I request you to hear me out before you are offended by the title of this blog. I am sure we will agree if we define Christians as people who believe in Jesus Christ and follow His teachings. One definition state, “a Christian is an individual who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.”. So, by definition, the key characteristics that make a Christian is that they believe in Jesus Christ and His teachings to be true, then this obviously makes them part of the Church. With church comes regular attendance and the big question, “which Church?”. There are so many denominations and divisions each claiming to be the true Church, Christ spoke about, but all have missed to understand what Christ meant when He took His disciples to Caesarea Philippi. Let me explain the context Christ introduced the word, Church.
He took all the disciples to the most perverse evil locale and there He said I will build the Church. The ruins of this city, Caesarea Philippi, still remains a popular tourist destination even today. The village is now called by its Arabic name, Panias. This wasn’t part of the original tour route, but Jesus made an inconvenient, controversial, out-of-the-way detour to visit this city, and He didn’t come alone. He brought His brothers and friends, a group of twelve eager, young, impressionable men.
It is hard to overstate the hatred of Caesarea Philippi to the Jews of Jesus’s day. With shrines to Caesar and other false gods, including a large statue of the goat god Pan in a state of exaggerated sexual arousal, surrounded by attending nymphs, Caesarea Philippi was the opposite of holy Jerusalem. It was a place of darkness, debauchery and occultism—the modern equivalent of Las Vegas, San Francisco, Bangkok and voodoo-drenched Haiti rolled into one. No good Jew would defile himself by traveling to such an accursed place. Jesus went out with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the road, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Mark 8:27 CSB
While the ancient Canaanite storm deity, Baal, had been worshipped in this region for thousands of years, a few centuries of Greek culture had effectively rebranded Baal into the hedonistic goat god, Pan. Yet as lord of shepherds, music, pleasure and fear, Pan wasn’t just a Greek invention. His half-goat, half-man form had history dating back to ancient Israel (2 Chronicles 11:13-16). One the main temples in the city was dedicated to him. It didn’t stop there. In 20 BC, Herod the Great furthered the idolatrous reputation of the city by building a white marble temple dedicated to the worship of Augustus Caesar, who proclaimed himself lord of lord and king of kings. By the time of Jesus, the village was expanded again under the rule of Herod’s son, Philip, who renamed it in honor of both him and Caesar.
So, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’” (Mat. 16:13) and then Jesus defines the church to Peter by these powerful words, Matthew 16:18, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”. The Church in the most uncomfortable terrain and place is meant for a purpose to reach out and influence the people with the gospel. Church is not just for people who call themselves Christians and give their attendance weekly in Church without taking Jesus to the evil, dark world.
For the world Christianity is one of the major religions where currently, there are more than 2.64 billion Christians. Everybody counts themselves as Christians including the Roman Catholics and other cults. But the Bible introduces an intense word to describe Christians which you find in Acts 11:26, “…the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” Who are the disciples? Disciples are not just followers and abide in Christ but are meant to be fruitful and multiply. In other words, they are the “DISCIPLE MAKERS’. This word ‘disciple’ is used more than 250 times in the gospels and in Acts. This word is not just a Christian jargon. With over usage it has lost its intensity.
For Christians their obligations end with Church attendance and Church programs. They can be more conscious in demonstrating their reverence to Pastors & Bishops than to God. Present day Christians are more like consumers attending weekly to receive something that makes them think and feel better. Allan Hirsch the missiologist explains that it is a disaster to build around consumers. Ponder on the statement he made, “You cannot build a church on consumers. They’ll desert you at a moment’s notice because they have no commitments beyond meeting their own needs. Jesus can take twelve disciples and build a movement that changes the world. He could never have done that with consumers.”. Christ isn’t interested in how magnificent your Church building is; He desires individual disciples who collectively constitute His precious Church.
The early Church in Acts was emphasizing more on disciples than Christians. Mark these passages, Acts 6:1 “Now in those days when the disciples were increasing in number…” Acts 6:7 “The disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number”. When the disciples grow, the Church grows. When Christians fill the Church with no commitment then Church limits to biological growth and Church hoppers. Can we build disciples actively sharing the gospel and reflect Christ to people who are passing away from this world without Christ?
You may read the last blog HERE