here are a few of them:

These were not necessarily religious people. Some became Christians were saved from man-made religion. But in the choice to become Christians, they were following a crucial, risen person. They were entering into a relationship with a living Savior.

They were definitely not good people. The worst kind of people became followers of Jesus. This was not a sect of highly disciplined, social achievers. This was a rag-tag band of messy misfits.

They were not working to be saved. These were not people who believed in doing a bunch of religious stuff to be saved from sin. Religion had failed them, and they had failed religion. Performance was something they had given up. They were coming to Jesus empty-handed.

They were not working to stay saved. These were not people working to keep or maintain their standing with God. They were not trying to keep themselves saved. Their salvation was secured by Jesus, in Jesus, forever.

They were not co-opting a favorable term. They would not have chosen the term Christian for themselves. They had nothing to gain culturally or socially by being Christian. At the same time they wanted, and they were willing to risk everything to lose, except Jesus. He was all they wanted, and they were willing to risk everything on knowing and living Jesus.

They were not casually adopting a social tag. Becoming a follower of Jesus wasn't a try-and see thing. We are blessed to have a culture where Christianity is viewed as tolerable or even favorable (for at least now), but this would have been a foreign concept to the first century Christians.

Conclusion. The term Christian is not what many think it is. If you are not a Christian, I hope you will become one right now by praying and asking Jesus to be your Savior, trusting Him only for your salvation. If you have made this decision, I hope you will continue following Him in a living personal relationship.

I’m not asking you to become religious but to become personally engaged in a growing relationship with Jesus and His followers. Grow in Him. Walk with Him. Talk to Him. Get to know Him.