Name, Image, and Likeness
NIL has been the hot sports topic of the year. It is hard to imagine that anyone would not know what it is about. However, since some may not know what it is, let me make sure you are informed. NIL is an acrostic for name, image, and likeness. It means that athletes can now be paid to have their names, images, and likenesses used for advertising purposes. Obviously, the more well-known or better athletes will receive more in NIL money than those who are lesser athletes. But, all of them are free to market themselves and make money.
Jesus wants to make an NIL deal. He wants to profit from His name, image, and likeness. That profit is more people who will agree to wear His name, bear His image, and share His likeness.
In Acts 3, Peter and John encountered a man at the temple who was lame. He was carried daily to the temple to sit and beg from people who were coming and going. On this particular day, he begged money from Peter and John. Peter responded, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” (Acts 3:6).
The immediate response from the Jewish leaders was swift. They were arrested and held in custody for a day. They were interrogated as to their authority to say and do these things. Their answer was “…by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth…” (Acts 4:10). They not only wore His name as theirs—Christian—they wore His name on their lips willing immediately to confess their allegiance to Him.
Acts 4:13 shows the imprint of His image on their lives. “Now when they saw the boldness of Perer and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” The imprint of Jesus on the lives of these men was impossible to overlook.
Now, these rulers were in a quandary. They could not deny the marvelous action of the healing of this man. Yet, they did not want these men to continue to influence the people taking power from them as Jewish leaders. “So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘ Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:18-19).
The warnings and threatenings did not deter these men. They continued to share His likeness to anyone who would listen to them. Acts 4:4 reveals that there now about 5000 men who were believers because of their sharing. The next reference is to a multitude of followers (Acts 4:32). Their sharing the likeness of Jesus continued to reap a great harvest throughout the rest of the book of Acts and the 1st century. Jesus was honored for His name, His image, and His likeness. Are we doing the same thing today?
-Mike Johnson
