DEVOTION

prepared by
KAYONGO N.
2025 workers’ meeting.
WZC
 That NAME
-“Christian”
That name-
“PASTOR”
Acts 11:26;

• And when he had found him,

[BARNABUS finding PAUL] He
brought him unto Antioch. And it
came to pass, that a whole year
they assembled themselves with
the church, and taught much
people. And the disciples were
called Christians first in Antioch.
THE EMERGENCY WHICH HAD
THEN OCCURRED IN THE CHURCH.
• Observe that --
• 1. The ideas of Christians up to that time had been
limited. It was a slow process by which the attention of
the apostles was directed to the regions beyond
Palestine, and even then their thoughts were directed to
Hebrews.
• 2. The events at Antioch could not well be mistaken as
bearing on this point. The gospel had been preached
there to heathen with great power and success.
• 3. The name Christian was conferred and adopted just as
this enlarged view of the nature of their religion was
becoming the common view of the Church.
Antioch itself.
• This Syrian capital, by its wealth, its
commerce, its accessibility, its
communication with the other parts of
the world, its numbers, was one of the
most important centres of influence;
and we may readily understand,
therefore, why the Christian name was
by Divine Providence first pronounced
there.
The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

What the world called the Church, and what the

Church calls itself: - Nations and parties often call
themselves by one name, and are known to the world
by another.
These outside names are generally given in contempt;
and yet they sometimes hit the very centre, and so by
degrees get to be adopted as an honour.
So it has been with the name "Christian." It is never
used in the New Testament by Christians about
themselves. It occurs here in Agrippa's half-
contemptuous exclamation.
 THIS NAME GIVEN BY THE WORLD TO THE
CHURCH, WHICH THE CHURCH HAS
ADOPTED.
• 1. Observe the circumstances under which it was given. A handful of Jews
from Jerusalem had come down to Antioch, and there they preached the
gospel to heathen, and their success has for its crowning attestation that it
compelled the sarcastic Antiochenes to find out a new name for this new
thing; to find out a new label for the new bottles into which the new wine
was being put. Clearly the name shows
• (1) That there was a novel element in the Church. The earlier disciples had
been all Jews. But here is something that could not be called either Jew or
Greek, because it embraces both. The new name is the first witness to the
cosmopolitan character of the primitive Church. CHRISTIANITY MUST
ATTRACT.

(2) That the Church was beginning to attract the attention of outsiders.
(a) The Church should draw to itself the notice of the world not by advertising,
and ostentation, and singularities. Plain lessons lie on the surface. The Church
that does not provoke the attention of outsiders is not the Church as Christ
meant it to be.
• (2) The clear impression made by our
conduct should be that we belong to Christ.
Do you think that, without your words, if
you, living the way you do, were put down
into the middle of KAPULANGA, the wits of
the Mandanga metropolis would have to
invent a name for you; and, if so, the name
that would naturally come to their lips would
be "Christians" -- "Christ's men” “Christian
women”
• (3) Many a man is quite willing to say, "I am a
Christian," that would hesitate a long time
before he said, "I am a believer"; "a disciple."
WHEN IT WAS GIVEN.

• Not until after the disciples had become known among the Gentiles.
The Jews would never have given us this holy name.
• II. WHERE. In Antioch. Which was --
• 1. Beautiful. Situate on the Orontes, where it breaks through between
Lebanon and Taurus; the scenery magnificent, itself splendidly
adorned, and surrounded with groves and gardens.
• 2. Rich. The capital of Syria and the third city of the world; centrel of
traffic between east and west.
• 3. Pleasure-loving. The meeting place between the lively Greek and
self-indulgent Eastern, with every inducement and advantage for
enjoyment.
• 4. Wicked. Antioch was exceptionally depraved. Borne was horribly
bad; but when the satirist wished to say that Rome was made tenfold
more corrupt, he wrote that Orontes had emptied itself into the Tiber.
• 5. Heathen. Here were the notorious groves of Daphne, where Apollo
was worshipped with all magnificence and vice.
III. WHY WERE THEY NOTICED?
• That is not quite so certain; but we may safely say that it came
about thus:
a. The Antiochenes noticed some among them who differed
from others.
b. The beauty of the place they regarded with sober admiration;
c. Its riches and business they cared little for: they were
industrious, used no trickery/corruption,
d. Abandoned many trades altogether, and did not grieve much
if they lost their money;
e. Its amusements they shunned, and as for the sins of the
place, they both avoided and rebuked them.
f. Then the heathen were astonished, and asked, "Who has
taught you this? Who has given you this new-fangled view of
the beauty, wealth, pleasure, and sin (as you call it) of
Antioch? Who has forbidden you to worship our gods?" To this
the answer was ever, “CHRIST”
R. Winterbotham, M. A.

• "Christ has told us that the world and its beauty pass away;
but He has told us of a new heaven and earth far better. He
has taught us to think but little of the world's wealth, for He
has given us treasure in heaven. He has taught us to look for
higher pleasures, and to beware of yours, lest they lead us
to sin and death. He has taught us above all to know and
hate sin, and not to give to your gods that which is His due.
”
• So," the Antiochenes would say, "this is your God." "Yes,"
they would reply, "we are His, and cannot take the absorbing
interest you do in the beauty, wealth, pleasure, sin, and
idolatry of Antioch." Some among the heathen would
believe, the rest would scoff and call them "Christians.”
• It is probable that the name was a nickname, meant to
suggest that those who could do nothing but talk about their
Christ were a set of fanatics to be laughed out of existence.
Name must have practical meaning to it
• The name of a man or society is not like a
label, which may be detached from a piece
of lifeless furniture; it is a factor of which
account must be taken for good or evil.
Men have borne names which they have
felt to be a stigma -- an active cause of
discouragement and failure. Men have also
inherited names which have lifted
themselves into a fellowship with a past of
high effort. And, in religion names have a
mighty power of shaping thought and
sympathy. This applies to the greatest of
names -- Christians.
THERE WERE OTHER NAMES BY WHICH THE
DISCIPLES WERE KNOWN.
• 1. Before: Brethren, Disciples, Elect, Saints,
Faithful.
• 2. After: Gnostics, men who had a knowledge of
Divine things -- Theophori, Christopheri (God
bearers, Christ bearers), Nazarenes,
• 3.And at Rome especially, impostors, magicians,
Galileans, sophists, atheists, Sarmentitii,
desperate men, who were indifferent to death;
Parabolani, men who lived only to die, Biathanati,
men whose garments smelt of the faggot, etc.
Our conducts tell it all
• The clear impression made by our
conduct should be that we belong
to Christ. The eye of an outsider
may be unable to penetrate the
secret of the deep sweet tie
uniting us to Jesus, but there
should be no possibility of his
overlooking the fact that we are
His.
Just a name or the meaning
behind it?
It is a very sad thing when the world's inadequate notions of
what makes a follower of Jesus Christ get accepted by the
Church. Many a man is quite willing to say, "I am a Christian,"
but would hesitate a long time before he said, "I am a
believer"; "a disciple.”
Teacher and scholars move in a region which, though it be
important, is not the central one.
Believers, they who yield not merely intellectual submission
to the dicta of the Teacher, but living trust in the Redeemer,
the one thing that makes us Christ's men.
Apart from it, we may be very near Him, but we are not
joined to Him. By it, and by it alone, the union is completed,
and His power and grace flow into our spirits.
The name saint
• The name "saints" has suffered perhaps more at the
hands both of the world and of the Church than any
other. It has been used by the world with a bitter
emphasis to mean a pretender to be better than
other people, whose actions contradict his claim.
But the name belongs to all Christ's followers. It
makes no claim to special purity, for the central idea
of the word "saint" is not purity, but separation.
• The New Testament idea of saint has in it these
elements -- consecration, consecration resting on
faith in Christ, and consecration leading to
separation from the world and its sin. And that must
be the experience of every true Christian.
The name brethren- (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

• Brethren -- a name much maltreated both by the insincerity of

the Church, and by the sarcasm of the world. An unreal
appellation which has meant nothing, so that the world has
said that our "brethren" signified a good deal less than their
"brothers." But the main thing about that name is not the
relation of the brethren to one another, but their common
relation to their Father.
• And now I wish to ask you whether you feel more at home with
people who love Christ, or whether you like better to be with
people who do not. The duties of your position, of course,
oblige each of you to be much among people who do not share
your faith; but for Christian people to make choice of heart
friends, among those who have no sympathy with their love to
Jesus Christ, does not say much for the depth and reality of
their religion. A man is known by the company he keeps, and
if you deeply feel the bond that knits you to Christ, and really
live near to Him, you will be near your brethren.
THE IMPORT AND GLORY OF THE CHRISTIAN
NAME.
• The apostles highly prized it: James calls it "that worthy
name"; St. Peter a name for which it is a glory to suffer.
It is a great distinction --
• 1. To be a learner in the one great school of truth. This is
the very least that the name can mean, just as those
who followed Plato were called Platonists.
• 2. To be in the service of such a commander as Christ.
We know the feeling which attaches in our army to being
in the best regiments; to be in the regiment led by Jesus
Christ across the centuries, ought to satisfy a nobler
ambition.
• 3. To be endowed with a new nature -- that of Christ the
Lord. Compared with this, how poor is "noble" birth! A
Christian is a member of the aristocracy of heaven.
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE GREAT NAME - Cannon Liddon

• 1. It is a summons to unity.
• (1) Because it distinguishes the disciples from others it has
been stigmatised as a badge of division.
• (2) This name is borne by millions of Christian worshippers.
But the name implies amid all their divisions the substantial
loyalty of all to Christ.
• 2. It is a call to holiness. "Let everyone that nameth the name
of Christ depart from iniquity." Application: Let us remember
this name --
• (1) In the morning.
• (2) At night.
• (3) In the hour of death.
 What is
involved in a
Christian’s
life?
I. CHOICE.
• Choice does not rule everywhere. We did not choose
whether we would have life, parents, name, country, or not.
And there are some things connected with Christianity
which may be put in the same list -- Christian land, books,
thoughts, facts, etc.
• We are not Christians because we live among these
circumstances, any more than a man becomes a horse by
being put into a stable, any more than a sheep's clothing
makes a sheep. Doubtless there are thousands who believe
that baptism makes them Christians, just as Pagans
believed that, by going through certain rites, they obtained
the favour of the gods. But the New Testament teaches that
Christianity is to be chosen. There must be first a willing
mind -- not a mere non-rejection of Christianity, but a clear
acceptance of Christ.
II. OBEDIENCE.
• Authority is essential to all life. Natural life must be regulated
by well known rules, which we did not invent, but which we
found invented for us.
• So with spiritual life and communion. We may be improving
their outward forms and adapting them to the changing
culture of the age. But we must build on the same foundations,
and progress on the same principles as the earliest Christians
did -- in one word, bow to the authority of Christ.
• Alas for the Churches, christians have too often lived as
though the Head were a mere caput mortuum (latin – Dead
Head – a useless substance left over from a chemical operation
such as sublimation and epitome of decline and decay)). But
the Head of the Church is a mind that thinks of its difficulties
and trials; it governs a hand that can guide it in all its devious
paths; it moves a will that can defend it, and has a mouth by
which the law of God can be made known.
III. SEPARATION.
• One of the reasons why Christians were so much hated was
that they stood aloof from the common enjoyments of life.
But this was inevitable, for the festivities and customs of
Greece and Rome were so leavened with idolatry and sin that
indulgence in the one involved complicity with the other.
• The early Christians consequently were in danger of
asceticism, and were tempted to confound what was innocent
with what was sinful. And yet our danger lies in too much
laxity and indifference. Depravity has not been charmed
away, and there is no less peril in the world's friendship
today than there was eighteen hundred years ago. If, then,
we would do good service in the world we must separate
from its evil. The hope of the Church is in its clean hands and
pure heart. Separation from all known evil is the mark alike
of the Christian soul and the Christian community.
What constitutes a Christian - (H. Hamilton.)

• The common answer to an equiry of who is

a Christian is, "Why, we are all Christians."
• It is commonly assumed that the principal
Christian duty is to go to church on
Sabbath/Sunday and put a penny in the
plate. It is from such lukewarm, nominal
Christians that the Church must shake
herself loose before she can take her true
place as a militant force against the
powers of evil.
Nominal Christians: --
• To what sort of a character should we attach
the name of Christian; what life is it deserves
that? The medals given to the Indians at the
treaty of Red River were supposed to be of
silver, but were really of a baser metal. Said
an Indian chief, striking his in such a way
that the deceit was apparent, "I think it
would disgrace the Queen, my mother, to
wear her image on so base a metal as this.
• In the same way, It is disgrace to Christ to
bear His name on base busy bodies like
ourselves.
A Christian by profession and
practice:
• The Christian man is to be something like a
physician. How does he profess to be a physician?
He is a physician, and he is always a physician;
but his profession is carried on by his practice.
This is how a Christian's profession is to be
carried on, by his practice. The man is a physician
professionally, because he really does heal
people and write prescriptions and attend to their
wants. I am to be a Christian in my actions, my
deeds, my thoughts, my words. Therefore, if
anybody wants a Christian, I should be known by
my words and my acts.
 Alexander
• 1. To depart from iniquity What, then, shall we
think of the profligate, profane Christians, that
have overrun the Christian world? Can there be
a greater contradiction? A loyal subject in arms
against his sovereign, an ignorant scholar, a
sober drunkard, a charitable miser, an honest
thief, is not a greater absurdity, or a more
direct contradiction. Therefore, if you will not
renounce iniquity, renounce the Christian
name. Alexander had a fellow in his army that
was of his own name, but a mere coward.
"Either be like me," says Alexander, "or lay
aside my name."
S. Davies, M. A.

• That if all the professors of Christianity

should behave in character, the religion
of Christ would soon appear Divine to
all mankind, and spread through all
nations of the earth. It would be as
needless to offer arguments to prove it
Divine as to prove that the sun is full of
light: the conviction would flash upon
all mankind by its own intrinsic
evidence.
Conclusion
• What constitutes a Christian: -- Four things
are necessary to constitute a Christian.
• 1. Faith makes a Christian.
• 2. Life proves a Christian.
• 3. Trials confirm a Christian.
• 4. Death crowns a Christian.
• A name must not only be borne, heard but
seen.
• Acts 11:25-26; Acts 11:25-26