1 Thessalonians 1:4-10

A friend sent me an email telling about a question posed to her by a co-worker. Here is the exact text of the question:

How is a Christian defined? It used to be that if you were not Jewish or Hindu or Buddhist, you were a Christian, whether Catholic or Lutheran or Episcopal or Baptist. But it seems now that the word means something more specific. Is it considered to be an actual religion other than Catholic or Lutheran or Episcopal or Baptist or whatever. If so, what makes it different?

That’s a very good question. It shows that the person has been doing some seriously thinking about spiritual issues. It also reveals that she has penetrated to a core issue that has long confused millions of people--What does it really mean to be a Christian?

This question was in the news a few days ago when the Reverend Al Sharpton caused a theological kerfuffle during a public debate with atheist Christopher Hitchens. At one point he seemed to imply that Mormons don’t really believe in God, a riposte which drew a sharp response from presidential candidate Mitt Romney who called Sharpton’s statements bigoted. Sharpton later said his statement had been misinterpreted. Meanwhile CNN's Anderson Cooper picked up on the controversy with a program called What is a Christian? I can simply say that anyone watching would likely be more confused at the end than at the beginning.

So what is a Christian? The answer is not as easy as you might think. Everything depends on how you define the word. You can't really tell who is a Christian and who isn't until you know what the term means. To muddy the waters further, recent polls report that 92% of all Americans believe in God while 83% call themselves Christian. If you went to any major American city and asked, "Are you a Christian?" you would get all sorts of answers.

"Of course I'm a Christian. I was born in America."
"I was raised in a Christian home."
"I'm a baptized Catholic."
"I'm a Methodist."
"I go to Woodland Park Baptist Church."
"I read my Bible every day."
"I walked an aisle, said a prayer, signed a card, raised my hand."
Humpty-Dumpty Or you could make it simpler and say, "A Christian is anyone who calls himself a Christian," which is basically how the pollsters came up with that 83%. It's very American to say, "I'm a Christian if I say I am." That reminds me of Humpty-Dumpty who said, "When I use a term, it means whatever I choose it to mean--nothing more, and nothing less." I found a fascinating essay that ultimately comes to the same conclusion:

We accept as Christian any individual or group who devoutly, thoughtfully, seriously, and prayerfully regards themselves to be Christian. Included are: the Roman Catholic church; the Eastern Orthodox churches, conservative, mainline, and liberal Christian faith groups; The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons); Jehovah's Witnesses and a thousand or so other religious organizations that identify themselves as Christian. Also included are those who consider themselves to be Christian even though they do not identify themselves with any particular religious group.

The writers of the essay acknowledge the reality that by making the definition so broad, they have virtually emptied it of meaning. You are a Christian if you say you are a Christian. But, they say, since there is no consensus on what the word means, they have no other choice. You're in even if someone else says you're out. You "Christ-ians" As I have pondered this question, I realize that I can give my own answer on several different levels. First of all, it's perfectly fine with me for people to identify themselves any way they like. If you say you are Hindu, I won't say that you aren't. If you say you are Muslim, I accept that at face value. If you call yourself a Christian, far be it from me to argue with you. Second, acceptance doesn't imply agreement. I can be friends with many people who hold divergent views about ultimate reality. And I can have a conversation with someone who says things I regard as absurd. To accept you doesn't imply that I agree with you. Third, since I try to base my faith on the Bible, I want to know what the Bible says about what it means to be a Christian. And right at this point we have a problem because the Bible only mentions the word Christian three times:

"And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians" (Acts 11:26).
"In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?" (Acts 26:28).
"Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name." (1 Peter 4:16).

Here are some interesting facts to consider:

1) The name "Christian" was not invented by early Christians. It was a name given to them by others.
2) Christians called themselves by different names—disciples, believers, brethren, saints, the elect, etc.
3) The term apparently had a negative meaning in the beginning: "those belonging to the Christ party."
4) It was a term of contempt or derision.
5) We can get a flavor for it if we take the word "Christ" and keep that pronunciation. You "Christ-ians."
6) It literally means "Christ-followers."
7) Over time a derogatory term became a positive designation.
8) Occasionally you will hear someone spit the term out in the same way it was used in the beginning. "You Christians think you're the only ones going to heaven."
9) There was a sense of suffering and reproach attached to the word in the New Testament.

In working my way toward an answer to "What is a Christian?" I decided to check out the dictionary. I found these two definitions:

"1. One who professes belief in Jesus as Christ or follows the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus. 2. One who lives according to the teachings of Jesus."

That’s actually quite helpful because it gives some content to the word. To be a Christian means that you . . .

Believe Something
Follow Something
Live Something
A Fully Devoted Follower To borrow a contemporary phrase, we could simply say that a Christian is a "fully devoted follower of Jesus." As I think about that, two insights come to mind.

1) It doesn't happen by accident. You are not "born" a Christian nor are you a Christian because of your family heritage. Being a Christian is not like being Irish. You aren't a Christian simply because you were born into a Christian family.
2) It requires conversion of the heart. By using the term "conversion," I simply mean what Jesus meant when he said that to be his disciple meant to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). The heart itself must be changed so that you become a follower of the Lord.

In order to flesh out the answer to "What is a Christian?" I want to take a look at 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10. This particular passage is useful for several reasons:

1) 1 Thessalonians is one of the oldest books in the New Testament. Scholars date it at approximately 50-51 A.D., meaning that it was written only 18 years after Jesus’ life and death. As such it is one of the earliest pictures we have of the Christian church in the very beginning. It is, in fact, our earliest missionary document.
2) Most of the believers at Thessalonica had come to Christ from idol-worshiping paganism. Paul’s brief ministry resulted in a small congregation made up mostly of converted Greeks along with a few believing Jews and some leading women of the town (Acts 17:4). As Paul says, they had turned to God from idols (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
3) This passage tells us how these idol-worshipers became followers of Christ. Thus it offers us what might be called a street-level description of what it means to be a Christian. I say that because the transformation had been so complete and so obvious that these former idol-worshipers had a huge impact as brand-new Christ-followers. They became the "talk of the town," so much so that it was said of Paul and Silas that they had "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6).

This is Christianity in its purest and rawest form, stripped of centuries of acculturation and religious tradition. This is the "Christ-message" as it invaded and transformed the Roman Empire. This is how it was in the beginning. This is the message that turned the world upside down, spread like wildfire, threatening the power structure, challenging the status quo, upsetting both the pagans and the hyper-religious alike.

Sometimes you see a label on a bottle of powerful cleaner that says, "Do not use at full strength. Dilute with water first," because the liquid is too strong in its undiluted form. In this passage we see Christianity in its earliest, undiluted form. No wonder the first Christians turned the world upside down.

What is a Christian? Let's let the Apostle Paul give us the answer.
1) A Christian is someone who has been chosen by God. "For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you." (v.4). The key phrase is “he has chosen you.” That speaks of the sovereign grace of God in salvation. Did you know God chose you to be saved? If he had not chosen you, you would never have been saved at all. Sometimes we speak of “finding” the Lord, but if he had not found us first, we would never have found him at all. Salvation begins with God, not with us. He chooses us and then we believe. In putting the matter that way, I simply mean to declare that salvation is all by grace, all of God, all the time.

A Christian, then, is person who has been called and chosen by God himself. Being a Christian is not a work of merit or a personal accomplishment but an act of God's free grace.
2) A Christian is someone who responds to the gospel message. "Because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction" (v. 5). Here we come to the other side of the coin. God's election becomes effective in us through the preaching of the gospel. When the Word is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, it produces deep conviction in the hearts of the hearers. Even when we have done our best as preachers, it will count for nothing without the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the hearers. That's why "full conviction" matters so much. It means people are so deeply convicted of their sin and their need for a Savior that they run to the cross and embrace Jesus as their only hope of heaven.

So we must preach and we must pray and then we must depend on the Lord to give people the grace to respond with saving faith. This explains a mystery many of us have wondered about. Why is it that two people can listen to the same message and respond in utterly different ways? Why will one brother follow Jesus while another completely rejects the gospel? Why does one person believe and the other say, "I want nothing to do with Jesus"? The answer must be that one person had an open heart while another person had a hard heart in terms of the gospel. Without the "full conviction" that the message must be believed, no one will ever become a Christian.