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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Christian
No Longer Means Christian The meaning of words
often changes as they evolve over time.
Tweet is no longer the soothing sound of a song bird.
We sing "Deck The Halls" at Christmas with its lyrics
"don we now our gay apparel."
You may recall Herman Hermits' 1967 hit song "No Milk
Today" where "the company was gay."
In both songs the word "gay" that used to mean joyous or
festive no
longer means joyous or Due to the evolving
nature of western culture, in many respects our word Christian has evolved
into something not reflecting its original Biblical meaning.
As far as I am concerned, Christian no longer means Christian.
Acts 11:19 through 29
tells us about the disciples of Jesus in Antioch. They were the first
disciples of Jesus in history to be called Christians, as the last
sentence in verse 26 states. "The disciples were
called Christians first at Antioch." Before Christians were
called Christians, they were just known as disciples of Jesus, their Lord
and Saviour to whom they gave their lives.
So what distinguished the disciples of Jesus in Antioch
from other people in order for them to be called by Christ's name as
Christian? From the Acts 11
narrative we learn that after Stephen was martyred for his association
with Jesus, persecution of the disciples drove many of them from Jerusalem
(verse 19). Some disciples
relocated to Antioch
where "the Lord's hand was with them and a great number of people
believed and turned to the Lord" (verse 21).
"News of this reached the church in From the above brief
narrative we see a few things that distinguished the newly named
Christians from others. They
were good people, full of God's Spirit and faith.
Despite persecution, they preached Jesus, leading many to Him, and
that due to God's empowering hand of grace enabling them.
These character distinctives alone, and others not narrated,
distinguished these Christians from others. That was back then, but
what about today? If I tell someone that I
am a Christian today, I will most likely have to define what I mean by
Christian lest they, among other identifiers, confuse me as being a right
wing political extremist, a man of faith who preaches his political
passion. That's not me.
I preach Jesus. I am a Christian, but
realistically speaking these days, I am a disciple of Jesus.
I have offered my life to Jesus who in turn has offered Himself to
me by placing His Spirit within me. I
am a citizen of the Kingdom
of As far as I am
concerned, Christian no longer means Christian, because unlike the
disciples of Jesus in Antioch, so many claiming to be Christian today fail miserably to live the life
of a disciple of Jesus. May
that not be you.
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