What's In A Name?

Matthew 1:21 “21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””

How Many Names?

There is a detail in our text this morning that would be easy to overlook. But it’s a really important fact. It has to do with God’s name.

Occasionally someone asks about all the names that we hear at this time of year. It’s not entirely unexpected— we are preparing to celebrate the birth of a child, after all— but it can be a little strange to think about how many names are given to that child in the readings you hear at this time of year.

You’re familiar with Isaiah 9:6— “6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Then, in our psalm this morning, Psalm 24, there were a few more: the King of glory; the Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, mighty in battle; the Lord of hosts. Those aren’t names that we necessarily think of in connection with Christmas, but the list is growing.

Others have counted dozens of names throughout the Old Testament and the New. It’s a really impressive list, both in terms of the number of names that are on it and how impressive they are.

Joseph Stalin liked to pile up titles for himself— He claimed a long list of titles like 'Father of Nations', 'Brilliant Genius of Humanity', 'Great Architect of Communism' and 'Gardener of Human Happiness' (https://www.answers.com/Q/What_was_Joseph_Stalin's_Title).— but still they don’t quite reach the same level as the level as “King of Glory,” to list just one. It also seems fair to question if Stalin had really earned those titles. And yet of each of God’s names is completely true. They accurately describe who He is.

Now, in Matthew 1:21, a new name is added: Jesus.

As I said, it’s a detail that is easy to overlook, but let’s pause and recognize what just happened. The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the King of glory, the Lord of hosts was willing to take on a new name. That, itself, is worth noting.

But what is it that would lead Him to take on this new name? You.

You are what led Him to add this name to an already long list.

The name He takes is Jesus. It’s not another expression how great, powerful, and glorious He is. It means, “The Lord saves.”

It means that He is now, in addition to all of those other things, your savior.

If that’s not the most humbling thing that you’ve ever heard, I’m not sure what is.

And there’s a beautiful irony there.

Because the whole problem started, in the first place, when Adam and Eve tried to be like God— when they tried to claim that name for themselves.

And, ever since then, all of their descendants have tried to do the same thing.

Now, to be fair, that takes several different forms. You’re constantly trying to be known in our community as honest and generous, for example. That’s certainly a good thing— to a point. To the point when other people are only important when they can make you look good. Or to the point when striving to be known is the most important thing in your life. Or to the point that anyone who threatens your good name gets a vicious attack in response.

There are all sorts of ways that your sinful pride is driven to make a name for you. And, through it all, that same underlying problem remains: the desire to be your own God, to claim that name for yourself, to decide for yourself what is good and what isn’t good.

If it were only about your ego, that would be one thing. But how many people have you hurt in the process?

On account of your sin, you deserve to hear God say, “Away from me, I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23).

The Name Above All Names

And so the One who carries the name “the Son of God” has chosen to take on a new name: Jesus— the Lord saves. The King of glory; the Lord, mighty in battle; the Lord of hosts became a helpless child.

The King of Kings would make a name for Himself in this earth, not by exalting Himself, but by humbling Himself.

He didn’t push His way into palaces and the homes of the rich and powerful. He didn’t build up power and influence for Himself. He genuinely cared for the poor and the sick. He accepted the glad welcome of repentant sinners.

When the time came, He went willingly to be mocked and falsely accused.

When a large crowd finally gathered to shout His name, it was to call for Him to be crucified.

He endured it all in payment for your sinful pride. He endured it for all of the ways your ego has hurt others. He was forsaken by God because of your relentless desire to be your own god.

Philippians 2:9-11 “9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

He Knows Your Name

That leads to the second beautiful irony. Because He is ‘Jesus’— the Lord Saves— your name is written in His book of life.

He commanded that you be called by name at the baptismal font. And you, who sinfully desired to be your own God, were made a child of God.

Or we can say it the other way around— God’s name has been written upon you in baptism.

And, perhaps most comforting of all, He knows your name.

C.S. Lewis wrote about how amazing that simple fact is.

Shockingly, Christian writers and theologians speak approvingly of glory as fame—not in the sense of approval from fellow creatures, but in receiving a good report or appreciation or approval by God.

This turns out to be a Scriptural idea: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matt. 12:21, 23). No one can enter heaven except as a child; and nothing is so obvious in a good and humble child as his great and undisguised pleasure in being praised. The humblest, most childlike, most creaturely of pleasures is pleasure of the inferior: a child before its father, a pupil before his teacher, a creature before its Creator.

Obviously this lawful pleasure of praise can quickly turn into the deadly poison of self-admiration. But can we not detect in our experience a very, very short moment when this satisfaction—of having pleased those whom we rightly love and fear—was pure? And if that is the case, we can contemplate the redeemed soul learning that he has pleased God, free from vanity and the miserable illusion that this is his own doing.

In the end, that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us—either with the expression of conferring glory inexpressible or the expression of inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised.

To please God . . . to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness . . . to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—all of this it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.

...It’s at this point we see the relevance of God’s promise to our deepest desires, as glory means good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgment, and welcome into the heart of things.

Welcome or Banishment

Note how strange it is that the Apostle Paul promises those who love God not that they will “know God” (as we would expect) but rather that they would be “known by him” (1 Cor. 8:3). Jesus said that some who appear at last before the face of God will hear “I never knew you. Depart from me” (Matt. 7:23). In other words, in some mysterious way they will be banished from the presence of God who is everywhere and erased from the knowledge of him who knows all things. In contrast to those who are left on the outside—repelled, exiled, estranged, finally and unspeakably ignored—others will be called in, welcomed, received, acknowledged. To be summoned inside would be both glory and honor beyond what we deserve and the healing of our old ache.

(Lewis, C.S. “Weight of Glory”)

Not only does God know your name, you now live in the constant assurance of pleasing Him. And, on the Last Day, as your name is called before the throne of judgement, the words that will follow will be: “well done.”

The angel said, “21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

It really is such a small detail that it’s overlooked. But don’t overlook all the blessings in His name.