Acts 11:19-26

The Gift of a Good Name

Sermon preached October 25, 2015
Opening
So to prepare for this sermon, I did some in-depth research on names, using The Best
Baby Name Book in the Whole World. And I learned from the book that names call up
images, ideas about the person that maybe we never intended. For instance, Barbara
suggests in people's minds a forceful, successful, overweight but sexy woman. Vicky
connotes a very successful, exceedingly well-liked and frisky person The name Brian
suggests a superstar - macho, dynamic, while the name Thomas suggests a man who is
large, soft, and cuddly. Research has also revealed that teachers give better grades to
children named David, Michael, Karen, and Lisa than those children named Elmer,
Hubert, Adele, and Bertha.
But some people clearly want a name to communicate a message. The book also reveals
that there once was a man named Praise-God Barebones who had a brother named IfChrist-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Wouldst-Have-Been-Damned, who was called
Damned Barebones for short.
Backstory
Acts is the history of the early church. And our reading from chapter 11 is a marvelous
picture of the early church in action. Usually, when we think of a passage from Acts
describing the early church, we think of Acts chapter 2, the account of the Holy Spirit
coming down and creating the church and the beautiful picture of their life together,
loving one another, worshiping, sharing so that no one was needy. And this account from
chapter 11 is completely overshadowed by chapter 2.
Thats too bad. Because what we have here, is an account of the baby church now
growing up and learning to walk and now heading out into the world. And the baby
church, gets a new name.
Brief definition
Because up to this point, the church is known as The Way. Thats not particularly
helpful, is it? The way to what or where? The way - to supper? The way - to happiness?
The way - to the mens room? So, someone had stroke of genius and came up with the
name, Christian. And it means, similar to, resembling, like Christ. The text says that
they were first called Christians, suggesting that someone outside the church came up
with the name - it doesnt say, they decided to call themselves Christians. But
somebody figured out that this group of people, were trying to be like Christ, were trying
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to embody his divine life, were trying to continue his ministry on earth, so they came up
with the name, Christian. And the name stuck. Thats what we call ourselves today.
The challenge of this
Like Christ. Similar to Christ. Resembling Christ. You? Me? Really? Pretty
intimidating, isnt it?
I am reminded of how some years back, on the Today Show, Bryant Gumbel
asked Maya Angelou, with all that she had accomplished, could there be any more
objectives, unfulfilled wishes, for her to pursue? Angelou said, Oh, my, yes. I
want to become a better writer...I want to be a better human being. Im trying to
be a Christian, which is no small matter. I mean it - Im always amazed when
(people) walk up to me and say, `Im a Christian. I always think, `Already?
Youve already got it? My goodness.
I mean, what a weighty name. And how casually its used. Like the story Tony Campolo
tells of being mugged in Philadelphia. The guy pulls out a gun and demands Tony empty
his pockets, hand over his wallet, all his money. Tony wisely does. The guy goes
through the wallet and finds three dollars. Only three dollars. And he says, this is
pathetic, three dollars, what do you do for a living? And Tony says, Im a Baptist
minister. And the mugger says, Baptist? Really? Me too!
The name Christian isnt a name we can wear lightly, casually. Its incredibly
challenging. Like Christ. Similar to Christ. Resembling Christ. Youve already got it?
My goodness.
Christians are people who fail miserably
That being said, the first thing we need to learn from the scripture about Christians, is that
they are people who screw up royally, just like we do. And somehow Christ uses them
anyway.
Did you notice where this group of Christians was located in our reading? Theyre not in
Jerusalem anymore. Theyre in Antioch. Jerusalem was small, ethnically and religious
homogenous, almost entirely Jewish. But now theyre in a totally different place, Antioch
was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire, and the Empire was amazingly diverse
for the day, and it was a perfect place to begin spreading the gospel to the Roman world.
And at the beginning of Acts, Jesus, right before he returns to heaven, gives his church
their final instructions. He tells them to wait in Jerusalem for the gift of the Spirit - and
they do that - and that they will be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. But they dont
do that. They stay in Jerusalem. Why? Well, theyre having tremendous success right
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there, thousands of people becoming Christ-followers. Why? Its known and

comfortable -they speak the language, theyre with their own ethnic group. Seems like
they were enjoying life and ministry in comfortable Jerusalem so much, they disobeyed
the Lords command to get up and move up and take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
But in chapter 11, some of them are in Antioch. Why did they go there? Persecution they were driven out for fear of their lives. Persecution broke out after a man named
Stephen was dragged before the religious authorities and he confessed Christ, even saw a
vision of the risen Christ, he was stoned to death and the fury of the religious authorities
and the mob drove those comfortable, disobedient early Christians out of Jerusalem and
into the larger world.
Christians are people who get it wrong. Sometimes badly. And the list of the ways
weve gotten it wrong is embarrassing and even shameful. Christians opposing civil
rights. Christian slave-traders. Christians leading the great failure of Prohibition. The
catastrophic religious wars of Protestants vs. Catholics after the Reformation. On and on
and on.
But heres how faithful Christ is. He doesnt throw up his hands in disgust when we
screw up and stomp away - he redirects us so we can do his will. And sometimes hes not
at all subtle about it. Hell do what it takes. And it took a persecution to get those
Christians moving out into the world. God is faithful, even when were not faithful. And
still uses us.
Christians are people who risk boldly
Second thing we learn about Christians. Christians are people who risk boldly.
So here they are in Antioch. All these different kinds of people around. Great majority
of them are not Jews. And up to this point, the church had shared the gospel just with
Jews, and with Gentiles who were called God-fearers, who trusted in the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but didnt go all the way to convert to Judaism. So the first
Christians were sharing the good news about Jesus Christ with people who already
believe the same stuff as they did. People who knew the Hebrew Bible, who knew about
Abraham and Moses and the law.
But then - Antioch! This sea of different peoples. And Luke tells us that someone got
brave, someone got bold, and decided, well heck, theyre here, were here, lets tell them
about Jesus too!
And you see the results in the list of names of the leaders of the Antioch church over in
chapter 13 - theyre called prophets and teachers. Theres Simeon who was called
Niger Niger means black. A black African became a Christian. Theres a man named
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Lucius of Cyrene. Cyrene is in North Africa, but people there were not black, more like
Arab or Berbers of today. Manean - dont know much about him except that hes from
the world of wealth and power - he worked in King Herods government. And alongside
them, the newly converted Paul, and Barnabas.
Now...why was this risky and bold? Well, a lot of the first Christians thought the gospel
was just for Jews and got all stirred up and thought this was completely inappropriate,
wrong and so the church called its first big council - all the leaders getting together to
decide, is this right, should we bring the gospel to the pagans, to the Gentiles? And they
decided yes.
But these first Antioch Christians - they didnt wait for permission -they did something
that scandalized some of their sisters and brothers back in Jerusalem - and they probably
knew it was going to make people mad - and yet they took the risk and did it anyway.
And because they risked, for the first time in the Antioch church, you have a church like
Christ intended it to be - composed of all different kinds of people.
Last Sunday, we took a risk. A small one. But a risk.
Doing the service in two places, asking you to get up and move in the middle of
the service - asking people who prefer contemporary to start up in the sanctuary
and people who prefer traditional to go down to Friendship Hall and sing along
with the praise band.
Then the risk of asking 35 people to share their memories - I remember when and their prayer-filled hopes - I pray for the day when. 35 people and an open
microphone! Someone once defined eternity as a group of preachers given an
open microphone - well, that could have gone on forever - and nobody reviewed
their remarks beforehand - I remember when - we had a pastor who I actually
liked!
Then - we asked you to go on a church tour and oh my gosh the elevator is going
to get jammed up and people will be colliding on the steps
Ad then a pie contest where we read the names of the pie-makers and didnt like
some pies as much as others - that was a brilliant idea (it was mine).
Oh, and we asked you to bring a pot-luck dish to share, just to add another layer of
complexity.
And it all went great. And those of us who were afraid that people would
grumble, that you couldnt handle all the goings-on - we sold you short.

Should have known better. Risk is in the DNA of this congregation. Over and over again
youve decided to stay put here on the square, with lousy parking, with the challenge of
getting people to come downtown - rather than moving out of downtown and finding a
nice big piece of land to build a new building with a parking lot and play area for
Mothers Day Out.
Christians are people who are growing together into their name
Maya Angelouss remark - Christian? Youve already got it? Really?
Well, no, we dont. Christian is a name we grow into. And it works like this story
from a popular childrens book by called The Name Jar. A young girl has just moved to
the United States with her family from Korea. On the first day of school, the little girl is
nervous about being accepted by the American kids, and she gets teased a little on the bus
on the way to school. She is embarrassed by her Korean name, and instead of introducing
herself on the first day, she tells the class that she will choose an American name by the
following week.
Her new classmates are fascinated by this no-name girl and decide to help out by filling a
glass jar with names for her to pick from. So the kids put names in the jar, and the little
girl practices being a Suzy, a Laura, or an Amanda.
In the meantime, one of her classmates comes to her neighborhood and discovers her real
name . . . and its special meaning. On the day of her name choosing, the name jar
mysteriously disappears. Encouraged by her new friends, the Korean girl chooses her own
Korean name and helps everyone pronounce it.
Her real name is Unhei [pronounced yoon-hay]--and it turns out that in Korean Unhei
means grace.
Everything about being a Christian is grace. Nothing is earned, everything is given including, the gift of the name, Christian. Like Christ? Similar to Christ? Most days I
dont feel much like that and I look back over the day and recall all the times I failed to be
like Christ...its discouraging. Probably just me.
But - maybe you remember when you were a kid your mom would deliberately buy you
clothes that were too big, said youd grow into them. Until you did, you went to school
with pants rolled up at the ankles. But you did grow into them.
God is in charge of your growth in Christ, just as much as he is your salvation in Christ. If
you cooperate with him, youll grow, steadily over time, not in a straight line, but steadily
over time, more into that name - Christian.

But there is a lot we can do to cooperate with the slow, patient work of God. And its
right in our passage. Luke tells us that Barnabas went looking for Paul, found him and
brought him to Antioch. Why? So they could teach this congregation about how to be a
Christian. And Luke says they spent a full year doing that.
Following Jesus is hard and demanding. It requires being part of a learning community it requires education and sharing stories of failure and success together so we can learn
from one another, it requires learning the Bible so we learn who Jesus is, what God is
like, we learn about Gods heart, like his heart for the poor and suffering.
The Mets got into the World Series, defeating once again the hapless Cubs. And the Mets
have some great pitchers who can throw 95 mile-per-hour fastballs not just for an inning
of relief pitching - but for seven innings as a starter. These pitchers - Jacob deGrom, Matt
Harvey and Noah Syndergaard - they dont just bring the heat, but they throw 95 mph
strikes.
Now...these guys were born with incredible arms - but there have been a lot of
failed pitchers who could throw fast, but not hit the strike zone. These guys can.
How? Coaching, and practice. Listening to their coaches in college and in the
minor leagues, and practice, over and over again learning how to throw fast and
accurately. And they blew the Cubs away.
Well, Christians need support and coaching and teaching, too. Following Jesus means
learning and sharing and supporting one another in community, like these Antiochene
Christians did. One thing that came through loud and clear in your vision surveys is that
you want small groups, you want more learning opportunities. And I think that will be a
way we live out our vision for the future. But for now - why not participate in what we
do have? Come to Wednesday night - its been a great series. Participate in a Sunday
School class. If youre available during the day, join up with the Womens Group on
Wednesday mornings. If you can do Saturday mornings, were getting the Mens
Saturday group going again.
Closing
A few months before our first grandchild was born, my daughter Amy asked me what I
wanted my grandfather name to be. Lots of options there. Paw-paw. Grandpop. Opa.
Etc. I thought about this important question for a moment and said facetiously, I would
like to be addressed as O Wise and Benevolent One.
My children thought that was hilarious, and thats what they have my grandchildren call
me. Wabo for short. Really. My two year old grandson Noah, is taking a bath last
week and tells his father he wants to talk to me, so Peter does a Factime call and the first
thing Noah says is Hi, Wabo!
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That name started out as a joke - but its had an effect on me. I feel a strong calling, to be
the Wise and Benevolent One to my children and grandchildren. Im certainly not there
now, but its a name that makes me want to grow into it. It makes me want to be the kind
of father, the kind of grandfather, that is a source of strength and blessing and goodness in
the lives of my children and grandchildren. One day, I hope to be OWABO.
And even more, I hope to be a Christian. Like Jesus. Similar to Jesus. So I can be the
presence of Jesus to others. Maybe you do too. Amen.