Little Christs

Several years ago, Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, offered WGN Chicago Radio sports-talk host David Kaplan $50,000 to change his name legally to “Dallas Maverick.”

When Kaplan politely declined, Cuban sweetened the offer. Cuban would pay Kaplan $100,000 and donate $100,000 to Kaplan’s favorite charity if he took the name for one year.

After some soul-searching, and being bombarded by e-mails from listeners who said he was crazy to turn down the money, Kaplan held firm and told Cuban no. Kaplan explained: “I’d be saying I’d do anything for money, and that bothers me.  My name is my birthright. I’d like to preserve my integrity and credibility.”

While each of us bears our birthright in our physical name, as followers of Christ, we also carry a spiritual birthright in our new name:  Christian.

The name “Christian” is an interesting one — it is used only 3 times in the New Testament (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Pt. 4:16), and at least twice it is used derisively.

It is a small sampling, therefore, from which to draw a meaning.  What does it mean to be a Christian?  We use the term casually, almost flippantly to refer to many things, but it really was (and is) a term that is rich in meaning.

Acts 11:26 notes that this title “Christian” was given to followers of Jesus by the unbelievers in Antioch; it was not a name given by themselves to themselves.  They had so significantly impacted this heathen city that the people there said in effect, “These people are just like that man Jesus Christ — they’re little Christs.”  This was not an issue of pride on behalf of the believers — others saw Christ in them, and thus called them followers of Him!

And while the term was first used derisively by unbelievers, it came to be embraced by believers everywhere.  Now, in fact, it is so widely used, it has virtually lost all the significance of meaning.  What does it mean to be a follower of Christ, a “Christ-one”?

To be a follower of the Christ is to:

• be like Him (1 Jn. 3:2-3; Eph. 1:1) — to evidence His character and nature as the saints He has spiritually made us to be.
• learn about and from Him (Mk. 3:7, 13) — to be obedient.
• constantly trust & follow Him (Acts 5:14; 1 Thess. 1:7) — to be a believer.
• be uniquely related in fellowship with other believers (Acts 9:17; Rom. 12:10) — to be a brother.
• to testify to our position with Him (Mt. 5:16; 28:19-20) — to be a witness.

All this is encompassed in the simple, oft-used name “Christian.”

As Donald Grey Barnhouse noted about our title:

It is a sad and sorry thing that, through the centuries, those who have borne the name of Christ have allowed it to be like a coin in the pocket where the effigy has rubbed off and the inscription has become illegible.  How we must praise God that He says that if we come to Him as Christians we can have a fresh minted coin every day and be like Jesus every day.  Jesus met with some people and said, ‘Show me a coin.’  And they gave him one and He said, “Whose image and superscription are on the coin?”  And they said, “Caesar’s.”  Well, in the same way, it is possible for us to say, “Show me a man!  Show me a woman!  Show me a young person!”  And I say, “Whose is the image and whose is the superscription?”  And the people say, “Christ’s.”  The world sees on the coin of the Christian the face of Christ and the inscription of Christ, and it says, “That’s a Christian.”  A disciple, a saint, a believer, a brother, a witness — but most of all, Christ’s man, Christ’s woman — the Christian.