What’s In A Name?

Introduction

Well, in light of Tony’s announcement, I think I need to change my sermon this morning. I was going to preach about Moses striking the rock in the water. But that’ll just be cruel. And Sean may want to change his invitation song, don’t lead, there’s a fountain free. But these things happen and we’ll endure. So I want to ask you a question. Do you remember? I’m sure you do, but do you remember the last time you were embarrassed? I mean, really embarrassed yourself. You said something wrong, did something, showed up at the wrong place, the wrong time, something that just really embarrassed yourself. It’s amazing how easy it is to embarrass ourselves, and it seems that there are virtually unlimited ways in which we can do it.

Being the father of former teenagers, my threshold of embarrassment is pretty high. But I have embarrassed myself. I’ll tell you about one time in particular. This was years ago. We were living in a different place, and just like now, then I frequented the hardware store. And I got to know the people that worked in the hardware store. And so one day I went in the hardware store, and the young man helping me, I just went out of my way.

And I don’t know what possessed me that day, but I just kept calling him by name. It was kind of like Paul’s thorn in the flesh. I think it was a messenger of Satan to humble me because I just kept calling him Andrew. Good to see you, Andrew. Thank you, Andrew. Where’s this at, Andrew? I’ll see you next time, Andrew, I said, as I walked up to the cash register. And the cashier politely leaned forward, paused an unusual long period of time, and then whispered to me, her name is Jessica. I was embarrassed because I got her name wrong and called her Andrew. That was embarrassing. I thought about never going back to that hardware store again, but I did, and I never called Jessica by name ever again.

That was embarrassing for a couple reasons. Number one is because somebody’s name means something to them. You didn’t get to choose your name, most likely, but your name means something to you, and you’re very possessive of that. We don’t like to be called by the wrong name. We don’t like when somebody mispronounces our name because our names mean something to us. And names do have meanings. You know, in scripture, Christians are known by various names, or different descriptions. We read in Acts chapter 11 and in verse 26 that the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

We wear the name Christian, we wear the name disciple, we wear different names, our descriptions, and those names are important because the names are the descriptions that Scripture gives to us by virtue of our relationship to God, and then meaningful because of our relationship to one another, that those names are descriptive. They describe who we are, and they describe some aspect of either our relationship to God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, or they are descriptive of our relationship to one another, or oftentimes they’re descriptive of both relationships. But those names or those descriptions that God, by the way, has placed upon us aren’t just descriptive, they’re conscriptive. That is that they place upon us a responsibility.

I could be described by various names. Number one is I’m a husband. That something describes me, doesn’t it? It describes a relationship that I sustain. But if God places that title upon me, it also puts certain responsibilities. That’s not just the name. That comes with certain obligation. Father, brother, neighbor. All of those terms don’t just describe some aspect of my personality or of my role or relationship to someone else. They also place upon me certain responsibilities. That’s what we want to talk about this morning. Briefly, let’s talk about some names, not all of them, but some names that God has placed upon us and see how they are both descriptive and conscriptive. That they will describe us, but they’ll also tell us something about our obligations and responsibilities.

1. Called to Be Saints

Turn with me, would you, to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 1. And we’re going to start with maybe the most unused title or name that is used. We shy away for some reason from using this term, but it’s a term frequently used in Scripture. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 2. After having described himself in verse 1 by certain names or titles, he says to the church, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 2, to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.

Like I said, we shy away from this term. Probably the least used name or description by us in modern day. And maybe there’s a reason for that. Maybe there’s two reasons from that. Some in the religious world have misused the term saint to refer to some hierarchy of super saints. That you have to have done something outlandish, have performed a miracle or received a miracle to ever ascribe to the rarity of using of receiving the title of saint. That’s not the way the New Testament uses it. It uses it synonymous. If you’re a Christian, you’re a saint. But we also maybe shy away from it because it carries with it the idea, as he says, there, of being sanctified or holy, and in an attempt to emit humility.

We don’t want to say the word saint, because saint in our mind kind of implies perfection. I’ve actually heard somebody say, Well, I’m a Christian, but I’m no saint. I know what they meant by that. They meant I’m not perfect, but that’s not what the word saint means. And so the term saint is a term that God has placed upon us, and again, it’s descriptive. It tells us something about us. The words saint, sanctified, and holy all come from the same original root word. That just simply means something that’s been set apart, that’s been separated for a particular purpose or use.

Descriptive of a term, and we should never use that term or any other New Testament or biblical term in some sense of grandiosity or of being arrogant. But we are saints. If you’re a child of God, if you’ve obeyed the gospel, been baptized into Christ Jesus, you are a saint. God has set you apart for something. He has a purpose for your life. You’re no longer out there aimless and lost. You’re now a part of God’s family, of his flock, of his kingdom. You have a purpose and a goal in life. You’ve been set apart for a particular purpose. Look at this in the book of 1 Peter, chapter 2. Peter will borrow the Old Testament language of the idea of Israel being set apart. God, when God chose the nation of Israel there at Mount Sinai, he would tell them a lot of things, but two we want to talk about this morning.

Number one is all the earth is mine. Everybody belongs to me. I created them in my image, God said. Everybody is mine, and therefore is answerable to God. But he would say to Israel on that occasion, but I’ve chosen you to be my special people. I’ve set you apart for a particular purpose and role. And notice how Peter will borrow, or the Holy Spirit through Peter’s pen, will borrow that language. 1 Peter 2, verse 9, but you, not speaking to Old Testament Israel, but to New Testament Christians, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Let us never forget that if we correctly wear the name of Christ, that we are his special people, that we are to be set apart.

There is to be a uniqueness about us, a difference about us, and again, not in some egotistic way, but something special about us. Because we are conforming, not only were we made as everyone in his image, but we are striving to conform ourselves to his image. We’re to be different and set apart. Is that true of me? Is that true of you? I’ve used this illustration before, but I’m running out of illustration, so we’re gonna have to recycle some. Several years ago, and my first place I ever preached was in South full time was in South Alabama, and we had the old traditional uh preacher’s home or parsonage was right next door to the church building. And on my day off, I had a pair of coveralls on, and I had a chainsaw in my hand, and I was cutting down some trees and brush back behind our house on the property that bordered the church building, and I was sweating.

This was South Alabama, that’s close enough to Florida. I was sweating like crazy. And when you sweat and you use a chainsaw, all that dust and sawdust and dirt blows back on you and just sticks to you. And so I looked filthy. I was dirty, sweaty, and and fella pulled up in a car in the church parking lot and walked up to our property and came up to me and said, excuse me. And I turned off the chainsaw, set it down, and said, Can I help you? He says, I’m looking for the preacher. And I said, You’re looking at him. And he kind of looked me up and down, and he says, You don’t look like any preacher I’ve ever seen. I guess he thought we always wear a suit and tie.

We always have our hair perfectly. I didn’t look like a preacher standing there all sweaty and dirty and grimy. And I know what he meant by that, but that’s always stuck with me. And it seems to me kind of a perfect illustration of what we’re talking about here of us being special, unique and set apart. Could it be said of you that somebody could say, somebody that knows you in a different setting, somebody that works with you or goes to school with you or lives in your neighborhood that might say to you, if you said, you know, I’m a Christian, I’m a saint, would they ever say of you, you don’t look like a Christian I’ve ever seen? There should be something about our character, about our language, about our dress and the way we talk and the way we act and the places we go that should be something distinctive about us.

2. A Disciple Is a Follower

Because that name means something. We started our discussion this morning in Acts 11, verse 26. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. Let’s talk about that word disciple. That’s a frequent term used in the New Testament to describe those of us who, again, are Christians, who’ve sworn allegiance to Christ. What does the word disciple mean? Well, maybe we can best define it by a sister word, and that is discipline. Disciple discipline. A disciple is somebody who has discipline. The disciple really carries with it two parallel meanings. One is a disciple is going to be a student. He’s going to be someone who studies and knows about that. He had carries with him or her a certain amount of knowledge and understanding of something, but then it has to go beyond that.

Let me illustrate that. I illustrated this recently in our high school class of this quarter. There may be, and I’m just kind of making up a hypothetical situation here. We have a university close by, UCF. And let’s just say that we at UCF, we had a history professor who was the world’s expert on Adolf Hitler. That history professor had written books about Adolf Hitler. If anybody ever wants to interview somebody to know about Adolf Hitler, they call this history professor. He knows everything. He lectures all over the world about the history of the German nation and Adolf Hitler. He knows more about Adolf Hitler than anybody else alive. So he’s a student.

But would we say that he’s necessarily a disciple of Adolf Hitler? We go, whoa, whoa. Certainly, I think he would go, whoa, no, that’s not the same. In fact, in these books and lectures and writing he’s done, he probably, I hope he would, would come out and say, Adolf Hitler was a horrible human being. The things he did were atrocious, and we should never, and the reason maybe I’m studying this man and talking about him is so that it won’t ever be repeated again. And so you see, the idea of being a student and knowledgeable isn’t necessarily the same. It’s a part of it, but it’s not the same as being a disciple. But a disciple of Christ is someone who’s going to know about God and Jesus Christ and His will, His teachings, but it’s going to say, I am a follower.

Not only do I know about Him, but I live Him in my life. And understand that what the term follower that’s inherent in the word disciple means, it doesn’t mean you just believe what He has taught. And it also doesn’t just mean that you follow what He taught. Now, all of those are included. You know about Him, you believe what He is taught, you follow what He is taught, but there’s another aspect that has to be there if we’re to be a disciple. We don’t just follow what He has taught, we follow Him. You see, there’s a difference. We should follow what He’s taught, yes, but we also follow Him. We walk in His footsteps. We live as He lived. We love as He loved. We discipline ourselves as He has disciplined Himself and brought Himself under the subjection of the Father.

Remember what Jesus would say? If we’re to be His disciple, if we’re to be His follower, we must take up our cross and follow him. That’s not just following what he tells us to do. That’s following what he did. That means just as he died, we died. And so that’s going to be a change, not just in my morality, that’s kind of what covered saints, but in my commitment. And the tough question is, am I to a disciple? Don’t answer so quickly. Am I a disciple? Maybe a better way of thinking that is, would Christ call me his disciple? Would he look at my life and my behavior and my commitment and my dedication and say, that person follows me? Have I taken up my cross?

3. We Are Brethren

Have I died to self and submitted myself to his will so much so that his life, his teaching, his body means everything to me. Examine your life. Be honest about the time and the devotion and the dedication that you give to his body and to his teaching. And can you really say that you’re his disciple if his things don’t truly come first in your life? Lastly, the most common by a long shot. The most common description of us as Christians is brethren.

In the New Testament, in the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 4. The apostle says to Timothy, be an example to the believers in word and conduct in love and spirit and faith in purity, that we are believers, we are disciples, we are saints. And as Paul would say, and Peter would say, and James would say, these people who have put their faith in Jesus Christ are joined together in a believing family. We are brethren.

Look at 1 Peter chapter 1 in verse 22 and the language and how it is used there of our relationship and the meaning that that puts upon it. 1 Peter chapter 1 and in verse 22 since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth. Let’s pause there. Since you’ve done that, then this follows. You see, this is the idea that these titles, these names, aren’t just descriptive, but they place upon us a responsibility. Since you’ve done that, something’s going to follow. Since you’ve purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. We love as family. And so the idea that we’re brethren speaks to affection. That we have this family love.

Now I see it necessary to pause here and say that we’re to have a family love in the ideal. You might say, okay, I’ll love you like my family. My family’s lousy. We hate each other. No. When the Bible describes us as brothers and family, it speaks in the ideal, the way it ought to be. And thankfully, I was raised in that family where we fought. I had three brothers, I talked to you before. We fought. I have a broken nose because of my brother. My oldest brother had eight stitches on his arm where I cut him. My middle brother still has a pencil lead in his leg where I broke off a pencil in his leg. But we loved each other. I know it didn’t sound like it, but we fought, but we loved each other.

And my parents loved me and we loved them. And so I have that as a model. Maybe you don’t have that background. Maybe you come from a dysfunctional family where there wasn’t this love and support as they ought to be. The good news is you may not have a physical family to model this spiritual family after, but you have a spiritual family to make up for what you lost in that physical family. It speaks of affection. But it also turn back with me to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 23. This idea of family also speaks of equality. Matthew 23. Jesus is talking about those who had the arrogance to want to wear certain titles or to be esteemed above others. But he says in Matthew 23, verse 8, but you do not be called rabbi, which means teacher.

Don’t go out looking for some title that’ll elevate you above someone else. Don’t be looked to be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. You see the idea there, the point there was your brethren, you’re all the same. And so it speaks of equality. It speaks of affection, but it speaks of equality. That if we’re in Christ, we have brothers and sisters, then that means that we’re all the same. And being brethren, it’s going to change the way we deal with disagreements. We won’t turn back there, but you’ll remember the story of Abraham’s life, where Abraham had great flocks. Lot, his cousin, had great flocks, and there became conflict. They were living too close to one another, and they were probably fighting over food and water for their flocks.

And so what did Abraham say? Abraham said to his kinsman Lot, look, let’s not fight because we are brethren. And so he says, let’s come up with a solution for this. And he said the reason that we do that is because we’re brethren, we’re family. And so that’s the obligation. That’s the conscription that this name puts on us. We’re brethren. We’ll work it out somehow. We’ll work it out. Because we’re family. Names mean something. We take pride in our names. We should and do take pride in the titles and descriptions that we wear of who we are that describes our character, our relationships, but also describe our duties. I want us to take pride, not in an arrogant, sinful way, but to take pride in these titles that God has given us, knowing that it’ll change who we are and how we live.

Conclusion

If you’re not a part of his family, then why not remedy that this morning? Why not be a part of his special people? Why not be his follower? Why not be God’s child and be initiated and adopted into the most wonderful family you’ll ever know or find? Can we help you in that? Change who you are. Change your name this morning. If we can help you in that pursuit, then let it be known. As together we stand and sing.