T he word Christian is found only three times in the New Testament and each time it is a mark of identification. We read that ‘‘the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26). A CHRISTIAN IS IDENTIFIED WITH A PERSON. A Chris tian is a person in whom Christ lives. Paul said, “To me to live is Christ” and “Christ liveth in me.” He did not say, “To me to live is to live FOR Christ.” He was not identified merely with a cause, but with Christ. He did not say, “To me to live is to live LIKE Christ." It was not a matter of imitation, but of iden tification. He did not say, “To me to live is to put Christ first.” Some think that when they have given the Lord a dime out of their dollar and an hour out of their week, they have put Him first. They have not put Him first; they have only gotten rid of Him! The Christian accepts Christ as Saviour and confesses Him as Lord, but there is something deeper still: Christ is the Christian's LIFE. Our Lord did not come merely to take our part but to take our place. What we call Christianity is simply the outliving of the inliving Christ. Actually, we do not take Christ AS this or that; we take HIM. “As many as received HIM. . . . ” A man marrying a wife does not say, “I take this woman to be my cook or my housekeeper.” He takes HER and they become as one. A Christian MARCH, 1970
is “married to Another” (Rom. 7:4), joined to Christ forever. He is a CHRIST-ian.
We read that Agrippa said to Paul, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian" (Acts 26:28). A CHRISTIAN IS IDENTIFIED WITH A PERSUASION. He is persuaded that God is able to keep what he has committed to Him, that nothing can separate him from the love of God and, knowing the terror of the Lord, he persuades men. He is a persuader because he has been persuaded. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself and we are ministers of that reconciliation, persuading men to be reconciled to God. We read also: "Yet if any man suffer as a Chris tian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf” (I Peter 4:11). We are told that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (II Tim. 3:12). The early church was a persecuted church. Today it is a prosperous and popular church. The church must get out into the world but in the process of getting the boat into the water, the water has gotten into the boat. Moreover, we have sprung a leak! The community is molding the church more than the church is molding the com munity. On the theory that the end justifies the 13
Made with FlippingBook HTML5