Sermon - Emulation, Acts 11.22-30

I have heard many teachers and preachers explain how and why believers were first called Christians at Antioch. In this article, based on my sermon from this past Sunday, I would like to give my own opinion about this subject. This is not doctrine – just me expressing my thoughts in print.

If you are interested in reading about how others think the name Christian came to be applied to the believers, you can click here to read a very interesting though technical article on the subject.

The Bible says in Acts 11:25-26 that Barnabas and Saul fulfilled the Great Commission in Antioch – they lived among the people for one year teaching a great many people the truth of Christ.

On an earlier occasion, Jesus said to His disciples, “… everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” (Luke 6.40)

The disciple who is true to his lessons and models himself after his teacher will soon begin to think and to believe and to act as his teacher.

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “You should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.” (1 Cor. 11.1, NLT) 

Barnabas and Saul were disciples of Christ. They taught and modeled the life of Christ among these new believers in Antioch until the believers themselves began to think and to believe and to act just as they did – just like Christ.

In fact, Barnabas and Saul were so successful in disciple making – in teaching believers to follow Christ – that the city soon began to refer to the believers as “Christians” because their actions were so much like those of the Christ they professed.

The implication from this lesson is that believers were not called Christians until they had grown to look and to live like Christ among their community. They were not called Christians because they believed in Christ, but because they behaved like Christ. They were “little Christs” to those who observed them.

Wouldn’t it be grand if today people called us Christians, not because of our culture or our religious affiliation or even because of what we professed, but because we allowed Christ to live His life in us to the extent that those around us would see Christ in our everyday lives.

Sermon 05Dec2010  mp3  Word  PDF