1. What is a Christian?  What makes you Christian?

Do you think if we all divided up into sections with the people around you and were asked to define, “What is a Christian?” we would all come up with the same answer?  We might come close, since most of us have been here hearing the same messages together.  Outside of us, here are some common answers:

Someone who goes to church every Sunday, or regularly

Someone who believes in one God who created the heavens and the earth

Someone who was born into a Christian family

Someone who believes Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead three days later

Someone who celebrates Christmas and Easter

Someone who doesn’t drink, smoke, or use profanity

If you were asked out in public if you are a Christian (which is not very likely), answers from those of us in this group might range from:  Yes; what do you mean by that?; yes, but who’s asking?; I am, but I’m not like (fill in the blank with whatever particular group you don’t want to be associated with).

Many of us became a “Christian” – and we believe that happed because we prayed a prayer.  Some mistakenly believe that happened because you were baptized; some because you completed a class of some sort.

Some of us were raised with the understanding that our brand, our denomination, or our tradition – our part of “The Church” – is the true brand, denomination, or tradition.

Some of us may know people who say they were a Christian and who might feel like they were emotionally-manipulated at some time…but not anymore.  To which some of us would respond – “Oh, no, there is no “was a Christian” – once a Christian, always a Christian.”  Some people grew up with a tradition with an understanding that if you committed certain sins, you ceased to be a Christian – so if you crossed any of those lines (like going on a “non-Christian date” as a Christian), you drove home below the speed limit – as safe as you could – because you believed that if you were killed in a car crash, having done what you’d done, you’d “split hell wide open”, and because you were so miserable, you got on your knees and said, “I want to be a Christian again – I’m back,” because you lived in this uncertain state of “Am I or aren’t I a Christian?”

And some people, maybe someone here, grew up believing that you had to pray a prayer to be a Christian…and maybe you prayed that prayer 100 times, wondering how much you needed for it to take, because deep down, you don’t really feel anything or have enough knowledge to know.

For some, being a Christian is all about what you believe.  For others, it’s all about how you behave.

Q: Isn’t it interesting how all of us associate with what we think is the same thing – being a Christian, but we have all these different approaches to it?

On top of that , there is a group of people who would say they hate Christians and anything to do with them.  They’d say Christians are judgmental, homophobic moralists who think they’re the only ones going to Heaven (and maybe even think they secretly relish the fact that everyone else is going to hell).

And, I’m pretty sure we all know people who are, or have been those people who, fit into almost all these different categories.  I have some 2. Good News, and I have some Bad News.

Here’s the Good News:  None of what I’ve just talked about is described as “Christian” is in the Bible. [Really!  Aren’t you glad?!]

But here’s the Bad News:  Everything you’ve thought about “Christians” might be wrong.

In fact, the word “Christian” only appears 3 times in the Bible.  First-century Christians didn’t call themselves Christians.  It was a derogatory term used by outsiders to describe followers of Jesus.  It was not un-like how we label groups of people we are not part of, or don’t associate with, because we perceive a difference in that groups’ likes, beliefs, or behaviors – like in high school, where there were:  “Rednecks”, “Nerds”, “Dead-heads”, “Jocks