Holy Name of Jesus January 3 2026
Christmas • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 6 viewsThe Holy Name of Jesus is because a certain Jesus was holy, as is seen in the descent of the Spirit on him. But he is also the one who baptizes in the Spirit and makes people sons of God, a status that will be revealed in our natures when we see Jesus as he is. This information can help us to counsel others and also help us to let the holiness we have through baptism in the Holy Spirit make us pure and holy. Such a lack of holiness should make us examine if we are sons of God. We show that Jesus’ name is holy by living out his holiness in our lives.
Notes
Transcript
Title
Title
The Son who Makes Us Sons
Outline
Outline
In one sense the name of Jesus was not holy: it was a common name in Israel and has become common in our world today. It is the particular Jesus who made his name holy by what he was and us holy by what he is. This is put in two ways.
John puts it in terms of the Spirit
John puts it in terms of the Spirit
Jesus has a greater rank than John because he existed before John. Therefore John did not recognize him as that person until the Spirit descended and remained on him. That indicated that he can do that to us, that is, baptize in the Holy Spirit. This means that this Jesus is Son of God.
1 John puts it in new birth terms
1 John puts it in new birth terms
He knows that this Jesus is God’s Son, and he knows that the love of the Father makes us like him, God’s sons (I prefer sons to children for the point is like the nature of God). Now we know that that is our status now, but when we “see him as he is” we shall be “like him” in nature not just status.
Knowing this, we should be motivated to live purely now (as he is) and therefore forsake sin or lawlessness, for not doing that indicates we have not had the transformation, we are not like him now, and we certainly have no relationship with him. Or, to put it as John the Baptist does, if we live in sin we have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit, we have not been transformed into sons of God.
Now this explains several things
Now this explains several things
First, it explains why we celebrate the Holy Name of Jesus, which is because this Jesus shares with people his nature and makes them holy.
Second, it tells us that our holiness is not a matter of effort to force ourselves to be like Jesus, but of the baptism of the Spirit in our lives making us mini sons of God coming out in our lives. Holiness or purity comes out of us and is to be embraced and sought in that sense, while its lack and our comfort with it raises the question as to whether we are indeed children of God.
Whether we are helping others with these issues or reflecting on ourselves, these passages say a major reason that for speaking of the Holy Name of Jesus is that that Jesus is holy by nature and shares his nature with us so that we become holy which reveals his holiness to the world.
