The Name Above All Names

What’s in a name?

Legacy and influence.

It tells you something about this person. About the family that named them, about where their family came from. We even get a sense of what we think about a person just by hearing their name.

Over time names change. Each of us will also have different names. You have a name on TikTok, Instagram, a gamertag, a nickname. You have names you like, names you don’t like. Middle names.

Names have power. If you know the right “name” it can help you. A person of influence can help you in the right context.

But there is one name, more powerful than any name. It is the name above all names.

What does it mean for a name to be “above all names”?

It means that all other names answer to him. King, Queen, President, CEO, Pope...any name you can think of.

It means that this is the name that changes everything for us. It is the name that all people answer to, that we answer to, that has all authority both in heaven and on earth. It is the name that we should proclaim throughout our lives because it is the only name worth proclaiming.

I hope you see this weekend that this name is the name that changes everything for you, for me, and for the whole world.

This name is superior

Hebrews 1:1–4 “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So he became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.”

In the past people searched for the “Messiah”, they were looking for “the one”, the Son that the ancestors and prophets spoke of. This name is Jesus. This name is greater than all the other names.

It say that the Son is the “exact expression” of God’s nature. This is a word meaning “imprint”. An imprint is a tool like a stamp that you would press onto something to create a seal. IT was an exact copy of the ring used to make the imprint. Imprints had authority, because they told you who was sending the letter. To say

Jesus is the imprint of God’s nature is to say He has the exact authority of God and comes as a reflection of God’s character. Now all of us have this reflection as image bearers, but JEsus is the “exact imprint”.

This name is the start

Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

Colossians 1:18 “He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.”

This isn’t a name that was “created” it was the “Firstborn” and the “image of the invisible God.

The name of Jesus tells us that He was there before all things existed, then came down to be with us and to save us.

Think about the name “Mom”. What does that name tell you? It tells you many things. That there is a father, that it is a woman who has children, that she existed for the children. It tells you a level of authority that she has. If I say “do I need to call your mom?” that will probably scare you! It is a name that creates emotions. Love, kindness, of good memories, maybe of bad memories. It is also a personal name.

This name sustains all things

Colossians 1:16–17 “For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.”

Colossians 1:19–20 “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

The name of Jesus isn’t just greater, it isn’t just the first name. It is the name that hold all things together.

If you are in a class and the “teacher” leaves the room. What happens in a classroom? Chaos. The teacher creates order, puts kids in the seats they are supposed to, has the authority to give discipline necessary, creates the rules that everyone follows. Without the “teacher” everything becomes chaos. Jesus “sustains” all of creation, without him nothing exists that does exist, the universe becomes chaos.