The focus of our study this morning is about what it means
for us to be Christians. And here today we are gathered
as Christians, and I think a lot of the time we can take what
that means for granted. If you've ever been asked what
church do you go to? What denomination are you a part
of? XYZ questions of that nature.
Then this is a study that hopefully is helpful in helping
us to answer those questions. So there are three main
questions that we're going to answer that are going to be the
structure for our study. First of all, what about the
name? Where do we get the name
Christian from? Secondly, different pasts to the
same place. Is that valid?
We'll get a little bit more into that.
I won't explain what that means right now, but and then thirdly,
we'll ask united by what? What should we expect
Christchurch to be united by? What are we and all other
Christians in the world united by?
So first of all, what about the name?
The name Christian is not one that we came up with.
It's actually used three times in the Bible.
And what this means to me is that the Holy Spirit inspired
these men of faith to write this down, to write this name down.
Meaning that we have a scriptural basis for continuing
to use this, use this name. We have a scriptural basis for
calling ourselves Christians. In Acts Chapter 11 in the
second-half of verse 26, we find it used for the first time.
Says there, and the disciples were first called Christians in
Antioch. Then in Acts chapter 26 verse
28, it's used again says Then Agrippa said to Paul, you almost
persuade me to become a Christian.
What we can learn from this verse is that the name Christian
was widespread enough enough so that Paul was easily recognized
by this name, even by kings. As a Christian, this wasn't some
confusing term that nobody really knew what it truly meant,
but it was rather a clear identifier of someone who
followed after Christ. And I think it's interesting too
that Agrippa says to Paul, You almost persuade me to become a
Christian. Becoming Christian is not
something that we're forced into.
It is something that we're persuaded to become.
And that means that it is reasonable.
We can reason within ourselves, and the faith that we have is
not blind, we can reason it, we can be persuaded.
And then thirdly, in First Peter chapter 4, verse 16, it says Yet
if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be
ashamed, but let him glorify God.
In this matter here we find more about what it means to be a
Christian. A Christian is someone who
follows Christ even to the point of suffering because of it.
Being called a Christian is not representative of some casual
connection that we have to Jesus, but it is.
It is rather a strong inward devotion that we are willing to
be persecuted for obviously we are not seeking after
persecution doesn't feel good. We don't want to have to endure
that. But if we're willing to bear the
name of Christian, we must also be willing to suffer for
Christ's sake. And not only do we endure it,
but we rejoice in it. Because when we suffer for
Christ, we glorify God when we let our faith stand up to those
who hate us for it. So the question that arises is
Christian an umbrella term for all those who claim to have
faith in Jesus Christ, or is it a more specific identifier of
those who are members of Christ's true church?
Essentially what we're asking is, are denominations supported
by Scripture? Is it true that those in the
denominational world are Christians, as the Bible
describes a Christian to be? What's often said is that
denominations are just different paths to the same place.
We're all going about it different ways, but we're all
going to end up in heaven, right?
And that's something that can be easy to, you know, maybe agree
with it sounds pleasant. But let's see what the Bible has
to say about denominationalism this saying different paths to
the same place. The most prevalent argument that
I've heard in favor of denominationalism, and maybe
you've heard different ones, but from reading about it and from
talking to other people, most of them go to John, the 15th
chapter. It says there in verse 5, this
is Jesus talking to his disciples on the night in which
he would be betrayed. It says there, Jesus says there
I am the vine, you are the branches.
He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me
you can do nothing. The idea of this argument is
that the denominations are the branches and Jesus is the vine,
and in that way they're all connected to Christ.
This would mean that the term Christian is an umbrella term
for anyone who claims to follow Christ.
I do think that there are a few issues with this argument
though. For one thing, the context of
John chapter 15 really does not support this conclusion in any
way. John chapter 15 is in the middle
of a conversation that Jesus is having with his disciples on the
night in which he was betrayed, and he's taking this opportunity
to prepare them for his absence to comfort them.
He's telling them I'm going away and you're going to have to
function. You're going to have to be
Christians when I'm gone. And he's comforting them and
he's preparing them for this. When Jesus is speaking to them,
he says you are the branches. And it's very important, I
think, to notice that he's speaking to individuals.
He's not speaking to various religious organizations.
He's not speaking to people who would go out and create their
own church. And if this verse really was a
green light to create different denominations, why didn't they?
Why didn't the disciples that Jesus was talking to hear go off
and create their own churches? If this was the green light, why
don't we have evidence of anyone taking that opportunity?
These early Christians save Judas were all members of Christ
Church as it was established in Acts chapter two.
I think that this was not interpreted then in that way,
and these people obviously understood the context of this
conversation better than maybe we could ever hope to.
So if they didn't interpret it in this way, should we really be
interpreting it in that way? Those in favor of
denominationalism also look toward John Chapter 3, verse 16.
This is a very well known verse. You know, we see this pumped out
by the world a lot, and it says there in John 316 for God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever
believes in him should not perish but have everlasting
life. If this was the only verse that
we were given in Scripture about what it means to be a Christian,
then yes, Christian is an umbrella term for anyone who
believes in Christ who claims to have faith in Him.
Unfortunately, that's not the case.
This is not the only verse that we're given in Scripture
regarding this topic. So we have to do some
harmonization. We have to corroborate.
The Bible does not contradict itself, so we have to look
elsewhere and make sure that everything lines up.
Everything agrees. Yes, it is true that you must
believe in Jesus to be a Christian, but we know from
other places in the Bible that we also must repent.
We know that we must confess. We must be baptized.
We must obey God. The Bible was not written for us
to take verses in isolation and form doctrines based on them,
but rather for us to read and understand the Bible so that we
have a more complete picture of God's will.
The point is, there is no real biblical support for
denominationalism as we see it in the world today.
So what does the Bible actually say about the church?
Ephesians Chapter 4. We'll just read verse four at
first, but it says there there is one body and one spirit, just
as you were called in one hope of your calling.
So right off the bat, Paul's clearing up any misconceptions
about multiple paths to the same destination.
Just as we all share the same hope, we have a unity of
expectation that we will inherit eternal life in heaven.
We are share. We share unity in the one body
which is the Church, and we can know what the one body is
because we have the one Spirit who revealed that to us.
John, chapter 16, Speaking of the Spirit, says, However, when
he, the Spirit of Truth has come, he will guide you into all
truth. For he will not speak on his own
authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will
tell you things to come. The reason why we have the Bible
today is because we, the early church, certain men were given
the Spirit, and they were able to know God's will and to write
it down for us today. And because we have that one
spirit, we know what the one body is, and we know that one
hope that we have. So Paul says one path, one
destination, and he continues to elaborate on this idea of unity
throughout the rest of this passage.
In verses 5:00 and 6:00 he says 1 Lord, we have unity of
submission as Christians, 1 Faith.
We as Christians have unity of information, one baptism.
We have unity of salvation, one God and Father of all.
We as Christians have unity of adoration of God the Father who
is above all and through all. And in you all we are called to
be united in this way. So it really doesn't make sense
to me that it would be in God's plan for the church to be
divided. The plea for unity is a huge
theme in the New Testament and it completely goes against what
we see in the denominational world.
Ephesians chapter 5 verses 25 says husbands love your wives
just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her.
The church was extremely important to Jesus and we have
no right to pervert the very thing that he died to establish.
Jesus died to these, died to establish the church.
He bought the church with his blood, which means it's his
church. It's not our church to do
whatever we want with. We have to follow the scriptural
pattern that we find in the Bible.
So what should we expect the one true Church to be united by
today? I have here three things.
The church should be or Christians really should be,
united in their actions. They should be united in
doctrine, and Christians should be united in salvation.
The way in which that we are united by our actions is that
Christians are all called to behave in the same way.
This is not to say that we're all the same person.
God created us all differently, with their own unique
personalities, interests, talents, roles.
But the point is, we are united in behavior as Christians, in
the fact that we are called to abstain from the same things and
we are called to participate in the same things.
Whether that's coming to church every Sunday morning, whether
that's not going to drinking parties, not using bad language,
things like this unite us as Christians in our behavior.
And our behavior is something that is very, very important to
Jesus in John chapter 14, verses 23 through 24 says There Jesus
answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my
word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make
our home with him. He who does not love me does not
keep my words. And the word which you hear is
not mine, but the fathers who sent me.
We see clearly that obedience is essential in demonstrating our
love for Christ. And this means that our actions,
the way that we live our lives, needs to reflect the teachings
that we find in Scripture. These are things that really
should set us apart from the world when we do them.
In fact, it is by these actions, by the way, that we live our
lives, that other people in the world know that we truly are
followers of Christ. Jesus says in John chapter 13,
verse 35, By this all will know that you are my disciples if you
have love for one another. In this context, Jesus is
specifically talking about love. But I think that we can apply
this to the broader scope of commands that were given in the
Bible. When people hear or when people
see the love that we demonstrate, when people hear
the language that we use, they see the kindness we show.
They can see our commitment to Christ.
They can recognize us as His true followers.
In James chapter one, verse 22, it says but be doer of doers of
the word and not hearers, only deceiving yourselves again.
The same idea of obedience as important as essential to the
Christian walk when we fail to obey.
We fail to love. When we fail to obey, we fail to
show others that we are Christians.
And when we fail to obey, we fail to behave in the way and be
united in that behavior, in the way that the Church was intended
to. We're also united by doctrine,
like we read in Ephesians chapter four.
We are of 1 Faith, and what this means is that Christians should
have a common agreement about what the Scriptures teach.
Now, this is not to say that every single Christian will
agree on every single biblical nuance you know, but rather that
we have an agreement on the foundational principles that the
Bible teaches, Whether that's worship, whether that's
communion, whether that's the plan of salvation, XYZ fill in
the blank. Beyond that, we are united in
the pursuit of rightly dividing God's Word without the influence
of outside motivations, outside factors or beliefs.
We are united and doctrine in the sense that we agree that
there is absolute truth and that that truth can only be
interpreted in one way, which is the way that it was intended to
be interpreted by God. Second Timothy chapter 3, verse
16 says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness. Doctrine is so important, and it
is so important that we agree upon it because it comes from
God. The Bible is not a book full of
opinions from different religious fanatics, but it is
rather the information that the omniscient creator of the
universe deemed it necessary for us to know.
Logically, if there's a correct way to interpret Scripture,
there must be an incorrect way in.
Second Timothy chapter 4, verses 3 through 4 includes a warning
about this. It says there for the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to
their own desires. Because they have itching ears.
They will keep up for themselves teachers, and they will turn
their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.
Paul's writing to Timothy to warn him about the very thing
that we encounter today. False teachers are prevalent
often because man's will and God's will don't perfectly
align. We don't always want the same
things for ourselves that God wants for us.
This makes it easy to listen to what you want to hear, rather
than what you truly need to hear.
Christ Church needs to always remain on the lookout for this
kind of teaching, and in order to do that, we need to have that
unity of doctrine. We need to have that good
understanding of God's word in order to guide to guard against
false doctrine. Thirdly, we are united by our
salvation. Remember that one baptism that
Ephesians chapter 4 talked about?
This is the baptism for the remission of sins and we are
united in salvation in the sense that all Christians have been
baptized for the remission of sins and the Lord has added them
to the church. Acts chapter 20, Acts chapter 2
rather verse 38 says Then Peter said to them, repent and let
everyone of you be baptized in the name of Christ Jesus for the
remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit and a little further down.
I don't have it on the board, but in the second-half of verse
47 it says, and the Lord added to the Church daily those who
are being saved. So here we find the reason why
we're baptized, and then we also find one of the effects of
baptism. We are baptized for the purpose
of having our sins washed away. But what also happens is that we
are added to the Church by God. So in order to be saved, you
must be baptized. In order to be in the Church,
you must be saved. So not only are we united in our
method of entrance into the church, you could say, but we
are united in our Excuse me, we're not only united in our
method of salvation, but in our terms of entrance into the
church. Baptism is not merely the
outward sign of an inward change, as many would have you
believe, but it is what saves us and it is what makes us
Christians. First Peter chapter 3, verse 21
elaborates on this idea. It says there is also an
antitype which now saves us baptism.
Not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a
good conscience toward God through the resurrection of
Christ Jesus as clear as day. The Bible teaches that baptism
is for salvation. Anyone who claims to be saved in
any other way is unfortunately not basing their salvation off
what the scriptures teach. Paul speaks more about baptism
in Romans chapter 6, says there in verses 3 through 8.
Or do you not know that as many of us, as we're baptized into
Christ Jesus, we're baptized into his death, Therefore we are
buried with him through baptism into death, the justice Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.
Even so, we also should walk in newness of life, that importance
of obedience, that importance of our actions.
Verse 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness
of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his
resurrection. What I want to draw from this
passage is the emphasis on the unity that we gain through
baptism. Paul says we're united together
in the likeness of death and resurrection as we die to sin
and are made alive in Christ and Christ is truly what it all
comes down to. In John chapter 14 verse 6,
Jesus says There Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me. So keep that in mind as we move
on. All of the ways in that we've
just discussed, that we're united as Christians point back
to Jesus. And really, this is because
Jesus is at the center of all of our lives.
Jesus is what we all have in common.
It is only because of Jesus that we act the way we do.
It's only because of Christ that we believe that which we do.
It is only because of Christ that we can have the hope that
we do. We're united in our actions, in
our doctrine, and in our salvation, And we're united in
Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.
The Church of Christ is exactly that.
It is Christ's church. The phrase Church of Christ is
not simply a label that we call ourselves, but it is an
identifier of ownership. We aren't the Church of Christ
because we thought the name sounded cool or we thought it
would look good on sign. We're the Church of Christ
because Christ bought the church with his blood and we are united
by him. And really that's the
distinction between Christians and everyone else.
We are members of Christ Church, not man's church, First
Corinthians chapter one, verses 12 through 17 says, Now I say
this, that each each of you says I am of Paul, or I am of
Apollos, or I'm of Cephas, or I am of Christ.
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?
Were you baptized in the name of Paul?
I thank God that I baptize none of you except Christmas.
And guys, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own
name, yes, I also baptize the household of Stephanus.
Besides, I do not know whether I baptize any other, for Christ
did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with
wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no
effect. This is a passage that I think
many of us are familiar with, and we say rather we find the
same idea emphasized. We don't follow after Christ.
We fall, or we don't fall after man, rather we follow after
Christ. The issue was that in the church
in Corinth, people were dividing themselves up based on who had
baptized them, based on what preacher they liked.
You could say I think it's one of the most clear pictures that
we have in the Bible of how God feels about denominationalism.
Simply dividing up the congregation based on who
baptized who, I would argue is a far less significant split than
we see in the religious world today.
But Paul was quick to correct this.
He didn't say no, it's OK that you guys are just, you know, as
long as you guys are still come to church every Sunday together.
Division is not something that God intended to be in his
church. Paul even says that he's glad he
didn't baptize many of them because he didn't want to get in
the way of the unity that all Christians need to have, all
Christians should have in Christ.
Verse 17 is really what hit home with me, though says there, For
Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the
gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ
should be made of no effect. Paul says that even preaching
the gospel with wisdom of words can take the focus away from
Jesus. The focus of the church, the
focus of our worship, the focus of our preaching is not the
preacher. The focus of this sermon is not
me. The focus of all of this is
Christ. And we, when we allow ourselves
to get caught up in what Paul calls the this wisdom of words,
this show we display. It's all about me.
I'm such a great preacher. I'm such a great singer.
Whatever it is, the cross of Christ is made of no effect.
That's a powerful statement. And that's what happens when we
take the glory away from God, and when we give it to man.
We tie the hands of Christ and pervert the church that he died
to establish. So to briefly summarize, what
about the name? The name Christian belongs to an
individual who is a member of Christ's one church and is
devoted to Christ, even to the point of enduring persecution.
Secondly, different paths to the same place.
The biblical plea for unity proves that divisions such as
though as those seen in the denominational world are
unscriptural and they are not a plan, are not a part of God's
plan for the church. And finally, united by what
Christians are united in a shared devotion toward Christ
and the pursuit of His will in all things, we are Christians,
we are assembled here today as Christians, and there is
beautiful simplicity in that we are Christians.
We are nothing more. We are nothing less.
That concludes my thoughts for this morning.
But we never want to close without offering the invitation.
And this isn't my invitation. This isn't the congregation
here, this invitation. You know, we just talked about
how it's all about Christ. And this is Christ's invitation
to you. And he died so that you would
have the opportunity to accept that.
And what that means is that you have heard the word of God.
You believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
You repented of your sins, you confess that Jesus is the Son of
God, and you are baptized for the remission of sins if there's
one who has taken those steps. But maybe you sinned in a public
nature or you would like to request the prayers of the
Church on your behalf. We invite one of either case to
come while we stand and sing a song.
We thank you for listening to our podcast put on by The Church
of Christ at 2215 Plans Rd. in Bakersfield.
If you would like any additional information or you would like to
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