Once I stood with a very famous businessman looking out at a convention crowd. He said, “I bet there are not three hundred people here.” Having seen the official count, I said, “No. I bet there are 1200.” Taking me at my word, he said, “I’ll bet you a Whataburger my count is closer than yours.” I nodded my head in agreement with his proposal. A few weeks later, I received a gift card from Whataburger in the mail. My friend had seen the count.
Why do we count people, anyway? We count people because people count. In Luke’s portrait of the church in Antioch, he uses the expression, “great number,” three times. “A great number of people believed and turned to the Lord” (11:21). “A great number of people were brought to the Lord” (11:24). Barnabas and Saul taught great numbers of people (11:26). How many people are in a great number?
To Luke’s point, how do we turn great numbers of believers into disciples? Barnabas and Saul taught them. That is why Barnabas left the revival in Antioch to find Saul. Credit Barnabas with this: he knew he needed help. Saul’s great gift matched the young church’s great need. Barnabas brought him back to share in the teaching load. These new believers grew to become like Christ so much that they were called Christians for the first time.
Our salvation possesses direction and a destination. Every day, we may make progress in the work of becoming like Jesus. Once we believe and turn to the Lord, we need to continue to learn until others identify us with the Lord. How do we do this? A dear friend told me, “We only have to do two things. Love the Lord and love the person right in front of us. Why do we love people? Because they matter to God. I think of that sometimes when I go to Whataburger.
