"We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus

that we are saved."  Acts 15.11

I would like it if I never heard another Christian use the word "Christianity". 

You will never find the term used in the Word of God.  You

never find it used in the book of Acts. Never in the teachings

of Paul,  or Peter, or John, or any other inspired word of

Scripture.  We are never told to preach the message of

Christianity, or some such thing as that. The term is absent.

I have disliked the use of the word for a long time.  My reason

for feeling this way is simple-  it obscures what we have really

been called to preach...Jesus!   If you will read through the book

of Acts you will see everywhere the glory of preaching Jesus.

The passion to proclaim HIM!  Not a religion, but the person,

Jesus Christ.  Our Savior, our Lord, the Son of God.  Jesus!

I'm not just arguing about words.  Our words reflect our thoughts.

Our words display our inner thinking.  What we say, has a lot

to say, about what we believe.  The words we choose are an

open window to the condition of our heart.   Why don't we see

the term Christianity in the Word of God?  I believe it's because

the writers saw Jesus.  They lived with Him, and for Him, even

to the point of death.  And for what, to create another religion?

They preached what they knew, and what was for them true.

And what they knew was Jesus.  He had come, He had died,

He had risen from the dead. 

This Jesus was their Savior and Lord...not a religious system.

Well,  the world has never been comfortable with Him, or his

name. It's much easier for the world to hear "Christianity teaches"

than to hear "Jesus says".  Christianity isn't a stumbling block,

but Jesus  certainly is.  Start to talk about Jesus, use His name,

and people squirm.  The world likes much of what He taught, 

they just refuse Him!   Strange!

The term "God" is also well liked by the world.  That is until He's  made personal.  Talk about God and everything will go along

pretty well, until of course, Jesus is mentioned.  The idea here 

is to keep God generic.  The world gets nervous about making

God specific.

The church however has always loved the name of Jesus. 

We are after all the bride of Christ.  And what bride doesn't like hearing her bridegrooms name?  It's Jesus this, and Jesus that,

and how wonderful is Jesus!   This is what you see in the book

of Acts.  A church that won't stop, can't stop, using His name! 

Even with the threat of death, they go right on talking about Jesus. 

It's all about Jesus; they knew that.  So He was therefore the

focus.  It was always a person, never a religion.

I have a jealousy for the name of Jesus.  I have a jealousy for

Him.  If the world wants to treat what we have in an impersonal

way, let them.  But I'm never going to make it easy for them to

believe that what I have, is just some religious system.  Like  it

or not, He is personal.  Extremely so.  I want the whole world to

know it.  I don't want anyone to be confused about that fact.

I don't want anyone to somehow think that what we have is just religion. Let's make it clear to the world...we love Jesus.  We

preach Jesus.  We follow Jesus.  It will make them very nervous

to hear talk like this, but at least we will not be guilty of lulling

them into the spiritual sleep of thinking that mere religion can

save them.  We know it can't, and for this reason alone we

should do everything we can to help them avoid the trap of

mere religion. 

We do Him no honor by using the term "Christianity".  We just

make it easier for people to avoid Him; to think that "going to

church" or "being religious" is the same thing as knowing Him.

By using the term "Christianity" we imply that to become a 

Christian you join a religion as you would a social club. God

doesn't tell us to join anything!  He tells us we must follow

someone.   It's possible to join a church, and yet never follow

Jesus!    Our job as Christians is to point people away from

religion and manmade ideas so that they can become followers

of Jesus.   I hear Christians say all the time that the bible is our instruction book from God.  All I can say is, "we're not following

His instructions too well!"  We are to preach JESUS.  We are to

tell people to follow HIM. 

Well,  maybe we have just fallen into using the term.  Perhaps

it's nothing more sinister than that. ( Although I doubt it.  I think

the devil loves it when we make God religious and impersonal.

He hates the name of Jesus.)  But let's say that it's just something

you never gave much thought to.  If so,  than maybe you should

think about it and consider stopping the practice.  I have given

you a lot of reasons for not using the term "Christianity",  and I

can't think of any good ones for using it!  Certainly the name of

Jesus is preferred to the term, "Christianity".  Isn't it?