The Love of Your Name

[00:00:00] In the name of Jesus. Amen. [00:00:06] You know why we make the sign of the cross on ourselves? Every once in a while, I tell my kids this, you know, and maybe you don't. [00:00:16] It's one of those things that's kind of come to look Catholic. It's like, oh, it's kind of gone by the wayside in the last. I don't know how many years, you know, But I think mostly because it looked too Catholic, right? But it's Lutheran, too. [00:00:32] So if you see somebody doing that or if you do it, why would you put the cross on yourself? [00:00:38] It's kind of like, well, you can see a cross and remember Jesus and what he's done for you and such. [00:00:46] But then to put it on yourself is to say, this is my life. Or rather, my life is in Jesus Christ, in baptism and through faith, I've been united to Jesus in his death and resurrection. I'm crucified with Christ. I no longer live. He lives in me. Anyway, it's kind of a special thing to apply the cross to yourself, to say, this is me. This is my life. This is my identity. This is who I am. I am in Jesus Christ. [00:01:21] Anyway, it is sort of related to the readings. And maybe we will come back and make the connection. Or maybe you will have to make the connection yourself. [00:01:29] We will see. [00:01:32] You're like, you haven't done it yet. [00:01:35] Okay. [00:01:37] All right, so here's the prayer that we said a little bit earlier. [00:01:43] It's the collect of the day. The prayer of the day. [00:01:47] Lord of all power and might, author and giver of all good things, graft into our hearts the love of your name and nourish us with all goodness that we may love and serve our neighbor through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. [00:02:12] I think in both services last week, I used the collect of the day. I brought it up, but I think only in the late service did I mention that, you know, I don't write these. [00:02:26] They're very ancient. I was just in St. Louis for classes about a week ago, and one of my professors, his specialty is liturgy and the history of liturgy. And so I just asked him a couple questions, sidetracked questions in class, and one of them was, okay, where do the collects come from? [00:02:45] Where do we get those? And so he gave me an answer. That's too much detail to remember and tell you, but he gave me a book to read, so that's good. [00:03:03] But the takeaway, the practical takeaway, for me was that these collects, like, the vast majority, all but a few of our collects, come from, like, the 6th century, which is pretty neat. Okay, so these are. [00:03:17] And not only that, you know, but they've been paired with these readings. And so when I bring up a collect of the day and I use it in the sermon, it's because, like, this is one way to see how this passage or these passages have been read and interpreted by the church, how they've been prayed, how they've been lived. [00:03:39] All right, so Lord of all power and might, author and giver of all good things. [00:03:47] There we're recognizing the position that God is in above us, powerful, all powerful, and then the giver of all good things. So where should we expect good things from God? And that he is the one we should look to for every good thing? [00:04:07] So looking that direction, we pray, Graft into our hearts the love of your name and nourish us. [00:04:17] So graft into our hearts the love of your name. [00:04:22] Now, we could love other things, but I want to talk about it in terms of a name you remember in Genesis 12, I think it is when you start hearing about Abram. God calls Abram, okay? And he says, essentially, follow me, and I will make a name for you. [00:04:47] And this follows after Babel, where the people making the tower, they were trying to make a name for themselves. [00:04:54] They were going to lift this tower up into the sky so that people would know who they are, right? [00:05:00] So that their name would be lifted up. [00:05:03] They were trying to make a name for themselves. But God tells Abram, follow me, which means leave your family, everything comfortable. Go somewhere you don't know just because I say so, and I will make your name great. [00:05:21] So tower of Babel, they're looking to do it for themselves, get something for themselves. But Abram is forced to look to God as the giver of all good things. [00:05:31] He's forced to. [00:05:34] Well, yeah, to expect good things from God and not to try to control his circumstances or lean into what's comfortable and assure bet and to trust in God who will make a name for him. Graft into our hearts the love of your name. [00:05:56] Make me to love your name, God, and not to love my own name or to try and build it up. [00:06:03] Graft into our hearts the love of your name. So here's you think of the love we think about. We put our trust in what we love. [00:06:12] It's just kind of a directional thing. So graft into our hearts love that would aim us toward you, God, as the giver of all good things as all powerful. Rather than invest ourselves in something else, then here's what happens through faith. [00:06:28] The faith that looks to Jesus, that looks to God through Jesus and invests in our hearts, in him. [00:06:37] And nourish us, nourish us with all goodness as we look to you, receptively nourish us with all goodness that we may love and serve our neighbor. [00:06:50] So it doesn't stop even with being nourished by all goodness or with all goodness. But then it flows out in service to our neighbor. [00:07:02] So that's the, that's the pattern of faith. It's looking to God who gives all things, receiving from him and then not keeping it to ourselves, but being conformed to God's own pattern. God who has it all and gives it all, giving to our neighbor, just looking to serve, notice what's not there. [00:07:29] It's like making sure we can get it for ourselves and then keeping it. [00:07:36] Alright, so let's go to the Gospel reading. [00:07:48] So Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. All right, so he's turned toward Jerusalem for some chapters in Luke. [00:08:00] And you know what that means. [00:08:03] He's on his way to die. [00:08:05] He's told them, I'm going to go to Jerusalem and I'm going to die. [00:08:09] That's what he's headed for. [00:08:12] And nothing is going to take him from that. So he's headed toward death. [00:08:19] He set his face to go to Jerusalem and he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him. [00:08:27] But the people did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. [00:08:33] Now we don't get a whole lot of information explaining that, okay, but we could maybe think of like Peter who says, you're not going to die. [00:08:45] And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. You're not thinking of the things of, of God, but of the things of men. [00:08:51] He doesn't have a heavenly mindset. [00:08:54] And in this case, a heavenly mindset would say, yeah, Jesus is going to die. He's going to give it all up. [00:09:04] So they don't receive him because his face is set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John saw it, James and John who wanted to be the greatest in the kingdom. Right on Jesus, right and his left exalting themselves. [00:09:22] When James and John saw it, if I can find it again, they said, lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? [00:09:38] So they're putting themselves in the place of God, not as the giver of all good things, but Right there you see this? The pattern is not playing out there. James and John are not, like, looking to God and receiving good things from him, and then that's flowing out to their neighbors. [00:09:55] They're setting themselves up in the place of judgment, like they're in the form of God and grasping it. [00:10:06] But that's not the pattern of Christ, though he was in the form of God, didn't count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but humbled himself, took the form of a servant, became obedient to death, even death on a cross. [00:10:21] You see, Jesus is set to go to Jerusalem to die. [00:10:26] He's set humbly to serve and to give it all up for the sake of the world. [00:10:34] But his disciples are thinking a different way. [00:10:37] He's thinking, descend like rain and water the earth. Descend and give up everything for the life of the world. And they're thinking, ascend because we're great. Which Jesus is great. [00:10:52] Ascend. And then scorch. [00:10:57] Scorch those who are not great. [00:11:05] So they've kind of got it backwards. [00:11:09] So he rebukes them, and it just leaves it at that. He rebuked him, and then they went to a different village. [00:11:15] But I think what follows is related. At least the same patterns are there. [00:11:21] As they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. [00:11:28] Now, James and John, are they following him? [00:11:33] They're going around with him, but they're not following his train of thought. [00:11:39] They're not following his mindset. They're not picking up what he's putting down. Right. [00:11:49] Okay, so now what does it mean to follow him? [00:11:55] And then Jesus says something really cryptic. [00:11:57] You know, it's like, what do you make of this? [00:12:00] Is this just a flourish? Like, you could have just said it, but you found a really fun way to say it. Okay, so I'll follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. [00:12:21] Wow. Why did you say that? Jesus? [00:12:28] Okay, so in Luke, there's a lot of. [00:12:31] You get heaven and earth, right? Or ascending and descending. [00:12:35] Okay, so? [00:12:40] Well, it's cryptic. Jesus calls Herod a fox. [00:12:46] In a couple of chapters, says, you go tell that fox Herod, who wants to kill me. [00:12:54] Say, he's thinking in earthly ways. He's thinking of the things of men. [00:13:00] He is. [00:13:01] Herod is, you know, he's the one compiling wealth and power for himself, meeting it out on his enemies, sending fire down on those who would. Who would Try and take his position actually building perches for himself up in the heavens. If you go to Israel, you can see the remains of, like, mountaintop fortresses that Herod made for himself in order to protect himself in a. You know, if he had to get away quickly, he could go to his mountaintop fortress. And of course, he had, like, heated baths up there. How do you do that? In the ancient world? He had not, like, an aqueduct, you know, feeding it. [00:13:42] Okay, so building palaces for himself in the sky. [00:13:46] Right? And then so Herod is called the fox, and, well, he's very much at home in worldly things and also setting himself up in the heavens. [00:14:00] Okay, so let's bring it back to Jesus. Cryptic comment, see if you find this convincing. [00:14:06] Jesus says foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. [00:14:19] Are you following? [00:14:24] So both of them make homes. Foxes are making a home in the earth, birds are making a home in the heavens, but Jesus kind of does neither. [00:14:38] Like, he came down to earth not to make himself comfortable or to take what was his. I mean, it all belongs to him. It's all made through him. [00:14:49] And he could just enjoy all the worldly pleasures and wealth, and he could have all the riches that he wants. Of course, Jesus knows that those riches are, well, prone to be stolen by thieves. Or the possessions that he could have, well, those are going to be eaten by moths. Jesus just happens to have that perspective to which our perspective should be conformed. So he doesn't come down to make himself at home in worldly things. [00:15:19] He sees past that. [00:15:22] But he also doesn't just set himself up in the heavens or just sit in what he has, or set himself up with pride. He humbles himself. He didn't consider the form of God something to be grasped, to be held onto, to make himself at home in, but he humbled himself for our sake. [00:15:48] You know the end of that Philippians passage, He was exalted. [00:15:53] He took the form of a servant, humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him. [00:16:01] So he ascends, he goes up and he descends, comes down to earth, but it's flipped from what we would naturally want, right? Naturally I would want to just make myself at home in worldly things, worldly concerns and desires, and protect myself from worldly fears. [00:16:23] And then I'd want to make a name for myself, lift myself up so that you all think well of me, or build something that I can be proud of and People will always remember, make myself immortal by my. Whatever legacy I leave. Or. You see what I mean. [00:16:43] Jesus doesn't lift himself up for that reason. And he doesn't go down for that reason either. [00:16:51] He humbles himself and then he's exalted. [00:16:56] In Luke, chapter 13, Jesus says the first will be last and the last will be first. He also says that. That those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted. [00:17:13] He says, if you go to a wedding feast, don't take the highest place. [00:17:20] Otherwise the master of the feast is going to come and say, like, look, this is not your spot. Come sit in the lowest place. You know, he says, sit in the lowest place in order to be exalted. [00:17:35] And this is the pattern of the prayer. See, the prayer that we started with the collect of the day. [00:17:42] It's putting us in that lowest position, in that receptive posture to God who gives all good things. [00:17:49] It's disabusing us of the illusion that we can get things for ourselves or that we can build things for ourselves. That will last. [00:17:59] Lord of all power and might, Author and giver of all good things, Graft into our hearts the love of your name. [00:18:09] Help us, like Jesus, like your son Jesus, to humble ourselves before youe will, not to make a name for ourselves, but to submit ourselves to you. God let you exalt us, humble yourselves before the mighty hand of God, that at the proper time he may exalt you. I think that's in Peter. [00:18:40] Graft into our hearts the love of your name and nourish us with all goodness that we may love and serve our neighbor. [00:18:51] This is the pattern of faith. Jesus is saying, oh, you'll follow me wherever I go. [00:19:00] Well, here's how it goes. [00:19:03] Every earthly desire that you would pursue or possession that you would acquire. [00:19:09] I'm not making my home in those things. [00:19:13] And the worldly honor and such that you would lift yourself up with. [00:19:20] I'm not about that either, actually. [00:19:22] I'm going to Jerusalem. Like, I'm ascending and descending, but in reverse from what you're thinking. I'm going to Jerusalem, I'm going to die. I'm going to give it all up. Like worldly honor. [00:19:32] Zero is what I'm going to have worldly pleasure. It's going to be gone. [00:19:38] I'll be dead. [00:19:40] He says, I'm going to the cross. And then he says, if anyone wants to follow me, he's got to take up his cross and die daily and follow me. That's the pattern, it's being conformed to Christ in his humble descent as a servant and obedience to death. [00:20:00] That's our path as Christians, as those who have been united to Christ in his death and resurrection, those who have been taken up into his life. [00:20:10] We have this sort of dual movement, humbling ourselves in the form of Christ, in conformity with Christ and not. [00:20:23] So let's bring this to our own lives. [00:20:27] What does this look like? [00:20:29] Well, it means that in a given moment, what I want can be set aside. [00:20:38] What would God have me do here? [00:20:40] I'm just a humble servant. I'd like a moment of quiet. Well, you know, my children need something else. And so. [00:20:51] Oh, well, I mean, you know, that's just so. [00:21:02] All right, let's finish up with one more thing. [00:21:09] This line just fascinates me because I think Jesus gives it not as just sort of an interesting way to say it. He's not just like, you know, foxes have holes and birds make nests for themselves, and the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. [00:21:27] You know, like, that's just a nicer way to say it. [00:21:30] I think there's a deep mystery in it. And I'm just going to point toward that mystery a little bit. [00:21:38] You know, Jesus. Audience knew the Old Testament really well, especially the first five books, the Torah, you know, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. [00:21:48] And within that corpus there. There are, like, very memorable moments that really shaped their life and faith. [00:21:58] One of those really important moments was when Jacob was traveling. [00:22:05] Remember, one night he found a rock to put his head on. [00:22:09] So he laid down his head on a rock, and then he had a dream or a vision, and he sees a ladder between heaven and earth. [00:22:20] So there we have heaven and earth, heaven and earth and a ladder and angels ascending and descending, okay? And then in the Gospel of John, John says, this is. Or Jesus says, you know, this is about me. He says, you'll see greater things than this. You'll see angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. And it's like that's. You know, he's referring to this passage, okay? So Jesus interprets it with himself. [00:22:44] All right? But then Jacob wakes up from the dream, and he says, this is the house of God. God is here. And he sets up the stone, and he calls the place Bethel. And who's the house of God? [00:22:59] Jesus is the place where God dwells bodily. Jesus is the temple. He's the tabernacle. All of this is fulfilled in him. [00:23:08] You want to find God, you go to Jesus. [00:23:13] So read this Passage where Jesus says foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. It's like, well, there you see the ascent and descent, like the connection between heaven and earth and the reversal of our sinful desire to make ourselves at home on earth or set ourselves up in the heavens. And here Jesus has done the reverse and he's united us to him. And you see it in the apostles, united to Jesus, conformed to him in that pattern, just giving it all up for his sake, taking the gospel to the nations and dying for it and rejoicing in it. You know, there's a place in Acts where they get put in prison and they rejoice at being counted, worthy to suffer with Jesus. [00:23:59] There they are in that pattern of receiving everything from God and humbling themselves and then being exalted by God in the proper time and not even yet, like from a worldly perspective, looking at things from the other side, well, they were just a bunch of guys who went off and gave a message and then died for it. [00:24:21] But with Jesus perspective, his flipped perspective that he brings, you see the apostles having gained the one thing necessary, having everything in Jesus and giving everything in Jesus, like the wealthy people that they are, like the living people that they are no longer dead but alive in Christ Jesus. [00:24:47] That's our life as we look to Jesus in faith. [00:24:51] Jesus, I'll follow you wherever you go. [00:24:54] Really well, by faith, sure. Just know what that means. [00:25:00] Know that it means, well, giving up everything, humbling yourself, and then at the proper time, really held for the end when we're raised from the dead and God's promises are fulfilled for us so that we're no longer walking by faith. But I mean, we've got it, we've got sight, right? [00:25:23] Then we'll get it. In Jesus name, amen.