Genesis 11:1-4, “… And they said… and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth”. The concept and reliance on a name to keep people united is not new. At the Tower of Babel, they feared division and dispersion. Their solution was, “Let us make us a name, lest we be scattered…”. We have learned that takes more than a name to unite people in sweet fellowship. It takes a new nature.
The Lutherans take the name of Martin Luther. The Muslims take Muhammad’s name, the Mormons come in Joseph Smith’s name. The Buddhists come in Buddha’s name.
Do these names unite these people in sweet Fellowship? Take the Muslims for instance. From 1980-1988 Iraq and Iran went to war. Over a million of their peoples were killed. Yet many soldiers (90 %) from both opposing armies believed in Allah and his prophet Muhammad and bowed toward Mecca, Saudi Arabia, their prophet’s place of birth, and prayed to Allah 3 times a day, yet they were at war with each other.
John 5:43, “I am come in my Father’s name and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive”. The Lord Jesus didn’t come to earth to establish a name for himself. He came to declare His Father’s holy name. Even 2,000 years later, God is not looking for a name for His people, but rather a people for His name.
Acts 11:19-26 The Apostles in Jerusalem heard how both Jews and Greeks were converting to Christianity 300 miles north of Jerusalem, way up in the city of Antioch. They sent the Apostle Barnabas to check things out. Now just put your feet in Barnabas’ shoes and imagine how he would find the church in Antioch. Do you think he would come into town looking for a church building with a steeple and a cross up on the top? No! How then would he have found the Christians? It says in verse 23, “he had seen the grace of God”. What does the grace of God look like? The grace of God is the unmerited favor of God bestows on His people. Barnabas recognized it in others because he had experienced it in himself.
In 1990 I reported for duty at the newly purchased Mountain Ranch Convention grounds where a number of us young Workers were selected to help in construction. I was shown large bundles stacked on wooden pallets containing 3,600 Split-face Cinder blocks. I was told this would be my job, working as a Mason, laying these blocks one on the other to make walls for 3 restrooms, a laundry room, and a 130-foot-long retaining wall. Well, up till then, I had never even heard of a Split-face cinder block, much less ever laid one. But interestingly enough, after working with that material, day after day, week by week, month after month, wherever I went, I began to notice, buildings made with the same material. Costco buildings, Taco Bell restaurants, Highway retaining walls, etc. all made with the same material I was working with. Perhaps that is how Barnabas so readily recognized the grace of God in the lives of those newly converted Christians, because of the Grace of God working in his own life.
Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. And can we add two words to that verse? Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God – in others.
But in Acts 11 and verse 26, it says the Lord’s disciples were called “Christians” first in Antioch. This was a name given to the disciples by the citizens of Antioch. The title Christian was not a name that the disciples initially called themselves. Nowhere in the New Testament do we read of a name that the “Christians” took for themselves. Down through the years, God’s people have been called by many names, given to them by others. Even in our day, we have been called, “Go Preachers”, the Two by Twos, the Truthers.
In 2006 my companion Joe A., and I held a mission in the High Sierra Nevada foothills town of Sonora. The Doctors and nurses that ran the clinic gave us free use of the Delta Blood Bank’s conference room. When we first signed up, on the agreement contract, there was a line that said, “Name of group”. The head nurse asked me, “What is the name of your church group”? When I told her we do not have a name, another nurse said, “Why even a dog has a name”! So, four of those nurses gathered around and decided that they would give our Friends a name. Finally, the head nurse said, “Your Bible services are held on Friday evenings, so we will call you, “Friday Night Life”. What clues does that name give you to describe who we are? It would be just as appropriate a name given to a Disco Club!
When I was an adolescent and asked the name of my “faith”, I would say, “We are non-denominational”. Later in life, I would explain our group did not have a name. Older now, I realize the answer is much bigger than a couple of words or a short sentence. The answer is an opportunity to tell the story of Jesus- His purpose; what he represented; the sending of the apostles; their mission in life; their sacrifice; what they were called; it’s a story of love and of a spiritual family. This is who we are.
If we try to answer our identity with a word or two it’s likely the end of conversation. I wonder if Jesus did not give us a name so that we have an opportunity to connect more deeply with those that ask.
When Paul the Apostle was giving his testimony before the rulers (Acts 22:4) and later, before King Agrippa he said, “I persecuted them of ‘this way’”. In Paul’s day, there were many ways devised by man in the quest to draw near to God. The Sadducees, the Herodians, the Pharisees, the Epicureans, the Essenians, the Stoics, Etc. But there was no name the Christian community took for themselves. That is why Paul said, “this way”. The Apostle Paul himself was thought to be a ringleader of a religious group called “the Sect of the Nazarenes”.
Acts 24:5. That was just another name given by “outsiders”.
Two Mormon boys “Elders” came to our home one Saturday morning and had such a pleasant visit at the door with my Dad that he invited them to return for supper. It seemed so strange to have them there but while we were eating, one of them asked, “Mr. VanDenBerg, what did you say the name is of your religious organization”? Dad replied, “It is not an organization, it is an organism”. Upon hearing this, the other Elder suddenly laughed outright. But Dad continued by explaining, “You see boys, this is the difference between what you belong to and what I have. An organism is a living body created by God. The Apostle Paul told us that Christ is the head of the body and we are members. What you boys have is not a living body but an organization, and as far as man-made organizations go, it is likely one of the best. But it is not the body of Christ”.
1 Corinthians 12:12, “…and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…” Verse 14, “For the body is not one member, but many”.
Dad went on to explain that it is not a name that unites God’s people, rather it is the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within each member that brings us into harmony with the mind of Christ and unites us in this body.
So how do we know if we are members of this body? One evident way is when we rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those that weep – Romans 12:15. Another is – John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another”. What better way is there to be known? They were not identified by a name, but rather the spirit of love.
Ephesians 3:13-14, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” We are in a family that is in heaven and earth and what a wonderful name we have to live up to – our Father’s name!
Truth Archive 