On Sunday I mentioned that my sermon preparation for the week had produced far more than could be preached in one message, and that much had been left on the cutting room floor. Since I’m the one writing the blog this week, it only makes sense that this space could be used to flesh out a couple of these thoughts for you related to Sunday’s passage, the Jesus Prayer found in John 17, particularly the section on unity found in vv. 20-24.

The first is an Old Testament picture of how God sees unity found in Psalm 133. Here’s the Psalm in its entirety:

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.” (NIV)

Here David uses two images to describe unity in the Body of Christ. The first is oil – anointing oil to be exact, poured out on a person as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, God’s presence covering us. The second is water, a symbol of the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit, a refreshment of the soul, a stream that flows from a believer’s heart (as Jesus notes in John 7).

Here’s the interesting thing: We all know the saying, oil and water don’t mix. But here, these two images come together as ways the Holy Spirit brings unity to believers. The oil of the Holy Spirit and the water of the Holy Spirit bring together one beautiful picture. Unity comes from God and then flows through the community, as oil flows down Aaron’s beard and the dew flows from Hebron to Zion. David says this unity brings blessings from God as we receive it and spread it!

The second is a New Testament picture of God’s desired unity seen in the early church. In Acts 11:19-26 we read this:

“Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews. However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus. The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord. When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul. When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.)”

After the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7, there was great persecution of the believers and they were scattered. However, Acts 8:4 tells us, “But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went.” And so, for example, the message of Jesus Christ is preached in Antioch to the Gentiles, and many people came to faith in Christ! A community of believers was formed, and it was so powerful that when Barnabas saw it, he couldn’t wait to share it with Saul (Paul), bringing him there to witness it for himself. The two of them stayed there in Antioch for a full year, preaching and teaching and essentially pastoring this new community of believers.

Then v. 26 gives us this really important word: “It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.” Before Antioch, groups of believers would have been called saints, brothers, or followers of the Way. But here in Antioch, people started calling this Jesus-community “Christians.” Have you ever considered why that was the case? What was it about these people that led to this name? To fully answer that, we need to learn something about Antioch, and then something about the church at Antioch. In the first century, Antioch was one of three great cosmopolitan areas of the world, the other two being Rome and Alexandria. Antioch has been referred to as, “All the world in one city.” It was designed like most cities of that day: A circular wall on the outside, a marketplace in the center, with the interior of the city walled in a way that divided the many different people groups from one another…Enter Christ-followers. Enter the Gospel. The Church came to Antioch and began breaking down the dividing barriers in a way that upset the society’s existing categories. People from all parts of the city—Jews and Gentiles alike—were suddenly coming together. This group of people was redefining community in a radical and unprecedented way, so much that a new word was needed to categorize what in the world was happening.

We see clear evidence of this in Acts 13:1. Here’s what Luke tells us about the church in Antioch: “The church at Antioch included prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (nicknamed Niger), Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen (a childhood friend of Herod the ruler), and Saul.” (CEB). Why is this significant? Well, consider this leadership team. You have Barnabas, from the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean; Simeon from sub-Saharan Africa; Lucius from Cyrene which is in Northern Africa; Manaen from Rome and later the Middle East; and Saul from Tarsus, in Asia Minor. These men, who were different races with different backgrounds and different cultures, all came together to lead this community of believers. This was a community where people took seriously the call of God to love one another – not a select group, not a select race or ethnicity, not a select class or creed, but all. When the people of Antioch saw this group of believers, this community that was so different, so counter-cultural, so loving and grace-filled and hopeful and Spirit-filled, there was only one name they could come up with to describe them: Christian.

“Christian” literally means follower of Christ, one who professes Christ as Lord and Savior and lives as Christ would have them live. C.S. Lewis defined Christian this way in Mere Christianity: “The whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ. If we do, we shall then be sharing a life which was begotten, not made, which always existed and always will exist. Christ is the Son of God. If we share in this kind of life we also shall be sons of God. We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Ghost will arise in us. He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has — by what I call “good infection.” Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”

To become Little Christs should be the goal of every believer. Only as we love him and love like him will we be able to have an impact in this world on his behalf and bring much-needed diversity into our corner of the Body of Christ here at Christ Church. May it be so!