Reluctant Leaders and Wounded Healers - Part III Name Changing

I’ve known three people who have elected to change their names. Maybe four.

Firstly, a friend who had been away from school for a few weeks, I presumed either on holiday or ill, returned with a new surname. I knew him as Anthony (Tony) Nurse. On return he explained it wasn’t working for his dad, a doctor, to be called ‘Doctor Nurse’. The second was a man who had a sex-change operation. I can’t remember his first name, but maybe Bernard had become Barbara. And, lastly, a lady who needed a fresh start after a troubled past, changed her name, twice.

Biblically, God changes the name of Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, and Simon to Peter. Also, in Isaiah 62 God says of Israel ‘You shall be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall give’ and in Revelation ‘To him who overcomes…I will give…a new name’ Rev 2v17

This post is not a study on the meanings of the new names or explore why they were given. We may know for example that ‘Peter’ means ‘a rock’, but the point of the post is to try and imagine the day after Abram was re-named Abraham, or Sarai, or Jacob, or Simon:

‘Abram, would you mind moving your sheep?’
‘It’s Abraham now, not Abram.’
‘Oh? Who says?’
‘You really want to know?’
‘Tell me later. But get those sheep…’

Hard enough for the recipient, Abram in this instance, to tell family, friends, and on. Hard for those around to take it seriously for a while. Over time, of course, everyone adjusts.

Biblically, the name is more than simply a name, and more than a humorous nickname. Names carried meaning and growing into the new meaning was what was at stake.

‘When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations…’ Gen 17 v 1-27

Abram means ‘honoured’ or ‘exalted father’ but Abraham means ‘father of a multitude’ to reflect the covenant promises God made with Abram – see Gen 12/15/17. Abram and his wife, Sarai, were too old to have children, so for Abram and Sarai to use those names for themselves privately, but more so publicly, was to invite derision:

Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.’ – Genesis 17:15-16

Making that transition requires a deep change of mind, of identity, and of faith for a future that is certain and yet unseen. Abram’s previous history is not obliterated, or untrue, or forgotten, or denied, but the new name represents a new identity. The previous identifiers are no longer at work. The future is defined by the new name. It takes time to fully adjust, and there may be crises that test one’s resolve and faith in the new name, but the new name is a reality that cannot be shaken.

One of Jesus’ disciples was a ‘zealot’, a ‘terrorist’ or a ‘freedom fighter’, depending on your conviction, but he laid this identity at the feet of Jesus who transformed him into an apostle of the gospel of grace

So it is for anyone who places their faith in Christ.

You could explain this bluntly: Jesus is Lord and you have realised this. He is risen from the dead and all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him. It follows then that your ‘identity’ is not something that you control anymore, He is Lord, and you are His servant. All our identifiers lie at His feet. We kneel before Him.

The problem with stating Christianity like this is not that it isn’t true, but that it presents ‘Lordship’ in the same vein as the autocratic dictators we roundly condemn in the world.

Following on from Reluctant Leaders and Wounded Healers Part II we see that, in fact, the person who places their faith and trust in Christ, does so because they see God’s love in action, principally in the cross, the crucifixion. That on the cross Jesus took all our sins and us as a substitutionary and inclusive sacrifice, and we have been raised ‘in Christ’.

To extend the picture with one further sentence: we were ‘in Adam’ and inherited our sinful nature from Adam, as if we had eaten the fruit in the garden. But now we are ‘in Christ’ and inherit everything that is in Him. Our previous identity is dead and buried. Our new identity, in Christ, is our true identity.

Our previous identifiers might include our nationality, or sexuality, or political affiliations, our occupations and so on. Just as Abram’s history was not obliterated, untrue, forgotten, or denied, the same is true for us.

But the critical transition is into the new name, the new identity. We leave our previous identifiers behind, Christ defines our life, indeed, He is our life (see Part II). That is partly why to say ‘I am a sinner saved by grace’ is incompatible with the gospel, and a contradiction in terms.

It is, of course, factually correct to say you were ‘in Adam’ and therefore a sinner, but now you are ‘in Christ’ and have become a ‘son of God’ in Him. That identity redefines our – to use the list above – our nationality, our sexuality, our political affiliations, and our occupations.

…we are citizens of heaven…

In very broad terms our nationality is redefined – we are citizens of heaven and our allegiance to the nation in which we have been born, and benefited from, is not forgotten, but is laid at His feet, for Him to use in our lives as He decides. My experience of this is limited. I was born in England, but my father was American, and my mother was English. During my childhood and teenage years, I alternated between wanting to be American or adopt dual citizenship, I spelt certain words like ‘centre’ as ‘center’ and so on. I became a Christian three weeks before my eighteenth birthday. I cannot explain it but receiving Christ changed my heart and my attitude and I have remained British. I love my links to America, but my first allegiance is to the Crown not the Stars and Stripes. Christ redefined my nationality.

Our sexuality is redefined by Christ. As in all other areas of life, He defines our sexuality. Our sexuality is no longer based on our opinions, preferences, or social norms. The Spirit of God ‘writes His laws on our hearts and causes us to walk in His ways’.

Political affiliations also are laid at His feet. He may return you to a life in politics, of course. But He will shape not only our intellectual persuasions but also our attitudes. We may oppose a particular policy but the way we garner support is radically altered. We find the means do not justify the ends, and our revolutionary zeal will not justify oppression as it once might have done. One of Jesus’ disciples was a ‘zealot’, a ‘terrorist’ or a ‘freedom fighter’, depending on your conviction, but he laid this identity at the feet of Jesus who transformed him into an apostle of the gospel of grace.

Lastly, our occupations. You’re introduced to someone you haven’t met, and you start talking. It won’t be long before you are asked ‘And what do you do?’ Of course, you may well answer this as ‘I’m an optician’, ‘actor’, ‘IT consultant, and so on. But inside you know your eternal occupation/identity is as ‘a son of God’. And, like Jesus, you say ‘I only do what my father in heaven is doing’. You are not defined by your 9-5.

It is from this community of redefined disciples, each of whom is adjusting to life ‘in the Name of Jesus’, that some emerge as leaders. Any one of them carries with them a history, their personal history, which is now placed in His hands. Saul/Paul laid down his defining pathway as a militant Pharisee at Jesus’ feet and was redefined as the apostle to the Gentiles, Peter, also, the rough fisherman from Galilee, grew into his new identity in Christ…not without some reversals at times (an encouragement to us all!), Mary Magdalene, who’s life had been devastated with seven demons, now released…the list is long and extends through the centuries to this day. All wounded in some way by sin, failure, weakness…all wounded healers in Christ.

Reluctant? Maybe due to a residual sense of unworthiness, but more likely a knowing that you are inadequate for the task, have no aptitude…and yet, inside, somehow you know that this is the next step and that the key is, like everything else, to trust God for the adequacy and the ability.

Remember Abram and Sarai, all hopes of having children long since evaporated. Physically incapable. And completely inadequate to be a ‘father’ and ‘mother’ of a multitude of nations. Your calling may not be as dramatic, but it will have features that, to you, are of the same order.

That’s it. My thanks to Rob Bell for his podcast that mentioned ‘Reluctant Leaders’ and to N.T. Wright for his phrase ‘Wounded Healers’. It’s entirely your doing that I felt compelled to write these three posts!

And if you are teetering on the edge - whether to take that step towards a leadership role, lay it all at Jesus’ feet. It’s not a bad place to start.