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Luke's Names for Christians in the Acts of the Apostles [1]
SAINTS Most people
wouldn't want to be called "saints" since they never think of
themselves as saints. They think
that the word "saint" refers to a Christian of extraordinary
achievement (like the apostle Peter) or to a Christian with an unusually vivid
experience of God (like Francis of Assisi) or to a Christian of world-renowned
dedication (like Mother Teresa of
The truth is, the word "saint" doesn't have anything to do with
extraordinary achievement or experience or dedication; the word
"saint" is a synonym for "holy"; to be a saint is to be
holy. "Holy" means
"set apart". To be a
saint, then, is simply to be set apart. All
Christians are saints in that all Christians are set apart.
Set apart by whom? Set apart
by God.
Set apart how? Set apart by
God's call, his ever-renewed invitation, his heart-thawing mercy,
his undeflectable patience, his gentle nudging and his sometimes-painful
prodding.
Set apart for what purpose? Set
apart for two purposes. First, that
we might simply find ourselves home again in our Father's house, beneath our
Father's smile. Isn't this purpose
enough, just as intimacy is purpose enough for marriage?
Yet set apart for a second purpose too; namely, to be a witness.
Peter maintains that we've been set apart "that we may declare the
wonderful deeds of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous
light." (1 Peter 2:9)
Luke maintains that Christians are saints.
"Saint" means "holy".
To be holy isn't to be a religious super-achiever; to be holy is to be
set apart by God for two purposes: that our darkness might give way to light,
our guilt to pardon, our confusion to clarity, our estrangement to intimacy –
and also that we might to declare to others all that we have received at the
hand of Jesus Christ.
Christians are saints. [2]
BELIEVERS "Who do you say
that I am?" Jesus had asked the twelve one day.
"You are God's anointed one, the Son of the living God!", Peter
had replied on behalf of the others. Christians
are identified not by what they believe but by whom they believe;
or at least by whom they believe in the first instance and what they believe in
the second.
The earliest Christians were crystal-clear on both first and second
instances. Their earliest confession
was "Jesus is Lord." It
sounds simple, doesn't it; it is simple -- so simple, in fact, that their
opponents knew exactly what early-day Christians didn't mean when they
said "Jesus is Lord." They
didn't mean "Caesar is lord."
"Caesar is lord" was the official oath of loyalty everywhere in
the
What about us? We live in an
era that believes Caesar to be lord. Our
era believes the state to be our greatest good.
The state is going to provide womb-to-tomb security.
Material security? Our
era believes that material security is the only kind there is.
Those who regard the state as final saviour and benefactor are shouting
"Caesar is lord!" whether they know it or not.
Such people believe that the powers the state has can transmute the human
heart and render the society the
Christians, however, know that
"Caesar is lord!"? No.
Jesus is Lord! We believe in him.
We don't believe the state to be able to remedy what ails us most
profoundly or supply what we long for most ardently or save us from our
deepest-down self-contradiction.
Christians, says Luke, are believers.
We believe him whom "God has made both Lord and Christ." (Acts
2:36) [3]
DISCIPLES Luke maintains that
all Christians are disciples. "Disciple"
means "learner". But how
do we learn? We learn through
keeping company with the Master himself.
We people of modernity assume that learning comes chiefly through a book.
It does come chiefly through a book if we are learning facts.
The facts of geography, the facts of grammar, the facts of geology, the
facts of history -- all of this can be learned from books.
But if it is wisdom we are learning rather than facts, then more
than a book is needed. Learning
algebra, learning French irregular verbs, learning the economic geography of
western Europe; all of this is quick and easy compared to learning the wisdom we
need as disciples. More than a book
is needed.
What more is needed? We need
the Master himself, the same one whom his followers knew in the days of his
flesh; we need the specific wisdom without which we shall only blunder in life,
regardless of our expertise in matters of fact; and we need fellow-disciples who
will learn with us, warn us, correct us, encourage us, inspire us.
More than a book is needed.
And yet, paradoxically, it is by means of a book that we are given so
much more than a book. I speak now
of the written gospels. There is no
substitute for the written gospels. For
as we immerse ourselves in them our Lord himself emerges from them.
As we immerse ourselves in them we find ourselves with the wisdom that he
alone imparts: wisdom concerning anger, impatience, lust, doublemindedness, but
also wisdom concerning purity of heart, persistence, resolve, transparency,
forgivingness, hope. As we immerse
ourselves in the written gospels we find other "immersionists"
emerging in our midst and standing with us.
Soon there's no shortage of fellow-disciples who can learn with us, warn
us, correct us, encourage us, inspire us.
You must have noticed how often Jesus paired up disciples.
When he sent them off here or there he sent them off in twos and expected
them to return in twos. Why?
It was said in
Luke says that Christians are disciples.
Immersion in the written gospels yields the Master himself, the wisdom
that characterizes disciples, and the fellow-disciples without whom none of us
will survive. [4]
BRETHREN It's one thing --
and a big thing! -- to have a fellow-disciple.
But it's something else -- and a bigger thing! -- to have a brother or a
sister in faith. To have a brother
or sister in faith is to belong to the family of God.
Discipleship is how we gain the wisdom we must have if we are not to
stumble; family-membership, on the other hand, is where we are cherished, loved,
treasured, embraced. Early-day
Christians often found themselves despised by their blood-family.
Someone who exclaimed "Jesus is Lord" when all other relatives
were shouting "Caesar is lord" – such a person quickly found himself
spun out of his family. Then his
new-found family, the family of faith, the household and family of God; this was
all the more important, for here he was cherished and held onto and held up -- loved.
I'm convinced we make far too little of affection in church life.
To be sure, no one wants to reduce Christian love to affection without
remainder. At the same time, I
simply cannot imagine what the word "love" is supposed to mean if it
is utterly devoid of affection. Christians
will talk about love at the drop of a hat, and rightly talk about it; after all,
if faith in Jesus Christ is our identity, then love for one another advertises
our identity. But what is advertised
if love, so-called, is colder than a frozen cod?
How different Jonathan and David were.
"The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David", we are
told, "and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." (1st Samuel
1:18) In the same vein Peter urges
the Christians to whom he writes, "...love one another earnestly from
the heart." Paul signs off
his letter to the congregation in Thessalonica with the words, "Greet all
the brethren with a holy kiss." (1st Thess. 5:26)
Kissing is everywhere a sign -- more than a sign, it’s a vehicle – of
affection. In the Hebrew bible
kissing isn't customarily kissing only; kissing is accompanied by hugging, by
clutching, by weeping, by dancing.
In the Hebrew bible kissing is one expression, one expression among the
many expressions that accompany it, of the most ardent affection.
Luke insists that Christians are brothers, sisters.
He knows that in the household and family of God we are to love one
another ardently. He knows too that
while Christian love has to be more than affection, it must never be less. [5]
FOLLOWERS OF THE WAY Again
and again the older testament insists that there are two ways.
Jeremiah thunders, "Thus says the Lord... `Return, every one, from
his evil way...'." (Jer. 24:15) Psalm
1 concludes, "The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the
wicked will perish." (Ps.1:6) Joshua
exhorts his people, "Choose this day whom you will serve….But as for
me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
There are always two ways before us, but there's only one way that
we are meant to travel. Luke
maintains that Christians are called "followers of the way".
Both truths need to be emphasized: we are followers, not leaders.
(Jesus Christ, says the book of Hebrews, has pioneered the way for us; he
-- and he alone – has blazed the trail for us. {Heb. 12:2})
At the same time we are followers of the way.
It's the supreme venture. It's not a stroll or a saunter or a promenade;
it's a venture, the venture.
What's needed on the way? We
need the intuition of the experienced spy; we need the perspicacity of the
long-distance runner; we need the sensitivity of the microsurgeon; we need the
resilience of the boxer getting up off the canvas; we need the singlemindedness
of the student preparing now for a career that will occupy her for life; we need
the courage of the soldier who knows that fear is found in every sane person at
the battle-front, even as he knows that his fear mustn't immobilize him; we need
the love of the nursing mother for her newest babe if we are ever going to bond
to the newest believers among us.
We are venturers on the way. [6]
THOSE BEING SAVED When we were youngsters we frequently checked to see how much taller we'd
grown. We knew that we were growing
taller slowly but surely; we knew too that we also grew suddenly in
growth-spurts. We were both growing
steadily and growing in spurts.
So it is with the Christian life. We
are "being saved" inasmuch as we are steadily "growing in
Christ"; we are "being saved" inasmuch as little-by-little we are
coming to think and act in conformity with Jesus Christ.
And then we are also "being saved" in spurts.
In my former congregation in Streetsville we frequently used, on the
first Sunday of the New Year, John Wesley’s service of “Owning the
Covenant”. (In 1755 Wesley
prepared a service of covenant re-dedication wherein worshippers pledged
themselves anew to God and to each other. Since
1755 Methodists have traditionally used the service on the first Sunday of the
year.) A fellow spoke to me several
weeks after we had used John Wesley's service of "Owning the Covenant"
wherein I had preached on the difference between a contract and a covenant.
"I grew more in that one service than I had in the previous ten
years", the man reported to me. This
isn't to say that he hadn't grown at all in the previous ten, but it is
to say that on that occasion a growth-spurt had occurred and the whole matter of
moving ahead in Christ or "being saved" had accelerated for that
moment.
The apostle Peter urges us, "Keep on growing in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)
The apostle Paul insists that his ministry aims at "presenting every
person mature in Christ." (Colossians 1:28)
Plainly if we are ever to
mature we have to grow. And if we
grow we shall find ourselves growing both steadily and in spurts.
Steady growth occurs as we steadily attend to worship, watchfulness,
obedience, study, gratitude. Spurt-growth
occurs as unforeseen developments startle us and challenge us and invite us to
stride ahead in a stride that outpaces our normal pace.
Spurt-growth occurs too as our attention to unglamorous steady growth is
suddenly blessed in a way that we couldn't anticipate.
A physician-friend of mine was living in
Luke speaks of Christians as "those who are being saved."
He knows that we shall continue being saved until that day, in the words
of his friend Paul, "God completes the good work that he has begun in
us." (Philippians 1:6) [7]
CHRISTIANS Luke reports that it
was in
But of course the Christians of Luke's era were anything but clueless.
They -- and they alone -- were kingdom-sighted in a world of the blind; they
were entirely "clued in" when all the while it was their detractors
who were ultimately clueless.
The term of contempt that was hung on early-day Christians they turned
into a badge of honour and then displayed it unashamedly.
"Christian?" They
knew that what possessed them wasn't a notion or an idea or a theory; they knew
they were seized and secured by their living Lord himself.
They could no more be ashamed of "Christian" than they could be
ashamed of the Master himself. They
knew that his grip on them would always be stronger than their grip on him; and
they knew that his grip on them would see them through the horrors ahead.
Publicly identified as both silly and subversive?
Yes, in the eyes of a treacherous world.
Yet they knew they were also secure in the heart and hand of him whose
resurrection would eclipse what they couldn't avoid and whose victory no earthly
torment could overturn.
Luke knew that those who were first called "Christians" had
already turned a sign of reproach into a badge of honour. Victor Shepherd
May 2005
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