Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to Acts 11. Our passage is Acts 11:19–30. Today, we encounter a fascinating passage where Luke tells us in verse 26 that in Antioch, the disciples of Jesus Christ were “first called Christians.” 

Now we live in America. And so, we call ourselves Americans. We celebrate that identity this Fourth of July weekend. We are from Texas, and we call ourselves Texans. Those of us who live in San Antonio call ourselves San Antonians. All of that is natural and makes sense. But in what sense are we “Christians?” Are we from the nation of Christ? Are we “little Christs?” Do we take on the name and identity of Christ?

Interestingly, that name in Acts 11 may at first have been a derogative designation. “Oh, you’re one of those Christians, are you?” That was a radical identification in a pagan city like Antioch. You’d be better off calling yourself just about anything else other than “Christian.” In our day, that’s a pretty mundane term—Christian. Even people who live decidedly unchristian lives will check the box “Christian” on a poll or survey. But what does it really mean? And what does a Christian life look like?

Well, at its core, “Christian” means affiliated with Christ. We belong to him, and he belongs to us. Just like Americans belong to America and America to us. But in a deeper way than even our Americanism, we belong to Christ eternally. We put our faith in Jesus, the Christ. We follow him as a disciple. We endeavor to live our lives like him in Christ-likeness. And we do that in a community of faith. 

By the way, the word for “Christian” first shows up here in Acts 11, but it’s not really the word “Christian.” It’s the word “Christians.” It’s not Χριστιανός in Greek, it’s Χριστιανούς. That term, in this passage, assumes a plurality. We, as Christians, are inextricably associated with Christ, but we are also inextricably associated with other Christians. That’s the community of faith that we call the “church.” 

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Go ahead and write this down as #1 in your notes. I want to show you in this passage…

Four Hallmarks of the Christian Life—Then and Now. 

These are four things that we see the church in Acts doing two-thousand years ago, and lo and behold, we are still doing them now. Here’s the first. 

1) Evangelizing (11:19–21)

  Look with me at verse 19. 

19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 

Now this is equal parts commendation and condemnation. It’s great that these persecuted Christians are sharing their faith. But it’s not so great that they are only sharing their faith with fellow Jews. 

If you remember over the last few chapters, God has forced the issue with the early church to start sharing the gospel with non-Jews including Samaritans and Gentiles. Philip preached in Samaria and people got saved (Acts 8:4–25). Philip preached to the Ethiopian eunuch and he got saved (Acts 8:26–40). And Peter preached to Cornelius and his household, all Gentiles, and they got saved (Acts 10:1–48). 

In fact, God dedicated sixty-six verses in Acts 10:1–11:18 to the singular event of a Gentile conversion, namely Cornelius and his household getting saved. We’ve studied that over the last few weeks. And Peter even went to Jerusalem to argue for the inclusion of his Gentile brothers into the family of God. 

So the precedent has now been set for the inclusion of Gentiles. And the Great Commission needs to include them. But after Stephen’s death, the persecuted believers were scattered to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and they were only preaching the gospel to Jews.

Now if you look at the map, you can see just how far the gospel is spreading. 

[Antioch, etc.]

Phoenicia is a region on the Mediterranean Coast. It encapsulates the cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Ptolemais. It spans about one hundred and fifty miles north of Caesarea and northwest of Jerusalem. Cyprus is that island off the coast of Syria. Cyprus is where Barnabas is from. Keep that in mind as we move through this story. And Antioch is a city about three-hundred miles north of Jerusalem. You can see it on the Mediterranean Coast, north of Caesarea and Phoenicia and east of Tarsus, where Saul is staying. Cyrene, which will be mentioned in the next verse, is about eight-hundred miles west of Jerusalem.  

So, just to give you a reference point. I said before, if San Antonio was Jerusalem, then Caesarea is Kerrville—sixty miles north and west of here. But Antioch is much farther away than Caesarea. So if San Antonio was Jerusalem, then Antioch is Oklahoma City—that’s three hundred miles north. And Cyrene is Tucson, Arizona. 

Here’s why this is important. Here’s what I’m hoping to convey to you geographically. The gospel is spreading. The gospel is now infiltrating communities far removed from Jerusalem. Christ’s mission is getting accomplished. And not just among Jews! 

Look at verse 20. 

20 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.

“Hellenists” is another term for Greeks or Greek-speakers. We’ve seen it used already for Greek-speaking Jews. But here, it’s a reference to Greek-speaking non-Jews. It’s probably a reference to God-fearing, Greek-speaking Gentiles like Cornelius.

And so, with or without the knowledge of what Peter did in Caesarea, these Gentiles were getting saved. And these Jewish believers from Cyprus and Cyrene were preaching the gospel to Gentiles. Christ’s mission is getting accomplished.    

Jesus said, “Go… make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:18). How is that accomplished? You can’t have disciples without having converts. And you can’t have converts without evangelizing. And these men are preaching the Lord Jesus to the nations. Not just Jesus! Not just Jesus Christ. But the Lord Jesus! 

And how does the Lord feel about that? How does he respond to people fulfilling his mission? How does he respond to this evangelizing? Look at verse 21.

21 And the hand of the Lord [Jesus] was with them, 

Of course it was. They were fulfilling his mission. Of course, “the hand of the Lord was with them.” They were being obedient to Christ, and Christ loves obedience. He blesses obedience.     

and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 

What I think this means is that a great number of people who believed in the Hebrew God turned to Jesus. In other words, just like Cornelius, they believed that Yahweh had created the Universe and was the true God of the world. But they didn’t yet know that Jesus Christ was God’s Son. They didn’t know that Jesus Christ had made a way for salvation even for Hellenists, even for Gentiles. And so they turned to Jesus Christ as their Lord and were saved. What could be better than that? And what greater privilege is there than leading a person to saving faith in Jesus Christ?      

Listen, let me linger on this a little bit applicationally. Our mission as a church is to make disciples. “We live to multiply disciples who love God and each other, learn from His Word, and long for His return.” We are giving ourselves to this mission. This is what our church is about. This is our legacy. This is our calling. This is what I’m giving my life for. 

But listen now. There’s no such thing as discipleship without conversion. Let me just warn you against a lifestyle of disciple-making that fails to share the gospel. The first step in becoming a disciple is becoming a believer in Jesus Christ. And the first step in disciple-making is sharing the gospel. 

Sometimes Christians create a false dichotomy with this. They say something like this: “I’m a discipler, I’m not an evangelist. I do discipleship, not evangelism.” Be careful that you don’t pit those two things against each other. 

Now some may have greater gifts as a discipler, and some may have greater gifts as an evangelist. But it’s a false dichotomy when you separate disciple-making from evangelism. Those two things are inextricably bound together. Because the first step of discipleship is conversion. And one of the tasks of discipleship is sharing Christ with others. 

The reason I’m so passionate about this is because of something I’ve shared with you before. Pastor Greg Laurie said this to me and hundreds of other pastors once, and I’ll never forget it. He said, “If a church doesn’t evangelize it’ll fossilize.” I’ve seen it many times throughout my life. If a church doesn’t emphasize the role of a believer as a witness for Christ, the church will grow cold and stale and it’ll die. 

I heard another pastor say once, “If a church doesn’t evangelize, it’ll tribalize.” In other words, it’ll start fracturing and fighting over secondary matters instead of keeping the main thing the main thing. I think that’s true. And that’s why one of the hallmarks of the Christian life is evangelizing. 

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Write this down as #2 in your notes. Here’s another hallmark. 

2) Encouraging (11:22–24)

Look at verse 22 with me.

22 The report of this 

In other words, the report of Jews and Hellenists coming to Christ in Antioch… 

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

The church is exploding into distant regions of the world. This will expand and continue for two-thousand years. And this report of Hellenists getting saved, and the church growing in faraway Antioch reaches the leaders in Jerusalem. 

And the leaders in Jerusalem have just concluded, “Hallelujah, Gentiles can get saved too!” That’s how our previous passage ended in Acts 11:18 after Peter’s report, “When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.’” 

Now they get word of multiple Gentiles coming to Christ in Antioch. And so they decide to send one of their best people up to Antioch, a Greek-speaking native of Cyprus named Barnabas.

Do you remember Barnabas? He was a man who exhibited great generosity in Acts 4. He’s the guy who stood up for Saul, when everyone else was skeptical of his conversion in Acts 9. His real name was Joseph, but the apostles gave him the nickname Barnabas which means “son of encouragement!” Is that a great nickname or what? This guy, Joseph, excelled at encouraging other believers. And he’s the perfect guy to go up to Antioch and check up on this influx of Greek-speaking, Gentile Christians.   

So, verse 23.

 23 When [Barnabas] came [to Antioch] and saw the grace of God, he was glad, 

Now don’t skip over this part too fast. How did he see the grace of God? He saw it in Gentiles coming to Christ. He saw it in faithful Christians sharing their faith. He saw it in the growth of the church. He saw it in the persecution that had resulted in something great. 

People were persecuted in Jerusalem when Stephen was executed. And God used that to spread the gospel to the distant city of Antioch. Who would have seen that coming? According to Barnabas, this was “the grace of God” in action.

And when Barnabas saw it, he rejoiced! When Barnabas saw “the grace of God” displayed in the life of believers, he was glad! Here’s a question for you, church: When was the last time you rejoiced in what God was doing in your life and in the life of your church? We can do a lot of “woe is me” in Christian churches. Barnabas could have bemoaned the persecution that caused all kinds of pain in the world, including the execution of his friend, Stephen. But Barnabas saw the good that it had brought about, and he was glad. He saw the grace of God even in that. 

And here’s what Barnabas did in his gladness. Look at the end of verse 23.

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

The word for “exhorted” here is παρακαλέω. Sometimes this word is translated “encourage.” Sometimes it means “urge.” Sometimes it means to “beg” or to “plead.” It’s a word that has a lot of flexibility in the Greek language. I think “exhorted” is the best translation here. And I think that’s the nature of the gift of exhortation that Paul talks about later in Romans 12. It indicates that the encouragement that Barnabas brought to the church wasn’t superficial flattery. 

He didn’t go around telling the Christians in Antioch, “You’re so special. You’re so smart. You’re so good looking. You’re the best thing to happen to Christianity since Pentecost in Jerusalem.” That’s not the gift of exhortation! In fact, the book of Proverbs has a lot of negative things to say about flattery and the flatterer (see Prov 26:24–28; 28:23; 29:5; see also Ps 12:2–3). Barnabas was not a brown-nosing windbag.

Let me say it this way. Biblical exhortation, biblical encouragement, has a backbone. And Barnabas exhorted these new believers in Antioch. “Stay faithful to the Lord! Stay on point! Maintain a steadfast purpose!” Probably that “purpose” had to do with discipleship. “Keep growing as a disciple and make other disciples. Don’t quit on Christ’s mission. Don’t quit on God! Don’t listen to the lies of the enemy or get sucked into the vortex of this world! Remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose!” We need tough talk like that in churches. We need exhortation. We need Barnabases.

And look at the commendation of Barnabas that follows in verse 24.

24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

You might say, “full of the Holy Spirit? Aren’t all Christians full of the Holy Spirit?” No, we are all “filled” with the Holy Spirit as believers. That’s not what this is talking about. This is talking about someone who is owned by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides him and dictates his actions. Barnabas was exemplary in that way.

And he is full of faith too. All believers have faith in Christ. But this guy is full of faith! His faith is evident to all who saw him. The Holy Spirit’s presence in his life was present and palpable. And his exhortation to believers had the full backing and power of the Spirit. 

 And a great many people were added to the Lord. 

 Now what did all this look like? What did the work of Barnabas look like? I bet Barnabas was like this:  “Keep running hard after the Lord and don’t give up.” “God loves you so much, don’t ever give him less than your absolute best.” “Keep pressing on. Keep striving. Keep loving the Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.” That’s what a good man does. That’s what an exhorter does. That’s what a man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith does!

 Let me tell you a little bit about Antioch. Antioch was not an easy place to be a Jew or to be a Christian. Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire. It was a great commercial center with a lot of wealth and business interests. The population of this city was approximately 250,000 and there were something like 25,000 Jews who lived there at this time. And this city was a bastion of sin and idolatry. Antioch had a bad reputation, and it was said that even the city of Rome, a sinful place in its own right, was negatively influenced by the sin of Antioch. 

Antioch had temples and shrines for Apollo and Artemis and Zeus and the Syrian God, Baal, and the mother goddesses and the emperor cult. This was not an easy city in which to be a Christian. And that’s why it was necessary for Barnabas to encourage the church and exhort them to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.  

 Here’s another applicational question for you. When was the last time you encouraged another brother or sister to remain steadfast and faithful to the Lord? Are you the one who is always being encouraged without reciprocating in any tangible way? Are you better at dragging down fellow Christians than building them up? Be a Barnabas to someone else in the church. We need more Barnabases in the church.  

You might say, “Pastor Tony, I’m not really an encourager. I’m more of a discourager, if you will. I have the gift of discouragement.” Yeah, that’s not a thing!

 You know we put a lot of emphasis on reading our Bibles daily and praying daily here at this church. And that’s good. I’m all for that, and I’ve seen radical changes in my life due to those disciplines. But did you know that there’s something else that the Bible commands us to do daily? 

Hebrews 3:13 says, “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” 

Here’s my challenge for you, church. With the same passion that you approach God’s Word every day… with the same discipline that you approach your daily devotions and prayer… commit yourself to encouraging another brother or sister. Every day! 

Every day… until Christ comes back or he calls you home. That’s a hallmark of the Christian life, then and now. That’s something Christians have been doing for two-thousand years. And we’ll keep doing it until Christ calls us home.

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Write this down as a third hallmark of the Christian life.

3) Mentoring (11:25–26)

Look at verse 25. By the way, I love Barnabas in the book of Acts. He’s often overshadowed by Peter, Paul, Stephen, and Philip. But he models two amazing things in the book of Acts. Two key Christian things—encouragement and mentoring. And here’s where the mentoring kicks in.

25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. 

Here’s the map again. Barnabas and Saul are miles away from Jerusalem. But they are in close proximity to one another.

[Antioch, etc.]

Antioch was roughly eighty miles from Tarsus as the crow flies. By land route, the two cities were about a hundred and thirty miles away from each other. Barnabas knew that Saul had taken off for Tarsus a few years earlier. He did that escaping for his life from the volatile situation in Jerusalem. Now Barnabas hunts him down, and brings him to Antioch to propel the work.

And verse 25 says,

For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

The term “Christian” should be a badge of honor for followers of Christ. Christian, or Χριστιανός in Greek, signifies a “follower of Christ” or a “believer in Christ.” This designation is important because it signaled a break with the Jewish non-believers. Up till this point, Christ-followers were viewed as a sect of Judaism. They’ve been called “The Way,” “believers,” ‘disciples,” “brothers,” and “saints.” But now there is a demonstrable difference between Jews and Christ-followers. John Polhill says it this way in his commentary, “It reflects that Christianity was beginning to have an identity of its own and no longer was viewed as a totally Jewish entity.” Antioch is the place where that distinction was first made.

Now let’s set that aside for a minute, and take a look at the interesting twist in this passage. Barnabas has this burgeoning ministry in Antioch. And yet, he decides to go a hundred plus miles out of his way to get this guy, Saul. And if you remember, Saul was that guy who used to kill and persecute Christians. Then he got saved and people wanted to kill him. And then he left for Tarsus, his hometown, to escape potential execution in Jerusalem. This is the guy that Barnabas wants to bring back to Antioch. This is no easy feat for Barnabas. Why is he doing this?

Practically speaking, some people might discourage Barnabas from doing something like this. They might say something like this, “Do you really want that controversial guy here? Saul’s going to come to Antioch and create problems for you!” And here’s another issue. Saul’s a brilliant guy. Surely Barnabas knew that. So Saul’s aptitude for the OT, and for teaching, is going to cause him to outshine Barnabas as a leader in the church. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Barnabas? You sure you want to attach yourself to that guy?”

But Barnabas doesn’t care about all that. Barnabas vouched for Saul in Jerusalem, when the rest of the disciples in Jerusalem were skeptical of him. In fact, I think Barnabas sees Saul as this dynamo. I think Barnabas sees the potential for a beautiful relationship between him and Saul. Together they can do great things for Christ. And they do great things for Christ not just in Antioch, but in the missionary journey that follows in the book of Acts. To quote Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca: “This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” 

Now let me say three things about this relationship and the mentoring that took place in Antioch. I would commend this activity to you. Every person should have a mentor and mentor someone else. Everyone in this church should replicate yourself. Be a discipler. Be a mentor to someone else. 

But let me say three things about mentoring. 

(1) Mentoring often involves looking past a person’s rough edges. That was certainly true of Saul. Saul was talented. Saul was intelligent. But he was a little rough around the edges. And whereas other people saw Saul as a threat, Barnabas saw him as an asset. And good mentors know how to look beyond a person’s flaws and see their potential.

(2) Mentoring involves working together. It doesn’t mean telling someone else to do something that you’re not willing to do. Look at verse 25 again. 

25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 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.

This relationship was a “do as I do” relationship not a “do as I say” relationship. Some things are taught. Some things are caught. Mentees learn by seeing their Mentors in action. Disciples learn by seeing their disciplers in action. Keep that in mind as you disciple others.

(3) Mentors are sometimes surpassed by the people they are mentoring. In other words, sometimes the apprentice has gifts, talents, and abilities that surpass their mentor. And mentors need to be okay with that. 

Even early on, I’m sure Barnabas noticed Saul’s superior intellect and capability. He didn’t care. He cared more about the Kingdom of God then he did about the Kingdom of Barnabas. And that should be the attitude that all of us have. There should never be a spirit of jealousy or envy or competition among followers of Christ.  

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 And look at verse 27. Notice how this mentor/mentee relationship benefits not only the local church, but also the broader church at large.

27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 

In this era of Christian history, before the Scriptures were written, prophets were actively foretelling world events. This was a work of the Spirit, as Luke tells us. Now I’m not going to say that prophetic gifts aren’t utilized in our own day, but I do believe that they were much more normative in the early church. Similar to the apostles, the first century was a special time in human history where prophetic gifts were dispersed and utilized for the edification of the church. 

It’s unfortunate in our own day that more often than not “prophetic gifts” cast aspersion on the church instead of edifying her. And they bring embarrassment on the church instead of blessing her. But nevertheless, the Bible does speak of this gift as an empowerment of the Spirit that predicts a great famine. 

Now notice how this gift is utilized. I think some people might get hung up on the gift itself and miss how God orchestrated its usage for the benefit of the church. 

29 So the disciples determined, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

Write this down as a fourth hallmark of the Christian life.

4) Engaging in ministries of mercy (11:27–30)

Now whatever you believe about the prophetic gift… whatever you conclude about the use of this gift in our own day… the actions that the church in Antioch took are absolutely applicable in our day. In other words, the gift of prophecy may or may not be normative in our own day, but acts of charity should be. Sign gifts might have ceased, but ministries of mercy have not. 

Agabus’s prophecy came true by the way. In 44–46 AD, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius, there was a widespread famine that swept across the Roman Empire. Judea and Jerusalem were especially hard hit by this famine. As with all famine and food shortage, the poor of the community were the hardest hit. But before all this happened, before the famine did irreparable damage to the church in Judea, the Gentile believers blessed the new brothers and sisters in Christ with relief and benevolence. 

It’s interesting to me how God uses Gentiles, who were despised by Jews a decade or more before this famine, to financially sustain the Jewish churches in Judea. Is that interesting? The daughter church financially sustains and blesses the mother church. And Christians have always had a benevolence instinct. That goes all the way back to the book of Acts.

Several years ago I read a great book on this subject. It’s called How Christianity Changed the World. And the author of that book, Alvin Schmidt explains how Christianity, as a religion of good deeds and acts of mercy, changed our world for the better. Here are some of the chapters in his book: 1) Christianity elevates Sexual Morality, 2) Women Receive Freedom and Dignity, 3) Christians elevate the sanctity of human life, 4) Charity and Compassion: The Christian Connection, 5) Hospitals and Health Care: Their Christian Roots, 6) Slavery Abolished, 7) Labor and Economic Freedom Dignified, etc. Schmidt talks in one chapter of his book how infanticide was normal practice in the Roman Empire, especially for baby girls. And in some cases, it was the Christians of the Roman Empire who would adopt abandoned or discarded children. 

Also it was the Christians who worked to outlaw the gladiator sports and infanticide and other attacks on the sanctity of human life. Christians did that! You won’t hear about that in the media, and you won’t learn about that on most college campuses, but it’s true. 

Schmidt writes in one chapter about how compassion for the sick and the stricken was basically unknown in the ancient Greco-Roman world. In some cultures the sick and needy were viewed as odious to the gods and the wealthier members of society were prevented from giving benevolence.

Now why am I telling you this? I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone bamboozled into thinking that modern-day secularists invented compassion. Or believe the lie that Christianity is a selfish, hateful, unkind religion. It’s not. Historically that wasn’t the case. 

And even in our own day there are statistics that have proven that born-again Christians are some of the most generous people in the world. It’s part of our heritage. It dates back to the earliest years of Christianity when the church began sharing their possessions with one another (see Acts 4:32–37). In fact it dates back to the Hebrew Scriptures where Yahweh told his people to take care of the fatherless, the widow, and the foreigner among them (e.g., Exod 22:22; Deut 10:18; 24:17; Isa 1:17).

What motivation does an atheist have for benevolence and acts of mercy? What motivation does a secularist have? What motivation does a Darwinist have for benevolence and acts of mercy? The answer is none. Because the nature of Darwinism is “only the strong survive” and “the strong eat the weak.” If you don’t believe in God, you have no rational basis on which to frame your ethics. You might have an emotional basis. But you don’t have a rational basis. 

But Christians, on the other hand, not only have motivation for acts of mercy, we have a command from God. Jesus said to “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt 5:16). Christians have been commanded to “do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10). And because of that Christians have led the way in ministries of compassion throughout the last twenty centuries. They’re the ones who have brought an end to slavery and infanticide. They have labored to end evil practices like female genital mutilation in Africa and widow-burning in India and foot-binding in China and the gladiatorial games in ancient Rome. Wherever Christianity spreads, good things follow. That’s not prosperity gospel. That’s just a fact. 

Now again, why am I telling you all this? I’m not telling you this so that we can pat ourselves on the back and say, “Yeah, we’re so awesome. Christians rock!” I’m telling you this so that you can embrace your Christian heritage... so that you can, for the rest of your life on planet earth, engage in ministries of mercy that are outworkings of this precious gospel that we hold dear. This is our heritage. This is a hallmark of the Christian life. You’ve been handed a rich gospel heritage. Go live it out in ministries of mercy that reflect the mercy you’ve received.

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 I’ll close with this. Acts 11:26 is the place where believers in Jesus Christ were first called Christians. It’s a wonderful, beautiful term. We are Christ-ians. We belong to Christ. 

But what’s sad in our own day is how “Christian” is used so pathetically in our country as a catch-all category for anyone who attends a church or has a religious background. Several years ago, I read that 76% of Americans call themselves “Christians,” but only 44% of Americans say that they are “born again.” How can you be a Christian and not be born again? That’s like saying I’m human, but I don’t have blood coursing through my veins.

I had a lady I worked with years ago who found out I was a Christian. And she said, “I’m okay with Christians; I just don’t like those born-again Christians.” It’s unfortunate that the categories are so messed up, and this great term “Christian” has been diluted in our own day. It seems like we have to qualify the term by saying, “Bible-believing Christian” or “born-again Christian” or “Evangelical Christian.”   

But what does it mean? What does it really mean to be a Christian? It means we belong to Christ. It means that we are Christ-followers. It means that we believe in Jesus Christ’s death as payment for our sin, and resurrection establishing victory over death. That’s our identity. 

And to that you might say, “Okay, but what does a Christian look like? What does a Christian do?” Those are good questions. And I can give lots and lots of answers to those questions. I’ve given you four from Acts 11:19–30. These are four things that Christians did, these are four things that Christians do, and these are four things that Christians will do until Christ returns. They evangelize the lost. They encourage one another. They mentor other believers. And they engage in ministries of mercy. This is our heritage. These are our Scriptures. Let’s be doers of God’s Word and not hearers only. Amen.