************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 32 ************
Doctrine: The Apostles' Creed, second line; the title "Christian"
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on August 20, 2000
Q & A 32
Joel 2:28-29; 1 Peter 2:4-12
"The Anointed Ones"
Introduction
What is a Christian? According to Acts 11:26, "The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch." We do not know for sure, but probably the title "Christian" was first used by unbelievers for those who were followers of Jesus Christ – perhaps as a kind of nickname.
What is a Christian? Before King Agrippa the Apostle Paul vigorously defended himself against all the accusations of the Jews. He told Agrippa about his calling by the Lord to proclaim the good news of the cross and the grave and he pressed Agrippa to accept that good news. Then Agrippa asked Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?" (Acts 26:28). According to Agrippa here, a Christian is someone who accepts and believes the good news about Jesus.
What is a Christian? According to the Apostle Peter, a Christian is someone who shares in, who participates in, "the sufferings of Christ" (1 Pt 4:12ff).
Today, I'm afraid, the title "Christian" has suffered a most lamentable devaluation – to the point where it almost means nothing anymore. I am sure you know what devaluation is. For instance, when I first attended Calvin College my Canadian dollars were each worth a $1.05 American. Today the Canadian dollar has been devalued to .67 cents American. I'm afraid a similar devaluation has and is happening with the title "Christian."
What is a Christian today? Christianity, I'm afraid, has been devalued to churchianity. And, almost everyone claims church membership. Go around the block and ask people their church affiliation. Even those who never go to church will give the name of a church. Imagine this: people still claim membership in the church they do not attend; and, on this basis they claim to be a Christian. What is even more amazing is that sometimes even the church calls them Christians. It is not uncommon, even in the Christian Reformed Church, to keep "dead wood" on the membership list for eight or ten or more years. Perhaps unbelievers can be excused such ignorance of and misuse of the name Christian; the church, however, cannot be excused. No church can ever call anyone a Christian simply because they have been baptized or because their father or grandmother were active members or because their name is listed in a church's membership records.
What is a Christian? Based upon the Bible the Catechism says a Christian is someone who, by faith, belongs to Christ and shares in His anointing.
I Christians Have Faith
A Why are you called a Christian? First and foremost, according to the Bible and affirmed by the Catechism, you are called a Christian because you have faith, true faith. Faith lies at the heart of being a Christian. And, without that faith or any evidence of that faith, no one can presume to be called a Christian.
B Why are you called a Christian? Your answer has to start with faith. But true faith, as all of you should know, has to do with Jesus. A Christian is someone who accepts Jesus as the Christ. A Christian is someone who believes that what Jesus claims about Himself in the Bible is true. A Christian is someone who confesses Christ. A Christian is someone who believes that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, that He took on our flesh when He was conceived by the Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, that He died for us on the cross, that He was raised on the third day, that He ascended into heaven, and that He now sits at God's right hand. A Christian is someone who believes the good news about Jesus.
II Christians Are Members of Christ
A Why are you called a Christian? According to the Catechism, based upon the Bible, you are called a Christian because you are a member of Christ.
The image of the Church, of Christians, being members of Christ, appears often in the pages of Scripture. Think of Jesus' teaching in John 15 about the vine and the branches: "I am the vine; you are the branches" (vs 5). Usually we make the mistake here of thinking of Jesus as the stock and believers as the branches – branches who draw their nourishment from the stock. But Jesus does not say, "I am the stock." Rather, He says, "I am the vine." The vine is the whole plant – roots, stock, branches, fruit, and all. Therefore, Jesus tells us that we are part of Him, a member of His body. The vine/branch imagery means that a Christian is in Christ, with Christ, and united to Christ.
Speaking to the Corinthian Christians the Apostle Paul can say, "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it" (1 Cor 12:27). And, about Christ he can say, "And he is the head of the body, the church" (Col 1:18). The head/body imagery means that a Christian is a member of Christ.
B What is a Christian? A Christian is someone who, by faith, is a member of Christ, a part of His body. This means that everything we say and do and even think reflects on the glory of the Lord and the holiness of His name; everything we say and do and even think reflects negatively or positively on the Lord.
Think of it this way. At Niagara Falls you can put your face above a headless body painted to represent a muscle man, a clown, or even a bathing beauty. Many people have their pictures taken this way. The photos are humorous because the head doesn't fit the body.
I hope this is not the case between Christ and Christian – the world laughing at the misfit because the head does not fit the body. As members of Christ, as part of His body, there should be a perfect match between us and Christ.
The Apostle Paul drives this point strongly home in a couple of places.
(1 Cor 6:15) Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
In other words, because we are a member of Christ we are to have nothing to do with sexual immorality. In another place the apostle can say,
(2 Cor 6:14-15) Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? (15) What harmony is there between Christ and Belial ? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
In other words, because we are a member of Christ we can only consider fellow believers as possible marriage partners.
Why are you called a Christian? You are called a Christian because, by faith, you are a member of Christ, a part of His body. Therefore, everything you say, do, and even think must reflect that you belong to Jesus.
III Christians Share in Christ's Anointing
A Why are you called a Christian? According to the Catechism, based upon the Bible, you are called a Christian because you, by faith, share in Christ's anointing.
Compared to the Old Testament period this is quite remarkable. In the Old Testament only someone rather special – a prophet, a priest, a king, a specially wise man (Prov 1:23), an artistic person (Ex 31:3) – were anointed with the Spirit. The Spirit of God was not for every believer. The gift of God's Spirit was usually given to special people for special tasks. It was not generally available, nor was it necessarily permanent. We think here of King Saul. After Saul was anointed by Samuel, "the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their (i.e., the prophets') prophesying (1 Sam 10:6,10-13). When Saul disobeyed God and was rejected as king over Israel we read that "the Spirit of the Lord ... departed from Saul" (1 Sam 15:26; 16:14). In contrast, we read that when Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David, "from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power" (1 Sam 16:13).
Though God's Spirit was not for everyone in the Old Testament period, Moses wished this was not the case. Remember Eldad and Medad? One day the Spirit rested on them and they prophesied in the camp of Israel. Joshua, thinking this posed a threat to the leadership of Moses, asked Moses to stop them. But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!" (Num 11:29).
In our Scripture reading, the prophet Joel tells us of a time when this would happen:
And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
(Joel 2:28-29)
At His baptism, as we learned a couple of weeks ago, Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, as Peter makes clear in his sermon (Acts 2), that same Spirit, in fulfillment of Joel's prophecy and Moses' wish, was first poured out on all believers. Since then all believers have shared in Christ's anointing.
A Christian, then, is someone who, by faith, shares in Christ's anointing. A Christian is someone with the Spirit.
B Christians share in Christ's anointing; therefore, says the Catechism, we have all been appointed and anointed with the Spirit for prophetic, priestly, and royal tasks. Christians share in Christ's anointing; therefore, says the Catechism, we hold the same offices as Christ – the offices of prophet, priest, and king – albeit in a different way. Christians share in Christ's anointing; therefore, says the Catechism, we are a people who have a job to do and a mission to accomplish.
Christians share in Christ's anointing. You know what this means? This means we aren't merely truck drivers, secretaries, nurses, teachers, farmers, contractors, dairymen, businessmen, homemakers, and whatnot; we are also office bearers. The life I now live is more than just eating, drinking, having children, growing old, seeing the doctor, paying the bills, and preparing for retirement. The life I now live is a calling. I have been given a task, a mission, to perform. And, from this task I may never retire until my promotion to glory.
C First, according to the Catechism, "I am anointed to confess his name." This is our prophetic office. This confession is of several sorts. I confess Christ's name when I stand before God and His Church and publicly acknowledge my faith in Him. I want to encourage each of our young people to live up to their prophetic office by doing public profession of faith. Also, every Church member has been appointed to confess Christ's name before men; we've all been anointed to be witnesses to Christ in the world; some have even been anointed to engage in evangelism. Furthermore, like an Amos or an Elijah, I've been anointed to speak out against evil and injustice – like abortion, homosexuality, pornography, and the like. All of us – male and female, young and old – must live prophetically because we all share in Christ's anointing.
Second, "I am anointed ... to present myself to him as a living sacrifice of thanks." This is our priestly office. Like Christ, we are to offer ourselves – but not as a sin-offering; rather, we are to offer ourselves as a thank-offering. Everyone in the congregation is a thank-offering. Everyone's life is a flame that burns for God. "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ," says Peter (1 Pt 2:5).
What are these sacrifices of thanks? It includes the entire surrender of the heart with all its desires and inclinations. Remember Abraham on Mt. Moriah? There he was with his son, his only son, the son he loved, the child of the promise, and he willingly offered him to God (Gen 22). Or, think of the old picture of John Calvin in which he holds his heart in his hand and says, "I offer my heart as an offering to God." Also included in our sacrifices of thanks are such things as prayer, gifts of love and charity, the giving of my time to the Church and Kingdom, songs of praise to God, and a life of obedience before God. In a world where everyone grabs when the grabbing is good, we are a priestly race because we spend our time in service. All of us here must live as priests because we share in Christ's anointing.
Third, I am anointed for a kingly office. In this kingly office, "I am anointed ... to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and afterward to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity." In our kingly office we fight a righteous war against our enemies: the devil, the world, our very own flesh of sin. Our weapon of offense is the Word of God. Our weapon of defense is believing prayer. This is a real war and we must fight. No secret alliances with the enemy are allowed. No stalemate is permitted. It is a fight to the death. By God's grace we can and do experience numerous victories in battle; on account of the continued existence of sin within we also experience numerous setbacks. Yet, we are given the assurance of a final and ultimate triumph when we will "reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity."
D In Reformed theology, we know the three offices collectively as the "office of all believers." This office of all believers is far more important than the special offices of evangelist, deacon, elder, and minister. In fact, the special offices exist only for the purpose of stimulating all members in exercising the general office of all believers.
Church History shows us what happens whenever the special offices are emphasized at the expense of the general office: a perversion of values, a corruption of office, and an invasion of worldliness occurs. The Reformation was necessitated in part because the Church was so clergy dominated. I don't know why, but the special office almost always tends to exalt itself at the expense of the office of all believers. We see that in the Christian Reformed Church today: in its discussion about women in church office our denomination is paying far too much attention to and spending far too much time on the special offices and is in grave danger of neglecting the most important office, the one that God has given to all believers.
Why are you called a Christian? You are called a Christian because you, by faith, share in Christ's anointing – His anointing with the Spirit for office.
Conclusion
Why are you called a Christian?
Are you called a Christian because you have been baptized, because your parents are or were church members, because your name is written in a church's membership records? I hope and pray this is not the case because none of this makes you a Christian.