Markham Baptist Church Sermon

Preached in Markham Baptist Church, December 5, 2004

“And Joseph gave his new son the name Jesus.” As you know, naming a newborn can be a time of difficulty and indecision. The parents want to find just the right name to suit their newborn child, not just any name will do – there are so many considerations to take into account these days.

There are personal likes and dislikes. I remember when it came to choosing a name for Nora the name Michelle was suggested. But I couldn’t go for that, because Michelle was the name of the girl who lived down the street from me as a kid and who frequently used me as a punching bag.

There is family heritage to consider. Sometimes it is right and proper to name a child after his or her ancestors, aunts and uncles. John is named after his grandfather, Nora after her aunt, who in turn was named after her aunt, who in turn was named after her aunt.

There are cultural considerations to take into account – you want a name that sounds right and will not be made fun of. Janet tells of going to school with a fellow named Cliff Climber!

Well if you think the pressure is difficult and hard today, it was even more difficult for the Hebrews. In ancient times names had great significance, their names meant something. And so it was left to Joseph to name his newborn son. But Joseph had help. No, he didn’t have a handy book of 2,000 names, he had specific instruction given to him from heaven that this child was to be named Jesus.

And you say, well if names are so significant, so important to the ancient Hebrews why did God choose this name? What significance does it have? Why is it important that this baby be called Jesus? I believe that Scripture points to three reasons why this name is significant.

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First of all, the name Jesus is significant for this God-man because it sends us a very clear message. And the message is "God is with you".

Consider it. The name Jesus was a very familiar one in the Hebrew community. There is no doubt that there were many boys living in Judea at that time who had the same name. The boy who lived next door, the fellow who ran the bagel bar, the shop clerk down the street - all had the name "Jesus". There is nothing startling about the name.

Nothing in it to make Mary’s great aunt gasp, then look away in disgust. Nothing in it to make people stop and ask what it meant, nothing out of the ordinary. It was a common name, as common a name as "John" in our society or "Sandy" in our church!

Now listen carefully. The miracle of the incarnation, God becoming one of us is a great mystery. For here is one who is fully God even as He is fully human. Let us never separate the two, let us not emphasize one over the other. For even as He is fully God, eternally, equally, essentially, God – He is also fully human, experiencing everything that is human, holding in common with us everything, right down to His common ordinary name "Jesus".

He could have taken some other name - some name that pointed us to His grandeur and holiness, separateness and awesomeness, and complete otherness. He could have taken another name, another title that better reflected and fit the one who created all things in our world, who created all galaxies in whom all things live and move and have their being. But He didn’t. He chose the common name of Jesus.

This is the marvel of Christmas, friends. That God became one of us and that from the very beginning of His coming to earth, God said, "I will be one of you. I will experience the pain of hitting my thumb with a hammer in the carpenter shop. I will taste the sourness of the lemon and the sweetness of the peach. I will know the warmth of sunshine on my face and the chill of winter in my bones. I will know what it will be like to have sweaty armpits after a long day’s work. I will know the anguish of having friends desert me, I will weep the salt tears of grief and heartbreak."

So Scripture reads in Hebrews 4:15: “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.”

And so as Max Lucado points out, “People came to Jesus. My how they came to Him! They came to Him at night; they touched Him as He walked down the street; they followed Him around the sea; they invited Him into their homes and placed their children at His feet. Why? Because He refused to be a king in a palace or a priest in an elevated pulpit, He chose instead to be Jesus.”¹One of us.

Remember that. Remember His name is Jesus when you feel that God does not understand what you are experiencing. Remember that His name is Jesus when you think that God is so far way from you and in no way perceives your pain your anguish or heartache. Remember His name is Jesus. It has been said, “It is a man who creates the distance. It is Jesus who builds the bridge.”² He was then and still is approachable, reachable, accessible.

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But there is also this in the name Jesus. There is a very clear mission. “You are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.”

Not only was this name familiar in the Hebrew community this name was familiar in the Hebrew history. It was for many years a popular name among Jewish families – it is the Greek form of the Hebrew name "Joshua". The name appears twice in the Old Testament it is very significant.

You may remember the first time we read the name Joshua - how he was the successor to Moses, chosen for his great faith in God, believing long before anyone else, and against the majority that with God’s help they could possess the land filled with giants, the land promised them by God. And when it came time for Moses to leave this life, Joshua was chosen as leader. His name means "Jehovah saves". You see the significance, don’t you? You see how the Joshua of the Old Testament foreshadows the Jesus of the New Testament? Just as Joshua would lead his people into the promised land so Jesus would lead His people into the promised rest of God. But the picture is imperfect, we know that peace did not come during Joshua’s time - we know that where Joshua failed, Jesus succeeds. We celebrated this very fact on Thursday at Joyce’s funeral. Our Lord Jesus Christ takes us to be with Him, to an eternal promised land.

The second time we come across the name is many years later, still in the Old Testament. The people of God have seen years of blessing and years of exile and when we come to the Old Testament book of Zechariah we see the people of God are again back home. They are trying to rebuild their homes and the their place of worship, the temple. Zechariah is one of their spiritual leaders and in chapter 3 of his book Zechariah tells us of a dream he has. In this dream he sees the high priest of Israel standing before God – so here is the representative for the whole nation standing before God and he is dressed in filthy clothes. The stain of his people’s sins are upon him. And God orders the filthy clothes to be taken off and dresses the high priest in rich garments.

Did I mention the high priest’s name? Did I tell you the name of the one who wears the white robes of salvation? His name is Joshua.

O, the symbolism – it is no mistake, it is no whim that this new baby is to be called Jesus. For He shall take away the sins of His people.

The high priest Joshua failed. He couldn’t take away sin - the filthy garments remained on Israel. But he did point the way to one who would succeed to the uttermost. (see Hebrews 7:23-25)

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So there you have it all in that name – a encouraging message. "God is with you." A clear meaning – "God will save you" – but there is this left to say. That name Jesus has power. And that is that once you know him, once you make him Lord and Saviour that name has power.

You see there is another time when this baby who became a man received the name Jesus. He bore that name all through his boyhood. All through His ministry He carried that name. He bore that name upon the cross. He died and was buried and on the third day rose again, still bearing the name Jesus. Then He ascended into heaven and there He received the name a second time.

This is what Paul says in his letter to the Philippians - Jesus, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very natureof a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

You see, He received the name again. When the angel came to Joseph and spoke this word, “You shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sin" - when he spoke that word, it was a word of prophecy – but now my friends it is finished. It has been accomplished. It has been done. So that now at the centre of God’s universe at this very moment is one who bears the name and is now glorified, our Joshua. He is our High Priest, clothed no longer with the filthy garments, for He bore them away on the cross – but clothed in the rich garments of salvation, wearing the crown of victory upon his head enthroned as the king of kings and Lord of Lords.

This is the one to whom we belong. This is the one whom we serve. This is the one who leads us. And there is power in that name.

We often think of that passage I just quoted from Philippians in the future sense. That there will be a day when at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. They will not miss the fact that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings. It is a fact, it is a future promise. But it is also a present reality. Every knee will bow at the name of Jesus.

Today when the name of Jesus is invoked demons run for their lives. Today, when the name of Jesus is believed in by his people are they able to move great mountains of injustice and hatred and everything that robs humanity of humanity.

Today when the name of Jesus is spoken, and believed in sin is forgiven and people are transformed. Today at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow - that’s not just a far-off promise it is a present reality.

And I sometimes wonder if we are afraid to really test it. To really put that name of Jesus to the test for fear that our faith will collapse when the thing for which we ask or seek doesn’t come to be. And so we don’t really give Jesus a chance. He says, “Ask for anything in name and it will be given to you.” (John 14:13) And yes, we are aware of the abuses that text has suffered, so not wanting to fall into that, we avoid asking for anything at all. In James 4:2 we read, "you do not have because you do not ask.” Or we ask for the smallest of gains, the smallest of possibilities.

Yet when we read the New Testament we are continually meeting people who believed that Jesus had power. So people came to Him with the most unreasonable requests, “my son is ill with an incurable disease, please heal him.” One man asks. But that is silly when you think of it, for things incurable cannot be cured. Another declares, “My daughter is dead,” and she says, “please raise her”. But surely everyone knows that the dead do not rise, not here at least. Yet there was something about Jesus that made them ask the impossible! And the disease was healed and the dead was made alive!

And we who stand on this side of the resurrection who know the name of Jesus, who have experienced his life transforming power – should we not risk the same? Should we not recognize that there is power in that name of Jesus?

O, there is power in the name of Jesus and He looks at us and He says, “you can make such gains, you can do much better than you are, not in your strength, but in my name in my power, you can have a Christ-like character. Do not despair, do not give up. In the name of Jesus go on, press on. You can do it."

And that habitual sin that you keep falling into. Jesus says you can overcome. Not in your own strength, but Jesus says, "in my strength, rely on me, call on my name and you can overcome." For He has over come the world.

There is power in the name of Jesus.

And as a church. As a church, He looks at us, and He says, “Do you see this world in which we live? Do you see the people who are without Christ and are dying without hope, without peace, without the forgiveness of sin and the assurance of eternal life? Do you see them? Do you see the hungry? Do you see the injustice in the world? Do you see those who are wasting their lives away in gambling and drink?"

And we say, “Yes, but what can we do, we such a small church?”

And Jesus says, “Do you know my name? At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, every tongue confess. Do you know my name? It is Jesus."

And my friends when that name is believed in when that name is invoked, when we go forward in that name, there is power. There is power.

ENDNOTES:

1. Max Lucado, God Came Near. (Portland, Oregon: Multnomah Press, 1987), page 55.

2. Ibid., page 56.