The Power of a Name
Notes
Transcript
Find the “BIG IDEA” >> a. What is the author talking about? b. What is he saying about what he is talking about?
a. Jesus meets and recruits Phillip and Nathanael
b. Jesus Authoritative and Attractive to those who know Him
Find the FCF >>
1. What does the text say?
2. What spiritual concern(s) did the text address (in its context)?
3. What spiritual concerns do listeners share in common with those to (or about) whom the text was written?
[Kids Time!]
Third Commandment >> Treat God like HE is God
Immediately I am reminded of the third commandment given to Moses by God in Exodus 20:7. What’s the big deal?
(Daughter calls me “Boo Boo” or something when “obeying”… doesn’t count!)
Treat God like HE is God
[Introduction]
[Illustration: Camaro vs Corvette with neighbor]
God’s Name is:
Revelatory
“Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
>> We know more about God by His naming, we grow in the knowledge of God
>> … We know more about us
God’s Name is:
Revelatory
Prescriptive
>> Prescriptive to US
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
If God is Abba, we who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God…
>> Many other examples can be made:
Creator >> Created
Rabbi >> Disciples
Shepherd >> Sheep
Holy and Righteous One >> enemies of God, in our sin
Savior to those who believe >> Saved, redeemed for those who believe
Redeemer >> Redeemed
A name has power
>> Describes someone
>> Identifies someone
[Introduce Text]
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
[Prayer]
There’s Power in a Name
Between last weeks reading of John chapter 1 and today’s reading, John 1:35–51, Jesus is ascribed 7 names, not including the name “Jesus of Nazareth” (which, according to Nathanael, has its own meaning…):
The Names of Christ (v. 35-51):
The Lamb of God
The Son of God
Rabbi
Messiah
—————————
“him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote…”
The King of Israel
The Son of Man
What significance does a name have?
The Bible teaches us there is power in naming.
In the Beginning…
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
>> Adam is given the “job” of naming the animals as he “rules and subdues” the creation…
Ch. 3 we see The Fall… God pronounces the curses of their disobedience, but gives this promise to them:
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
>> The offspring of the woman would crush the head of the serpent… Destroying evil forever. WHAT A PROMISE!
>> Adam then gives his wife this name:
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
>> The footer for the name Eve states:
Eve sounds like the Hebrew for life-giver and resembles the word for living
>> Eve’s name is a reminder that from her would come the very source of life… The one who would fulfill God’s promise
>> Cain is the first offspring of Eve, the next Abel… Instead of being the promised offspring, Cain crushes the head of his own brother…
25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
>> Eve holds out hope that this new offspring would be the promised offspring…
The OT contains many accounts of naming and its significance… God Himself discloses his name to Moses… and the prophets attribute well over 100 names and titles for the Lord…
————————————————————————————————
So, what of the Lord’s name?
>> Let’s return to John with this context in mind…
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
[when I moved to Richland, neighbor told me my kids would be “Bombers”...]
>> Apparently, Nathanael has similar beef with the small town of Nazareth…
>> Like the Master, Philip invites Nathanael to “Come and see”…
>> Nathanael does not know Jesus, or honor Him… Sound familiar to our day and age?
[Illustration: Dad upset when Jesus name used in vain]
>> People claim Christ… but do not know Him… and He does not know them
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
>> It’s not enough to know a name… We must know a person, and be known by Him
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
>> Jesus knows Nathanael… because Jesus sees him
>> Under the fig… Figurative? Literal? Supernatural
49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
>> Nathanael believes… and names Him, in praise
—————————————————————————————————
Jesus finally gives His own name:
50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
>> This image draws from a vision Jacob has in Genesis 28… Jacobs Ladder
>> Instead of a ladder, Jesus describes the Son of Man as the means by which heaven would be opened and accessible…
>> Son of Man is the name Jesus attributes to Himself… primarily when speaking of his Crucifixion…
>> Comes from Daniel Ch. 7:
13 “I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
———————————————————————————————————
Jesus brings us to our final point:
God’s Name is:
Revelatory
Prescriptive
Powerful
It is the Cross of Christ that replaces “Jacob’s ladder”…
>> It is by His Cross that heaven is accessible…
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 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.
>> It is Jesus, God the Son, who emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, in the Incarnation...
>> It is Jesus, the image of the invisible God, the Son of Man, who humbly and obediently bore the cross till His bodily death…
>> It is God, the Father, the Ancient of Days, who exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name above every name…
>> It is humanity, those in Heaven, living on earth, and those in the place of the dead, who will bow and confess Jesus Christ as Lord…
God’s name is Powerful to save, and authoritative to ALL
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
>> His name is powerful to save… to those who believe…
>> Listen to the words Jesus says in His High Priestly prayer,
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
>> knowledge of God is the true source of life. We know who God is, because his name has been manifested in the person of Jesus...
>> Jesus grows our knowledge of God… and we are known by Him
16 Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.
>> The Father welcomes us as His children because we are in Christ, we are in His family, and take His name
>> Like a Bride takes the name of her Groom…
[Worship Team Come up]
If God is the Holy and Righteous One, in our sin… we are enemies of God
If God is our judge… we are doomed
If God is our savior… we are saved, and precious
If Jesus is in us… we are in Him, and we have union with Christ.. His identity is our identity
[Communion]
1 Corinthians 11:23–26
“23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
