This Church Has A Name

Introduction

As has already been stated, we have visitors with us this morning, and we always appreciate that. We always try to greet our visitors, and usually, if they don’t offer it, the first thing I ask a visitor is, what’s your name? But have you ever thought about following that question up with another question? Unless you want an odd look, don’t do this. But after you ask somebody what’s your name, a little bit of a pause, and then say, What should your name be? That’s different, isn’t it? Because sometimes our names don’t match, really, who we are. That’s true sometimes with college mascots. I don’t know if you follow college football much, but sometimes college mascots fit perfectly.

Florida Gators. That just makes sense, doesn’t it? Miami hurricane. That makes sense. Florida State Seminoles, am I getting everybody covered here? The Florida State Seminoles. That makes sense. There’s a meaning behind all of this. If you follow college football, particularly obscure pop college football, you may know or may not know that in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I want you to think geography here. Picture Tulsa, Oklahoma on a map. Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. That doesn’t make sense, does it? I haven’t studied extensively meteorological history, but to my knowledge, a hurricane has never come close to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sometimes names just don’t make sense. You know, many times in the scriptures, someone’s name was changed to make it make sense, wasn’t it? You remember in, oops, that’s a good sermon, but it’s not mine.

Speaking of names.

We think of a biblical character in the New Testament by the name of Joseph. He was given a new name by which we know him today, and that is Barnabas. Because the name Barnabas meant son of encouragement. That’s a name that fit him. And so again, if I were to ask you this morning those two questions, what’s your name? And what should it be? What’s a good name that would fit you, that would describe you? Well, let’s think of that in a collective sense. We’re known as the Bumby Church of Christ or South Bumby Church of Christ. What if we were to change our name? And not give ourselves a name that indicated where we were located on a map, but to give ourselves a name, or maybe better to let someone else give us a name that really describes us.

What would we put on the sign? What would someone else say? This needs to be your name. This morning we want to realize that we do have a name. By name here, I mean the idea of a reputation, or a description that befits our character as well as our reputation. We do have a name. And I want us to give us some thought this morning as a congregation to what our name is. Or maybe more correctly, what our name should be.

What was their name? If I were to just list off some local church names today, you would immediately think, oh. For example, Laodicea. Did they have a name? That was a church in the book of Revelation whom Jesus said, I will spew you out of my mouth. Well, they had a name, but it wasn’t a good one. I think of the Thessalonian church. Turn over to the book of 1 Thessalonians. As opposed to the church in Laodicea, for a time at least, the church at Thessalonica had a wonderful name. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. The Apostle Paul says, beginning in verse 6, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 6, he says to this church, and you became followers of us and of the Lord. Having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.

For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything. The church at Thessalonica had a name, didn’t they? They had a reputation. They were known as being a good, faithful church.

What’s our name? What should our name be? Well, we need to understand we do have a name. And we should be concerned about that name. We should be concerned about that reputation. We should care what others think about us. Look in the book of Philippians, chapter 2. Let’s establish this point that we should care how others view us. In Philippians chapter 2. Now we pause there before we read this text. When I say we should care about how others think about us, we understand that that must be understood in its context. If we’re doing what’s right, and others think poorly of us, then that can’t be helped. But we do still have some concern for what our reputation is. In Philippians chapter 2 and in verse 15, we read this: that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world.

This concept of being a light in the world is a concept we talk about a lot. And it’s really this concept of this is how people see us. Now they may not agree with the stands that we have taken, but they know that this is who we are, they know this is what we are. That’s our reputation. It may be appreciated by some, it may be hated by some. But it’s important how others view us. But now more importantly, it’s important how God views us. We talked about that church in Laodicea. In all of those seven letters, Jesus uses some repetitious language. The language that he begins, every one of those letters, he says, I know your works. Another way of saying that is, I know what you’ve been doing.

That’s a far different reaction than if you’ve been up to no good and somebody says, I know what you’ve been doing. But the understanding there is that the Lord knew the inner workings of every one of these local churches. They knew their heart. He knew their spirit. He knew their actions. And so we have a name to others. And we have a name to God. I want to offer for you at least three things. We can add to this list, make it a long list, but for sake of time this morning, let’s look at three things that we should be known by God and man as a church. First of all, and I put this first on the list for a reason. We should be known.

1. A Church That Takes an Uncompromising Stand for the Truth

We should have the name of a church that takes an uncompromising stand for the truth. That’s listed first because that’s really where it all must begin. This is not our church. This is his church. It’s also listed first on the list because this is something we’ve been talking some recently about, the idea of counter-culture. This is something that is absolutely counter-culture. We live in a time that’s increasingly buying into the idea that there is no such thing as truth. Or if there is a such thing as truth, it’s different with every person in every community in different groups. You decide what truth is this world that has little or no concept of what truth is, we should be known as a group of people who stands for the truth.

In 1 Timothy chapter 3. In 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 14 and 15. The apostle says this, these things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly, Paul writing to Timothy. But if I’m delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. Now let’s pause there. Conduct yourself in the house of God. That’s not talking about how you behave in the church services. You ever get in trouble when you’re a kid by how you misbehaved in church? Oh, I did. Some of the worst spankings I ever got were on a Sunday afternoon. I remember one time, one of many times. I’m telling you, if you want your Christian parents to spank you like never before, get called out by the preacher during a gospel meeting.

I wasn’t real bright as a child. I was misbehaving in a gospel meeting with two of my buddies. And so, what’s the smart thing to do if you’re going to cut up during church? Sit on the front row. That’s what we were sitting on the front row. I don’t know why. Nobody sits on the front row. But we were sitting on the front row, me, my buddy, Brad, and Clark.

And we were playing rock, paper, scissors. Bob Waldron stopped his sermon. And for dramatic effect, paused for a while. And then pointed to the three young men. It still hurts when I sit down. But that’s not what Paul was talking about when he said how you conduct yourself in the house of God. He was talking about the church. He wasn’t talking about church services. He wasn’t talking about not chewing gum and passing notes and cutting up, although that’s certainly something to be avoided. But when he said how you conduct yourself in the house of God, he was talking about the church and how Timothy, as an evangelist, as a teacher of the Word of God, was going to instruct these people of what they ought to be as a part of his family.

You see, it matters. It matters what we believe, it matters what we do, it matters what we teach, because it is the house of God. Finish verse 15. How you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of truth. The body of Christ, the family of God, is the pillar and the ground of truth. Something thusly described, better pay attention to truth.

And we need to have that reputation. We need to have that name. Here is a church that stands for the truth. Now, again, in many circles today, that’s a bad name. But we unashamedly own that name. And this is something that’s going to be more and more required of us, and so we better be prepared. In fact, we better have already gotten prepared for this. To be unpopular. And to have a name that is a byword among ungodly, uncaring, unrighteous people. But to own that name proudly of people who stand for the truth. No matter what. Look over in Galatians chapter 1. What’s the alternative? Churches in the New Testament were not only told to stand for the truth, to be people of the word, but they were reprimanded when they veered from that.

Galatians 1, verse 6, I marvel to a local church or local churches, he says, I marvel that you’re turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. Unmistakable language of how we ought to approach the truth. We won’t take the time, but in those seven letters to those churches in the book of Revelation, chapters two and three, they were, some of them at least, were commended by God Himself for taking a stand for the truth.

2. A Church That Loves and Supports One Another

And so let’s have a name. That here’s a church that uncompromisingly stands for the truth of the Word of God. I want us to have a name. That we’re a church that loves and supports one another. And how do you get that name? You get that name by doing this and by practicing this. If the church is the pillar and the ground of truth, the church is also a body that was intended. Understand this. It was a body of people designed by God for this very purpose. So that we would seek one another out. And that we could be a support system to help one another. Don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say. But God did not design the local church as simply a place where we could come once a week and worship him.

Now don’t misunderstand me. I’m not belittling worship. The idea of corporate worship is integral in the Bible. But that’s not the only reason. God put us together, he designed us for a purpose. God never envisioned that we’d be isolated in any way in our faith. You remember the the old, if you’re old enough to remember the old television show of Batman. You remember where Batman lived or how he would get where he would live, he’d drive that souped up car, and as he passed a certain point, the barrier would go down, the cave would kind of open up and he’d drive in, and that cave would close up, and nobody ever knew that Batman lived there. Where we lived in Florence before we moved here, we had a neighbor that we lived in a call de sac, and a neighbor that lived across the cul de sac from us.

Deedra and I nicknamed him Batman. Because he’d come home from work, he’d push the button, he’d drive into his garage, the garage door would close before he even got out of his car, and we never saw him again. We knew all of our other neighbors, we knew their names, their pets’ names, their grandchildren’s names. We knew everything about all of our neighbors. We’re just nosy people. But we didn’t know anything about Batman. He never came out of that house except when he was in his car. He never mowed his grass. I never saw him go to the mailbox. He would just lock himself in the four walls of that house until the next morning. He would back out of the driveway and he’d drive off. I fear that sometimes we have what we might call Batman Christians.

That we show up right at time for services. We come in, we sit down. As soon as service is over, we we leave and we go and we drive into our little bat cave at home. Only to be seen the next Lord’s day when we drive out. There’s that isolation. That’s not the way God intended Christians to function. Look with me in Romans chapter 12. You think just by the names alone, just by the names alone of what we are, describes what we’re or how we’re to behave. We’re described as a body. We’re described as a family. Those words, which by the way, are the most prominent words that describe the church, both universal and local. Those themselves bespeak of what this relationship ought to be.

There is no such thing as isolation. Or there should not be in a family or in a body. The body description is in Romans chapter 12. Begin in verse 9. Romans 12, verse 9 says, Let love be without hypocrisy.

Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good, be kindly affectionate to one another with perfectly with brotherly love, in honor, giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in the Spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in whole, patient in tribulation, steadfastly continuing in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality? Do you see that those encouragement, those commands were given right after the description of the church as a body, made up of several members, but yet one body? Those commands are not given in a vacuum. Those commands to help one another, to encourage, to prefer, to love one another, are based upon this relationship. In fact, Jesus, in his prayer to his father in John chapter 13, and in his admonition to his disciples, would have us to know that this is a true badge of discipleship.

This is how the world will know that you’re a son of God by how you treat one another. Now, how do we do that? How do we do that? It’s one thing to say that we’re a body, to say that we’re a family, to preach sermons generically about this concept, but how do we really do this? We get involved, you get your hands dirty. That’s the example that Jesus gave us in washing one another’s feet. You have to get down on your knees and get your hands dirty to help one another. Now, this is a two-way street. If you’re a part of the body, if you’re a part of the family that has those needs, we need to know about it. If you have physical needs, let someone know.

And please, if you have spiritual needs, raise your hand and let someone know. It’s amazing to me that we have no problem asking for help, asking for prayers of the congregations for some physical malady, even if it’s something that’s kind of embarrassing. Announce that I’m having this. But if we’re having some spiritual problem, we don’t want to share that with anybody. Something far more dangerous. And something, by the way, in addition to prayer, which we can do for both of these situations, something for which we’re perfectly equipped to help. If you’re having some physical malady that needs some kind of treatment, I can pray for you, but that’s, and please, I’m not minimizing prayer, but that’s where my help ends. You don’t want me as your doctor.

But if you’re having some spiritual struggle, these are the very people you want involved in that spiritual struggle. These are people that love the Lord, have studied his word, that love you. And please understand this. These are people who have gone through the same struggles as you and they want to help. Now the other side of that street is we must be willing to help. To not belittle, to not dismiss, to be willing to get our spiritual hands dirty, to get down on our knees and serve in every sense of that word. And we must be on the other side of this equation, we must be the type of people who are looking and who are aware. Now, not looking in some judgmental so that we can pounce on somebody and shame them in their sins, but looking and aware.

Being alert. Include in your private prayers. This line or something to this effect. Dear Lord, open my eyes that I may see. Help me to see the need in my brethren. And you know what’s amazing? Once you start looking and are aware, it’s amazing how many opportunities will just automatically unfold in front of you. Just because you’re aware.

3. A Church That’s Open and Welcoming to Outsiders

Nobody drives your car until you bought it. And then everybody went out the day after and instantly copied you. And you see them everywhere, don’t you? You know why that is? They were just as many on the road yesterday. Why do you notice them now? Because you’re looking out for them. That’s the only difference. There didn’t magically appear more blue Toyotas. You just weren’t looking for them last week because you didn’t own one. You’ll be amazed at how many opportunities to serve that you’ll see once you lift up your eyes and really start looking and start caring. Lastly, this church should have a name of a church that’s open and welcoming to outsiders. In James chapter 2, the scriptures actually specifically address this concept of how we are to appear, how we are to look, what our name is to be toward those who are outside.

James 1, James 2, excuse me, verse 1, my brethren do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with partiality. For there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes. And you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, You sit here in a good place. And you say to the poor man, you stand there or sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Do you see the New Testament specifically addresses how we address visitors in our assembly? If the Holy Spirit saw fit to include that in the Holy Writ, don’t you think we ought to spend a little time thinking and talking about it?

Do we have a name of a group that’s open and welcoming to outsiders? We have the blessing here of having a lot of outsiders, don’t we? A lot of visitors. But I’m going to tell you, that blessing can also have a little bit of a curse with it. If you’ve ever worshiped at some small rural, isolated church. You know the distinction. If a visitor shows up once in a blue moon, you know that’s a visitor. They’re easy to spot, aren’t they? And so they get a lot of attention. Don’t let the number of our visitors water down your enthusiasm and your encouragement. Dieter and I several years ago were on vacation. We were traveling through Tennessee. We stopped one Wednesday night at a local congregation. I’m guessing they had 120, 130 people there that Wednesday night.

And I’ll never forget this local church. It’s etched in my mind permanently. And not for a good reason. Because in the middle of the South that’s known for its hospitality, in a group of over a hundred Christians. We got there fairly early, and we didn’t leave right after the Amen.

But that evening, one person spoke to us. One. And you know what she said? She spoke to me. Nobody spoke to Deedra. She’s kind of scary. No. One person spoke to me. You know what she said? She said two words. No you were going to the water fountain at the same time, and I said, Oh, you go first. And she said, No, you only two words. Anybody spoke to us. To my mind, that church has a name. But I also have other experiences, as do you of going in and feeling like you found long-lost cousins because they’re so welcoming, so inviting. Invite you to stay over at their house, come to eat, welcome you back. And those churches have names as well. How do we accomplish this?

We begin first by inviting people. Just inviting a simple invitation. Do you understand the power of a simple invitation? By welcoming them when they get here. One of the things that I witnessed by a fellow Christian that had the most profound impact upon me. We had visitors that were coming across the parking lot in their services one morning when we were in Alabama. And a family met them in the parking lot, introduced themselves, and said, why don’t you sit with us? Do you know how much pressure was taken? You know how much pressure there is trying to pick out a seat in the church building? You don’t want to get somebody else’s seat. And what a warm welcome. They didn’t know these people. But they said, come sit with us.

I’m going to tell you, I’m sure that had an impact upon them. It had an impact upon me. And I was just a bystander. Be warm. Be inviting. Be welcoming. Show genuine interest in them. Look them in the eye. Ask them their names. Something about them. Give up the chief seats. Share your Bible class material with them. Help them find their way around. Where’s the nursery? Where’s the restroom? Where’s the Bible classes? Ask them to fill out a visitor’s card. And this last one gets very specific, but I think it’s very important. And this is some very insider baseball here. But please, no negative comments around our visitors.

Conclusion

Now, that’s not saying that there aren’t complaints that you can take to the elders and things that need to be corrected. But voicing those negative things around our visitors is not very welcoming. Maybe that’s not the time to say that was one of the worst sermons I ever heard. What was that song leader thinking? Or even are they trying to freeze us? This church has a name. What do we want to put on the sign? What’s already on the sign in other people’s eyes? And more importantly, God knows our works. What is our name to him? Would you pray with me, please? Dear God and Father, we’re so thankful that you’re our God, that we’re your body, that we’re your family, that we’re your church. Help us in every way, Father, big and small, to be the type of people, the type of church you would have us to be.

Help us to be loving and caring. Help us to be welcoming. Help us, Father, to never compromise your word. Bless us in our efforts. Help us to be better. Help us to continue in the good things that we do.

We love you and we thank you and we praise you. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.