Acts 11:26 And when he had found him, 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.

What does it mean to be a Christian?

Did you ponder that question before you moved on to this paragraph? Do you consider it to be a family name? Do you consider yourself to be a member of the family of Christ? Some time ago I pointed out that whomsoever is betrothed to the Son is treated as a daughter. That is family. We are of the adoption, that is family. Don’t you feel like family?

Being in a family, especially a large family, can be a complicated affair. It is different being the oldest child than it is being the last born. Every position within a family brings about a different set of attitudes and adjustments. Being born again into the family of Christ is not any different.

Do you have family members that just never seem to grow up? You know what I mean, maturity has nothing to do with age, it is about accepting responsibility and acting responsibly. If you think about being born in the spirit in the same way, then someone who just came to the family at the age of forty is a baby. No one of that age likes to be called a baby. In the spirit they are babes.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Paul is calling out the Corinthian Christians for their failure to grow in Christ. There actions, while mature in a worldly sense did not glorify God and showed a great deal of disrespect for the family name, Christian. Envy, strife and division were named here as example but there are many actions that can be called out indicating there is no growth in any babe in Christ.

Exodus 15:1-3 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.

The Lord had just saved Israel from Pharaoh. In the immediate aftermath of this war Moses worships the Lord in song. It is a significant sign holding a deep spiritual truth, gratitude. While I have asked you at the beginning of this part of this series on growth in Christ, I would be remiss if I did not point this out now.

There is much joy in salvation. The song is a celebration but at the center of this celebration there needs to be a reverent attitude of gratitude. The Lord has done something we cannot do for ourselves and we need to be grateful for the gift that has been given. It cost the Man of War His life.

It is easy to get caught up in the celebration of salvation and the right to call God Abba Father is the most precious gift. Along with that right should be a fearful respect for the fact that this is the God of the Universe. Awesome and Holy is He.

I think back to my own father and the familiarity of relationship we shared in doing things together. It was great until that day when I showed the tiniest bit of disrespect. I had forgotten that I was my father’s son. My actions cast a cloud of doubt to those who witnessed my actions as to how my father had raised me.

We want to grow up so fast, sometimes we forget what it means to carry the family name.