What's in a Name?

[00:00:06] Well, I take you back to our readings here that Zach had for us, to that Old Testament lesson. Just a couple of little important verses from Genesis. [00:00:17] Then they said, come, let us build a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves. [00:00:29] And a few verses later, and the Lord came down and said, let us confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. [00:00:39] Stunning passage, is it not? [00:00:43] Well, I think it is. Because here it's the witness of Almighty God who in his wisdom confounds the language of the people of Shinar so that they wouldn't make a name for themselves and in the process forget the name of their God. [00:01:05] Seriously, I mean, think about that. [00:01:07] God so fully respects the intellectual gifts that he built into mankind that instead of taking away their humanity, he simply confounds their tongue. [00:01:28] Well, we have to ask why? [00:01:30] Why would he do it? Why would he do it that way? Well, we have to believe that this rather sad example of human history here on earth, well, it's bathed in the same grace of God that we see throughout the Scriptures. [00:01:45] So as foreign as this might look to us today, or as seemingly cruel or unsupportive as the story might portray, God is he doing. But he's ultimately looking out for the best interests of mankind. [00:02:02] And the key to the statement is, let us make a name for ourselves. [00:02:15] And, well, that's been the issue ever since man's fall into sin, mankind's fall, making a name for ourselves. And in the process, what? [00:02:28] Forgetting the name of God. [00:02:31] Would you pray with me, Lord? Open our ears now and our hearts to hear your word. And particularly, Lord, help us to know your name and to call upon you, Jesus. [00:02:49] Amen. [00:02:52] So what's in a name? If you make something, let's say you make something really great, I don't know what it would be. How about a piano? If it's a really great piano, you put your name on it. Steinway, Right? [00:03:04] Or how about a car? [00:03:08] Make a good car. [00:03:09] Put your name on it like Henry Ford did. Or if you make airplanes, Mr. Boeing wanted his name on his airplanes, and there it is. Or that guy that invented restaurants, Ronald McDonald, he even. Even invented, you know, golden arches. And of course he put his name on it. McDonald's. [00:03:33] Or you and me, we have a name, a name given to us by our parents who made something pretty good, right? [00:03:52] Put their name on it. [00:03:55] Well, that's what God did when he made mankind. He said, it's very good. [00:04:01] And actually we derive our name For God from good God is. [00:04:07] And so we call out to him as our good God. Oh, and then also in John, chapter one, we read these words. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And see, now that gets into this heart of God, giving us his name. Because what did he do? He came to us. [00:04:36] He came down to this world. God made flesh. [00:04:42] Emmanuel, we can call him, or I like this one, Jesus, who we call upon as our Savior. And so we call the Word of God, Jesus. The Word from all that God has made flows. And so God, God. [00:05:02] To know God's name is to know that he has put his name on everything that he has made. Kind of like he's got his fingerprint on everything. [00:05:15] And isn't that interesting, because it's what we heard in the Book of Acts in his name. [00:05:21] Remember that fingerprint. Remember his name is life and salvation. [00:05:27] And that's what Peter preached to the people, by the way, in his sermon on that day of Pentecost. He said to them, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. [00:05:39] And so here we are gathered together today in Greeley, Colorado, to call upon that name and not only make it known among us, but really we're also actually recognizing and taking hold of the fact that he gave us our name in our baptism. Our baptism was our Pentecost. [00:06:06] It was there in those waters when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon you and poured out upon me, and we became children of God. And we were adopted into his family, and we were given the family name. [00:06:19] You know this name? [00:06:22] Christian. [00:06:25] Say it. [00:06:26] Christian. [00:06:28] That's a family name. [00:06:31] Oh, and he forgave our sins. [00:06:34] Oh, and he gave us eternal life with him forever in his kingdom. [00:06:42] Oh, he gave us the faith to take hold of this gift of grace. [00:06:51] That's what the Holy Spirit does. [00:06:57] And so when Jesus says, keep my word. [00:07:03] Did you hear that part? Keep my word, he said to his disciples, he means not only to know and follow him, but to treasure this name that has been given to us. We're. We're not who the world says we are. We are who God says we are. And that becomes our identity. Oh, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, creatures to whom God has given his name and made his own no differently than a child trusts that they belong to their parents, that their parents gave them a name, and it's their first name, and it's the family name. And gathered here together today it's that name that God gave us. [00:07:46] Christian. [00:07:49] Now the question that comes before us from this text is do we do this? Do we treasure the name of God that he has placed upon us? [00:07:57] Or like those folks that we heard about in the Old Testament lesson, those folks in Shinar, do we try to make a name for ourselves through our own accomplishments, our own deeds, our own actions, our own status? [00:08:13] Are we sometimes dissatisfied with being God's children? [00:08:21] Do we become kind of like those people that are on cheers? You know, everybody knows our name, everybody knows my name, where all my thoughts and all my words and all my deeds and all my desires conform with what I want. [00:08:38] You know, my will, not his, my kingdom, not his, my name, not his. [00:08:55] You see, the thing is, once we start down that path, you know, that self definition or letting the world define who we are, inevitably it leads to the conclusion that you must not only make yourself a name for yourself in this world, but also you're forced to start to think about, well, what kind of name am I going to make before God? [00:09:22] And that we have to get God to notice us through our good works or through our achievements or through our process, even in the Christian life, or, well, like those people we encounter sometimes that we ask, how do you think you'll get to heaven? And they say, well, I think I've lived a pretty good life. [00:09:47] We've all heard that. [00:09:50] And it's possible for us to get tricked into that same pathway to heaven. Just being good. [00:10:01] You might be able to make a name for yourself in this world, but can you do that with God? Can you make a name for yourself before God? [00:10:11] And how can you be sure that you've been good enough? [00:10:17] And how can you be sure God even knows your name? And then the devil comes along, as we heard Jesus mention ever so briefly. [00:10:27] The devil comes along to deepen our doubts, whispering in our ears, you're nothing. No, no, wait a minute. You're worse than nothing. You're a sinner. [00:10:38] A dirty, rotten, miserable, no good, ungrateful, rebellious sinner. You think God's going to notice you? [00:10:44] Oh yeah, he notices. [00:10:49] And you know what he does with sinners, don't you? [00:10:57] Well, that went down a pretty dark path there, didn't it? [00:11:02] Where's the gospel in this, this morning? Where's the gospel in Pentecost? [00:11:09] Well, it's the Holy Spirit who Jesus says, the Father will send in my name. He comes as our helper, he comes as our teacher, pointing away from ourselves and pointing us to Christ and making Christ's name known in us so that we depend upon his name, not ours. So that we depend upon his work, not ours. [00:11:41] So that when the devil comes accusing, pointing out our sin and our rebellion and our filthy name that we've made for ourselves before God, which we cannot deny the Holy Spirit, he comes, he comforts us by pointing us to Christ and to his cross to teach us that yes, God does see what we have done. [00:12:03] That's why he came. [00:12:09] That's why he came to do something about it. [00:12:13] Not to accuse, not to shame, but to save us. [00:12:24] To take away from you and from me are two biggest problems, sin and death. And he gets it all put upon himself to take away death and to take away sin from you and from me and to die in our place. [00:12:43] We deserve that cross. [00:12:45] But he took it upon Himself so that all of us, dirty, rotten, miserable, no good, ungrateful, rebellious, make a name for ourselves because we do not treasure God's name. Kind of sinners would not be condemned, but be forgiven. [00:13:03] So when Jesus says, as he did there in that text, that the ruler of this world has no claim on me, which he proved in his resurrection, that word is intended for us as well. For if Satan has no claim on Jesus, then by all means he has no claim upon all those who claim the name of Jesus. [00:13:27] Do you see what's happening? The Holy Spirit's always aiming us back to see Jesus and to call upon him in all of our days, all of our troubles, all of our joys. [00:13:45] Today we're celebrating the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost. [00:13:51] That was that text from Acts Peter preached. So that through the word of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit, people might come to know Jesus. Because what happened was they were convicted of their sins and the Word of God pointed them to Christ and to his cross. [00:14:14] And that's exactly what happened, by the way, there at Pentecost. Because if we read a little bit further in the text, some 3,000 people repented and believed and were baptized into Jesus Christ. [00:14:30] And just as Jesus came and made his home among us even more, he promises that our home will be with him forever. [00:14:41] I'm telling you this because as Jesus goes to the Father, he goes to prepare a place for us, an eternal place, a place of glory and a place of perfection. But until that day, when Jesus comes to take us home, he leaves us something else. [00:15:06] Did you see it in the text? He leaves us his peace. [00:15:13] Say peace. [00:15:14] Peace. [00:15:16] It's there so clearly. He says, peace. I leave with you. [00:15:21] I even underlined this My peace I give to you. [00:15:26] Not as the world gives do I give to you. [00:15:33] I hope you heard that good word today. We have peace, for we know that God is at home with us right now and that we will be at home with God in eternal life. We have peace not as the world gives it, Jesus says, but true peace. Peace that surpasses all human understanding. Peace that even in the midst of. Of turmoil or in the midst of strife or in the midst of uncertainty in this world, the peace of God comes to us through his name, Jesus. [00:16:12] Peace that comes to us because he has made us his own. [00:16:17] Peace that comes to all who call upon the name of the Lord. [00:16:22] Peace and salvation. Dear Christian brothers and sisters, keep that word. Keep that name. [00:16:31] Keep it in your hearts, keep it in your minds. Guard and treasure it like no other name or no other word on earth. [00:16:39] Here's why. Because you are his treasure. [00:16:43] He proved it on the cross. [00:16:46] You are his treasure. And. [00:16:50] And then you'll also live it. You'll live like a treasured child of God. Because once the Holy Spirit kindles the fire of his love in your heart, you won't be able to not share his name. [00:17:08] Amen. [00:17:10] Amen.