The Name Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Order of Service
Songs
Gospel Welcome
Merry Christmas, everyone!
If we have not met before my name is Chris. It’s great to sing with you and worship with you tonight.
If you haven’t been here before the bathrooms are in the back, and parents if you need space for your kiddos the baby room is available.
Growing up we’d go to Christmas Eve service, sometimes at 11pm so when it ended it was officially Christmas morning. I loved that. I remember the quiet reverent nature of the service. Now as the pastor I’m glad we don’t do an 11pm service because I want to be in bed.
Each of you have different traditions and things we do Christmas Eve and again I’m thankful you’ve chosen to be here tonight.
Each one of us is unique and comes in with a different story. Christmas is a complex, busy, emotional, messy and yet sometimes magical time of year.
And while I don’t know every person’s story in this room, I can say something with the utmost confidence to every person here: God cares about you.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Christmas proves that God cares.
He’s not cynical. He’s not distant.
The Word became a child. To live with us.
We can know God cares about us because he entered our world, entered our brokenness, he endured suffering, he went through pain, to bring light into the darkness.
God cares about you.
I pray tonight that you experience that, maybe for the first time, or maybe in a new way tonight as we continue to pray, and hear from God’s word, and sing together this evening.
Prayer - Puget Sound
If this is your first time here one of the things we do when we gather is we pray.
Even on Christmas Eve.
This month we are praying for the Puget Sound region. We want to remember that we’re not the main character of the story of the world and there are many many churches gathering tonight. So let’s pray for our brothers and sisters who are worshiping together this evening.
Intro
When we were picking names for each of our kids, we used an app to help choose the name.
Oliver, Luke, Emily, Evelyn…
So many to choose from, this app helped us pick a name.
The app was called…wait for it…BabyName. Brilliant.
The app would show you a name - Porter - and if you like the name you swipe right, and then it would show you another name - Rafael - and you’d swipe left if you didn’t like that name.
So on and so forth with Kaleb, Porter, Jonathan…
BabyName would also tell you what the name means.
Under the name it would say here’s what that name means.
Kaleb means faithful…apparently it can also mean “dog.”
Porter means gatekeeper.
Do you know what your name means?
We were usually more interested in how the name sounded and whether it could be used for nick names at recess.
I like Luke but I don’t want Luke Lumsden to be called LuLu.
Tonight, as we read Matthew 1:21, we learn that Mary and Joseph named their son Jesus.
Not just because they liked the way it sounded but specifically because of what it means.
You know Jesus’ name. It’s the most famous name in the history of the world.
But do you know what Jesus’ name means?
Jesus’ name means YHWH is salvation.
But what does that even mean? And how much do we get to know Jesus by his name?
We’re going to look at his name tonight and learn why we can trust him.
Text
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Before we meet Jesus, we have the story of his parents.
Two other famous names: Mary and Joseph.
Do you know what their names mean?
The meaning of Mary is fairly complex but it is connected with the Hebrew name ‘Miriam’ which means beloved.
Miriam was Moses’ sister’s name.
The Bible predicted a better Moses would come, and so a better Miriam has come, too.
Joseph is also complex but it means ‘to take away.”
Joseph is the father of Jesus who took away the sins of the world.
And the other name we see in this passage is the Holy Spirit.
The name we often forget in the Christmas story but who is bringing Jesus into the world.
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Joseph and Mary did not pick Jesus’ name.
There was no debate.
No app, no vetting names, no worrying about schoolyard nicknames.
The angel tells them, you’re going to have a boy and his name will be Jesus.
The name Jesus
Connects to the Hebrew name Yeshua, or Joshua, which means YHWH is salvation.
God has a name, and it’s not God. It’s YHWH.
His name means I AM WHO I AM, or I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE.
And Jesus’ name means this I AM being is salvation.
Salvation is to deliver, to rescue, to liberate.
YHWH is deliverance. He is the rescue. He is liberation.
The meaning of Jesus’ name shows us first that He is salvation.
It’s not just what he does, it’s who he is.
Jesus is YHWH in the flesh.
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us).
Some say Jesus was just a good teacher who accidentally started a religion.
That is not found anywhere in the Bible, nor does it make any sense given the fact that all his followers went to their grave saying that he was YHWH in the flesh.
He may have been a good teacher, but he was more than that because he was born to a virgin, and he was raised from the dead.
And he is salvation. It’s more than what he does.
Who are you spending Christmas with tomorrow? You love those people not just for what they do, but for who they are.
Jesus is salvation. It’s not just what he does.
If we are with Jesus, we have been delivered.
If we abide with Jesus, we have been saved.
If we are near Jesus, we are liberated from death and given life and life to the full because it’s who he is.
Jesus is salvation. We see that in his name. But what is he like?
Jesus’ name also shows his humility and compassion.
How do we see that from his name?
He came to be human and he chose a common name.
It’s not particularly exciting in and of itself.
Jesus. The equivalent of Josh.
God came into the world with a name like Josh.
He could have created a name that was 30 syllables long and made people say it because he’s that holy and powerful.
But he took a normal name.
It’d be like if God was born today and he chose to be named Steve.
We have 3 Steve’s here at Gateway.
Jesus was a very common name in his time, and it must have been in part because he was called Jesus of Nazareth.
Which Jesus? The one from Nazareth.
It’s likely Jesus knows what it feels like to hear your name called, and then say, “Yeah?” But then realize they weren’t talking to you.
God is holy, majestic, and powerful, and yet he also understands what it’s like to be a person.
And in doing so, as I said earlier, I think this shows he cares.
He cares for us and knows what it’s like to be human.
He experienced fear.
Fatigue. Frustration. He knows what it feels like to have big hot tears come down your face when you lose a friend.
He knows what it’s like to have a mom and a dad. To have sisters and brothers. He was likely an uncle.
He knows what it’s like when your face hurts from smiling too long, he got lint in his belly button, his feet hurt at the end of a day from getting too many steps walking around Jerusalem.
He knows temptation. He knows rejection. He knows death.
Why does that matter?
It shows he cares.
Whatever we’re going through right now, Jesus understands. He is near and he wants to help. Are we willing to let him?
Finally, Jesus’ name shows us what he came to do.
Jesus came to save.
To deliver. To liberate. To rescue.
In verse 21 we see this is why Jesus came. To save his people from their sin.
What is sin? It’s trying to make a name for myself apart from God.
It’s living in a way that says my name, my reputation, my honor matter’s more than God’s.
It’s saying, I am my own salvation, I am my own ticket to the good life, rather than believing that YHWH is salvation.
Sin leads to all kinds of trouble and ultimately it leads to death.
But God promised to save his people and he would not let his good name be trampled in the mud, so he sent Jesus.
That’s what he came to do.
This is the free gift of God - to be forgiven through faith in Jesus.
Tomorrow morning, none of you will have your kids open a present, watch them excitedly play with the new toy, and then say, “I’m so glad you like your gift. You owe me $37.”
That’s not how gifts work.
Gifts are free.
And Jesus’ salvation is a gift. We can’t earn it. We can’t pay it back.
All that’s required is we humbly receive it.
Tonight, do we believe that Jesus lives up to his name?
That he is salvation. He is the good life! There is no living our best life apart from him.
He is humble and compassionate. He is great in mercy and understands and empathizes with our pain.
He came to save. And one day he will save us from sin and death once and for all.
Do we believe he lives up to his name?
Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace
The Living One
The one who ascended to the right hand of the Father
The fulfillment of the Law
The Promise of Israel
The Hope of the Nations
The second Adam, the Ransom from Heaven
The substituting sacrifice
The victor over satan, sin, and death
The Lion
The Lamb
The King
The Alpha and Omega
The beginning and the End
Jesus, the one we wait for tonight, is the only one who truly lived up to his name.
